scholarly journals Monitoring Customer-focused Quality Service Delivery in Local Government: Conceptual Issues and Perspectives for Consideration

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Modeni Mudzamba Micheal Sibanda
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Service Quality ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Provincial Government ◽  
Quality Service ◽  
The Public ◽  
Provision Of Services ◽  
Important Means ◽  
Monitoring Service

Local government in South Africa is no longer exclusively a function of national or provincial government; it is now regarded as a sphere rather than a tier of government. Section 152 of the Constitution of South Africa, 1996 stipulates the objectives of the local sphere of government, among which is ensuring the provision of services to communities in a sustainable manner. Poor or lack of service delivery by local authorities has received much media attention of late. Monitoring customer-focused service delivery could therefore be a critically important means to effect quality service delivery in local government. At its core this approach emphasises the treatment of municipal service users and the citizenry as customers. This article contends that conceptually customer-focused quality service delivery may potentially lever local government authorities out of the poor service delivery rut that has come to render some municipal authorities ineffective and inefficient and hence dysfunctional. At a conceptual level the article grapples with the elusive concept of service quality and the often contested concept of customer and proxy measures for monitoring service quality in the public sector. Citing British and South African customer-focused quality service delivery tools and initiatives, the article interrogates the efficacy of such initiatives and perspectives for monitoring customer-focused quality service delivery in the local sphere of government.

scholarly journals Potential Benefits of Monitoring and Evaluation as a Tool in the South African Local Government Spheres

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 56 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. R. Mle
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Performance Monitoring ◽  
High Standard ◽  
Monitoring And Evaluation ◽  
The Public ◽  
Provision Of Services ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Government

Public institutions exist for the public good and employ public officials to perform duties aimed at providing a better life for all. The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 requires that the public service maintains a high standard of professional ethics, use resources efficiently and effectively, and provide services equitably.  When the new political dispensation came into being in 1994 in South Africa, the newly-elected government committed itself to ensuring a better life for all through the provision of services, for example water and electricity supply, sanitation, and houses, etc. To this end, policies and programmes were put in place. However, the challenge that faces the government is the implementation of these policies and programmes which largely remains unsatisfactory. Systems of reporting and performance are, in the main, weak. To address this short-coming, therefore, government came up with the concept of monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of policies and programmes to the extent of creating a new department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation in the Presidency.  Key to the effective implementation of government policies and programmes is the introduction of a tool to ensure that such policies and programmes do not gather dust. This paper therefore, posits how such a tool can have potential benefits in the local government sphere and be a panacea to the ills of this sphere which is characterized by violent service delivery protests through which communities express their dissatisfaction at the non-delivery of essential services.  <br /><br />

scholarly journals A STUDY OF SATISFACTION WITH GOVERNMENTAL QUALITY EFFORTS BASED ON DIFFERENT INFLUENCING FACTORS—WITH THE MONITORING DATA OF LIAONING PROVINCE AS AN EXAMPLE

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
JING-XING LIAO ◽  
LEI FENG ◽  
XIAO-WEN XU
Keyword(s):  
Product Quality ◽  
Provincial Government ◽  
Liaoning Province ◽  
Quality Service ◽  
The Public ◽  
Level 1 ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Quality Awareness ◽  
Level 2 ◽  
Satisfaction With Services

In order to intensify quality efforts, strengthen the responsibility for quality safety, raise the overall level of quality and comprehensively and systematically understand the effectiveness of quality improvement actions of government and the gap between quality perception and requirements f consumers, this paper set up 5 level-1 indicators and 13 corresponding level-2 indicators in five fields of product quality, engineering quality, service quality, environmental quality and quality awareness to monitor the public satisfaction with governmental quality efforts in Liaoning Province. The results show that the public satisfaction with services in the fields of engineering quality and product quality is rather low, calling for greater attention from Liaoning Provincial Government and further improvement.

Political-Administrative Interface at the Local Sphere of Government with Particular Reference to South Africa

2017 ◽  
pp. 242-255
Author(s):  
Purshottama Sivanarain Reddy
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
National Development ◽  
Critical Issue ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Transformation ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Government Legislation

The ongoing political-administrative dichotomy discourse, which is steeped in public administration history, manifests in uncertainty about how the relationship between politicians and administrative officials should be structured. South Africa was democratized in 1994 and local government has subsequently undergone a fundamental socio-political transformation. “World class” local government legislation, with an entrenched constitutional development mandate, was introduced; however, the large numbers of public protests bear ample testimony to major challenges in basic service delivery. A critical issue impacting negatively on the functionality of the post-1994 local government dispensation is the political-administrative interface. The National Development Plan has mapped out a socio-economic vision to 2030, with stabilization of the political-administrative interface a priority. Consequently, the political-administrative interface has to be critically reviewed relative to the quality of local democracy, impact on efficient and effective service delivery, and good local governance.

E-Value Creation in a Government Web Portal in South Africa

2011 ◽  
pp. 384-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Blessing M. Maumbe ◽  
Wallace J. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Service Quality ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Value Creation ◽  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Government Information ◽  
Web Portal ◽  
New Public ◽  
Citizen Service

By the end of 2005, an emerging era of e-government had arrived in South Africa with the promise to transform public service delivery and the relationships between government, business and the citizens. E-government has been perceived as the second revolution in public management after the new public management of the 1980s (Saxena, 2005; Teicher, Hughes, & Dow, 2002). The advent of e-government information and services globally has brought increasing focus on the need to develop user-oriented quality Web portal services. Prior to this time, governments paid little attention to citizen service quality issues (Teicher et al., 2002).

Public sector entrepreneurship in South Africa

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 500-512
Author(s):  
Boris Urban ◽  
Mmapoulo Lindah Nkhumishe
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
South African ◽  
Middle Level ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Provision Of Services ◽  
Efficiency And Effectiveness ◽  
Organisational Factors

Purpose Many unanswered questions remain regarding the authors’ understanding of how entrepreneurship can be fostered in the public sector. To fill this knowledge gap, the purpose of this paper is to conduct an empirical investigation to determine the relationship between different organisational factors and entrepreneurial orientation (EO) in the South African public sector. Design/methodology/approach Primary data are sourced from middle-level managers at municipalities in the three largest provinces across South Africa. Hypotheses are statistically tested using regression analyses. Findings Results reveal that the organisational antecedents of structure and culture explain a significant amount of variation in the EO dimensions of innovativeness, risk taking and proactiveness. Additionally, the findings on organisational rewards converge with an emerging stream of research which highlights that while rewards works well to motivate individuals in the private sector, they are negatively correlated with entrepreneurship in the public sector. Research limitations/implications The study implications relate to the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery of municipalities in South Africa. Due to increases in community protest actions, it is necessary not only to maximise efficiency in the provision of services, but also to innovate and be proactive in order to achieve more with less resources. Originality/value By investigating previously unrelated factors in the public sector, the authors create closer conceptual and empirical links between the role of organisational factors and each of the EO dimensions. Furthermore, the study takes place in a relatively under-researched entrepreneurship and public sector context.

scholarly journals Kualitas Pelayanan Pemasangan Listrik Prabayar Pada PT. PLN (Persero) Area Pelayanan Banyumanik Semarang

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-232
Author(s):  
Dini Setyorini
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Service ◽  
Service Quality ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Service Area ◽  
Quality Service ◽  
The Public ◽  
Score Interpretation

Abstract – It cannot be denied that at present the public service is a concern of the public. Ordinary public service come from agencies that serve the community for the needs of every community. This study aims to determine quality of service for prepaid electricity installation at PT. PLN (Persero) Banyumanik Semarang service area. Analysis of the data used is a score interpretation (IS) obtained from respondents. Respondents numbered 80 people using purposive sampling. While to complete this research, the author also uses secondary data obtained from various existing sources. Based on the results of the research conducted it can be concluded that the dimensions that show service quality include tangibles ( direct evidence), reliability, responsiveness, assurance and emphaty show a strong interpretation where customers feel satisfied with the quality service of PT. PLN (Persero) Banyumanik Semarang service area.Key words : quality, service, satisfaction

scholarly journals Achieving Quality Service Delivery: A Selected study in Perak Local Government

2018 ◽  
pp. 965-972
Author(s):  
Halimah Abdul Manaf ◽  
Rozita Abdul Mutalib ◽  
Ahmad Martadha Mohamed ◽  
Zaheruddin Othman ◽  
Solahuddin Ismail ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Quality Service ◽  
Level Of Satisfaction ◽  
Red Tape ◽  
The Government ◽  
Questionnaire Surveys

The quality of government service delivery has been questioned lately. Issues regarding bureaucratic red tape, inefficiency, delay, unresponsive, lack of empathy, and arrogance are some of the complaints received by the Public Complaint Bureau. Based upon this background, this paper attempts to examine the quality of service delivery in some selected local governments in Perak. The study utilizes a quantitative approach in which questionnaire surveys were distributed to local government staff and clients. A total of 500 customers and 150 staff participated in the survey. Using descriptive analysis, the findings demonstrate that the overall quality service delivery is satisfactory. Both citizens and staff feel that the local government involved in the study are able to deliver their services based on the needs of the clients. However, respondents also raise some serious concerns regarding certain issues such as lack of facilities (park and cleanliness ofpublic toilet), improper maintenance (drainage are clogged, recreational facilities are not maintained), and the availability of facilities and program for disable (OKU) group. The study postulates that the different level of satisfaction among the five selected local governments is due to the demographic characteristics of the government. To be specific, the more urban the government, the more it can generate the revenues, thus giving it more flexibility to provide quality service delivery to the customers. On the other hand, with adequate staff training and greater citizen empowerment, local government can always strive to ensure that services delivered are always effective and efficient.

scholarly journals The illusion of ethics for good local governance in South Africa

2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ernest Ababio ◽  
Shikha Vyas-Doorgapersad
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Code Of Conduct ◽  
Essential Element ◽  
Ethical Framework ◽  
Ethical Guidelines ◽  
The Public

Ethics, the legislation and upholding of good conduct by public officials is a sine qua non for sustenance of good governance and service delivery. The White Paper on the Transformation of the Public Service 1994 identified the need for a code of conduct in South Africa as an essential element to enhance high standards of ethics and professionalism. In 1996, the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa prescribed the values and principles of Public Administration. Subsequently, the Public Service Commission developed a Code of Conduct in 1997. The legitimacy of local government is based on the same principles of ethics and professionalism as that of the national government. It is imperative to implement an ethical framework for social and economic development at the grass-root level. This article examines the theoretical terrain of ethics in public management and posits that, whereas there exist some state-of-the-art legis lation that regulate the conduct of public functionaries at the local government sphere, outcomes of ethics in practice are rather unethical and illusive. There is therefore an advocacy for the need to intensify implementation of ethical guidelines for councillors and municipal employees. The fiduciary, management, operational and accountabil ity framework is further upheld through the implementation of a code of conduct for local officials. Theoretically, the framework should be scientifically accountable and practically feasible in implementation.The article recommends the need to strategise measurable implementation plans, conduct the on-going fraud risk assessments and sensitise the community through education and training regarding good governance and the code of ethics. The approach used is descriptive, though analytical.

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