Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the Masters Degree of Technology: Public Relations Management, Durban University of Technology, 2010. / This research emerges within the context of changes that occurred in the public sector post apartheid, which meant invariable changes within the organisation’s structure and processes. More specifically, it brought with it a changing role of communication in managing change. With communication being the lifeblood and binding element within an organisation, having effective and efficient communication within the organisation can therefore assist in keeping the various parts of an organisation together, making it easier for the organisation to maintain itself during change. This study locates Senior Communication Officers within Thusong Service Centres in the GCIS and investigates the role communication plays in managing change within the organisation. The study critically examines Lundwig Von Bertalanffy’s (1968) Systems Theory in understanding the interrelatedness of a system such as the GCIS and the role organisational communication channels play in maintaining the process of change. Furthermore, this study analyses the influence of the Chaos Theory within the concept of managing change and the flow of communication within an organisation. This study suggests ways in which Senior Communication Officers can play a vital role in managing change by analysing the underlying principles and concepts of the Chaos Theory and incorporating them within the role of communication during the change process.

In November 2010, The Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (Sveriges Kommuner och Landsting) distributed a survey where 53 % of the responding municipalities declared that they use Twitter. Out of the municipalities that declared they did not use social media, 49 % answered that they were planning on using it but that they had not gotten started. The purpose with social media was primarily declared to be maintaining dialogue with citizens and a channel for information. The informal “twittersphere” is a new environment for the conventionally formal government communication, and with it comes an entirely new set of demands on the style and content of texts, compared to other media. The purpose of my work was to present a style proposal for the public sector’s communication on Twitter, with the help of theory and empirical data. My methods consisted of text analysis and qualitative interviews. I analyzed eight selected municipalities on Twitter and interviewed four informants who held different perspectives on the subject, to get a deeper understanding. Chosen topics in both methods were e.g. formality, address, dialogue and visibility of the writer.  The analysis results showed that the municipalities were neither present, personal, nor inviting – and my conclusion was that they therefore did not strive for dialogue, at least not on Twitter. The interviews focused mainly on how the municipalities should use Twitter, and what surfaced in the interviews took great part in my style proposal and the accompanying guidelines. From the results of both methods, I created a style proposal consisting of 20 tweets, that formed a tweet style, along with a set of guidelines for good civil-servant tweeting. The style I’m presenting tries to address the purpose of dialogue in a better, more suitable way, by being personal, engaged, present and clear. / I november 2010 skickade Sveriges Kommuner och Landsting ut en enkät där 53 % av de svarande kommunerna uppgav sig använda Twitter. Av de kommuner som uppgav att de inte använde sociala medier svarade 49 % att de planerade att börja men att de inte hade kommit igång. Syftet med sociala medier uppgavs primärt vara att ha en dialog med medborgare och en kanal för nyheter. Twitters informella sfär är en ny miljö för det konventionellt formella myndighetsspråket, och ställer helt andra krav på texters stil och innehåll än andra medier. Syftet med mitt arbete var att, med stöd av teori och empiri, ta fram ett förslag på en stil åt den offentliga sektorns kommunikation på Twitter. Mina metoder var textanalys och kvalitativa intervjuer. Jag analyserade åtta utvalda kommuner på Twitter och intervjuade fyra informanter med olika infallsvinklar på ämnet, för en fördjupad förståelse. Berörda ämnen i båda metoder var bl.a. formalitet, tilltal, dialog och synligt författarskap. Resultatet av textanalysen visade att kommunerna inte var särskilt närvarande, personliga eller inbjudande – och min slutsats av det blev att de därför inte alls strävade efter dialog, åtminstone inte på Twitter. Intervjuerna kretsade främst kring hur kommunerna borde twittra, och det som kom fram där låg till stor del bakom mitt gestaltningsförslag och de tillhörande råden och riktlinjerna. Utifrån båda metodernas resultat skapade jag ett gestaltningsförslag om 20 tweets, som byggde upp en s.k. tweetstil, tillsammans med råd och riktlinjer för gott twittrande. Den stil jag presenterar försöker adressera dialogsyftet på ett bättre, mer anpassat sätt, genom att vara personlig, engagerad, närvarande och tydlig.

Thesis (M.P.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 107-112).

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

Improvement in information sharing and communication about the foreign aid resources between the donors and the aid-recipient countries have always been considered very important. In recent years, the integration of advanced technology in the area of aid coordination has received a tremendous amount of attention. The following thesis studies the influence of technology in the area aid coordination within the context of Afghanistan. Guided by the Actor-Network Theory, the thesis examines how the social and technological aspects of the Development Assistance Database (DAD), as an advanced aid information management technology, influences aid coordination and information sharing between the donors and the government of Afghanistan. Using a case study methodology, the research also investigates whether or not the DAD adheres to the principles of aid effectiveness. The findings reveal that although technology had a profound impact in the area of aid management in Afghanistan, there are several areas that still face challenges. The present study highlights these challenges and recommends the appropriate solutions.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Syracuse University, 2007. / "Publication number: AAT 3281715."

Thesis (M.P.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 107-112). Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--RAND Graduate School, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (MPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / On title page: Master of Philosophy in Information and Knowledge Management. Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

Globally, mobile technology use, particularly the use of mobile phones, is becoming increasingly widespread. One consequence of this growth is mounting interest in using mobile technologies in the public sector, particularly in developing countries, because it is seen as enabling better access to information and services for citizens. Mobile government (m-government), defined as the use of mobile technologies and applications for public sector services, promises to extend access to public services to marginalised sectors of the population and is emerging as a new focus in the ongoing challenge to provide efficient, effective and accessible public services. Though interest in m-government is emerging in the provincial Western Cape Government (WCG) of South Africa, few guidelines exist in the WCG to inform the development of public sector mobile services. This absence impacts on service delivery and the primary objective of this study was to propose a set of guidelines that could guide the prioritisation of citizen facing public sector services for mobile implementation in the Western Cape. The study considered two areas namely, government and user needs. The primary research question was to determine what public sector services citizens need and how these services should be prioritised for mobile delivery in the Western Cape. To address this, three research sub-questions were formulated. The first question aimed to examine conceptions of mobile government. To achieve this a literature study and documentation review was conducted, from which factors influencing service prioritisation emerged. The second research question aimed to identify citizen needs that could inform mobile public sector services in the Western Cape. Thus a survey and interviews were conducted with citizens using the WCG community ICT centres (e-Centres). The third research question aimed to identify factors that impact on the prioritisation of citizen facing public sectors for mobile delivery in the Western Cape. The findings from the literature study, survey and interviews conducted were used to address this research question. The results from the three research sub-questions were triangulated to address the main objective of the study and from this a set of guidelines for prioritising mobile public sector services in the Western Cape was proposed.