Gerrit van der Waldt

Public Administration Teaching and Interdisciplinarity: Considering the Consequences.

Public administration is a highly diverse and evolving field of scientific inquiry. The study domain is characterised further by often-competing paradigmatic perspectives and seemingly endless teaching modalities. There seems to be an increasing realisation that answers to complex societal challenges cannot be solved within the knowledge frameworks of individual disciplines. As a result, interdisciplinary teaching emerged to expose students to approaches, theories and methodologies from various disciplines of the social and natural sciences, in search of potential answers to these challenges. In spite of the qualities and potential contributions of interdisciplinarity, there may be fewer positive consequences for teaching efforts. This article intends to reflect on the potential consequences, both positive and negative, that interdisciplinary studies have on the teaching of public administration. The article will review the possible advantages or contributions of interdisciplinarity to the teaching of public administration, and reflect on the possibly less-desired consequences of interdisciplinary collaboration on curriculum design and teaching methods.Public administration is a highly diverse and evolving field of scientific inquiry. The study domain is characterised further by often-competing paradigmatic perspectives and seemingly endless teaching modalities. There seems to be an increasing realisation that answers to complex societal challenges cannot be solved within the knowledge frameworks of individual disciplines. As a result, interdisciplinary teaching emerged to expose students to approaches, theories and methodologies from various disciplines of the social and natural sciences, in search of potential answers to these challenges. In spite of the qualities and potential contributions of interdisciplinarity, there may be fewer positive consequences for teaching efforts. This article intends to reflect on the potential consequences, both positive and negative, that interdisciplinary studies have on the teaching of public administration. The article will review the possible advantages or contributions of interdisciplinarity to the teaching of pub...

Project Governance: A municipal leadership challenge

Institutions utilizing projects for policy implementation and service delivery initiatives should make provision for adequate institutional arrangements for the governance of projects. Governance includes authoritative decisions regarding resource allocation, performance monitoring and oversight, powers of the project manager, accountability issues and the establishment of structures to facilitate clear interfaces between municipal leadership and project teams. Governance arrangements typically include the establishment of mechanisms such as a steering committee and/or a project management unit to facilitate decision-making. This article explores the governance arrangements of projects and the challenges they represent to the political and administrative leadership of municipalities. Leadership challenges centre specifically on political and administrative interfaces, the physical organizational placement of project governance structures, and the monitoring and oversight of projects. For this purpose, res...Institutions utilizing projects for policy implementation and service delivery initiatives should make provision for adequate institutional arrangements for the governance of projects. Governance includes authoritative decisions regarding resource allocation, performance monitoring and oversight, powers of the project manager, accountability issues and the establishment of structures to facilitate clear interfaces between municipal leadership and project teams. Governance arrangements typically include the establishment of mechanisms such as a steering committee and/or a project management unit to facilitate decision-making. This article explores the governance arrangements of projects and the challenges they represent to the political and administrative leadership of municipalities. Leadership challenges centre specifically on political and administrative interfaces, the physical organizational placement of project governance structures, and the monitoring and oversight of projects. For this purpose, research was conducted at several local and district municipalities in North-West Province to explore existing practices and leadership challenges. The challenges identified can lead to further research into the underlying issues causing service delivery failures in municipalities.

An exploration of objectivism and social constructivism within the context of disaster risk

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to understand the meaning of social constructivism and objectivism within the context of disaster risk from which disaster risk policy can be analysed. In particular, the paper attempts to explore the implications of social constructivism and objectivism in disaster risk which is essential in explaining why disaster risk has different nuances and consequently policy responses. Design/methodology/approach – A literature survey was used to explore social constructivism and objectivism within the context of disaster risk. The survey involved documentary searches from academic books, journal articles and disaster risk reports to serve as primary research data. Findings – The analysis revealed that viewing and managing disasters through the lens of objectivism might not yield the desired results of minimising risk as it conceals the vulnerabilities to disaster risk. The objectivist perspective is therefore in itself considered inadequate for the study of disaster risk and...

A quality management model for community newspapers: the case of developing countries

Managers’ ability to effectively and efficiently obtain, manage and utilise organisational resources plays an important role in the quality of the product their organisations present audiences with. A literature review reveals that a lack of effective and efficient media management is a core variable that influences the quality of journalism worldwide. This paper proposes that traditional commercial community newspaper organisations can proactively manage quality by comprehensively following a systems- and process-based approach. For this purpose and using a case study design, a comprehensive quality management model was developed for community newspapers, particularly in developing and rural settings. This context-sensitive model could be a useful tool for owners, managers and editors at community newspapers in developing countries to manage and improve quality in and across all functions and production processes in their organisations.

Self-help Governance and State Dysfunction: Exploratory Perspectives on the South African State and Civil Society

ABSTRACT This article explores the phenomenon of self-help governance initiatives that manifest in the context of state dysfunction in South Africa. It is argued that the inability of dysfunctional states to render adequate public goods and services prompts civil society to respond in protests. Such protest may be violent and destructive, or assume a constructive ‘do-it-yourself’ character. The latter forms the focus of the article and is explored through means of a case study at local government level. It is concluded that self-help governance is one of a range of civil society responses to state dysfunction, and the phenomenon is conceptualised and integrated into an analytic framework to facilitate further scholarly investigation.

Expanding the disaster risk management framework: Measuring the constructed level of national identity as a factor of political risk

Political risk is identified as a dominant risk category of disaster risk management (DRM) which could negatively affect the success of those measures implemented to reduce disaster risk. Key to political risk is the construct of national identity which, if poorly constructed, could greatly contribute to political risk. This article proposed a tool to measure the construct of national identity and to provide recommendations to strengthen the construct in order to mitigate the exacerbating influence it may have on political risk and ultimately on DRM. The design of the measurement tool consisted of a mixed methodological approach employing both quantitative and qualitative data. The data collection instruments included a literature review (which is shortly provided in the previous sections) and an empirical study that utilised data obtained through structured questionnaires. Although the results of the proposed measuring instrument did not include a representative sample of all the cultures in South Africa, the results alluded to different levels for the construction of national identity among black and white respondents, possibly because of different ideological expectations among these groups. The results of the study should be considered as a validation of the measuring tool and not necessarily of the construct of national identity in South Africa. The measuring tool is thus promising for future studies to reduce political risk and ultimately disaster risk.

From Policy to Projects: A Public Service Value-Chain Network Model

Abstract South Africa is characterised by an interdependent, three-sphere system of co-operative government. To foster coordination and co-operation in this system requires alignment of government programmes. Chain thinking provides a logical framework to probe the path of transforming policy into institutional strategies, programmes and projects. In a network of actors and governmental processes it becomes a highly complex endeavour to sift through the various chains in government, in order to pinpoint areas that require more effective cooperation and coordination. By utilising a literature survey in an interpretivist research paradigm, the aim of this paper is to propose dimensions and elements of a public service value-chain network model to provide an analytical and conceptual framework for a detailed analysis of value chains on vertical, horizontal and institutional levels in government.

A unified public administration? Revisiting the prospects of constructing a grand theory for the field

Abstract Since the early origins of Public Administration, scholars bemoan the absence of a grand, unifying theory for this applied, social science as a discipline. From their arguments it seems that the absence of a unified theory is largely to be blamed for the identity, existential and academic crisis which the discipline arguably experiences. If such a unified theory does not exist, and there is a general consensus that it could add value by focusing research and generally facilitating a sharper demarcation of the study field, the appropriate question is: Why not simply attempt to construct one? The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the feasibility of designing a unified theory as a coherent framework for the study of Public Administration. The reflection will include a deliberation on the desirability of such a unifying theory, contemplation on the possible methodology to pursue such a theory, as well as an exploration of the potential challenges which theorists will face in their attempts to design such an integrated and comprehensive foundational framework.