Abstract:
Research was conducted at a selected metropolitan local government organisation
in South Africa to determine whether the establishment of independent municipal
entities (agencies) to deliver services had a positive effect on the entrepreneurial
performance of such entities in relation to traditional departments that had been
maintained. The findings indicated that municipal entities (agencies) of the local
government organisation portrayed fewer bureaucratic resource management
practices (key business dimensions) than core departments, with reference to the
prominence of official structures, policies, procedures and standard practices
(hard issues). These variances could, however, not be correlated significantly
with similar variances in the overall performance or entrepreneurial intensity of
the relevant organisational units. The results indicated that the establishment
of independent municipal agencies did not have a significant positive effect on
the entrepreneurial and overall performance. This unexpected and surprising
result seemed to confirm that the adjustment of structures, operating practices
and corporatisation alone were insufficient to improve entrepreneurial and
overall performance, and that the primary distinguishing factor might in effect
be related to entrepreneurial behaviour, competencies and managerial staff’s
skills.
