Key discussions on objective three

The study results reflect the utility of the BSC approach in driving performance improvements aimed towards achieving higher levels of customer satisfaction. In response to the question posed in chapter one with regard to mechanisms of citizen participation in performance measurement, the findings from official documents and previous research conducted on the two cities indicate a growing realisation of the importance of having real time data from service users to inform municipal planning. In both cities, there is an increasing recognition of the urgency in accommodating the views of citizens they serve in, planning, prioritisation and determination and ultimate measurement of performance. The IDPs for the two cities reflect the same trends in the literature with an emphasis on effectively engaging stakeholders in the functioning of local government organisations. Accordingly, the stakeholder theory emphasises that organisations must ensure that they give attention to the interests and well-being of every group or individuals that may hinder or assist in the achievement of the goals and objectives of the organisation (Phillips, Freeman & Wicks, 2003: 48). From the present study, four key stakeholders emerged, the community, businesses, management and the subordinate workers. These various group are key in the success of municipal operations which therefore means that their input is an invaluable non-financial asset. Thus, their interaction is critical in the weaving of a comprehensive performance management system. The study established that the two cities reflect an increasing recognition of stakeholder involvement in planning, implementation and measurement of performance. This is evidenced by the city of Cape Town’s annual CSS’s in which it seeks to solicit public views and the city of Johannesburg’s CBP which is intensifying every year where communities are actively consulted to air out their views concerns and problems.

Because of the widely expressed view on the utility of the BSC approach in driving performance improvements aimed towards achieving higher levels of customer

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satisfaction, findings from this study in terms of a pro-active approach to integrating the citizen voice in performance management towards achieving this feat are very encouraging.

Findings from the study show that there has been a lax in consulting the key stakeholders like businesses and the community. For the City of Cape Town, this only began to take serious form in 2007 for the city of Cape Town when Executive Mayor Hellen Zille took office. She came in with an emphasis on “management through measurement way of thinking...” (Tudor, 2008: 93). In Tudor’s study of the implementation of the City of Cape Town’s OPMS, one programme manager, Andrew Stedman was quoted as saying

“Another role player has come to the fore and this is in our scenario and that is the current Executive Mayor. The current Executive Mayor is much more closely aligned to the whole measurement way of thinking. She has started saying “I want to have a daily scorecard, I want to have KPIs.” In fact she goes beyond where it sometimes gets confusing in that there will be the corporate scorecard and five year and the priorities. Then the mayor will have scorecard as well which is more tactical with her executives in measuring and managing so she is saying: “yes you need to comply legally, yes you need to have a vision but by the way it’s about today and tomorrow and many squatters, how many foreigners are at Soetwater, I need that kind of tactical information on my desktop real-time.” So she is pushing A Corporate Performance Management initiative to satisfy her need for information to understand what is happening in the organisation.” Andrew Stedman (SAP

Manager) cited in (Tudor, 2008: 94).

This has been made possible to capture citizen needs and priorities through the use of the now popular Community Satisfaction Survey conducted annually (CoCT, 2015: 33). In the same vein, the city of Johannesburg has begun intensifying the integration of citizens in its functioning through the recently adopted Community Based Planning

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approach (CoJ, 2015: 77). This awakening reflects a commitment to fulfil both the legal requirements mandating community participation and the international pressure with a proliferation of performance measurement models advancing stakeholder participation in local government operations.

These findings perhaps explain why these two metropolitan municipalities have managed to perform above average and significantly improved their performance and functioning. For instance, the city of Cape Town, through its use of an annual Citizen Satisfaction Survey has significantly improved its service delivery since the first CSS of the 2007/8 financial year (City of Cape Town, 2014: 108). Results on citizen engagement are significant in at least two respects. Firstly, they show a commitment to the nationally mandated aspect of actively engaging citizens in the decision-making process for local government. This has become common practice in a number of democracies around the world including countries like India, Maharashtra state (Secondly, the results confirm an alignment of South Africa’s major cities to global trends in citizen engagement. The City of Johannesburg’s Community Based Planning mirrors that of the South American cities of Bello Horizonte and Porto Allegra

4.5. Concluding remarks

This chapter presented the key findings from data and interpreted the findings. An analysis was made drawing parallels from global applications of the BSC and theoretical underpinnings of the study. The main ideas brought out indicate that the model is increasing gaining importance in performance measurement. However, its application is still faced with a lot of challenges. Its purpose was to draw the attention of the reader to the milestones that have been achieved by these two South Africa cities since the end of the apartheid era. Howbeit, this has not been gotten without challenges. Commitment and dedication by municipal staff and leaders reflects a shift from serving toward being a rule bound administration to one that actually responds to the people’s needs and aspirations. Cities and metropolises in the developing world continue to be the recipients of much development aid and thus, proper management of grassroots forms of governance has a possibility of creating a better world. As the literature reflects, many of these cities have become sophisticated especially with the ICT wave. Payment and financial systems have

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become electronic with services virtually accessible in the palm of one hand, a service on accessible to the affluent in society. With globalisation and fast paced urban migration, cities continue to be bombarded with several challenges on a daily basis as hordes of people march towards cities in search of better opportunities.

Thus, it is more compelling in this era than in any, to ever start considering proper municipal performance measurement and management. More prudent ways of budgeting now require citizen based budgeting, where also in planning, community based planning is advocated, while in the evaluation field, Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation approaches are emphasised. All these are forms of participations which try to expose and support the inclusion of citizen/customer/client or resident, an area which has also attracted much controversy. Public service users fall in the trap of these four terms which has not made it easy for those practically facing them day to day. Public office bearer often bear the brunt of academic and professional terms given to the society which they serve every day. They are hardly taught nor are they trained on the new policies, procedures and expectations of the employer and to what end it will be for bearer of the brunt. The spheres of training and development in government really need much attention. The following chapter concludes the whole study and gives relevant recommendations congruent with the major findings of the study.

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CHAPTER FIVE

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.0. Introductory remarks

Since this is the concluding chapter of the research, it offers a concise recapitulation of the purpose of the study and the key findings. The purpose of this study was to analyse the application of the BSC in two municipalities and determine how the BSC has improved customer satisfaction in local government administration. To achieve these objectives, two cases were used, the city of Cape Town and the city of Johannesburg. This chapter summarises the key findings, provides the conclusions to the study and makes key recommendations derived from the findings. Thus the chapter is basically structured into three precise sections beginning with the key research findings followed by the main conclusions drawn and lastly the key recommendations.