The South African public service, like many organisation, is embracing
information and communication technology (ICTs) and the main aim is to improve
and better their services. Frenzel (1999:18) indicates that this is because ICT
has the potential to reduce costs, improve internal efficiency, capture economies
of scale and bring organisations even closer to their customers and suppliers.
Significant initiatives have been taken in the last couple of years. These include
the need to address the coordination of ICT initiatives in the public service,
through the establishment of the Office of the Government Chief Information
Officers (OGCIO) within the Department of Public Service and Administration
(DPSA). The South African public service also established State Information
Technology Agency (SITA) responsible for the provision of information
technology, system and related services.
However, although ICT has the potential to infuse every area of the public service
and improve service delivery, ICT is a management task that should be
addressed in the overall context of an organisation and its environment. It is
therefore in the best interest of this study to investigate the role of ICT in the
South African public service.
A number of aspects of ICT were investigated, including the challenges facing
government in the implementation of ICT, critical success factors of ICT and the
role of ICT in the public service. Among the challenges indentified include
leadership instability, lack of common shared vision and strategy, lack of skills,
training and development and poor communication and decision making
processes are significant organizational factors constraining the successful
implementation of ICT in government. Lack of ICT infrastructure, integration and
interoperability issues are cited as technical challenges to successful
implementation. Key findings from the study were that ICTs should integrate service delivery
across government. It should also facilitate business efficiency and effectiveness
and contribute towards socio-economic development. It is therefore necessary
that ICT must be driven by governmentâs developmental agenda, rather than
technology. It is recommended that this could be achieved through a sustained
shared, common vision across government, adequate resources and strategic
partnerships with the business community. / Master of Public Administration, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nwu/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/10507 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Kekana, Lucky Mahlatse |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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