Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Wits School of Governance, 2017 / Since 1994, the new democratically elected government has embarked on a series of massive initiatives, policies and programmes to improve municipal service delivery performance. Municipalities are, however, still incapable of fulfilling their designated service delivery mandate. The preliminary study of this research discovered that the current municipal monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems, although they are legislated to serve as an early warning system (EWS), do not have essential components of an EWS and, as a result, cannot alert key players and stakeholders of developing problematic trends in municipal service delivery processes. The research examined the extent to which the current M&E system of the City of Johannesburg contains the components of an EWS. The purpose is to design and propose a model of M&E system that can serve as an EWS and enable municipalities to receive advance information about potential problems, and then to implement the necessary corrective interventions. Using a qualitative and a casestudy methodology, data were collected through observation, interviews, focus-group discussions (FGDs) and documentary study. Root cause, thematic analysis and data categorisation were used to analyse data. The findings indicate that early warning signals exist and are noticed by some officials and staff, but no mechanism or budget exists to enable them to use the knowledge (i.e., no EWS exists). An important original finding this study makes is that one of the root causes of municipal problems is the state of alienation municipal workers and managers across race and class experience, which results in silo mentality of workers, departments and sectors, and fragmentation throughout planning, functionalities, information and knowledge, as the effects of alienation on municipal performance have not been in the local government discourse. Conceptually, it argues that the M&E concept and framework need to be re-designed to encompass and build-in the concept of EWS, and, in turn, proposes a model of proactive M&E (pM&E), i.e., an M&E system integrated with EWS components, and therefore serves as an EWS. Moreover, it also suggests that concept and approach of the Weak Signals Theory (WST) is applicable in an M&E framework, but would be hard to use in “municipal” M&E systems, for three reasons: capacity constraint, political, and the multi-sectorial nature of the municipal system. ■ ii KEY WORDS Local government, Municipal service delivery processes, Municipal service delivery challenges, Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E), pM&E (proactive M&E), eM&E (M&E system integrated with EWS components and therefore serves as an EWS), Early Warning System (EWS), Weak Signal Theory, Alienation, Alienation in local government context / GR2018

In this research study an investigation was launched into the monitoring and evaluation system that the government introduced to monitor and evaluate the performance information produced by the Provincial Government Departments on the implementation of their annual performance plans. The Government Departments obtain budget approval from the Legislature and submit their three-year performance plans with their budgets. The government realized that service delivery was not improving against the back drop of annually increasing the budgets. The monitoring and evaluation system was introduced to assist the Government Departments with the implementation of their annual performance plans. Monitoring and evaluation serves as a control measure and deviations can be detected from the planned outputs of the Government Departments. Corrective measures must be instituted that will have the effect that the Government Departments meet the targets set in the indicators as approved in the annual performance plans. A literature review was conducted on monitoring and evaluation regarding the ideal manner in which it should be performed. The South African Government introduced a number of discussion documents from the Presidency and National Treasury on monitoring and evaluation. Several authors raised their views on the matter and it was captured in the research study. The methodology followed was based on the Systems Theory and a questionnaire was prepared and circulated amongst Political Office Bearers and Chief Officials in the Provincial Government Departments in the Eastern Cape on the issues that was researched. Interviews were conducted with selected participants to gain clarity on specific issues related to the questionnaire. The official annual report issued by the Auditor General to the Provincial Legislature served as official document in the research study. The data collected from the questionnaire, interviews and official documentation was analyzed and graphs were drawn and deductions were made from the results. Findings and recommendations were made from the data collected and a summary was compiled of the issues raised in the research study.

Study project (MBA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This assignment tries to provide insight into the reasons required for the formulation of sustainability performance indicators. It develops two sets of performance indicators for government and business respectively, to be used in an attempt to create a sustainable South Africa. It is approached in a very distinctive manner with two specific focus areas. Firstly, it examines the requirements of government, as this allows for the creation of a foundation upon which business can prosper, and examines the requirements with which to create this foundation. Secondly, once a sound foundation is laid, this paper examines the requirements of business that is believed to provide guidelines for shaping their sustainability. All this is done against a backdrop of the principles of good governance endorsed both internationally and in South Africa. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie dokument probeer om lig te werp op die redes vir die formulering van prestasie aanwysers vir volhoubare ontwikkeling, en struktureer twee stelle aanwysers vir die regering en besighede, om hulle volhoubaarheid te ondersteun in Suid-Afrika. Daar is twee spesifieke fokusareas. Eerstens word verwys na die regering, en die vereistes waarop die fondasie gebou kan word waarop besighede kan floreer. Tweedens word gekyk na wat van besighede verlang word om verder volhoubare riglyne te omhels. Dit word alles gedoen teen die agtergrond van goeie regerings-en besigheidspraktyke, wat tans internasionaal en plaaslik beoefen word.

M. Tech. Busness Administration / Existing research suggests that the Public Sector Performance Management Systems are used to some extent, in support of strategic planning and other governance and managerial functions. However, there is still a gap on the effectiveness of the performance management system. In recent years, organisations have implemented performance management because it leads to better organisational results as reported in many articles and case studies. However, there is little solid empirical evidence of the actual effects performance management has on the quantitative results of the public sector. This study aims to describe the results of a study that explores the quantitative research on the effectiveness of performance management and development in the Department of Cooperative Governance by examining the actual practices in performance management and discuss the rationale for performance management as well as the political and organisational factors influencing this process within this Department.

Section 153 of the Constitution of South Africa (RSA, 1996) states that “a municipality must structure and manage its administration, budgeting and planning process to give priority to the needs of the community and to promote the social and economic development of the community”. Despite this mandate placed on local government, De Wet and Moseki (2015, p. 61) write that insurgent South Africans engage in violent protests against continued “municipal ineffectiveness in service delivery, poor responsiveness to citizens’ grievances, and a conspicuous consumption entailed by a culture of self-enrichment on the part of councillors and staff”. The Department of Corporate Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA ) (2014) identify huge service delivery backlogs, poor communication and accountability relationships with communities, corruption and fraud, poor financial management and insufficient municipal capacity as a result of lack of scarce skills as some of the priority areas impacting hardest on the municipality’s ability to function as a well-performing municipality. Mpofu and Hlatywayo (2015) report that poor performance by workers in local government has been established as one of the major issues affecting the efficient provision of municipal services by municipalities. It thus follows that the performance and conduct of municipal employees need to be improved in order to improve the delivery of basic services to the communities they are to serve. Hanyane and Naidoo (2015) hold the view that without proper service delivery, the achievement of good governance and the effective use of public resources will remain elusive. The primary objective of this study was to contribute to improving the levels of service delivery at a selected municipality by identifying which factors the employees of the municipality consider most effective in improving their levels of service delivery within the organisation. A questionnaire was structured and used to conduct a survey with 65 middle-level managers, senior-level supervisors, middle-level supervisors and operational staff.The study concluded that talent management and retention strategies were the only independent variable that proved to have a significant positive relationship with service delivery within the selected municipality.

Thesis (MPAM. (Public Administration)) -- University of Limpopo, 2021 / The study investigated the impact of Government-wide Monitoring and Evaluation System on the performance of government. Cloete (2009) postulates that in 2005, the Executive of the State approved the Government-wide M&E System (GWM&ES) as a broad framework to examine monitoring and evaluation of activities in all government departments with a view to guaranteeing effective executive decision-making in support of execution; advisory evidence-based resource apportionment; on-going policy development; as well as review. This study specifically investigated the impact of the Government-wide Monitoring and Evaluation System to enhance performance in the Office of the Premier in Limpopo provincial government. The common thread according to majority of the scholars and review reports on this system as shown in the literature review of this study is that government’s major challenge is that it is has become ineffective and, in the process, fails to attain the objectives it has set itself to achieve. This is largely on account of the absence of a clear-cut and coherent systematic mechanism that could enable the public sector to evaluate its performance and identify the factors which contribute to its service delivery outcomes and overall performance. In the same vein, the those charged with the responsibility to help assess the performance of government are unable to draw causal connections between the choice of policy priorities, the resourcing of those policy objectives, the programmes designed to implement them, the services delivered and their ultimate impact on communities. In this study the qualitative research methodology was adopted which was utilised to gather data. The findings of this research identified certain factors which undermine the impact of GWM&ES on government performance; the limitations to fully comprehend and integrate the system within the planning processes and above all implement the required institutional arrangements and/or mechanisms so that there is a visible impact and enhancement of the planning regime and service delivery capacity of the various institutions of the state. Although work has since begun in this regard, including the establishment of the Ministry of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation in The Presidency, an inadequate institutional merger of the M&E and Planning branches in the Office of the Premier in Limpopo in particular, remains an impediment. Following the analysis of the data collected, of which was sufficient to suffice, the study concludes by proposing a set of measures to ensure that the Government-wide Monitoring and Evaluation System has the necessary impact towards enhancing the performance of the Office of the Premier, and by extension, the entire government because the system is not only limited to one institution of the state, but also integrative by design. These measures include, amongst others, that the Government-wide Monitoring and Evaluation System, as a system of systems, should be fully comprehended, adopted and implemented in government. This will inevitably produce the requisite results in terms of strengthening and improving evidence-based planning, policy development and budgeting, and thereby improve the performance of government, and in particular, the Office of the Premier in Limpopo. A replica study in other areas is further recommended to enhance the implementation of the system.

Thesis (MPA (School of Public Management and Planning))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / Research was conducted in this paper on organisational performance management. Various definitions are offered in order to provide an explanation to the topic. Different models on performance management were discussed including the balanced scorecard. The City of Cape Town was identified as a case study to ascertain how the provisions for the performance management system, as stipulated in legislation, were implemented. The use of the balanced scorecard was also reviewed. Officials were interviewed, as well as various documentation considered, dealing with performance management in the City of Cape Town. From the findings various recommendations were made to improve the performance management system.

Thesis (MPA (School of Public Management and Planning))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / The Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) has employeds about 18 000 officials in both the water and forestry domains. Employees in the same Forestry and Water sections perform differently. For example, some of these employees in the same sections complain that they have no work to do, while others in the same section complain that they have too much work. It is not clear how performance bonuses are allocated in the same Forestry and Water sections. The situation is affecting staff morale and eventually service delivery provided by DWAF. DWAF has a performance management system that is currently being implemented throughout the whole Department. As indicated, this system is not effective and it is not applied consistently with regard to all staff members in the same sections and also in different sections of the dDepartment. The study seeks to analyse the causes and circumstances why some that other employees have little work to do, while others have too much work to do. In short, it seeks to analyse as to why the current system is ineffective and inconsistently applied. The main methodology that informs this study is document and data analysis and thereafter, follow interviews with DWAF officials from different sections of DWAF. The recommendations based on conclusions and findings of this study are that it is important to align individual and organisational goals, that rewards and corrective measures should be part of the performance management system and that capacity building, training and support interventions are essential to ensure an effective and consistent performance management system.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This is a report on the implementation of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) in the City of Cape Town. Based on the experiences and perceptions of a sample of middle managers. the report highlights the various issues which impact on the BSC at local government level. The report focuses on the implementation of the BSC in one Directorate. namely the Community Services Directorate. Appropriate reccmmendations are made based on the findings of the research. The literature review places the BSC in the ccntext of the infonmation age. where companies were seeking a more holistic tool to plan, monitor and measure how strategy is implemented. The theoretical basis of the BSC is outlined. This contains a brief overview of how the public sector internationally adopted the BSC. The report proceeds by addressing the legislative framework within which municipalities operate in South Africa with regard to Performance Management. It is within this context that the City Of Cape Town adopted the BSC. The implementation of the BSC for the City of Cape Town is placed within the context of its Organisational Performance Management System. This literature review concludes by highlighting the challenges and critical success factors with the implementation of the BSC. The methodology used in the research was content analysis. The experience and perception of the research population. in relation to the implementation of the BSC in the City of Cape Town. was analysed. Data was collected through open ended, semi-structured interviews. The issues highlighted in the literature review were used as the basis for the interviews. Inferences were drawn from responses solicited in the interviews. The report found that there is a correlation between the issues highlighted in the literature and what emerged in the course of the research. The issues that impact on the implementation of the BSC revolve around process. structure and people. Accordingly the researcher makes appropriate recommendations to address these issues in the City of Cape Town. Finally, areas for future research are identified. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie verslag handel oor die implementering van die Gebalanseerde Prestasie Skedule (GPS) vir die Stad Kaapstad. Die verslag beklemtoon verskeie aspekte wat 'n impak het op die GPS by plaaslike owerhede en is baseer op 'n steekproef oor die ondervindinge en persepsies van 'n bepaalde middelvlakbestuursgroep. Hierdie verslag fokus op die implementering van die GPS in een van die Direktorate, naamlik die Direktoraat: Gemeenskapsdienste. Toepaslike aanbevelings word gemaak opgrond van die navorsingsbevindinge. Die literatuur oorsig plaas die GPS in die konteks van die inligtingsera, waar maatskappye opsoek is na 'n holistiese benadering vir beplanning, monitering en om implementeringstrategiee te meet. Die teoretiese basis van die GPS word ook uiteengesit. Dit bevat 'n kort oorsig oor hoe die openbare sektor die GPS internationaal aanvaar het. Voorts handel die verslag oor die wetgewende raamwerk waarbinne munisipaliteite in Suid-Afrika moet beweeg rakende Prestasiebestuur. Dit is binne hierdie konteks wat die Stad Kaapstad die GPS aanvaar het. Die implementering van die GPS vir die Stad Kaapstad vind plaas binne die konteks van sy Organisatoriese Prestasiebestuurstelsel. Die literatuur oorsig eindig deur die uitdagings en kritiese sukses faktore met die implementering van die GPS te beklemtoon. Die metodologie wat tydens die navorsing gebruik was, is die inhoud-ontleding. Die ondervindinge en persepsies van die navorsings steekproefgroep, in venhouding tot die implementering van die GPS by die Stad Kaapstad, was ontleed. Inligting is bekom deur middel van oop vrae tydens semigestruktureerde onderhoude. Aspekte wat tydens die literatuur oorsig beklemtoon was, is gebruik as basis vir onderhoudvoering. Gevolgtrekkings is gemaak van respondente se kommentaar en antwoorde tydens onderhoudvoering. Die verslag dui aan dat daar 'n korrelasie bestaan tussen die aspekte wat beklemtoon word in die literatuur en wat tydens die navorsing aan die lig gebring is. Aspekte wat 'n impak het op die implementering van die GPS is prosesse, strukture en mense. Gevolglik maak die navorser toepaslike aanbevelings om hierdie aspekte binne die Stad Kaapstad aan te spreek. Laastens word sekere areas geidentifiseer vir toekomstige navorsing.

This document consists of three sections, and they are the academic paper (section 1), literature review (section 2) and research methodology (section 3). The academic paper consists of the purpose of the research, the summarised literature review, summarised research methodology and the research findings. The literature review section is a detailed review of literature used in this study. The research methodology section explains the research methodology and design which was employed in this study and it gives more details than the summarised version of the academic paper section. This summary integrated all the elements of section 1, section 2 and section 3. The purpose of this research is to identify the main problems that the Department of Environment and Nature Conservation (DENC) could encounter during the implementation and use of a performance management system, based on employee perspectives. The objectives of this research are therefore: to establish how often a particular problem has been encountered during the implementation and use of a performance management system in DENC; to identify the impact of various problems on the implementation of a performance management system, to establish whether these problems can be easily solved or not, and to analyse the problems associated with the implementation of a performance management system, as well as making recommendations for the successful implementation of a performance management system in the future. In this study, the researcher employed both quantitative and qualitative research approaches, informed by post-positivism as research orientation. The data collection techniques employed in this research include survey questionnaires and individual interviews. The survey questionnaire was answered by fifty respondents, and interview questions were answered by four respondents. The ethical issues were addressed by writing a letter to the Head of Department and getting authorisation to complete the research and informing respondents of their right to withdraw and to participate voluntarily. The findings indicate that the problems are either sometimes encountered or rarely encountered, and the division is about fifty percent of those sometimes encountered to those rarely encountered. This research indicates that most of the problems have a moderate impact on the use and implementation of a performance management system. The lack of management has a high impact, and a lack of positive attitude to performance management system (PMS) certainly has an impact on the use and implementation of the performance management system. Items such as the problem of information and communication technology (ICT) which does not support PMS adequately, and defining too many key performance indicators (KPI), have a small impact on the use and implementation of the performance management system. There are three problems which are difficult to solve and they are: lack of management commitment, organisational members‟ lack of positive attitude to the PMS and an insufficient period of commitment from management to PMS. This research indicates that most of the problems associated with PMS are moderately easy to solve. Two other problems that are easy to solve include the problem where there are too many KPIs defined and the problem where there is no organisational member appointed to take ownership of the PMS. According to this research, the top ten ranking problems have high ranking scores and this indicates that they can create major difficulties for the DENC in implementing the performance management system, and the chance of encountering these problems is high in the DENC in comparison to other problems. Almost all the problems ranked in the top ten seem to score highly in terms of the severity of their impact, and therefore this means that these are the problems which have an impact and, when they are not easily solved, they can become a tenacious issue for the organisation.