Enhancing Public Service Delivery in a VUCA Environment in South Africa: A Literature Review

Abstract

There is widespread consensus that the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA) environment has contributed to the subpar quality of public sector service delivery in South Africa. Hence, the aim of this paper is to ascertain how the South African government can enhance service delivery in a VUCA world. This article presents a comprehensive study of a number of secondary literature sources. The author makes an effort to draw attention to knowledge gaps that might serve as the foundation for more research in the future. The main finding is that for the South African government to provide good service in a VUCA environment, its employees must be proficient in Results-Based Monitoring and Evaluation, Strategic Planning, Programme and Project Management Methodology, and Change Management Methodology. There is a severe lack of empirical study on the delivery of public sector services in an environment characterized by VUCA. As a result, there is a need for more research on this topic. Specifically, in order to establish the effect that the VUCA environment has on the governments of emerging nations. The research will be beneficial to the governments of developing countries, notably South Africa, as well as to those who work in the field of public administration.

Contextualising the factors influencing human resource development in municipalities

“…At the centre of the coalition of municipal stakeholders should be the core organisational actors (human resources department, line managers, employees and labour) who are the focus of skills development and considered the core implementers of HRD. This will lead to more capable institutions and ultimately to a capable state, as envisaged in the 2030 National Development Plan, which has as a goal institutional coherence and standardisation through all departments (Barbier & Tengeh 2022). • Municipalities must emphasise and implement formal (accredited and non-accredited training) and informal (coaching, mentoring, seminars) HRD programmes to enable employees to gain competencies that the organisation has identified as being important for its success and sustainability, as highlighted in the Municipal Staff Regulations and the integrated management framework for HRD described earlier in the text.…”

Maximizing Benefits From Network Collaboration: How Organizations Exploit Network Relations in Highly Unpredictable Environments

“…the rapid growth of interest rates and inflation (Al-Thaqeb, Algharabali, 2019;Peterson, 2021). Thus, organizations operate in a highly unpredictable environment, which is understood as a situation in which such unexpected, negative events force managers to implement changes and constant revisions of long-term strategies (Barbier, Robertson, 2022;Rath, Grosskopf, Barmeyer, 2021). This may suggest that in the environment which is turbulent and highly unpredictable, strategic planning become less important -organizations ought to focus on an operational perspective (D'Mello, Toscano, 2020), be more flexible, agile, M. Flieger, MAXIMIZING BENEFITS FROM NETWORK COLLABORATION: HOW ORGANIZATIONS EXPLOIT NETWORK RELATIONS IN HIGHLY UNPREDICTABLE ENVIRONMENTS, Zeszyty Naukowe Uniwersytetu Przyrodniczo-Humanistycznego w Siedlcach, Nr 134, Seria: Administracja i Zarządzanie (61) 2023.…”

Examining Front-Line Administrative Services in a Selected Public Higher Education Institution

“…To enhance service delivery, the South African Department of Public Service and Administration introduced the Batho Pele Principles, aiming to instill a service-oriented approach among public servants [6,7]. Despite continuous revitalization efforts, persistent poor work ethics have resulted in unsatisfactory service delivery, marked by protests, vandalism, and police brutality [7][8][9]. The public sector, which serves a population without alternatives, includes general government, state-owned enterprises, and public universities within the social service cluster [10,11].…”