South African Service Research Articles

Geographical Information Systems (GIS) in Municipal Planning and Management: A Pathway to Improve South African Service Delivery

In the years after 1994, the democratic government of South Africa worked to transfer and extend basic service provision to practically all sections of the country. The delivery of public services continues to be an embarrassment to humanity and the developmental state. Without proper basic services such as water, sanitation, power, infrastructure, health facilities, and housing, a large section of South Africa’s people would continue to live and die. As a result, society remains disenfranchized and exposed to socioeconomic shocks, contributing to the economy's decline and destruction. To support successful service delivery, the integration of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) as a shift from human-led operations to computerized operations is now recognized and required in municipal planning and management. The central purpose of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of applying GIS as a crucial planning tool infused within integrated development planning in municipal planning and management. The current state of service delivery in existing municipal planning and management procedures, as well as the factors that influence it and the effect it has on society, will be examined. This conceptual study employs secondary data and follows a certain methodology. Using the Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) methodology, secondary data were examined. The results demonstrate that political influence and manipulation, a lack of openness and accountability, insufficient citizen participation, a lack of personnel capability, and poor planning, monitoring, and evaluation contribute to poor public service delivery in South Africa. Furthermore, the findings indicate that GIS functions as a tool for visualization and collation of spatial information, map production, and data capturing and storage in local municipalities with the aim of enhancing public service delivery.

Per capita water consumption for benchmarked South African service levels derived by means of explicit reasoning

Per capita water use is commonly employed in single-parameter models to estimate water demand, especially in regions where model input parameters are limited. Research has confirmed that the serviced population and household size positively correlate with water consumption, but the per capita consumption of household members decreases with increased household size. A central issue driving this study was the lack of an up-to-date per capita household water use guideline in the South African context. This study followed a process of explicit reasoning and inference, informed by an extensive knowledge review, stakeholder input and interrogation of relevant data, to develop a novel per capita water use estimation tool. Five main parameters were included, namely: (i) level of water service provided, (ii) usage scenario, (iii) household size (people per household), (iv) geographic region, and (v) regional property value. A Microsoft Excel–based tool was developed and is supplied online as supplementary material with this publication. The litres per capita per day tool (LCD-tool) allows for robust per capita water use estimates, as a function of the above five input parameters. The Microsoft Excel LCD-tool provides benchmarks for different South African conditions, described by context-specific service levels. The planning and management of water supply and distribution systems could benefit from the findings of this study.

Notes: The legitimacy of the South African Consumer Goods and Services Ombud’s Code of Conduct: An analysis of Consumer Goods and Services Ombud NPC v Voltex (Pty) Ltd

Alternative dispute resolution is one of the mechanisms envisaged by the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 to provide consumers with access to cost-effective and speedy redress of consumer disputes. Accredited industry ombuds are one of the fora that give effect to this purpose. However, industry participants are not always willing participants, and may wish to challenge the legitimacy of such fora, particularly where the relevant forum is funded by these industry participants. This makes it challenging to give effect to the provisions of any applicable codes of conduct, and also frustrates the consumer’s pursuit for redress. These issues came to the fore in Consumer Goods and Services Ombud NPC v Voltex (Pty) Ltd [2021] ZAGPPHC 309. In this matter, the Consumer Goods and Services Ombud sought a declaratory order from the court, confirming that its code of conduct was legitimate. The judgment is significant as it has an impact on the enforcement of consumer rights by this ombud, and has wider implications for other current and future accredited industry ombuds.

MWEB: Growth strategy options for an internet service provider

Subject area of the teaching case: The case is particularly relevant for students studying elements of business strategy with an interest in strategic decision-making, competitive strategy, and growth strategy. The case leverages several strategic frameworks taught throughout business courses and illustrates a real-world application of these frameworks to support sound strategic decision-making. Furthermore, the case examines the relevance of sustainable competitive advantage and the linkages to the appropriate growth strategy for a business. It is recommended that this case be taught once students have covered the applicable theory and frameworks in class. Student level: This case is designed for business administration students, in particular MBA, EMBA, speciality Masters, or executive education students. Brief overview of the teaching case: MWEB is a leading first-tier South African internet services provider, with an operating history spanning over 22 years. The MWEB brand is a household name across South Africa, seen as one of the pioneers of the internet industry and accredited with bringing the internet to ordinary consumers across the country. The state of competition in the market, however, has intensified and MWEB's traditional operating model has not evolved fast enough to meet the changing landscape. The market is in the midst of a price war, to which MWEB has responded by reducing market pricing and offering attractive deals, undercutting all its competitors. The results have been positive; sales have increased and churn has reduced, but competitors have already started to follow. The dilemma facing CEO Sean Nourse and his management team is how to accelerate growth in a highly commoditised market with intense competition while ensuring the long-term profitability of the business. The case encourages the consideration of the strategic decision-making process by analysing the competitive landscape, evaluating the options, and reaching a decision on the most viable growth strategy for the business. Expected learning outcomes: To analyse the competitive landscape and the forces at play To conduct a competitor analysis, appraise long-term profitability in the industry, identify profitable strategic positions, and determine how MWEB may achieve and protect its competitive advantage To identify and analyse the key parameters that, in combination, represent a company's business model To critically analyse the contextual factors that are presented as business challenges, evaluating and understanding the impact and scale of these challenges To critically assess relevant growth strategy alternatives for MWEB and analyse the viability of the alternatives presented To conduct an informal valuation to determine a purchase price for an acquisition target for the business

A Very South African Plot? The 1987 London Kidnap Plan

This essay considers a South African plot to kidnap and torture senior members of the African National Congress working in London in 1987 to extract information from them, and explores the response of the British state to this conspiracy. Using previously unexamined documents from the files of Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office revealed following a Freedom of Information request, supplemented by interviews in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Norway, we make the following arguments. First, that the extent of South African covert activity abroad during the apartheid period has been underestimated and remains insufficiently explored. Secondly, that the agents of the South African security services continued to pursue their activities after the end of apartheid. Thirdly, that considerable information about these activities has yet to be revealed as it is held in government files that remain closed.

Evaluating the health and safety practices for the delivery of building energy retrofit projects in South Africa

Implementing energy upgrades in buildings will bring about economic gains, while enhancing social wellbeing and engendering sustainable development. However, building energy upgrades encompass additional considerations and requirements in terms of processes, materials, and expertise, technology and health and safety practices. All these factors constitute complexities in the delivery of the project. In addressing this problem; the paper presents how stakeholders understand health and safety issues in the delivery of projects amongst South African service providers. The case-based study highlighted the health and safety issues, and solutions concerning the methodologies that are appropriate in enhancing the conditions.

“IT DOESN’T MATTER HOW MANY (CASES) YOU GOT, IF YOU LOVE THE JOB, YOU CAN MANAGE EVERYTHING”: MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES UTILISED BY FRONTLINE SOCIAL WORKERS

The adoption of the social development approach in South African social service organisations continues to challenge and stretch organisations in many directions. The frontline social worker navigating this terrain, carrying the bulk of direct services and undertaking various management tasks, is confronted with personal trauma, resource constraints, organisational issues, ethical dilemmas as well as the pressure of inclusive and representative service delivery. An exploratory descriptive qualitative empirical study using a case study research design was undertaken with the main aim being to explore and describe the management tasks of frontline social workers in the NPO sector in Port Elizabeth. Semi-structured individual interviews were held with frontline social workers and one focus group was held with middle managers. The study's findings revealed the aspects contributing towards undertaking management tasks, the experiences of executing management tasks and the consequences of doing so. This paper presents the management strategies utilised by frontline social workers.

Prehospital acute traumatic pain assessment and management practices in the Western Cape, South Africa: a retrospective review

BackgroundTrauma is a common aetiology of acute pain in the emergency setting, and traumatic injuries have been recognised as a global public health crisis leading to numerous deaths and disabilities. This study aimed to identify the prevalence of acute pain among high acuity trauma patients presenting to a public sector emergency medical service and to describe prehospital acute traumatic pain assessment and management practices amongst emergency care providers in the Western Cape Province, South Africa.MethodsA retrospective review of electronic patient care reports of trauma patients treated by the South African Western Cape Emergency Medical Services between January 1 and December 31, 2017 was conducted. Stratified random sampling was utilised to select 2401 trauma patients out of 24,575 that met the inclusion criteria.ResultsOf the 2401 patients reviewed, 435 (18.1%) had a pain score recorded, of which 423 (97.2%) were experiencing pain. An additional 8.1% (n = 194) of patients had pain or tenderness mentioned in the working diagnosis but no pain score noted. Eighty-one (18.6%) patients experienced mild pain, 175 (40.2%) moderate pain and 167 (38.2%) severe pain. No association was found between a pain score recorded and age group (≤ 14 versus > 14 years) (p = 0.649) or gender (p = 0.139). Only 7.6% of patients with moderate-to-severe pain and 2.8% of all trauma patients received any form of analgesic medication. No association was found between the administration of analgesia and age group (≤ 14 versus > 14 years) (p = 0.151) or gender (p = 0.054). Patients were more likely to receive analgesia if they had a pain score recorded (p < 0.001), were managed by advanced life support practitioners (p < 0.001) or had severe pain (p = 0.001).ConclusionAcute trauma pain assessment and management practices in this prehospital cohort are less well established than reported elsewhere and whether this reflects emergency care training, institutional culture, scopes of practice or analgesic resources, requires further research. Emergency medical services need to monitor and promote quality pain care, enhance pain education and ensure that all levels of emergency care providers have access to analgesic medication approved for prehospital use. Clear and rational guidelines would enable better pain management by all cadres of providers, for all levels of pain.

Commodification, water infrastructure, and methodologies for counting water losses in South Africa

ABSTRACT This article takes up the story of a numerical indicator of system water losses called Non-Revenue Water (NRW), which is becoming an important measure for benchmarking South African Water Service Authorities (WSAs). The aim of this paper is, in the first place, to document the adoption of NRW as a Performance Indicator (PI), showing how it reflects a shift in the domestic regulatory framework in South Africa and the assumed priorities of water managers in line with the dominant governmental rationality in the sector. However, in drawing this discussion towards the theme of commodification I also show that the NRW audit enables a new way of seeing and speaking about “public water,” while the story of its uptake tells us a something about the development of contemporary governmental norms, and the forms of the resistance that shape it. On the one hand then, the article links the enthusiasm for NRW auditing in South Africa to a wider movement in the development and usage of audits and indicators as technologies of government at a distance. On the other hand, and stepping to a higher level of abstraction, I argue that the uptake of NRW must be read in relation to a contested set of processes marked by struggles over the commodification of water, and which sometimes turns up in the numbers.

Psychological career resources as explanatory mechanisms of employee adaptive career concerns across the career-life period

This study explored employee psychological resources as explanatory mechanisms of their adaptive career concerns. Participants were 315 predominantly black (39%) and female (70%) working adults (mean age = 37 years; SD = 9.77 years) employed in the South African services industry. Participants completed the Psychological Career Resources Inventory and the Psychosocial Career Preoccupations Scale. Multiple regression analysis showed the psychological career resources of career preferences and career values to significantly explain higher levels of preoccupations with person-environment fit and adaptation. Career values also seemed to explain higher levels of career establishment and work/life adjustment concerns. The career drivers and career harmonisers represented career self-management capacities that seemed to significantly explain lower levels of career adaptation and work/life adjustment concerns because of the intrinsic motivation to self-renew. The findings suggest the need for workplace career development practices to help employees capitalise on their psychological career resources when engaging in career adaptive behaviours across the career-life period.

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Ad hoc interpreters in South African psychiatric services: service provider perspectives

ABSTRACT Background: Language and communication lie at the heart of good quality mental health care and are a vital, yet complex, part of the diagnostic and treatment process. In South African mental health care, ad hoc interpreting arrangements are the status quo. However, these can cause both clinician and patient shame and distress. Objective: Though this issue has been researched from the point of view of informal interpreters, relatively little is known about psychiatrists’ experiences of working with ad hoc interpreters. This study is part of an attempt to bridge that gap. Methods: We made use of a cross-sectional qualitative interview design. We interviewed seven psychiatrists working at a psychiatric hospital in the Western Cape of South Africa. Data were analysed manually using thematic analysis. Results:Five main themes can be identified from the data: miscommunication and other difficulties associated with the language barrier; the language barrier between clinicians and patients and a need for language services; participants’ views on interpreting; the role of age, culture and gender; and the use of trained and untrained interpreters and using staff as interpreters. Conclusions: Psychiatrists experience numerous difficulties in conducting their work due to the language barrier. This has an impact on their ability to provide adequate mental health care to patients. There is a need for better language services to ensure that everyone that seeks mental health care can receive the same level of care. Currently, one’s ability to speak a certain language will have a significant impact on the quality of care received.

Authentic leadership, organisational citizenship behaviours, and intention to quit: the indirect effect of psychological ownership

The aim of this study was to explore the influence of perceived authentic leadership on followers’ citizenship behaviour and their intention to quit their jobs, and to examine the indirect effect of psychological ownership in the relevant relationships. The study used a cross-sectional survey design to gather data from a sample of South African service industry employees ( N = 384). It employed structural equation modelling to test the hypotheses formulated. The study found that psychological ownership indirectly affected the relationship between authentic leadership and employees’ organisational citizenship behaviour and intention to quit. This study enables organisations to gain a better understanding of how a contextual resource such as authentic leadership behaviours can influence followers’ organisational citizenship and intention to quit through increasing feelings of ownership of the organisation.

South African service users' perceptions of patient-reported outcome and experience measures for adolescent substance use treatment: A qualitative study.

Patient-reported outcome measures (PROM) and experience measures (PREM) for substance use disorder (SUD) treatment exist for adults but have unknown relevance for adolescents. This study aimed to explore adolescents' perceptions of effective SUD treatment and possible barriers to completing PROMs and PREMs to guide efforts to adapt the South African Addiction Treatment Services Assessment (SAATSA) for adolescents. Five focus groups were conducted with 38 adolescent service users recruited from residential and outpatient SUD treatment facilities in South Africa. Group discussions explored perceptions of treatment components necessary for desired SUD treatment outcomes, treatment experiences that support engagement in care, and perceptions of PROM and PREM completion. Participants viewed treatment elements that enhance motivation for change, coping and emotional regulation; provide recreational alternatives to substance use; and improve family relationships and home environments as critical to positive treatment outcomes. They reflected that provider characteristics and developmentally and culturally appropriate services facilitated engagement in treatment. PROM and PREM completion seemed acceptable, with participants suggesting ways to enhance their appeal. Findings confirm that adult-oriented PROMs and PREMs require adaptation for adolescents. Service user inputs identified ways to expand the content of the SAATSA to better reflect adolescents' treatment priorities. These inputs have also guided changes to item formulation and administration procedures to enhance the SAATSA's acceptability for adolescents. Ensuring the SAATSA addresses treatment outcomes and experiences that matter to adolescents is vital for generating information to guide improvements to adolescent SUD services.

Exploring divergent aspects of middle-of-the-pyramid consumers’ dining experience

Orientation: This study seeks to identify the most important dimensions related to restaurant dining among middle-of-the-pyramid consumers. Research purpose: This article aims to determine the expectations of South African middle-of-the-pyramid (MOP) consumers during a dining experience. Motivation for the study: To develop an up-market segmentation framework that will assist restaurateurs to reposition themselves to better understand the needs of MOP consumers. Research design, approach and method: Both qualitative and quantitative methods were followed. The sample in the study consisted of 18 interviewees and 363 respondents selected from full-service restaurants in Gauteng Province. Exploratory factor analysis with varimax rotation was used to analyse the dining experience dimension items, and confirmatory factor analysis was performed to achieve the objective of the study. Qualitative data was analysed using a constant comparative method. Confirmed themes and patterns were determined by the frequency with which each was mentioned for similarities, differences and general patterns. Main findings: The results show that on a six-point Likert scale, the commonality between the various dining experience dimensions was relatively high, ranging from 0.377 to 0.768. The dining experience dimension items yielded eight factors that were interpretable. The coefficient alpha varied between 0.69 and 0.92 for all eight dining experience dimensions. The eight underlying dimensions (service, social, food, layout, restaurant health, atmosphere, food health and accessibility) are independent variables that influence MOP consumers in their choice with respect to dining out, but each dining experience dimension has a particular level of importance. Practical/managerial implications: The findings of this research have implications for the restaurant industry. Restaurateurs targeting this MOP customer segment should do so by using a unique marketing mix that applies the eight dimensions identified in this study to this segment’s dining experience. Contribution/value-add: This article offers the South African restaurant service sector increased insight into the South African MOP market segment’s dining behaviour, and proposes and confirms the implications for their expected dining experience dimensions.

Where there is no evidence: implementing family interventions from recommendations in the NICE guideline 11 on challenging behaviour in a South African health service for adults with intellectual disability

BackgroundLow- and middle-income countries often lack the fiscal, infrastructural and human resources to conduct evidence-based research; similar constraints may also hinder the application of good clinical practice guidelines based on research findings from high-income countries. While the context of health organizations is increasingly recognized as an important consideration when such guidelines are implemented, there is a paucity of studies that have considered local contexts of resource-scarcity against recommended clinical guidelines.MethodsThis paper sets out to explore the implementation of the NICE Guideline 11 on family interventions when working with persons with intellectual disability and challenging behavior by a group of psychologists employed in a government health facility in Cape Town, South Africa.ResultsIn the absence of evidence-based South African research, we argue that aspects of the guidelines, in particular those that informed our ethos and conceptual thinking, could be applied by clinical psychologists in a meaningful manner notwithstanding the relative scarcity of resources.ConclusionWe have argued that where guidelines such as the NICE Guidelines do not apply contextually throughout, it remains important to retain the principles behind these guidelines in local contexts. Limitations of this study exist in that the data were drawn only from the clinical experience of authors. Some of the implications for future research in resource-constrained contexts such as ours are discussed. Smaller descriptive, qualitative studies are necessary to explore the contextual limitations and resource strengths that exist in low- and middle-income settings, and these studies should be more systematic than drawing only on the clinical experience of authors, as has been done in this study.

AAC services for multilingual populations: South African service provider perspectives

BackgroundIn South Africa, many persons in need of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) come from multilingual backgrounds. There is as yet a limited evidence base (locally and internationally) for the provision of AAC services to multilingual populations. The perspectives of service providers can assist in gaining an understanding of current practices and the factors that influence these. AimsThe study aimed to obtain the perspectives of AAC service providers about practices in providing AAC systems and AAC intervention to clients from multilingual backgrounds. Methods & proceduresFifteen AAC service providers were purposefully chosen to participate in one of three focus groups – two face-to-face and one online focus group. Data from the face-to-face focus groups was transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis was used to identify themes and subthemes in the data. Outcomes & resultsFour overarching themes were identified, namely (a) current practices, (b) factors influencing current practices, (c) service provides’ orientation towards different language options in AAC intervention, and (d) needs and desired developments regarding AAC technology. This paper reports on the first three themes. Service providers reported their practices to range from a focus on L1 exclusively, L2 exclusively, to a multilingual (sequential or simultaneous) approach. The South African language context, family language preferences and choices, service provider skill and knowledge, as well as AAC technology were identified as factors influencing their practices. Although many viewed access to multiple languages through AAC as positive, they also expressed concerns and reservations about providing multilingual AAC services. Conclusions & implicationsAlthough service providers in general saw the need to give clients from multilingual backgrounds access to multiple languages using AAC, this did not always translate into multilingual AAC practices. Both extrinsic factors (e.g. the lack of appropriate AAC devices, software and apps giving access to non-English languages) and intrinsic factors (service providers’ language competency and their beliefs about the cognitive demands of multilingual AAC systems) influenced their practices and choices. Appropriate AAC service delivery to multilingual populations in South Africa would require not only appropriate AAC technology developments, but also research evidence to establish the efficacy of multilingual AAC interventions for clients with a variety of characteristics.

Evaluation of the effectiveness of the National Benchmarking Initiative (NBI) in improving the productivity of water services authorities in South Africa

Water shortages, public demonstrations and lack of service delivery have plagued many South African water services authorities (WSAs) for a number of years. From 2004–2007 the National Benchmarking Initiative (NBI) was implemented to improve the performance, efficiency and sustainability of WSAs. The current study demonstrates the use of data envelopment analysis (DEA) and the Malmquist productivity index (MPI) for the assessment of the effectiveness of the NBI in achieving these goals. Furthermore, the MPI is used to assess the impact that the termination of the NBI had on the efficiency of the WSAs in the years that followed. In conclusion, the MPI is identified as a valuable tool for regulators and policy makers that wish to assess the performance of their benchmarking initiatives.

Developing an e-Strategy for the South African Astronomical Observatory Library and Information Service: A case study

The South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) Library and Information Service (LIS) forms part of the SAAO - which is a business unit of the National Research Foundation (NRF) in South Africa. Until recently each business unit had a library service that operated independently. With the formation of the NRF Knowledge Center (KC) this is set to change. Previously it was possible for a library service to conduct its processes and procedures in isolation as long as the LIS aligned with the business unit. This paper covers the study that investigated the needs and possible guidelines for an e-Strategy for the SAAO LIS that is both aligned to the broader NRF strategy but which also incorporates recommendations to upgrade the library products and services offering. The pool of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) -based products and services is growing. ‘Upgrading’ therefore requires that it is acknowledged that ICT provides essential infrastructure for the relevant the library. Library focused trends show continuous development. Bringing the SAAO LIS up to standard will require that these developments are continuously monitored for relevance and incorporation. This paper provides information about the SAAO LIS and its history. Both ‘SWOT’ and ‘PESTEL’ analyses were used to direct the discussion on the internal and external influences on the SAAO LIS. The analyses also provided insight into the challenges the SAAO LIS faces, the strengths that could be capitalized and the opportunities that could be exploited. The paper recommends that the SAAO LIS, before engaging in a strategic change, addresses the challenges of sustainable funding and accessibility to core resources. It is also recommends that the SAAO LIS uses its e-Strategy to ‘fast track’ the process of bringing it up to the standard required of world-class astronomy libraries.