INSTITUTIONAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP & INNOVATION IN MUNICIPAL SERVICE DELIVERY:

TOWARDS CRAFTING A HARMONIOUS PROFESSIONAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN

EXECUTIVE MAYORAL COMMITTEES AND EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT

by

DR PRAVINE NAIDOO B.PROC (UDW) MBA (Netherlands) DBA (UKZN) Attorney of the High Court of South Africa

Executive Director: Strategic Services Drakenstein Municipality, Paarl, Western Cape Province, South Africa

www.drakenstein.gov.za pravine.naidoo@drakenstein.gov.za

Councillors give political direction and leadership and determine the policies and direction of the municipality;

Officials should have the knowledge and skills on the technical and specialised aspects of municipal affairs.

Councillors who don’t have this knowledge have to rely on the reports of officials to help them make decisions.

Councillors have to weigh up recommendations from Officials with community needs and interests.

Once the Council has reached a decision then Officials are expected to carry these out in the most efficient and cost-effective way.

PROBLEM STATEMENT:

WHILST THE FORMAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN OFFICIALS & COUNCILLORS IS CLEARLY DEFINED, IT IS OFTEN THE EXTENT TO WHICH OFFICIALS & COUNCILLORS RELATE ON A MORE PERSONAL

LEVEL THAT DEFINES THE SUCCESS OF THE FORMAL INTERACTION.

Charismatic leadership behaviour is a combination of charm and personal magnetism that gets other people to endorse a leader’s vision and promote it passionately (Ivancevich et al., 1999: 448).

According to Robbins (1992: 379), it is widely believed that charismatic leaders have the following personal characteristics: They have extremely high confidence;

They show obedience and strong conviction of their beliefs;

They have a compelling sense of vision and purpose;

They communicate this vision clearly to followers to identify with;

They consistently focus on and pursue their vision;

They know their own strengths and capitalise on them.

Transformational leadership is where the reward is internal to the follower. The leader motivates people to work for transcendental goals, achievement and self-actualisation and not for self-interest and security. The leader persuades followers to work hard at achieving goals envisioned by leaders (Ivancevich et al., 1998: 453).

According to Evers et al. (1996: 73), transformational leadership is characterisedby the following factors:

Charisma- trusted and respected followers want to identify with and imitate the leader;

Inspirational Motivation- the leader uses symbols and appeals to the followers’ emotions to reinforce awareness and understanding in the pursuit of shared goals;

Intellectual stimulation- followers are encouraged to question their old ways of doing things, their values and beliefs (including those of the leader and the organisation) and to think of new ways to meet challenges.

Individualised considerations- followers are treated according to their needs which may be raised to a higher level. They are helped to meet challenges and to become more effective in attaining goals.

Amabile (1988) provides an important overview of the qualities of individuals that influence creativity. She identified ten qualities of problem solvers that served to promote creativity and five that served to inhibit creativity. The qualities that promote creativity were:

* Personality traits; including persistence, curiosity, energy, an intellectual honesty,

* Self-motivation; being self-driven, excited by the work itself, enthusiastic, attracted by the challenge of the problem, having a sense of working on something important, and a belief in or commitment to the idea,

* Special cognitive abilities; special talents in the problem-solver’s particular field, as well as general problem-solving abilities and tactics for creative thinking,

* Risk orientation; unconventional, attracted to the challenge, oriented

toward taking risks and doing things differently, * Expertise in the Area; talent, experience, and

acquired knowledge in the particular field,

* Qualities of the group; synergy arising from the intellectual, personal, and

social qualities of the individuals making up the project team, * Diverse experience; broad general knowledge and experience in

a wide range of domains, * Social skill; good social and/or political skills, good rapport with

others, being a good listener and a good team player, and being broad

minded or open to others’ ideas, * Brilliance; a high level of general intelligence; * Naivete; being naïve or new to the field, not biased by

preconceptions or bound by old ways of doing things. (Amabile1988:128-129)

Those qualities which inhibit creativity were:

* Unmotivated; lack of motivation for the work, not being challenged by the problem, having a pessimistic attitude toward the likely outcome,

complacent, lazy, * Unskilled; lack of ability or experience in the problem area, * Inflexible; being set in one’s own ways, opinionated, unwilling to do

things differently, too constrained by one’s education or training, * Externally motivated; being primarily motivated by money,

recognition, or other factors aside from the work itself, responding primarily to

restrictions and goals set by others, being competitive and jealous of someone else’s success.

* Socially unskilled; lack of social or political skills, such as being a poor team player. (Amabile 1988:129)

It can be argued that South African municipalities are over-managed and under-led.

The challenge is to combine strong leadership and strong management, one balancing the other.

Management is about coping with complexity whilst leadership is about coping with change.

(LOGOLA, 2004)

What has Charismatic & Transformational Leadership on the part of Executive Mayoral Committees & Executive Management got to do with INSTITUTIONAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP & INNOVATION IN SERVICE DELIVERY?

ANSWER: EVERYTHING !!!

Executive Mayoral Committees can be equated to your local cabinet;

Section 57 Employees (senior executive managers) can be viewed as DG’s (National Government)/ HOD’s (Provincial Government);

In essence and in practice, the Section 57 Manager works very closely with his respective political head on a daily basis;

Although he/she administratively reports to the Municipal Manager, it is submitted that the senior manager liaises more with his portfolio holder than with the MM on a daily basis.

It is precisely at this interface between the political head and the respective administrative head, hard experience has shown that sound professional relationships are tested to the limit;

The lack of a sound professional working relationship between the Executive Mayor and the Municipal Manager and between the Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) and the Section 57 Manager has clearly shown that service delivery is severely compromised and ultimately the residents of the municipality suffer as a result of this disjuncture.

If management is about coping with complexity, how are senior management in South African developmental local government being entrepreneurial and innovative in enhancing their professional role to deliver effective, efficient and accountable services?

If leadership is about coping with change, are our councillors in a state of readiness to lead the municipality in such a manner that the winds of change are successfully navigated ?

A further question arises: Whose responsibility is it to ensure that senior managers and councillors are in a state of readiness to address complexity and change?

In respect of Councillors, is it the political party that deploys them to the municipality to address local challenges and implement their political party’s manifesto?

In respect of senior management, is it their very own credentials in their CVs, which would equip them to manage complexity?

Are these questions mutually exclusive of each other?

It is respectfully submitted that the answer lies in the principles of Institutional Entrepreneurship which is premised on COLLABORATION.

However, this is easier said than done. What then is the way forward???

I believe that the way forward is one that can only be charted by the broader South African society by introspecting and asking fundamental questions, namely:

What type of municipality would I want to govern my affairs?

Given the huge developmental challenges facing us as a country, do our political parties have a sense of the magnitude of the problem when they deploy political leaders and appoint senior management to govern and administer the affairs of the municipality?

Are we expecting too much of elected and appointed officials in our municipalities 16 years after our new democratic dispensation since 1994, given the fact of the historical legacy that was inherited?

Are ‘first-world’ legislation really appropriate in the context of a developing nation such as South Africa?

Should not the civil service be professionalisedand independent of the political leadership?

Irrespective of the answer to the above questions, only one thing is certain:

TOGETHER AS POLITICIANS AND OFFICIALS WE HAVE GOT TO WORK TOGETHER, NOTWITHSTANDING DIFFERENCES OF OPINIONS, IDEOLOGIES AND PERSONALITIES.

HOW DO WE DO THIS FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF SENIOR MANAGEMENT?

A Section 57 Manager has to come to terms with the fact that he has to operate within a politically volatile and tense environment within the municipality.

He/She has to have all the skills necessary (which should be from a wide arsenal), to ensure that he/she operates administratively within this political context in a manner that will inspire confidence from both the political leadership and administrative management.

ABOVE ALL, THE SENIOR MANAGER’S INTEGRITY SHOULD BE KEPT INTACT AT ALL TIMES AND SHOULD NEVER BE COMPROMISED WHATSOEVER!!!

LOCAL GOVERNMENT CAN CERTAINLY DO WITHOUT COMPROMISED INDIVIDUALS.

Institutional Entrepreneurship & Innovation can only be fostered and thrive when the politician and administrator ‘sings from the same score-sheet’.

“The great observers are not forecasting good times but in the very hazards that lie ahead for leaders, remarkable opportunities exist for those who would lead their enterprises in this country into a new kind of community – a cohesive community of healthy children, strong families and work that dignifies the individual. It is in this arena that leaders with new mind sets and visions will forge new relationships, crossing all three sectors to build partnerships and community” (Hesselbein, Goldsmith and Beckhard, 1996: 124; LOGOLA, 2004).

Given the transformation process and the varied developmental needs of South Africa, charismatic and transformational leadership is imperative for institutional entrepreneurship and innovation in service delivery to be promoted.

It is therefore contended that developmental local government would be fostered and enhanced by the development of these competencies associated with these approaches.

ILGM can advance these types of arguments and proposals to bodies such as SALGA , COGTA and to all political parties.

THANK YOU. ENKOSI. BAIE DANKIE.