A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment for the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Psychology at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2010. / This research project was undertaken to investigate workplace bullying and its effect on health service delivery. Research participants were drawn from Prince Mshiyeni Memorial and Mosvold Hospitals; the aim was to compare the experiences of public health employees in rural and urban areas of KwaZulu- Natal. The employees have a right to be treated with respect and dignity and, most importantly, to work in a harmonious and supportive environment. Bullying behaviour breaches the employer’s duty under common law to provide a safe and a secure work environment both physically and psychologically. What makes it difficult for managers to manage bullying is that it has no tangible results but it leaves the victim with psychological and emotional problems which lead to anxiety, stress and depression if not properly attended to. The results of this research project further reveal that the majority of bullied employees are reluctant to speak out or end up not reporting the incidences because when they do report problems they believe that they will not be taken seriously. The results also prove that bullying is not a once-off event but a continuous cycle aimed at humiliating and belittling the XVII victim and that it is present in both health institutions. Though many factors were indicated as contributing to bullying, the low–self-esteem and personality factors of the bully were mentioned as the main factors, followed by inadequate training for the managers. If managers are serious about combating bullying in their workplaces they need to be in touch with what their employees go through when they execute their daily duties and they need to devise some means of ensuring that the grievance procedure is adequate and that it caters for bullying problems.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The human rights movement, which emerged after the end of the Second World War, has created consensus in the international community that basic social amenities are indispensable for human development. These amenities are increasingly accepted as fundamental human rights in national constitutions, with varying degrees of judicial enforceability. However, the efficient provision of basic amenities by states remains a problematic issue in the global South. It is particularly challenging in South Africa, where the introduction of democratic governance after many decades of repressive rule aimed to heal the discriminatory divisions of the apartheid past and establish a society based on equity, dignity, and social justice. Unsurprisingly, the 1996 Constitution makes service delivery a shared obligation among the three spheres of government.

The adoption of decentralised systems of governance in its various forms across the world represents one of the most important reforms of the past generation. In South Africa, through a plethora of legislative reforms post 1994, the framework of developmentalism and decentralisation underpin the structure and functioning of the local government system. The new onerous legislative responsibilities bestowed on local government included the significant objectives of promoting social and economic development. Given however the myriad of challenges in this sphere of government, the need to find meaningful, suitable and sustainable solutions are even more pressing. By employing a two-way error component fixed panel data regression technique, this study explores the impact of fiscal decentralisation arrangements in South Africa on the financial wellbeing of the district municipalities across the length and breadth of the country. The data reveals that district municipalities in South Africa are not able to self-generate a meaningful amount of revenue and as a result they are heavily dependent on intergovernmental transfers. The results from the regression models reveal that the fiscal decentralisation arrangement have no meaningful impact on the financial condition of district municipalities in South Africa, given their lack of fiscal autonomy. The current two-tier system of governance between local and district municipalities is not consistent with the tenets and intended outcomes of a decentralised system and there is a need to restructure this system to make it more fiscally autonomous and sustainable for municipalities to be able to fulfil legislative responsibilities.

In recent years, the eThekwini region has experienced a deterioration in the service delivery of water by its municipalities. A review of available literature indicated that in the current era of managing for all stakeholders, effective stakeholder management was a key area of focus for service delivery improvement. Stakeholder management is context specific, therefore the purpose of this study was to identify and understand the characteristics of leaders required for effective stakeholder management in the eThekwini Water Sector. An exploratory, qualitative, embedded case study approach was adopted since this area of study has been relatively unexplored. A cross-sectional time horizon combined with purposive sampling was used to undertake 16 semi-structured interviews with senior managers within the eThekwini Water Sector, ensuring diversity in the knowledge and views obtained. This study has determined that effective stakeholder engagement entails ensuring that stakeholders are identified correctly, common goals amongst stakeholders are agreed upon, and all engagements and communication are documented and structured. This study further confirms the view that leaders within the eThekwini Water Sector have a wide variety of stakeholders to manage, and that one of the main characteristics required by leaders for effective stakeholder management is the ability to manage relationships. These findings are illustrated through the development of two conceptual frameworks which can be used by leaders in the eThekwini Water Sector to effectively manage stakeholders, as well as scholars for future research. / Mini Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2021. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

Integration in rural primary care has well-delineated advantages, but there are barriers to developing a workforce in these areas. In this presentation, representatives from three novel rural service delivery programs will discuss specific strategies for overcoming these barriers. Attendees will learn how a rural Federally Qualified Health Center grew from 0 to 6 full-time psychologists in two years, how a graduate training program uses telehealth to provide services at rural primary care clinics, and how integrated clinics in the Frontier counties of Nebraska ensure a future workforce starting by targeting high school students.

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The concept of involving the public in the development of transportation solutions was built in the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, the legislation that authorized the construction of the Interstate Highway System. Better plans, transparent process, and public support are some of the benefits that road managers can obtain by educating and involving the general public. During the last two decades the volume of research performed related to the topic of customer-driven highway maintenance suggests an increasing level of interest in the field. Most research concentrates on gathering information from road users to assess the performance level of highways. However, public opinion can also be collected for measuring the quality of the service delivered by maintenance units. Assessing product and service delivery performance is important for determining the overall performance of highway maintenance programs. The present study examines the relationship between road users' overall perceptions of the quality of highway maintenance services and the variables that define the highway maintenance service quality domain. The results of the study indicate that two service dimensions, Safety and Reliability, explain about half of the variance in overall perceptions of highway maintenance service quality. The procedures developed for the study provide an initial step for further improvement of the highway maintenance service quality measurement. / Ph. D.

This dissertation analyzes the relationship between network structure, collaboration, and geography among food security organizations in the New River Valley of Virginia. As a way to better understand how purpose-oriented, service-delivery networks, this case study of the Thrive network examines the relationship between geography and collaboration. The food security organizations within the region were mapped to determine the structure of the network and data was compared to the geography of the region. The findings suggest that food security organizations do find geography as a barrier to collaboration in three ways. First, these organizations see geography as a cost to collaboration due to the increased need for logistics and resources. Second, geography creates interorganizational political and cultural boundaries. Third, many food security organizations view geography as a barrier to collaboration in terms of its relationship between the organization and its clients. Organizations that saw value in collaboration between organizations within the network found ways to overcome the barriers of geography. / Doctor of Philosophy / Networks enable organizations to work together in a way that helps solve social issues too large to be handled by single groups. This dissertation explores the way in which food security organizations collaborate in the New River Valley of Virginia and the ways in which this collaboration is impacted by geography. The findings suggest that geography is often an unclear concept that is conflated with multiple concepts such as organizational politics, client issues, and cultural boundaries, and that overcoming these barriers can be accomplished when goal congruence occurs.

No / While most motorcyclists focus on the maintenance of their motorcycle and personal safety equipment, recent research has highlighted the impact of motorcycling on lowerlimb health. This article underlines the importance of regular health checks to recognise early warning signs of venous disease and how health promotion initiatives linked to preventative strategies may help to minimise the risk of developing venous leg ulcers in this difficult-to-reach population.