This PhD research project investigated the failure of a Public Private Partnership (PPP) ICT service delivery project between the South African Department of Labour (DOL) and Siemens Information Services (SIS). The research investigated conditions contributing to management failure of the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Implementation project, which had the objective of improving the Department of Labour's service operations and the transfer of ERP technology competence to the DOL. An important objective of this research was to develop an understanding of the special challenges of PPP management in the context of emerging and developing countries. International organizations such as the IMF, World Bank and United Nations (UN) have been encouraging emerging and developing countries to adopt PPPs as vehicles for developing technology competence and improving public sector efficiency. However, little research has been conducted to discover whether these countries have the competencies to successfully implement and manage PPPs. The goal of this PhD study was to develop an understanding of factors and conditions influencing the DOL-SIS PPP failure in order to develop theory and approaches, which could help improve management practices in the area of contracting-out ICT service delivery in the public sector of the Republic of South Africa. The research was guided by an agency theory framework and utilised a multi-method approach to conduct three empirical investigations into the PPP institutional framework, project governance and public accountability aspects of the DOL-SIS project. Some important findings of this research are: (1) Robust institutional policies and governance mechanisms specific to PPPs for ICT service delivery are necessary but not sufficient to combat risks of failure; robust mechanisms for performance monitoring and penalties for shirking are also necessary. (2) Public sector managers need specialised knowledge and competence to effectively manage private partners in the execution of ICT PPP contracts; over dependence on the private partners can significantly increase the risk of project failure, and encourage opportunistic behaviour and shirking by the private partner. (3) Transparent project governance and public accountability mechanisms are necessary to maintaining public support and combating opportunistic behaviour of both private and public partners on a PPP ICT services project. The thesis comprises three empirical studies: Study 1 used an agency theory framework to interrogate the PPP institutional framework to understand its provisions for identifying and managing risk factors in ICT service delivery projects. Study 2 analysed data from interviews with stakeholders, the contract meeting minutes and other relevant documents, guided by the agency theory framework to develop an understanding of project governance challenges. Study 3 focused on identifying public accountability issues and used a critical discourse analysis methodology to interrogate the media discourse concerning the failure of the DOL-SIS ERP Implementation failure. Content analysis with the use of ATLAS/TI and automated tool was used to analyse all the relevant documents for the different studies. The general contribution of this PhD research is an explanatory theory illustrating how interactions among institutional conditions, governance mechanisms, knowledge and management competence deficits, and the behaviour of the PPP actors reinforced dysfunctional organisational conditions, which resulted in project failure. The theory is illustrated using a causal loop modelling technique and a set of five theoretical propositions clarifying the organizational knowledge and competence challenges, which the public sector managers faced, and the consequences of these affecting the success of the PPP project. This is an important contribution to literature on the use of PPPs for ICT service delivery not only in emerging and developing country contexts, but in developed contexts as well. Other contributions specific to the South African perspective are: (1) Study 1 revealed gaps in the institutional framework concerning the management of risks in ICT PPP projects. While South Africa has much experience with managing risks in the engineering and delivery of physical infrastructure, there is a comparable lack experience with managing ICT infrastructure implementation project risks. (2) Studies 1 and 2 reveal gaps in the governance and accountability mechanisms and practices which can be exploited with adverse consequences to the public interest. These studies also point to the importance of robust transparency and governance mechanisms, and high levels of management competence to the effective risk management of PPPs for ICT service delivery. (3) Study 3 reveals importance of the independent media in fostering debate, uncovering evidence, scrutinizing the activities of the actors in the DOL-SIS PPP and defending the public interest. The independent media played a critical role of agitating for public accountability when the DOL was reluctant to do so, and raising issues about SIS underperformance and pushing for public investigation into the governance of the DOL-SIS ERP Implementation project.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uct/oai:localhost:11427/23412 |
| Date | January 2016 |
| Creators | Albertus, Rene Winifred |
| Contributors | Ngwenyama, Ojelanki, Brown, Irwin |
| Publisher | University of Cape Town, Faculty of Commerce, Department of Information Systems |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Doctoral Thesis, Doctoral, PhD |
| Format | application/pdf |
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