M.Tech. Business Administration (MBA) / This study examines the extent to which the e-government innovation, the Employee Self Service, has diffused or been adopted by employees within the Gauteng Provincial Government. The study draws on the diffusion model which involves employees' perceptions of five key attributes of innovations namely, Relative Advantage, Compatibility, Complexity, Trialability, and Observability, to determine their relative influences on the rates of adoption and or non-adoption of the Employee Self Service. The results of the study demonstrate the relevance and usefulness of determining which attributes of innovations are perceived to be the most important, as informing a strategy for the successful introduction of the Employee Self Service as an e-government initiative. Findings show that respondents have generally adopted the Employee Self Service.

Thesis (M.M. (Public and Development Management))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Wits School of Governance, 2016 / Over the past twenty years and even during the apartheid era, South Africa has undergone significant waves of migration and leadership challenges. Migration into South Africa has been, and still is, a result of many different factors that include economic reasons and seeking political refuge. This migration wave has also taken its toll on the country’s leadership skills and strategies as well as the Immigration Department as regards the issuance of legal documents to migrants to be able to stay legally in the country. Leadership is usually revered in Africa, but this places pressure to perform well on the country’s existing leadership in relation to the control of migration and the maintenance of peace within the borders of the country. The study aimed to identify whether the leadership is performing the way it is supposed to perform. Is the leadership performing with character and competence and are they taking responsibility for their actions when dealing with the public as this matter affects the public sector. Statistics South Africa has an estimate of number of the migrants flowing into the country and the Department of Home Affairs does not have an accurate number of the migration flow, due to the daily rapid movement at the border posts. It is known, however, that the number of migrants into the country has increased and continues to increase, and this poses a challenge for the leadership. One of the recommendations that emerged from the findings of the study is that more programmes and workshops should be undertaken to equip the civil servants in the Department of Home Affairs as they are all leaders in various ways and are also representatives of the Department. Their conduct should therefore be professional as they represent the image of South Africa. / XL2018

M. Tech. Business Information Systems / Organisations have entered into an information age where lack of knowledge on decision-making can have a negative impact on the business. Government entities deal with a huge amount of data which is a valuable asset. Decision-makers have problems in making informed decisions due to fragmented data and having to rely on IT to provide reports for them. An integrated repository can support organisations to have accurate and quality data readily available to enable them to perform reliable analyses. Currently, government departments are experiencing challenges with the adoption of data warehouse technology. Therefore, in this research, an interpretive case study was employed to explore factors influencing the adoption of data warehouse technology in a government department.

Thesis (MTech (Quality))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2009 / The Department of the Premier: Orgnisational Development is mandated to coordinate provincial intervention that will assist the provincial departments of the Western Cape to improve the efficiency of their service delivery. Increasing customer demand for quality services have virtually forced the Department of the Premier: Orgnisational Development to adopt the concept of quality in every aspect of the business. The Department of the Premier: Orgnisational Development is the center of government focussed on strategically guiding the province and centrally coordinating the strategic functions in order to deliver seamless and holistic governance towards realising the iKapa Growth and Development strategies and transforming the Western Cape into a home for all. The Department of the Premier, through holistic governance, deliver strategic leadership, outcome based management, needs-based services and efficient and effective corporate government to the Provincial Government and the citizens of the Western Cape at large. The primary research objectives of this study are the following: _ To identify mechanisms to continuously improve the level of service delivery within the department in accordance with set standards. _ To identify mechanisms to continuously measure, analyse and improve processes within the department in order to meets and exceed customer expectations. _ To create a culture and platform for continuous improvement within the Government Sector. _ To create an enablement mechanisms for staff to execute their duties effectively. It is anticipated that the research will lead to an improvement in the current state of service delivery at the Department of the Premier: Directorate Organisational Development, by identifying and providing possible solutions that impedes service delivery.

Thesis presented in partial fulfilment for the degree of Master of Management (in the field of Public Sector Monitoring and Evaluation) to the Faculty of Commerce, Law, and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, 2016 / Data management in the public sector has become a primary driver for decision-making and planning, however, there is a limited research on data management within South African public sectors with the exception of the health sector, which has widely studied the existing data management systems as case studies of health management information systems (HMIS). Using Theory of Change to determine the intended results of data management in the Gauteng department of Social Development, the study aimed to examine data management in the Gauteng department of Social Development and the use and application of data in evidence-based planning and decision-making in programmes of the department. A qualitative research strategy with a case study design was employed. Data for the study was collected from ten participants of the Strategic Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation unit using open-ended interview schedule, from three executive management managers using closed-ended questionnaires, and from documentary analysis in the Gauteng department of Social Development. The collected data was analysed using thematic analysis and content analysis. The study found that the Gauteng department of Social Development has moderate data management systems in place, as some of the key attributes of data management were not explored and exploited to the fullest by the department. In addition, the research findings revealed that there is poor use of data in decision-making and planning. This study contributes significant new knowledge to the existing body of monitoring and evaluation literature and public administration in South Africa. / XL2018

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Technology Degree in Information Technology, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2014. / This study reports on the design of a framework for measuring e-government readiness. Particular attention is paid to providing a measurement framework that is feasible for municipalities and supports their efforts to utilize e-government for the benefit of the society and the economy. The evaluation of e-government readiness for municipalities can provide a useful barometer to measure the critical needs of citizens. In addition, it can be useful for improving the effectiveness of government services and could assist information communication technology industry to access information for implementing efficient infrastructures to support the delivery of e-services. The model of e-government readiness measurement as reported in this dissertation is based on heterogeneous factors of supporting e-services, individual citizens, technological infrastructure, government and supporting industry. The readiness measurement process utilized data obtained from a survey of 219 government employees from 4 municipalities in Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The partial least square method was used to determine the relationship between the measured factors. The study results revealed the measurement factors to be significant determinants of municipality e-government readiness with an overall goodness of fit performance of 0.81 and predictive power of 0.68. In addition, a response based segmentation approach of finite mixture partial least squares is applied to uncover unobserved heterogeneity in government employees. The study findings show that the main difference characterising the two uncovered segments of population heterogeneity lies in the internet accessibility using computers. The impact of government readiness and technology readiness on predicting e-government readiness is stronger for the first segment than for the second segment. The segment specific analysis clearly shows that the impact of factors that influence the readiness of e-government can differ vastly, depending on the background of participants. The study findings generally provide a foundation for policymakers and technology practitioners who are interested in propagating e-government readiness awareness across the country. In addition, factors that determine the e-government readiness could provide new insights for future studies on e-municipality service improvement evaluations.

This study examines service delivery such as housing, water, electricity, roads and garbage removal in local government with specific reference to Schulzendal township. The main objective of the study is to investigate the services mentioned above in Schulzendal township, (1) to assess the satisfaction of Schulzendal community in services delivered by Nkomazi municipality / (2) to examine and identify factors impacting on the Nkomazi municipality's ability to deliver services effectively and efficiently / (3) and to assess the ability of the Schulzendal community to pay for services delivered.

A research dissertation submitted for the Degree of Master of Commerce (Information Systems) by Research / One of the aims of the development of Smart City initiatives is to provide electronic services that address residents’ information needs. Local governments in South Africa have realised that e-government can improve service delivery. There are currently government e-services that are designed to meet residents’ information needs and transform Johannesburg into a Smart City. However, local governments face the challenge of deficiencies in the use of government e-services. In order to ensure that all residents benefit from Smart City services there is a need to understand the use and non-use of these services. This research has been conducted in Johannesburg to understand what makes people use or not use the provided Smart City services. In this context, Smart City services refer to government e-service websites and government city Wi-Fi. The research was addressed from an interpretive perspective employing qualitative methods. The theoretical framework of government websites utilisation developed by Wang (2014) was used as a theoretical grounding. Data was Data was collected through in- depth semi -structured face-to -face interviews with open-ended questions. Twelve interviews were concluded. The results confirm Wang's (2014) theoretical framework in that all the major concepts: value, user needs, effectiveness of government websites, and alternative information sources were reflected as influencing the use and non-use of Smart City services. In addition the results extend Wang's (2014) framework with additional important core concepts: awareness, access, and trust. These concepts are particularly important to residents' participation in a developing country context and can be used to create a deeper understanding of how different types of residents engage or don't engage with Smart City services. In the pursuit of Smart Cities, local governments can use the results of the study to establish measures that can increase the use of free Wi-Fi around the city and government websites. A paper from this research report has been peer reviewed and was accepted for the Community Informatics Research Network (CIRN) conference which was held at Monash University in Italy, Prato. The title of the paper is: Explaining the Use and Non-Use of Smart Cities Services in Johannesburg: Residents’ Perspectives. On the 9th, 10th, and 11th November 2015, I attended the CIRN conference in Italy and presented the paper. The paper will be part of the conference proceedings. / MT2017

Thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management (in the field of Public Sector Monitoring and Evaluation) to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand March 2016 / Performance information is regarded as the most important aspect to monitor progress or performance in the South African government. This study examines the usefulness of performance information in the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform. [Abbreviated abstract. Open document to view full version] / MT 2018

A research report submitted to the faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management (in the field of Governance and Public Leadership) 2015 / The performance management system was introduced in the South African public service with the intention to continuously manage performance by setting performance objectives, reviewing past performance, assessing current performance, improving poor performance, determining recognition and reward for good performance, and assisting with career planning. Research has revealed that although the performance management system has been implemented in government departments it has not achieved expected results. This study was undertaken as an attempt to investigate the factors leading to the challenges in implementing the performance management system in the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. To achieve this, semi-structured interviews were conducted with employees at different levels as well as a former trade union leader who was involved in the process of developing the Gauteng Provincial Government Policy on Performance Management and Development. Internal documents of the Department were also analysed. The themes identified led to a richer understanding of the factors affecting the implementation of the performance management system. The research findings indicate that although there is an understanding of performance management in the Department, implementation remains a challenge. The analysis of the responses indicated a great dissatisfaction with the current system. A few of the reasons are that not all managers show commitment towards the performance management system; some managers are not fair in the manner in which they conduct performance assessments and distribute rewards; it has failed to link performance outcomes to rewards in a meaningful manner; there is not much emphasis placed on personal and career development; and there are no measures put in place by supervisors to address employees who do not achieve the set performance targets. It is concluded that there is an urgent need for government to address the challenges experienced with the system, as at the moment, it is not meeting the objectives it was intended to meet. / MT2017