Thesis (MTech (Business Administration in Project Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2018. / Organisations in both private and public sector have embraced Project Management as the ideal means of managing projects with the hopes of ensuring that they deliver their intended benefit. Projects have therefore become particularly prominent within the public sector including Municipalities, as a means of fulfilling developmental goals and delivering services. This has resulted in organisations investing considerable resources to ensure that they build the capacity needed to effectively manage projects. This investment usually takes the form of training and development of project managers or adopting and implementing project management methodologies with clear processes that guide how projects are managed. Within academia there has also been a broad spectrum of research devoted to the field of project management. A major focus area of project management research has been to determine the value of Project Management by measuring aspects of an organization’s project management performance and how best they can improve it to ensure project success. However, despite the advances in Project research and the practice of project management, organisations continue to face low project success rates. Findings from previous research has found that project management is very context specific and that there is not a ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to implementing project management practices. Therefore, organisations should be tailoring their project management approach to best suit their unique needs. This study has therefore chosen to evaluate project management performance within Municipalities in the Western Cape Province, South Africa. The aim of which was to find how best municipalities can improve their current performance and ensure project success. The rationale for this research is further supported by evidence which indicates that project management within the public sector is generally less developed than in the private sector. In this study a construct was developed to define project management performance consisting of Project Management Maturity, the impact of project teams and effective project partnerships. Project management maturity was analysed adapting a project management maturity model developed by Labuschagne and Marnewick (2008). Project success was defined by five project success criteria that were identified through literature reviews. The success criteria consisted of the completion of a project within time, budget, quality requirements, satisfaction of the public’s needs and ensuring organizational success. A survey questionnaire was developed and distributed to 108 project managers working within a selected municipal department in South Africa. The results of this research has provided evidence of the link between project management performance and project success within municipalities. These findings provide insights on which aspects of their project management practice a municipality should focus on and develop to maximise project success. In addition, the research also contributes to a deeper insight into the application, benefits and pitfalls of project management maturity models.

Thesis (MBA) --University of Limpopo, 2010 / There is enough evidence and common consensus in literature that although strategy implementation is a challenge to many organisations, it is strategy formulation that continues to receive more attention. It is also evident that municipalities In South Africa, let alone Limpopo Province, experience certain barriers to strategy implementation. Given this situation, this study highlights the most frequent barriers to strategy implementation in general and attempts to identify and describe barriers that impede strategy implementation in a municipal context. It further recommends, from a systems theory point of view, a strategy implementation framework that recognises the importance of multiple strategy implementation factors as well as participatory democracy in local government.

Thesis (MPA) --University of Limpopo, 2013 / The study deals with the implementation of the Batho Pele principles in the Greater Tzaneen Local Municipality. Literature review was conducted as a secondary source of information and primary information was collected from a sample of 23 respondents. The study used qualitative (semi-structured questionnaire, observation and document analysis) in data collection and analysis. The findings revealed that the root causes of the challenges and the challenges themselves that the Greater Tzaneen Local Municipality is facing, are mainly internal and include the following: Low morale, budget constraints, lack of enforcement of the Batho Pele principles by both employees and their supervisors, poor employee attitudes, unwillingness to improve towards service delivery, lack of monthly and quarterly meetings where review of all programmes and projects is done. Instead review is done at the end of the year, shortage of human resource in the Community Services Directorate to effectively and efficiently implement systems, lack of sufficient performance incentives to reward those who perform well or exceed the set performance target or halo effect, focusing on the quantity of the end-product (output) rather than on the quality.

A central feature of public sector reform in Australia in the past decade or so has been the introduction of competition into service markets that were previously monopolised by public agencies. The adoption of more competitive strategies by these agencies has usually been accompanied by changes in their organisational culture - found in their structures, modes of operation and in internal and external relationships, as well as in the underlying values orientation of the organisation. The introduction of compulsory competitive tendering (CCT) in local government in the state of Victoria reflected criticisms of the performance of traditional local government bureaucracies and a determination by the state government to secure a change in local government culture. This study investigates the impact of CCT on local authorities in Victoria, and explores the changes to organisational culture that have occurred. It assesses the extent to which the changes are consistent with a 'post-bureaucratic' conception of public organisations. The study presents evidence that cultural change has occurred in Victorian local authorities, particularly in the establishment of new organisation structures, a more entrepreneurial or outward focused orientation, and the development of more market focused and customer oriented service delivery systems. While cultural changes may not have progressed as far as intended by the Victorian government, they represent a more radical approach to local government reform than in other Australian states - so radical that they present a serious challenge to long-held views of the role of local government in the community. The thesis reveals that the new competitive environment may itself generate new problems such as transactions costs and erosion of trust within local councils and enables senior managers to assert stronger control over the council. It is this control, together with the technocratic or top-down approach to reform taken by the state government, which has constrained the development of model post-bureaucratic local government organisations in Victoria. In particular, it seems that senior managers are more intent on reshaping their organisations than in encouraging the greater market responsiveness anticipated in the post-bureaucratic model.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 104-112). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 104-112). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M. Sc.)(Project Management)--University of Pretoria, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references.

M. Tech. Public Management / The issue of public participation in local government is important for the delivery of services to communities. The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 and other legislation relating to public participation such as the Municipal Systems Act, 2000 (Act 32 of 2000,) encourage the participation by communities in the affairs of the municipality. In this study, public participation perspectives are outlined on an international level and in South African local government. The area of the study is the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, which is situated in the Gauteng Province. The study seeks to assess the impact that public participation has on enhancing service delivery in the City of Tshwane. Furthermore, the study seeks to achieve its purpose by establishing the extent to which public participation enhances service delivery in the City of Tshwane.

When the African National Congress took power from the apartheid regime in 1994 it promised to transform the public service by eradicating the inequalities of the past in the provisioning of basic services. The ANC-led government aimed to be a people-centred one, and service delivery became the central focal point. For government to realise its goal of annihilating the inequalities of the past, it became imperative that services be provided in a transparent, coherent and representative manner to all citizens, particularly the previously marginalised communities. in order to promote efficiency, effectiveness, responsiveness and accountability, the government identified various alternative strategies that would enhance service delivery and bring it closer to the people. One of the strategies was to set up Multipurpose Community Centres (MPCCs), also known as Thusong Service Centres (TSCs), that were to serve as the vehicle to enhance service delivery. Although such a move was a noble one and brought hope to many impoverished South Africans, there are still challenges faced by government in the provision of basic services that culminated in recent violent service delivery protests that adversely affected the whole country. The purpose of the research was to determine if the establishment of the MPCCs as a vehicle in enhancing service delivery has made a difference in the lives of previously marginalized communities. This study, therefore, critically examines whether the already established Centres play a pivotal role in enhancing service delivery. The literature review revealed that successful public service transformation has to create a sound relationship between government and its constituencies, and that can be attained by meaningfully engaging the public in matters such as policy formulation, as such engagement will inform government on the kind of programmes to be initiated and implemented that will respond to the social and economic needs of citizens. It is crucial that government must be community owned so that citizens must not only see themselves as recipients of services but also as decision makers. The literature review further argues that government must recognise that its primary responsibility is to drive the delivery of services in an efficient, effective and economic manner. It is therefore crucial that public administrators be committed and accountable toward the community, expand customer choice of services, ensure that citizens get the best possible value for money, and that access to basic services is increased regardless of the locale. On the contrary, the empirical study revealed that the Centres are not effectively addressing the needs of communities. One of the reasons of the failure of these Centres is due to the fact that the establishment of some Centres there was lack of proper consultation with communities and other relevant stakeholders on what services need to be rendered. The study also revealed that some Centres do not have adequate physical and human resources, Centres are managed by managers that are not adequately trained in managerial skills. The study further revealed that lack of funding makes it impossible for these Centres and services rendered sustainable, and lack of communication and coordination of activities between departments utilising the Centres render integrated service delivery ineffective The research concludes by presenting recommendations that were carefully drawn from the analysis of the findings and the entire study, followed by a proposed model that provides a multifaceted approach that outlines an action plan in the delivery of services, and should serve as a guide to Government with regard to the implementation of strategies and policies for the betterment of lives of South African citizens, especially the previously marginalised. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2010.

A central feature of public sector reform in Australia in the past decade or so has been the introduction of competition into service markets that were previously monopolised by public agencies. The adoption of more competitive strategies by these agencies has usually been accompanied by changes in their organisational culture - found in their structures, modes of operation and in internal and external relationships, as well as in the underlying values orientation of the organisation. The introduction of compulsory competitive tendering (CCT) in local government in the state of Victoria reflected criticisms of the performance of traditional local government bureaucracies and a determination by the state government to secure a change in local government culture. This study investigates the impact of CCT on local authorities in Victoria, and explores the changes to organisational culture that have occurred. It assesses the extent to which the changes are consistent with a 'post-bureaucratic' conception of public organisations. The study presents evidence that cultural change has occurred in Victorian local authorities, particularly in the establishment of new organisation structures, a more entrepreneurial or outward focused orientation, and the development of more market focused and customer oriented service delivery systems. While cultural changes may not have progressed as far as intended by the Victorian government, they represent a more radical approach to local government reform than in other Australian states - so radical that they present a serious challenge to long-held views of the role of local government in the community. The thesis reveals that the new competitive environment may itself generate new problems such as transactions costs and erosion of trust within local councils and enables senior managers to assert stronger control over the council. It is this control, together with the technocratic or top-down approach to reform taken by the state government, which has constrained the development of model post-bureaucratic local government organisations in Victoria. In particular, it seems that senior managers are more intent on reshaping their organisations than in encouraging the greater market responsiveness anticipated in the post-bureaucratic model.