http://hdl.handle.net/10413/14279 Mon, 07 May 2018 17:27:29 GMT 2018-05-07T17:27:29Z http://hdl.handle.net/10413/14761 The ecology of Nigeria’s public administration and employee motivation in the plateau state civil service (2004-2014). From a general perspective, workers’ motivation gained prominence with the abolition of the slave trade and the advent of the industrial revolution. The latter was to be anchored on legitimate trade as opposed to illegitimate trade that was characterised by the commodification of the people of African descent who were enslaved in the Americas and Europe. This new development led to the proposition of several theories by various Western scholars attempting to rationalize workers behaviour or misbehaviour in industrial settings. Thought processes alongside other factors are upheld as common denominators responsible for positively or negatively affecting workers morale, work ethic and productivity within the workplace. This is the belief and common practice across the globe. Within the broader context outlined above, the primary objective of this research was to examine the ecology of Nigeria’s public administration to determine the possibility of its effect on employee motivation. To achieve this goal, the Plateau State civil service was investigated and raw data generated for analysis. While not disputing the validity of the existent content and process organizational motivation theories, this study specifically evaluated the extent to which the output of the Plateau State civil service staff was affected by factors extraneous to their immediate workplace environment and unaddressed by the theories. The research highlighted the influence of prevalent phenomena and diversities in the socio-cultural environments of a developing society like Nigeria that challenge the tenability of the major motivation theories in wholly explaining public sector workers motivation. It drew from the postulations of Riggs’ fused-prismatic-diffracted model with focus on the non-administrative criteria present in the environments of most developing (prismatic) societies and from the primary notion of the contingency theorists that there is ‘no one-best-way’ in administration. These constituted the theoretical bases on which the re-evaluation of the motivation theories in the light of the inherent characteristics of Nigeria’s public administrative ecology was carried out. The research relied on data derived from primary and secondary data sources and analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (Version 20) and thematic content analysis respectively. The results show that Nigeria’s ecology has an effect on employee motivation. Based on the findings of this research, target-oriented strategies for enhancing the Plateau State civil service employees’ motivation and quality of work life were proffered. The dissertation report was concluded with suggestions for further research beyond the selected case study of Plateau State for clarity on the impact of a country’s ecology on employee motivation. Doctor of Philosophy in Policy and Development Studies. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg 2016. Fri, 01 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10413/14761 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10413/14284 A policy analysis of self-governed collective action among agricultural cooperatives in uMgungundlovu District, KwaZulu-Natal. To address the injustices of apartheid rule, the African National Congress government embarked on a series of policy reforms, among them the overhaul of the old Cooperatives Act no. 19 of 1981 to The Cooperatives Act no. 14 of 2005. According to Ostrom (1990) cooperatives are a typical example of self-organised collective action groups in which the actors stand to earn mutual benefits, strictly if they can curb free-riding, instil commitment, have a constant supply of rules, and oversee individual adherence to the rules. Management of cooperatives as business enterprises is difficult given their unique nature: they are voluntarily and democratically created by the owners who serve as the management and the client (Prakash, nd). This study set out to analyse self-governed collective action among agricultural cooperatives in uMgungundlovu District KwaZulu-Natal Province. In this study Ostrom’s (1990), Governing the commons: the evolution of institutions for collective action, is used as the conceptual framework and the mixed methods approach is employed. The findings of this study show that community attributes did not facilitate the formation and sustained governance of these cooperatives. The cooperatives lacked the necessary resources and had only one partner; the government. The seemingly abundant but segmented and uncoordinated support from various government departments did not reach most cooperatives and hindered them from becoming autonomous. Members of cooperatives did not understand the concept “cooperative” and lacked basic skills in governance. The high mushrooming rates, drop-out rates and collapse rates of cooperatives also point to the failure of members of cooperatives to govern themselves. Thus, fragmented implementation of the Cooperatives Act no 15 of 2005 has resulted in failed self-governed collective action among the emerging agricultural cooperatives in South Africa. There is therefore the need for a coordinated support to cooperatives and to separate the Cooperatives Development Policy from the Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment Policy and implement the policy according to the cooperative principles and values. All the stakeholders need to be equipped with a thorough understanding of the concept "cooperative" and made to work towards establishing an independent cooperatives movement with varied partners. There exists very little research on self-governance of cooperatives in South Africa, most of which is economics based and often covers small pockets of the country. There is need for further research which is social science oriented and covers wider areas of the country that will help authenticate and compare the findings of this study. Doctor of Philosophy in Policy Development . University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg 2016. Fri, 01 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10413/14284 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10413/14281 Public healthcare in a post-apartheid South Africa : a critical analysis in governance practices. The South African public healthcare system has undergone fundamental changes since 1994. There is a solid constitutional and legislative policy framework in place that guarantees the right to access to healthcare. However, difficulties remain in its implementation. The HIV/AIDS epidemic has negated many of the health gains made since 1994. Numerous studies have concluded that South Africa lacks the necessary skilled workforce and infrastructure. Nevertheless, while this is not disputed, this study argues that the implementation of public health policies in South Africa needs a governance approach that will strengthen cooperative governance across national, provincial and local spheres of government; as well as strengthen relationships between the private and public healthcare providers if the government is to meet its legislative obligations. This study determines why, after almost 20 years of democracy; substantial transformation in the healthcare sector; significant increase in national revenue allocation; and numerous healthcare policy interventions; the South Africa government continues to struggle to provide public healthcare services. This study identifies the various public healthcare sector reforms that have been undertaken and the respective governance approaches that have been adopted. The study concludes that the lack of resources (human, financial and technical) are not the only or primary stumbling block to providing universal public healthcare. There is a serious disparity between theory and practice: One the one hand, there is a comprehensive legislative health policy framework in place, on the other hand, there is a vacuum on how this is meant to be implemented. The institutional arrangements within the public health sector; the intergovernmental relations between the different spheres of government; as well as the lack of mechanisms, processes and institutions which govern the relationships between the private and public sector remains vague. As long as this remains, policy implementation in the public healthcare sector will remain flawed and limited. Doctor of Philosophy in Policy and Development Studies. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg 2016. Fri, 01 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10413/14281 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10413/11012 The implementation of the government-wide monitoring and evaluation system in South Africa : a provincial case study of the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Economic Development and Tourism. Monitoring and evaluation practice is an imperative for a country to ensure good governance in government departments, including transparency, accountability, effectiveness and efficiency. Successful implementation of Government-Wide Monitoring and Evaluation (GWM&E) systems results in a government that is well co-ordinated, legitimate, credible, relevant and a government that seeks operational excellence (Kusek & Rist: 2004). The South African government seeks to achieve greater developmental impact and one of the ways government is increasing effectiveness is by concentrating on monitoring and evaluation. Improving monitoring and evaluation leads to improvements in the quality of planning and implementation systems. The implementation of GWM&E and its strategies should be characterised by a management culture within government departments, which demands performance and utilises monitoring and evaluation (M&E) findings for planning and budgeting. Otherwise M&E systems could degenerate into superficial ‘tick the checklist’ exercises which comply with the GWM&E framework, but undermine its spirit. This study investigated the implementation of the GWM&E system, using the KwaZulu -Natal Department of Economic Development and Tourism (DEDT) as a case study. This study explored how the intended aims and objectives of the GWM&E have been realised at a provincial level and the understandings and processes employed in institutionalising it. The research methodology used is interpretative, using semi-structured interviews and content analysis to establish the relationship between what needs to be done according to legislation and what is done in practice. Theories of change, organisations, implementation, results-based evaluation and public policy were reviewed to examine the interrelationships between context, mechanisms and outcomes, with regards to GWM&E. The review of implementation of the GWM&E system found that public institutions craft impressive monitoring and evaluation frameworks but it will take time before these frameworks are actually fully operationalised and M&E findings are influential in shaping policy and strategy formulation in public resource allocation. Implementation of GWM&E requires clear aims and objectives of the M&E systems, co-ordination and integration in a decentralised system like the South African system. There needs to be a balance between top-down guidance and bottom-up expertise. There is a need for M&E to be taken more seriously in South Africa in order for government mandates to be met and policy initiatives and programmes to be improved. Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2014. Thu, 03 Jul 2014 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10413/11012 2014-07-03T00:00:00Z