AbstractsCommunication

An assessment of public servants' trust in management within a local municipality / Cuan Fransman

by Cuan Fransman




Institution: North-West University
Department:
Year: 2014
Keywords: Vertical trust; Job satisfaction; Employee empowerment; Communication; Employee management reporting; Performance management
Record ID: 1412805
Full text PDF: http://hdl.handle.net/10394/12239


Abstract

Providing basic local administration has become one of a vast variety of priorities for all municipalities within the South African context. Municipalities need to be instrumental in South Africa’s socio- economic upliftment against issues like poverty and underdevelopment because government policy requires municipalities to play a developmental role. Taking cognizance of the transformational changes within the South African government, the local government, within its three categories, inherited growing responsibility for basic service delivery. This was primarily because the democratic South Africa has inherited a public sector marred by fragmented and gross inequalities at all levels of government activity (Mathekga & Buccus, 2006). The effectiveness of good local governance may rely on the capacity of local government structures, participative of municipal leadership and employees, to provide an integrated development approach to social and economic development issues and to supply essential services congruent with the needs and desires of the local communities (The Institute for Democracy in Africa, 2010). Municipalities need to be in a position to identify and prioritise local needs, determine adequate levels of services and allocate necessary resources to the public (COGTA, 2009c). The role of local government in, amongst other things, is to promote a better life for all by creating jobs, alleviating poverty, which is imperative in achieving a prosperous civilization. The transformation of local government, as it stood during the apartheid period, was aimed at removing the racial basis of government and making it a mechanism for the integration of society and the redistribution of municipal services from the rich to the poor. Thus, local government is the key site of delivery and development and is central to the entire transformative project of the new South Africa. In order for any municipality to be accountable for delivering a basic human right towards local communities, as stipulated in the Constitution of 1996, it is imperative that the relationship between the internal stakeholders of the local municipality is sound. The test would be to see how the municipal employees’ perception of trust influences the trust relationship between employees and managers in the local government sphere. Taking cognizance of the manner in which local government mechanisms and its related structures are administered, the research will aim to establish how important the vertical trust relationship between municipal employees and managers is, as a contributing factor for effective service delivery to its communities. Attention will focus on the conceptualization of vertical trust between employees and managers within local government in South Africa as well as to determine whether municipalities’ performance indeed have a link with vertical trust relationship between the relevant employees and managers. This will be explained within a broader perception by focusing on relevant theories of trust, which include the theories…