This study sought to examine strategic entrepreneurship and issues surrounding this type of activity in a public sector context. The concept of strategic entrepreneurship has received increasing attention in recent years; however, limited studies have focused on strategic entrepreneurship as a distinct construct in public sector context. Consequently, the objective of this study was to address the question of “What is the nature and scope of strategic entrepreneurship in the context of South Africa’s SOEs” through examination of theory and practice. The research question is addressed by first developing a revised framework of strategic entrepreneurship from literature on entrepreneurship, strategy, and public sector context. This revised framework is then examined on activity which is entrepreneurial and strategic within four SOEs operating South Africa as at 2011. Transcripts from a series of interviews, and publicly available documents are analysed thematically. The study identified additional supporting and external factors of strategic entrepreneurship which form a revised conceptual framework of strategic entrepreneurship. The study showed core, supporting, and the external environment elements of strategic entrepreneurship contribute to the increased level of entrepreneurial activity in the public sector context, in particular state-owned enterprises. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters (Information Science) in the Department of Library and Information Studies at the University of Zululand, 2017 / This study investigates the different medical records management regimes within public and private hospitals in the Umhlathuze Area, KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. The study made a comparison and examined whether the current management practices support service delivery in the context of the Batho Pele principles. In doing this, the study reviewed extensive literature on records management standards and theories, legislative framework of medical records in order to establish the extent of the level of compliance to the set regulatory framework in the management of medical records in South Africa. It also assessed the depth of the integration of ICTs in the management of medical records in South Africa. The targeted study sample in both the public and private hospital was 193. Of these, only 180 responded and this represented a respondent‟s rate of 93.5%. The study was largely a quantitative research. The study adopted a survey research design and used multiple forms of data collection techniques such as structured questionnaires, observations and document review. Quantitative data collected was analysed to obtain some descriptive statistics while qualitative data was analysed using content analysis to derive particular themes pertinent to the study. The two sets of results were compared and contrasted to produce a single interpretation and then conclusions were drawn. The study findings established that the records management practices in both hospitals were not well entrenched thus undermining quality health service delivery. This was evidenced by lack of awareness and existence of the records management policies and procedures manual; lack of adherence records management standard; lack of security measures, with rampant cases of missing files, folios and torn folders; delays in access and use of records; lack of an elaborate electronic records management programme and low levels of skill and training opportunities in records management. The use of paper records is still dominant in the public hospital; while the electronic medical record system was in place in the private hospital with some degree of success even though implementation challenges continue to exist. The integration of ICTs in the management of medical records was more evident in the private hospital while the public hospital continues to be underfunded undermining the current capacity for effective medical records management. The role of accurate, reliable and trustworthy medical records in the ii | P a g e context of quality health service delivery in accordance with Batho Pele principle in both hospitals remains problematic. In order to enhance the role of medical records for quality service delivery, the study recommended that a regulatory framework for records management should be developed and implemented in both hospitals. It is also recommended that more technical and human resource capacity is required in the public hospital to help speed up the services to its user while the private hospitals need to entrench their evolving capabilities in medical records management. The study further recommends that training around records management should be provided to all staff that deal with medical records management in both hospitals.

Walden University College of Social and Behavioral Sciences This is to certify that the doctoral dissertation by Nathasha Brooks-Harris has been found to be complete and satisfactory in all respects, and that any and all revisions required by the review committee have been made. Review Committee Dr. Mark Gordon, Committee Chairperson, Public Policy and Administration Faculty Dr. Michael Knight, Committee Member, Public Policy and Administration Faculty Dr. Michael Brewer, University Reviewer, Public Policy and Administration Faculty Chief Academic Officer Eric Riedel, Ph.D. Walden University 2017 There is a digital divide between Baby Boomers and Millennials in the way they communicate and use technology in the New York City public sector workplace. The purpose of this empirical phenomenological study was to explore the phenomenon of generational communications between Baby Boomers and Millennials in the New York City workplace and to understand their lived experiences of how they communicate and use technology in their job. The conceptual framework consisted of two theories: Cameron & Quinn's competing values framework and Prensky's digital natives/digital immigrants. A total of 21 New York City workers (10 Baby Boomers and 11 Millennials) from various agencies participated in semi structured interviews and answered the DISC Classic Profile, an instrument that showed their communication styles. The data were analyzed using the Stevick-Colazzi method and Dedoose data analysis procedure to find groups of meaning and themes. Research found benefits and challenges of technology that impacted communications; how organizational culture impacted technology use and communications; fears about using and learning technology; differences in relationships affecting Baby Boomers and Millennials; and differences in communication styles affecting management and subordinates. Recommendations for future research include conducting a similar qualitative study on Generation X and a quantitative study on Baby Boomers and Millennials. The findings of this study will contribute to positive social change through the implementation of reverse mentoring, knowledge management and transfer, succession planning, and human resource management.

With the increased demand for doing more with less, public sector managers embrace outsourcing back-office functions through a shared service model; however, maintaining service quality for public sector shared service centers (SSC) in financial management during peak cycles is a challenge. Framed with the transaction cost economy theory, the purpose of this single case study was to explore strategies used by SSC managers in a public sector company to maintain service quality. Seven participants with more than 4 years of SSC experience in public-sector companies participated in phone interviews including SSC department heads, managers, and a supervisor of a public-sector company in Mississippi who implemented strategies to successfully maintain service quality in the SSC relationship. Through method triangulation, a review of service level agreements and key performance indicators supplemented open-ended semistructured interviews. The research findings included emergent themes of training and documentation, employee engagement, control and communication, efficiency and automation, and standardization and metrics. The SSC strategies in training and documentation, control and communication, and employee engagement were fundamental for maintaining service quality in SSC relationship. Study findings may help public sector SSC managers understand how to incorporate and implement successful strategies in financial management divisions to maintain service quality. Positive social change includes identifying methods to increased efficiency and service quality in a financial management division. Society could benefit from improvements in employee work-life balance, reduced turnover, and increases in the economic well-being of community residents.

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No description available.

Thesis (M.Com. (Information Systems))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Economic and Business Sciences, 2015 / Information technology (IT) governance, which embodies how organisations arrange and manage their IT assets, continues to be of interest to those involved in the research and practice of information systems (IS). Most of the interest is because of the positive relationship between IT governance and organisational performance. Organisations are increasing their IT expenditure, which results in increased expectations by stakeholders. Public sector organisations have also gradually recognised the importance of IT governance to successful implementation of mandates, but the research conducted globally to understand how IT governance is actually implemented in the public sector has been limited. A case study of ENTDEV (a public sector agency) was used to explore how IT governance implementation takes in a public sector organisation. The case study sought to understand how institutional influences (e.g. regulative, normative and cultural-cognitive) play a role in IT governance adoption and the selection of IT governance mechanisms, how IT governance implementation actually takes place and what IT outcomes are achieved as a result of the implementation - using institutional theory, IT governance mechanisms framework, and the IT outcomes framework, as lenses. The case study identified regulatory influences as playing a role in IT governance adoption, and also uncovered the role of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) as important. Normative and culture cognitive influences were seen as not playing a role at the IT governance adoption stage. Regulatory and normative influences and the CIO have an influence in the implementation of IT governance mechanisms. The skills and capacity of people involved in implementing IT governance mechanisms, together with the positioning and organisation’s perception of IT are some of the issues that impact on IT governance implementation. The study recognised cost effective use of IT and improved compliance as the immediate IT outcomes as a result of IT governance implementation. Strategy enablement outcomes are recognised over time. Informed by the empirical evidence and literature, a framework for IT governance implementation in public sector organisations is conceptualised as a contribution to theory. It is envisaged that the framework may be used by public sector institutions to improve their understanding of IT governance and subsequently improve how they implement IT governance.

La tesi analizza come i sistemi contabili possano contribuire alla creazione e allo sviluppo del valore pubblico e considera, nello specifico, tre prospettive: (i) il ruolo di alcuni meccanismi di governance e auditing nell’assicurare l’attendibilità dei dati di bilancio; (ii) gli effetti della trasparenza (e, in particolare, della comprensibilità delle informazioni contabili) sulla partecipazione dei cittadini; e (iii) gli impatti delle riforme contabili nella lotta alla corruzione. I risultati dimostrano che i sistemi contabili forniscono le modalità operative per comunicare, diffondere e sviluppare il valore pubblico. Alcune caratteristiche dei Collegi Sindacali sono risultate cruciali per assicurare l’attendibilità dei dati di bilancio, contribuendo così a rendere visibili alcuni aspetti del valore pubblico. Determinati attributi della trasparenza si sono dimostrati efficaci nel migliorare la comprensibilità delle informazioni contabili per i cittadini, sostenendone in questo modo la partecipazione. Da ultimo, le riforme contabili hanno generalmente avuto successo nella lotta alla corruzione. Tuttavia, da alcuni risultati è emerso che i sistemi contabili possono anche essere implicati in comportamenti non etici e volti alla distruzione del valore pubblico. / The thesis is aimed at investigating how accounting systems can contribute to the creation and development of public value. Three facets of public sector accounting research are explored, namely: (i) the role of governance and auditing arrangements in assuring the reliability of financial information; (ii) the effects of transparency (and, in particular, of the understandability of financial information) on democratic participation; and (iii) the impact(s) of accounting in the fight against corruption. Results show that accounting systems do provide the operational ways to communicate and develop public value. Specific auditors characteristics have proven to be crucial for assuring the reliability of financial information, thus contributing to making aspects of public value and its distribution in the society more visible. Certain transparency attributes were found to be effective in improving citizens’ understanding of governments’ financial performance, thus sustaining democratic participation. Finally, accounting-based anti-corruption reforms have largely been recognized as successful. However, drawing on a more critical point of view, accounting may also be implicated in unethical behaviors and in the destruction of public value.

The thesis sets out to examine a digitization project of an obsolete art database that was issued by the Finnish joint municipal authority Finlands Svenska Förbund för Utbildning och Kultur (SÖFUK) and KulturÖsterbotten through questions on obsolescence, the reasoning behind using an obsolete database for so long, elements that characterize digitization work in municipal settings and the challenges such a project brings forth. The SÖFUK art database functions as a case study that is being examined through action research supported by previous research on obsolescence and the different approaches to digitization within the humanities; mass, critical, and slow digitization. The goal of the digitization project is to transfer the data from the old MS Access 97 art database to the modern solution Katalogen, and to take new photographs of the artworks because of their unfavourable quality. The goal is hence to digitize the art database anew. The steps taken to digitize the art database are described throughout the digitization process. With the help of a constructed analytical tool supported by previous research on obsolescence, the old art database is analyzed and discussed to answer the question on which types of obsolescence that could be found regarding the database. The thesis is also supported by previous research on the digitization approaches mass, critical and slow digitization, with slow digitization being the favoured approach for the nature of this digitization project. The results show that various findings of obsolescence could be noted in the old art database. Elements of digitization in municipalities can be linked to communication, time management and cooperation. The challenges vary from light being reflected in plexiglass while photographing to difficulties localizing artworks in the municipalities. Why the obsolete art database was used for so long by SÖFUK and KulturÖsterbotten was that an external resource was needed to do the tedious work of localizing the artworks and travel to the fourteen municipalities to photograph each artwork.

Background: Medical device companies must consider different laws and regulations when developing new products. Not just laws and regulations put on themselves, but also laws and regulations put on the market, including the public sector. New product development consists of what is known as the fuzzy front end (FFE) of innovation, where companies must make ill-defined decisions with limited information. Problem formulation: There is a vast number of studies within the FFE of innovation, many of which focus on what causes the fuzziness, namely uncertainty, complexity and equivocality. There are, however, limited studies focusing on the FFE within the medical device industry, emphasising the public sector. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to explore the FFE of innovation within the Swedish medical device industry, where the public sector is prominent. The aim is also to highlight industry-specific aspects of the whole FFE for medical device companies to consider when commercialising their products to the public sector, which is arguably an even fuzzier market. Method: To be able to answer the research question, this thesis is built upon a qualitative, multiple case study with an abductive approach to theory development. Five interviews were conducted with four different companies within the medical device industry in Sweden., and two interviews were conducted with two different county councils in Sweden. Findings: The main findings of this thesis are that the public sector creates higher amounts of uncertainty and complexity within the medical device industry. Thus, the FFE of innovation is industry-specific and also depends on what type of product is being developed. Equivocality as well is found to have other dimensions within FFE in the Swedish medical device industry. Conclusion: Many aspects of the FFE of innovation from previous studies exist in the medical device industry in Sweden, but the FFE seem to contain higher amounts of each cause of fuzziness.