The effectiveness of outsourcing services as a tool for improving service delivery in KZN Department of Water Affairs and Forestry.
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Date
2002
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Abstract
The aims of the study were to find out whether or not outsourcing
essential to the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. The
second aim was to establish how can outsourcing improve the
Department's cost structure. And the last one was to develop a
viable business model for outsourcing services within the
Department of Water Affairs and Forestry.
The main problem was that the Government opted for outsourcing
as a move to save expenditure within the Department of Water
Affairs and Forestry. This Department has outsourced car and truck
financial services, insurance and management to imperial Group.
This venture estimated that it would save the Department and the
Government approximately R1 Billion on operational costs. This
system is currently operational, but already management in the
Department of Water Affairs and Forestry have realized that such a
venture with huge financial implications should have been based on
carefully planned and executed research findings than mere
hypothesis about saving. The study research method that will be
used is a case study. All the data gathered in the study, is relevant
on to the case being studied. Though conclusions allow for
inferences to be made, the cases where such generalizations are
made or applied to must be similar in all respect. The study's
sample consists of the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry
and the Imperial Group. The two organizations were chosen
because the outsourcing strategy could serve as a yardstick to
measure similar agreements in the future. The specific area of
focus is the agreement on car rental between the two
organizations. The documents analyzed include the:
• Department of Water Affairs and Forestry Outsourcing
Strategy and Outsourcing the Billing Process (January,
2001).
• Department of Water Affairs and Forestry Outsourcing
Strategy and Outsourcing the Billing Process (February,
2001).
• Department of Water Affairs and Forestry Procedural
Manual for Official Transport with Imperial Vehicles
Outsourcing services for the public agencies is a tool that is being
used to offload those non-core functions, such as transport for a
period of time. According to theory it is more cost effective to
outsource peripheral tasks because the alternative, this is, maintain
the same service within the organization is expensive. The findings
of this study show that service should be outsourced but it is
expensive, the individual factors that lead to this conclusion are far
beyond this scope of the study and therefore will not be discussed
in great detail.
[Refer to the abstract within the thesis for the outsourcing model]
The outsourcing model above, developed in this study shows that the
profile of task or process aligned with the first (left most) column will call
for the outsourcing of the task to a supplier.
Description
Thesis (MBA)-University of Natal, Durban, 2002.
Keywords
Contracting out--KwaZulu-Natal., Water-supply--Economic aspects--KwaZulu-Natal., Forests and forestry--Economic aspects--KwaZulu-Natal., Theses--Business administration.