Institutional obstacles to service delivery in South Africa

This paper argues that the service‐delivery crisis facing two‐thirds of the municipalities across South Africa is caused by a series of institutional shortcomings ranging from incoherence in national policy towards rural and urban development, a lack of enforcement when it comes to financial controls and competencies, and a lack of skills affecting local officials ranging from customer service and relations, to financial controls, to technical competencies in the core areas of electrification, basic water and sanitation, and refuse collection. Government needs to address the skills shortage at the local level and enforce the rules and regulations concerning the role of public and elected officials to ensure not only service delivery but accountability and transparent decision‐making. Attending to the skills shortage and enforcing relevant rules would ensure better service delivery and, in turn, encourage bringing ‘democracy to the people’, which is at the heart of the post apartheid government’s decentralisation project.     

Cost effectiveness of an integrated service delivery model as measured by worker retention

This study sought to examine the impact of housing child welfare ongoing teams in the community, near client neighborhoods, and in a setting that also co-locates other service providers that serve the same clients. The focus was the impact of location and service integration on perceptions of worker stress and actual worker turnover. Thirty four workers from this type of setting and from a more traditional setting in two urban cities in a Southern state were interviewed. In addition turnover rates were calculated and compared. It was found that those located near clients and with staff from other agencies had better morale, lower stress levels, more positive attitudes toward clients and client contexts, knew more about the communities the clients lived in and had more chances to collaborate to solve client problems than those in a more traditional setting with co-location only with family support staff. The turnover rate was lower in the integrated service delivery setting than in either the traditional setting or the state overall. Thus, integration of service delivery benefits not only the child welfare workforce participants, but also the clients who have greater access to other service providers and to the bottom line of the agency through the retention of workers. Implications are described.     

Civil society,social accountability and service delivery in Zimbabwe

Post‐2000, the deterioration of Zimbabwe's socioeconomic and political conditions is widely acknowledged as phenomenal and unprecedented. Consequently, government and local authorities are struggling to provide basic services. At the same time, civil society initiatives are promoting transparency and accountability in service delivery. The article explains how civil society coalitions and citizens are promoting and demanding accountability in the delivery of public services by local authorities. In particular, it focuses on four critical issues; namely local authority–citizen engagement, social accountability focus areas, social accountability tools and emerging social accountability issues. The article concludes that civil society‐led social accountability initiatives are effective under conditions of civil society capacity, institutionalization of social accountability by local authorities, and negotiating local political dynamics.     

Social accountability in frontline service delivery: Citizen engagement and provider response in four Indonesian districts

Social accountability (SA) tools engage citizens in improving frontline service delivery. Contextual factors are increasingly recognized as key to the effectiveness and sustainability of SA. This article identifies micro‐level factors associated with attitudes and continued commitment to SA, drawing on 60 interviews with providers, clients and local officials at 15 primary health centres in four Indonesian districts. We found that healthcare providers and local governments demonstrated responsiveness to citizens not only in conducive contexts, but also in less favourable ones. State actors’ perceptions of the appropriate role of citizens varied. We conclude that long‐term sustainability of citizen engagement in accountability relationships will depend upon alignment of providers’ and citizens’ expectations, along with supportive institutional incentives.     

The Reality of Social Inclusion Through Digital Government

SUMMARY

Over the past few years, there has been much debate over the effectiveness of digital government. This paper addresses the strategic value and the effectiveness of digital government where it concerns enhancing citizen participation and social inclusion. It involves examining four specific facets of “effectiveness”–including: the view of management and ICT strategists; social and cultural implications; the implications of digital inclusion/exclusion and e-readiness upon social inclusion; and the citizens' view of the success of digital government in enhancing public access to information and transparency–based on a pilot study of digital government initiatives by local government in New Zealand.     

The changing landscape of public service delivery systems for disabled people in China: a Shanghai case study

This article will consider the current development of an emerging contract culture for the delivery of social services and its impact on disabled people in China. The discussion is based on an original qualitative study in Shanghai. The past 30 years have seen dramatic changes in China, which in parts have led to improvements in the lives of disabled people. The China Disabled Persons’ Federation (CDPF) became a key player in delivering these changes with the government. However, the CDPF is being criticized by disabled people for being too bureaucratic and not being effective enough in its delivery of services. One of its responses is to work with newly emerging not-for-profit organizations (NPOs) of and for disabled people. The CDPF has now begun to contract the delivery of some services to such NPOs. It is hoped that this may improve their effectiveness but the development of a contract culture in the delivery of services for disabled people may also be seen to pose a threat.     

服务经济的本质与内涵：理论渊源

从以下几类研究中寻找对服务经济的理解和认识：其一,关于服务经济的研究;其二,关于服务业的研究,从服务业在经济体中的地位和作用来理解和诠释服务经济的内涵及特征;其三,关于后工业经济时代经济发展趋势和发展特征的研究。通过对涉及服务经济研究相关文献的总结、归纳和梳理,提出服务经济的判断标准、基本经济结构、内涵与基本特征、增长动力、空间结构及其创新模式。     

Organizational culture influence on service delivery: A mixed methods design in a child welfare setting

Despite the growing acknowledgement that mixed methods can be useful to better understand complex organizational cultures, there are few examples of studies, which demonstrate how organizational culture studies combine quantitative and qualitative methods in a single study within the child welfare setting. The purpose of the article is to illustrate how a concurrent triangulation was accomplished in a single organizational culture study in a child welfare agency. A sample of 92 employees was selected from a Midwestern private, non-profit, faith-based child welfare agency. Four distinct methods were used to measure organizational culture and its influence on service delivery which allowed for greater validity by collecting different data bearing on the same organizational culture phenomena. Strengths and implications are discussed.     

A new perspective on client service: From on-the-job to structured competencybased training. The University of Wollongong Library experience,a descriptive case study

Abstract

Skilled and knowledgeable staff equipped to respond to change is a key learning and growth goal of the University of Wollongong Library. But how do front line staff develop and maintain their client-centred service skills and behaviours? How do they manage the myriad of diverse needs and expectations from a constantly changing student population, within a volatile technological environment? By challenging established approaches to service delivery training, it was possible to demonstrate a need to be more adaptable and responsive. We recognized that earlier approaches such as on-the-job training were no longer adequate. In 2009 the University of Wollongong Library introduced competency-based training. This represented a new approach to staff training and an opportunity for renewal. Numerous factors contributed to this decision, with the overarching goal being to keep our staff on the cutting edge of service delivery. A systematic approach was used that involved researching competency-based training ideologies; identifying core client service skills, knowledge and behaviours; identifying learning outcomes; developing module content; identifying assessment criteria; and programme delivery.     

服务经济的内涵、特征及其发展趋势

服务经济是经济社会发展到高级阶段的产物,是以提供服务产品为核心的经济形态。＂服务化＂、＂融合化＂、＂网络化＂、＂高端化＂、＂两极化＂是服务经济的形态特征,服务业占主导地位是服务经济的结构特征,稳定增长是服务经济的运行特征,集聚发展是服务经济的布局特征,对制度环境和综合配套环境要求更高是服务经济发展的环境特征。当前服务经济发展的趋势是：从初级向高级发展,从传统向现代发展,从非生态化向生态化发展。体验经济可能成为服务经济发展的高级形态。     

The consequences of acculturation to service delivery and research with Hispanic families

The experience of working with Hispanic children and their parents is compared with the existing professional literature. Although the literature acknowledges partially the importance of acculturation, the consequences of acculturation to service delivery and working with Hispanics as research subjects are seldom addressed. These consequences are demonstrated in four areas: as a cause of family problems, in the attitudes of Hispanics toward speaking Spanish and English, in the status of folk healers in the Hispanic community, and in attitudes toward the delivery of human services. The failure to take into account the consequences of acculturation can contribute to the further underutilization of mental health services by Hispanic families.The research described in this article was funded by a grant from the Blowitz-Ridgeway Foundation.Special thanks to Laura L. Schmidt, M.A., Research Associate, and to Dora Maya, Ph.D., Program Director, VIVA Family Center, Children's Home and Aid Society of Illinois.     

Exploring the validity of electronic newspaper databases

Do electronic newspaper databases contain all of the stories that appear in the print edition? And does this depend on the database used? To explore these questions, we collected print copies of newspapers from cities across the USA and Canada. We compared coverage of two topics in these newspapers with the coverage obtained from keyword searches in three electronic newspaper databases. We conclude that the stories obtained through electronic searches are consistent across databases but can vary from the print source. Importantly, national and international coverage is more likely to be missing than local or statewide/provincial coverage.     

The effectiveness of nonprofit lead‐organization networks for social service delivery

Public agencies increasingly contract with nonprofit organizations to lead community‐based networks for social service delivery. We explore the role that partnership characteristics play in the effectiveness of these networks. Using data on children and family services in Los Angeles County, we consider the impact of both the motivations for forming partnerships and the nature of the resulting partnerships on perceived outcomes for clients, interorganizational relationships, and organizational learning. We find that client outcomes and interorganizational relationships are enhanced when partnerships are formed to meet certain programmatic and organizational goals. Organizational learning, however, is affected only when partnerships are formed to enhance organizational legitimacy. Partners selected because they share common vision increase effectiveness, while those selected because there are few alternative partners decrease effectiveness. Finally, when partnerships use an interorganizational coordination mechanism, client outcomes are improved. The managerial implications of these impacts for the nonprofit sector are developed. The results lend considerable support to the role of partnership motivation and partner selection in the effectiveness of nonprofit lead‐organization networks, and specificity about the nature of that role.     

Family therapy of a domestic violence service delivery system

In this paper the author recounts how one agency in a community of agencies sought to integrate services to multiproblem families. The paper describes how the integration was attempted, conceptualizing the community of agencies as a multiproblem family itself. The advantages and limitations of applying the family metaphor to a larger social system are also discussed.Partial funding was provided by the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect, Grant 90-C-1757.     

The social shaping of digital research

The social shaping of technology (SST) has become a broad umbrella term to cover a variety of theoretical and methodological perspectives in the social sciences. It has also defined a set of funded projects in the UK focused on a particular technical initiative around e-social science – digital social research. It is increasingly understood that social science research and work on the SST, in particular, should be applied to the study of innovations in digital research and their implications for the sciences and humanities. This overview is designed to help introduce the diversity of perspectives that the social sciences can bring to bear, such as under the social shaping umbrella and explain why this set of perspectives is of value to policy and practice in this field. The continuing advance and diffusion of digital research make it ever more important to strengthen the role of the social sciences in this area of multi-disciplinary research, policy, and practice.     

我国服务经济发展的总体特征与制度障碍

目前,我国经济发展中已经出现一些与服务经济发展特征一致的发展趋势,东部地区和一些大型经济中心城市出现了加快向服务经济转型的势头,为我国服务经济的形成奠定了重要的基础。但我国经济社会发展距离服务经济形成还有一定差距。影响我国服务经济发展的主要制度障碍和问题是：服务领域多元化市场主体发育和企业制度建设滞后;要素和服务市场发展改革滞后,市场机制作用不强;监管体制和方式亟待改革创新;政府职能转变滞后;法治环境亟待完善;服务标准体系缺失或落后;促进服务业发展的机制和政策方式亟待改革创新等。     

我国服务经济发展制度环境存在的问题与改革方向

近年来,我国在服务经济制度建设方面取得了长足的进步,税收、信用、监管、市场准入、法律法规、统计等各项制度都在不断完善,社会主义市场经济体制初步建立,流转税和所得税制度不断优化,企业所得税逐渐并轨;结构完整的征信体系基本形成;监管体制日趋合理;不同资本进入产业领域的准入限制逐渐降低;以宪法为核心的中国特色社会主义法律体系基本形成。但是制度环境仍然是制约服务经济发展的主要问题,尤其在市场经济制度、基本管理制度等方面问题不少。我国服务经济制度改革的总体方向在于,坚持市场导向,深化体制改革,继续扩大开放,突出发展重点,创新发展方式。     

Individual differences and electronic monitoring at work

Individual differences such as personality and demographic factors have effects on how people react to Electronic Performance Monitoring (EPM), yet the literature on this aspect of electronic monitoring has been scattered. The present paper summarizes this body of empirical research and presents a framework for organizing current research findings based on two dimensions: the probability of successful work under the monitoring and the probability of accepting that the monitoring is of value. The framework also allows researchers to make predictions regarding additional individual difference variables. Managers may use this information to select employees who are likely to respond well to monitoring conditions and to structure monitoring procedures so that they are likely to be accepted by their employees with particular individual difference characteristics.     

Key threats and challenges to the preservation of digital records of public institutions in Ghana

The rapid pace with which technology is changing continues to pose a perpetual threat to digital preservation. Although initiatives in digital preservation in Europe, North America, Asia and sporadic attempts in Africa appear to have yielded some level of progress, permanent access to information and longevity of digital records continue to be a problem. Whilst Africa’s contribution to the growth of digital records may be insignificant, it is growing and Ghana cannot be insulated from this threat of digital growth. This paper examines the current challenges of digital preservation in sub-Saharan Africa with particular reference to Ghana. It identified funding, level of security and privacy, skills training and technological obsolescence as factors that pose key threats to digital preservation. The paper recommends that the ministries and agencies can address many of the digital preservation challenges if they adopt backup, refreshing, metadata and migration strategies.