The empirical study was carried out in Matjhabeng Local Municipality (MLM), located in the Northern region of the Free State Province. Furthermore, the study was conducted from a sample consisting of the four senior managers and twenty line managers from the four departments within the municipality. The research was carried out with the express permission of the office of the accounting officer.
STUDY OVERVIEW
- INTRODUCTION
- PROBLEM STATEMENT
- PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
- LlMIl"ATION OF THE STUDY
- DEPLOYMENT OF THE STUDY
- SUMMARY
An empirical study will be conducted to assess the procedures municipalities use to ensure operational efficiency. The study will be limited to one particular municipality within the Free State, namely lVIatjhabeng Local Municipality. This will include a quantitative analysis which will be carried out within the Matjhabeng Local Municipality in the Free State province.
ACHIEVING OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY
INTRODUCTION
Another definition, which gives a new angle to the meaning of efficiency, is found in the Britannica Concise Encyclopaedia. In the public sector, Gershon (2004: 6) states that the word efficiency has to do with making the best use of available resources to deliver services. It has been defined in the McGraw-Hili Encyclopaedia of Science and Technology (2005) as "the ratio of output production to input effort".
PRACTICES USED TO ATTAIN OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY
- Management of risk
This initiative demonstrated the government's relentless drive to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the way public services are delivered (Batho Pete White Paper, 1997: 9). This initiative, described by Trusler (2003), substantiates the argument that information technology can be used as one of the processes to achieve efficiency in the performance of local government tasks in South Africa. However, there have been unforeseen circumstances that have delayed the implementation of e-Government in South Africa and elsewhere in the world.
Because it is one of the production factors (input), human capital has a direct impact on the competitiveness of the organization. For local government to achieve operational efficiency, it therefore had to use some of the principles that apply in the market economy to promote competition.
BACKGROUND AND CHALLENGES
Municipal governance structure
Agriculture has been one of the primary sources of economic activity in this region for many years. Mining and also quarrying are part of the primary economic activities in this region, especially in Welkom, Virginia, Odendaalsrus and Allanridge. One of the possible sites for the development includes Flamingo Pan, the golf course, waterfront development and Witpan.
The least number of the population, of about one percent, is employed in the manufacturing industry, while on the opposite side, the majority is employed in mining. The remaining sectors, trade and industry, only work under six and ten percent of the population respectively (Matjhabeng Municipality, 2004). Welkom is the center of the commercial activities, and heartland of the Free State.
Odendaalsrus is considered the mother town of the Goudveld, as it was the first town in the region of the present-day MLM, founded in 1912. However, it was during April 1946 after the discovery of the richest gold reef that the town exploded into life and began to grow. Ventersburg is also named after the pioneer, PA Venter, of the farm Kromfontein, who died in 1857.
As part of the farm, Ventersburg was only declared a town in 1873, although it was still considered part of the district of Winburg.
SUMMARY
Furthermore, the IDP municipal document enables the integration of the three spheres of governance, thus ensuring that other essential services are provided by institutions such as police stations, hospitals and clinics. Within this municipal region, there are only eight police stations, 17 clinics, four magistrates' courts and four prisons. For the growing population of more than 500,000 inhabitants, these centers are insufficient to meet the needs of the population of this region.
This therefore requires the municipality to assume leadership by dedicating certain portions of its resources to the process of facilitating interaction with other spheres of government. In all the above activities and functions presented as challenges for this municipality, the solution can be found in the effective management of the municipal inputs in relation to the outputs, which simply means that the municipality has a huge task to manage its scarce resources in a efficient way to manage. way to carry out its mandate and meet the expectations of its citizens.
PRESENTATION OF RESULTS AND FINDINGS
INTRODUCTION
The scale consisting of the four preset answer options, namely Agree, Agree, Uncertain and Don't Know, was used to extract specific answers from all respondents. It has been chosen to avoid or reduce answers that are expressed in certain degrees, or answers that express the magnitude of the occurrence of a researched event. The above reason thus led to the choice of the scale used in the questionnaire for this study.
Initially, copies of the questionnaire were given to a small number of respondents to assess the respondents' general understanding of completing the questionnaire. Questionnaires were self-administered to provide assistance to respondents where such assistance or clarification was required. Prior permission to conduct an empirical study in this municipality was requested and received (see annex B) from the municipal manager's office.
Subsequent activities related to the study were coordinated through the office of the head of the corporate services department to launch the study.
ANALYSIS OF RESULTS AND FINDINGS
Regarding Table 4.6, most of the first respondents agreed that MLM has adopted the principles of corporate governance, which are also part. Only five questions related to effective human capital management (in Table 4.11) were asked to the respondents in this part of the paper, and they were compiled from section 2.2.3 of chapter two. Regarding the first question of the third exercise, 40 percent of line managers responded (in table 4.12 below) saying that they are aware of MLM's human resource strategy to ensure effective human capital management, while another 40 percent were unsure and the rest were unaware.
When asked whether the performance management system for MLM was implemented for the purpose of achieving accountability, half of the group of line managers agreed although the other group disagreed. The exact similarity of the answer given by the line managers was also given by the senior managers. Senior managers were 100 percent sure that such principles do not form an integral part of the municipal performance management system.
However, the two halves of the senior manager group agreed, while the other half did not. Does management believe that outsourcing specific activities or functions within the municipality would reduce inefficiencies? With regard to the first question, the existence of such a process within senior managers was completely (100 percent) refuted (in Table 4.26).
Although there was some denial by line managers of the existence of such a process, the majority (50 per cent) were unsure of its existence.
SUMMARY
Finally, senior managers were evenly split in their answers to the last two questions. Referring to Table 4.27, the majority of early respondents (60 percent) agreed that MLM has adopted principles of corporate governance, which are also part of municipal business operations. All senior managers agree that management is always just taking responsibility.
Line managers generally believe that human capital is managed ineffectively, while senior managers share a similar view. Both line managers and senior managers also agree that risks are not well managed within this institution. However, everyone was satisfied with the way the use of technology is regulated and supports the organisation's objectives.
Next, line managers' responses to the question about survey results and other feedback raised concerns that management does not have a system through. Another concern is the lack of adoption (by management) of a multi-source assessment system from which feedback on municipal performance can be obtained. A further problem area for both line and top managers is the use of best practice in the municipality.
However, in this last issue given the continuous improvements, senior managers were particularly unhappy that MLM does not have processes for defining service quality standards in terms of service delivery.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
- THE EFFICIENCY LEVEL WITHIN THE MUNICIPALITY
- CONCLUSION
- RECOMMENDATIONS
- Commitment to organisational value system
- Adhering to principles of Corporate Governance
- Effective management of Human Capital
- Management of risk
- Performance Management System
- Use of Technology
- Survey results and other feedback
- Benchmarking
- Privatisation
- Continuous Improvement
The questionnaire was designed to evaluate the municipality in relation to the three levels identified in the model presented above (in table 5.1), which is why the following results were obtained;. Regarding the average response obtained from all the participants (in Table 5.2), line managers have indicated the presence of a regulatory environment around the ten practices that are essential to achieve operational efficiency in the municipality. This means that MLM was able to develop some of the frameworks necessary to be classified as a Level 1 organization.
Second, even though there are disagreements between line managers and senior managers on issues related to the adoption of corporate governance principles, this situation still does not favor the functioning of the municipality. If left unattended, municipal resources may not be allocated appropriately and effectively, and performance indicators may also not be used as mechanisms for measuring efficiency. Another issue involves the lack of adoption (by management) of a multi-source evaluation system from which to obtain feedback about municipal performance.
Which of the following applications/values does the municipality encourage all its employees to adhere to. This municipality always takes the above values into account. Are the requirements of the following laws and regulations reflected in the decisions made by the management of this institution. Do you believe that all municipalities and other state bodies should accept the principles?
Is management of the opinion that the outsourcing of certain activities or functions within.
MATJHABENG
