Development of Program Outcomes for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Rehabilitation Programs Contracted by Brown County

Brown County Department of Social Services has moved toward the purchase of service model of service delivery over the past few years. The management staff of Brown County was dissatisfied with the existing method of program evaluation in this form of service delivery. Analysis of that system of providing treatment services revealed that it lacked a clearly defined process by which to evaluate the success or nonsuccess of treatment contracts. Further discussion revealed a possible approach to the management problem would entail formulating a set of performance standards. As trends suggest there is an increasing cost of service delivery as well as an increasing number of adolescents requiring Alcohol and Drug Abuse rehabilitation services which warranted a pilot project in this area of treatment. The goal of the research design was to formulate a set of performance standards in this field of service delivery based upon the data available. A thorough review of the literature and a study of the objectives currently being used in the field of AODA rehabilitation program evaluation provided the format for the establishment of performance outcomes. It was anticipated that this process would assist in the formation of performance standards that would be applied to the purchase of service agreement

Using Strategic Information Systems to Improve Contracted Services and Assess Privatization Options

Government officials are looking to contracting out and privatization as means to create a public sector that works better and costs less. This new approach to public service delivery is evident in the welfare to work reforms of the 1990s, low- and moderate-income housing construction and management, homeless services, economic development and job training, and the charter school movement. Contracted services require a whole new set of skills for government workers, including contract design, negotiation, monitoring, and evaluation. Sophisticated information systems are crucial to performance management and evaluation systems that are essential to effective contract management. This chapter explores the theory and practice of performance measurement and information technology (IT) in the context of outsourcing public service delivery. It discusses the use of government strategic planning and information-based performance management to plan and manage private contractors performing public tasks. While information systems are critical to the management of in-house organizational units, we believe they are even more important in managing the work of contractors

The impact of a performance management system on service Delivery: a case study of Mtubatuba local municipality.

Masters Degree, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.This research investigated the impact of performance management on service delivery at Mtubatuba Local Municipality. Mtubatuba Local Municipality (MLM) is one of the local municipalities classified as a Category B Municipality and falls under uMkhanyakude District in the far-north of KwaZulu-Natal province. This municipality has experienced a series of instances of public discontent due to sub-standard provision of services; hence the study aims to establish if the proper implementation and cascading of a performance management system (PMS) to all personnel will any way help in improving municipal service delivery and thus assist the institution to regain the public’s trust. Employee performance management is defined as the process of evaluating employees’ performance to reward their performance based on the required standards and the identification of gaps where sub-standard performance is identified. Performance management can be used to measure employee performance as well as to train employees who have failed to achieve the expected results. The success of an organisation centres on the effective advancement as well as proper execution of performance management system (PMS) (Lawler, 2003:9). The emphasis of this research is to review the effect that the performance management system has on service delivery (SD) to ensure officials’ accountability in the case of the Mtubatuba Local Municipality. It also critically reviews the correlation between performance management and provision of services. So as to accomplish this, several research questions and objectives are outlined in Chapter 1. For Mtubatuba Municipality to be able to regain the public trust on service delivery and at the same time have disciplined and accountable personnel, it needs to hold both its administrative and political wings accountable. This can be realized by the effective execution and cascading of the performance management system to all its employees ensuring that they are held accountable for the time they spend at work and for political leadership to play an oversight role over the Administration. The success of performance management system lies in understanding the relationship that exists between employer and the employee. Both these parties entered into an employment contract mainly because the employer needed the services of the employee and the employee is expecting reward for availing his/her services to the employer.Only available in English

Use of time management techniques by librarians in Umaru Musa Yar’adua University Library Katsina for effective information service delivery

This paper is on the use of time management techniques by librarians in academic libraries, specifically in Umaru Musa Yar’adua University library Katsina State. The main objectives of the paper are to determine the time management techniques used by librarians in delivering information services in the library and to identify how the techniques do affects their performance in the library. The results of the finding shows that most of the librarians in the library used making to do list as a technique for information services delivery in the library with 12 out of 40 respondents which is 30% of the whole responses. On the effect of time management techniques on the performance of librarians, the results show that it increases their productivity with 11 out of 40 responses. The paper concludes with recommendations that librarians should adopt time management techniques to ensure effective information services delivery to users and also librarians should be educated on the need for the application of time management techniques in information resources and services provision through seminars and workshops

ICT Governance: Towards Federalized Structure and Solution

The ICT (Information and Communication Technology) Governance means actively identifying the service needs of the Government and her customers and to focus on planning and delivering these services to meet availability, performance, and security requirements. It also aims at managing service level agreements to meet agreed-upon security, quality and cost targets. Successful operation of an ICT unit of the government would require it to be fully integrated with the complete lifecycle of Government’s processes, improving service quality and Government agility. The paper identifies appropriate international standards for ICT Governance, and ICT Management around which solutions for ICT governance should be built.ict; governance; management; service delivery

Contestability in public services - an alternative to outsourcing

The public don’t like monopolies. And they are suspicious of them in the public sector as well as the private sector. Sometimes there is no other way of organising the production and delivery of goods and services, but we all know from experience that monopolies are generally unresponsive to the needs of customers and service users, and they pay too much attention to the convenience of management and staff. On the other hand, we are also worried about the use of competition and outsourcing in the delivery of public services. The public want social services to be delivered by people who are motivated by a desire to serve. They worry about the profit motive. And they are concerned that public servants may be outwitted by commercially-savvy contractors. This paper argues that there is a middle way between monopoly and market-testing. It is possible to use performance benchmarking and the prospect of prompt intervention in case of underperformance to drive increased efficiency and effectiveness, while also recognising the importance of a public service ethos, and the value embedded in many of the systems, processes and relationships through which these services are currently delivered. That middle way is contestability

An evaluation of performance and management development systems: a case study of Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality

The primary aim of this study was to establish whether the Performance Management and Development Systems (PMDS) in public institutions, has an effect on service delivery, with specific reference to the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM). This is pertinent because municipalities have become the focal points of service delivery and they tend to focus mainly on complying with the legislative frameworks of having an Integrated Development Plan (IDP) and Performance Management and Development Systems (PMDS) rather than implementing the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) and the Performance Management and Development Systems (PMDS) to enhance service delivery to communities. The Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGta), introduces the Performance Management framework to municipalities with the aim of empowering the communities to demand better services and to hold municipalities accountable. This study provides an in-depth theoretical review on PMDS and service delivery. It is evident that one of the biggest challenges that are being faced by most municipalities in South Africa, is the lack of universal access to services such as water and electricity, sanitation, refuse removal systems and local economic development. This study employed the qualitative research approach to validate the research questions as well as to address the research objectives and data was collected through documentary sources of annual reports, Integrated Development Plan (IDP), Service Delivery and Budget Implementation Plan (SDBIP), articles, journals text books and legislation. Further findings in this study indicate that Performance Management and Development Systems (PDMS) in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM), has not led to positive changes in service delivery and this is identified by violent service delivery protests. This study also identified that the system is currently flawed because, amongst other things, there is minimal employee involvement in the planning of performance management, including a lack of training opportunities to address identified weaknesses and the non-payment of performance bonuses to good performing employees, similarly majority of employees do not know their performance targets as reflected in the Service Delivery and Budget Implementation Plan (SDBIP). Recommendations emanating from the literature review are presented to enhance service delivery for the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM) through Performance Management and Development Systems (PMDS) and they include cascading PMDS to all employees, furthering issues of alignment and integration of the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) processes, budget, PMDS, monitoring, evaluation and training on the formulation of Key Performance Areas (KPAs) and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). If these recommendations are adopted, the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM) will be able to deal with the current developmental obstacles that are being faced, in a more effective and efficient manner

Accountability arrangements to combat corruption and improve sustainability in the delivery of infrastructure services

Internationally, it has been recognised that corruption in planning, procurement, construction and operation and maintenance (O&M) undermines the sustainability of infrastructure services (defined here as water supply, sanitation, drainage, access roads and paving, transport, solid waste management, street lighting and community buildings). What progress has been made, therefore, in implementing greater accountability to combat corruption in the planning and delivery of infrastructure services? This paper documents the growing interest (in developed and developing countries) in securing greater accountability for the delivery of infrastructure and assesses the potential to improve both provision and performance of infrastructure services

Evaluating the impact of operations management on service delivery at a local municipality.

In a larger context, local government municipalities might not only have authority and functionality but also the responsibility to carry out their duties in challenging circumstances. The study's main objective is to assess the operational management variables that affect local government service delivery. The goal of this study is to help local municipality in the Northern Cape management gain a clear understanding of the standard of operations management, the degree of service delivery, and the degree to which operations management factors affect delivery within the organisation. This study aims to assess the operations management factors that affect service delivery at the municipality using a quantitative research method approach and an online survey. Working definitions for both variables for operations management and service delivery were developed based on the literature. In that chapter, it was stated that operations management could be thought of as a process that converts various organisational inputs into outputs of the desired quality and quantity as determined by the organisation and its stakeholders. Additionally, service delivery was defined as a part of organisational performance that is pertinent to the public sector and relates to an organisation's capacity to carry out a process to provide services which the public can derive value from. Overall, the quality of service delivery was poor compared to a marginally higher standard of operations management. Finally, using correlational analysis and regression modeling, the impact of operations management on service delivery at municipality was discussed. The findings showed that the variables had significant positive correlations. Once more, it was discovered that operations management significantly affects the provision of services. The quantitative approach used in this study ensured that the findings were reliable and that they had been evaluated for statistical significance. However, it meant that the study was blind to the rationale behind survey respondents' opinions. Future research should use a qualitative approach or a mixed approach to investigate the qualitative factors that can influence the relationship between operations management and service delivery