THE INFLUENCE OF LEADERSHIP

ON EMPLOYEE WORK EFFORT, PERFORMANCE

AND SERVICE DELIVERY

IN THE CITY OF JOHANNESBURG METROPOLITAN MUNICIPALITY

by

P.F. SMIT

MINI-DISSERTATION

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree

MASTERS IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

at

REGENESYS SCHOOL OF PUBLIC MANAGEMENT

Supervisor: Professor K. Govender

2015

ABSTRACTThe focus of this mini-dissertation is to examine the relationship between

empowering leadership, employee work effort, employee performance and service

delivery in the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality (CJMM), Revenue

department, in South Africa. It is essential to understand how to improve service

delivery in the CJMM and to determine what interventions would be necessary to be

most beneficial in assisting the CJMM to curb the problem of empowering leadership

and demotivation in this area; and to understand the underlying issues behind the

problem, while creating awareness and giving innovative insight to those who are

already aware of this topic.

A quantitative research design is used as it embraces the fact that the findings are

objective, reliable, valid and reproducible (Curtis and Drennan, 2013: 133). The

questionnaires have been developed comprising of 45 questions based on the Likert

scale, divided into five sections. These questions are closed-ended questions to

provide the researcher with accurate, specific data and an overall view of factors

relating to the impact of empowering leadership on employee work effort and

employee performance, the impact of employee work effort on employee

performance, and if these elements have a positive influence on service delivery in

the Revenue department in the CJMM.

The findings reveal that empowering leadership strongly influences employee work

effort, performance and service delivery in a significant way. The findings further

provide fruitful implications to both practitioners and academicians. On the academic

side, this study makes a substantial contribution to the leadership and service

delivery literature by systematically exploring the impact of empowering leadership

on service delivery in South Africa. In particular, this study’s findings provide tentative

support that empowering leadership should be recognised as a significant

antecedent and instrument to employee work effort, performance and service

delivery in South Africa. On the practitioner’s side, the important mediating role of

employee work effort and employee performance in the empowering leadership –

service delivery relationship in South Africa’s public sector is highlighted.

KEY WORDS: Empowering leadership, employee work effort, employee performance and service delivery.

ii

29/09/15

DECLARATION OF ORIGINAL WORK

I, Petronella Frederika Smit declare that this research report is my own, unaided

work. It is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Masters

in Public Management at Regenesys School of Public Management, Sandton,

Johannesburg.

It has not been submitted before for any degree or examination at any other

university or educational institution.

………………………………… ……………………………………..

Petronella Frederika Smit Date (dd/mm/yy)

iii

Contents

ABSTRACT............................................................................................................ ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS....................................................................................vii

LIST OF TABLES..................................................................................................viii

LIST OF FIGURES................................................................................................viii

LIST OF APPENDICES.......................................................................................... ix

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION............................................................................1

1.1 Introduction..................................................................................................1

1.2 Background.................................................................................................2

1.3 Problem Statement......................................................................................3

1.4 Research Objectives...................................................................................5

1.5 Research Questions....................................................................................5

1.6 Conceptual Model.......................................................................................6

1.7 Delimitations to the Study............................................................................7

1.8 Structure of the Mini-Dissertation................................................................7

1.9 Conclusion...................................................................................................8

CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF LITERATURE..........................................................10

2.1 Introduction................................................................................................10

2.2 The Research Context – The Revenue and Customer Relationship

Management Department.........................................................................10

2.3 Leadership.................................................................................................13

2.4 Empowerment...........................................................................................16

2.5 Transformational Leadership.....................................................................17

2.6 Employee Performance.............................................................................22

2.7 Employee Work Effort................................................................................24

2.8 Service Delivery........................................................................................26

iv

2.9 Hypothesis Development...........................................................................29

2.10 Chapter Summary.....................................................................................32

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY....................................................34

3.1 Introduction................................................................................................34

3.2 Research Design.......................................................................................35

3.3 Research Population.................................................................................39

3.4 Sampling...................................................................................................39

3.5 Research Instruments...............................................................................41

3.6 Data Collection Techniques.......................................................................43

3.7 Data Analysis............................................................................................44

3.8 Validity and Reliability...............................................................................46

3.9 Ethical Considerations...............................................................................47

3.10 Limitations.................................................................................................49

3.11 Conclusion.................................................................................................50

CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS..............................................51

4.1 Introduction................................................................................................51

4.2 Data Screening..........................................................................................51

4.3 Data Analytical Procedures.......................................................................51

4.4 Conclusion.................................................................................................62

CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSIONS.............................................................................63

5.1 Introduction................................................................................................63

5.2 Overall Findings........................................................................................63

5.3 Conclusion.................................................................................................66

CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSIONS, LIMITATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS....68

7.1 Introduction................................................................................................68

7.2 Major Findings...........................................................................................68

7.3 Academic and Managerial Implications.....................................................69

7.4 Limitations of the Study.............................................................................70

v

7.5 Recommendations for Future Research....................................................71

7.6 Conclusion.................................................................................................73

REFERENCES.....................................................................................................74

APPENDICES......................................................................................................87

vi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I wish to extend my sincere gratitude and appreciation to:

i. The Lord for giving me the wisdom, strength, guidance and endurance in this

journey to complete my studies.

ii. My family, especially my husband, Deon, for your guidance, input, patience, love

and support that has inspired me to complete this study.

iii. My friends, Orpa Roberts and Neetha Dildar for your input and motivation to

continue and complete this study. My manager, Gavin Pringle, for his support

during my studies.

iv. My advisor, Prof. Krishna Govender, and my co-advisor, Prof. Richard

Chinomona, for your availability, encouragement, assistance and professional

guidance.

v. My research participants, without whom this research would not have been

possible. Thank you for your invaluable contributions which have assisted me to

accomplish this task.

vii

LIST OF TABLESTable 1: Summary of Hypothesis..............................................................................33

Table 2: Accuracy Analysis Statistics.......................................................................54

Table 3: Correlations between Constructs................................................................56

Table 4: Correlations between Constructs................................................................58

Table 5: Relationship between Empowering Leaders and Employee Performance 59

Table 6: Relationship between Work Effort and Service Delivery.............................59

Table 7: Years in the Organisation and Employee Performance..............................60

Table 8: Years in the Organisation and Work Effort..................................................60

Table 9: Years in the Organisation and Service Delivery..........................................61

Table 10: A Cross-Tabulation between Gender and their Ability to Meet Deadlines 62

Table 11: A Cross-Tabulation between Gender and How They Required Incentives

...................................................................................................................................62

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Conceptual Model........................................................................................6

Figure 2: A Schematic Representation of the Integrated Systems in the CJMM......11

Figure 3: A Schematic Representation of the Integrated Systems in the R&CRM

Value Chain...............................................................................................................13

Figure 4: The Links in the Service-Profit Chain........................................................28

Figure 5: Conceptual Model......................................................................................32

Figure 6: Defining the Data Type..............................................................................37

Figure 7: Measurement and Structural Model Result................................................57

viii

LIST OF APPENDICESAppendix 1: Questionnaire........................................................................................87

Appendix 2: Permission Letter to Conduct Research...............................................93

ix

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONSAVE Average Variance Extracted

CFA Confirmatory Factor Analysis

CJMM City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality

COJ City of Johannesburg

CR Composite Reliability

CRA Customer Relations Agent

EL Empowering Leadership

eNCA E-News Channel Africa

EP Employee Performance

EWE Employee Work Effort

GI Geographic Information

GIS Geographic Information System

ISD Improved Service Delivery

LI Land Information

LIS Land Information System

MLQ Multi-Factor Leadership Questionnaire

OB Organisational Behaviour

R&CR Revenue & Customer Relations Management

SAP Systems Application Programming System

SEM Structural Equation Modelling

SPC Service- Profit Chain

SPSS Statistical Package Smart PLS

x

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 INTRODUCTIONIt has become evident that it is critical to identify factors impacting on the living

standards and quality of life of communities, which are negatively affected due to the

absence, or poor quality services rendered by municipalities in South Africa.

The overall perception of local government in South Africa is that service delivery

levels are declining and that it does not only reflect poorly on the management of

these municipalities, but has a critical impact on the Government’s ability to ensure

that quality services are delivered in the country.

The poor quality of these services, or the lack thereof, results in obstructing growth

and development in business or industrial areas, which limits job opportunities for

residents and further has a negative impact on the health and living standards of the

residents.

These concerns have triggered the question as to what would change and improve

service delivery in the CJMM. The fact that leadership has the ability to reshape the

manner in which employees act - which will change the manner into which the

company acts - has raised the question as to what the effect of leadership is on

employee work effort, performance and service delivery.

This chapter provides the background and motivation for the research. It specifies the

scope of the research and defines the research problem and sub-problems. The

chapter commences with the background to the study and includes the research

problem statement, objectives, limitations of the study, literature review, and ethical

considerations, and concludes with the overview of chapters which make up the mini-

dissertation.

1

1.2 BACKGROUNDThe common vision of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality (CJMM) is,

“to be a World Class African City of the Future - a vibrant, equitable African city,

strengthened through its diversity; a city that provides real quality of life; a city that

provides sustainability for all its residents; a resilient and adaptive society. (COJ -

Business Planning Department, 2012).

The underpinning values to achieve the City of Johannesburg’s (COJ) Vision and

Mission are to meet expectations by persistently contributing to the satisfaction and

well-being of customers, in a “passionate, courteous and knowledgeable manner; to

take pride in all the actions by providing the highest level of service; to consistently

act honorably and above reproach and keep promises made; and to maintain a high

regard for customers in daily engagements” (COJ - Marketing Department, 2013).

While some municipalities are very well managed, the overall current state of local

government in South Africa is precariously classified by its “increasing outstanding

debtors, the qualified audit reports, poor systems (internally and externally), poor

performance, poor long-term planning, huge service delivery backlogs and queries,

increasing salary bills, unfunded mandates, government debt, concerns about

sustainability, and greater demands and expectations by all stakeholders” (COJ -

Business Planning Department, 2012).

The services provided by municipalities have a direct impact on the living standards

and quality of life of the people in the community. For example, if a customer

relations agent (CRA), being the frontline employee, does not report a problem or

query correctly, or reports it late or not at all, and, the water is disconnected or refuse

is not collected regularly, it will create a contaminated, unhealthy and unsafe living

environment, and a highly dissatisfied resident and frustrated community. The poorly

serviced areas can place a damper on the growth and development of businesses or

industries which will limit job opportunities for residents (City of Johannesburg, 2013).

Whatever the challenges, the municipality must deliver on its mandate, which is

essentially to improve the quality of life for all South Africans. Residents of

Johannesburg indicated that they wanted the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) to ensure

that the municipality is efficient, effective and functional; is responsive to the needs of 2

its population; provides quality services and addresses basic service needs and

requirements; continues the schedule and need for transformation and change;

communicates and engages with residents on development plans and progress and

addresses service delivery backlogs (COJ - Marketing Department, 2013: 3).

The CJMM requires resources like finances, empowered managers, well-trained

employees and systems and equipment to deliver on its constitutional mandate (COJ

- Marketing Department, 2013: 3). One way to address the extent to which limited

resources affect the ability to deliver on its constitutional mandate, is to ensure that

service excellence is maintained, which affects query resolution, collections,

performance and accuracy of data. The CJMM can be seen as a vehicle with

interrelated, interdependent, and interacting parts that work together to deliver the

services required. Fitz-enz (2009: 8) stated that “humans are the only element with

inherent power to generate value as all other variables (cash, assets, material,

equipment and energy) add nothing until some individual leverage that potential to

add value by putting it into play.”

Based on the challenges impacting the delivery on the CJMM’s constitutional

mandate, and the fact that the value added by people impacts service delivery in the

CJMM, the researcher identified the need to explore the extent to which empowering

leadership impacts on employee work effort, employee performance and service

delivery, which affect the quality of life of the residents.

1.3 PROBLEM STATEMENTMunicipal service delivery levels have not kept pace with the expectations of the

customers in terms of the quality of services and query resolutions by the CJMM

(COJ - Business Planning Department, 2012: 11 - 12). As extracted in the Integrated

Development Plan of the CJMM (2012: 11 - 12), the CJMM indicated that “the

sustainability of service delivery remains critical.”

In South Africa, it is known that municipalities have “massive outstanding debts,

enormous backlogs of queries and bad reputations due to ineffective and inefficient

service delivery levels” (Financial and Fiscal Commission, 2011: 81). This suggests

that there may be underlying and hidden elements that should be explored to

3

understand their impact on employee work effort, employee performance and service

delivery.

The CJMM has been chosen for this study as it is one of the municipalities where

constant allegations of maladministration, incorrect billing and poor service delivery

are being publicised on various media platforms, such as in media releases

(Atkinson, 2012); on E-News Channel Africa (eNCA, 2013); consumer comments

(eNCA, 2013); in The Mail & Guardian (Bauer, 2012); on Radio 702 (Robbie, 2011)

and Carte Blanche (Bingwa, Phirippides and Christoforou, 2010). The Financial and

Fiscal Commission (2011: 13) has found that a direct impact of the 2008/2009

recession has been a decrease in services due to a decline in payment levels and a

decrease in the quality of existing services.

The above has prompted interest in this research in order to find out to what extent

(empowering) leadership influences employee work effort, performance and service

delivery in the CJMM. Service delivery usually depends on a multitude of factors,

with the efficiency and effectiveness of employees being a major factor. Prior studies

have shown that the contact centers, and Credit Management, Revenue and Billing

departments in the CJMM are high-pressure, stressful work environments. “They do

routine work, have little control over the work, there is intense performance

monitoring, pressure to meet performance targets, high staff turnover, and high

levels of absenteeism” (Kwok, 2005: 3).

In light of the challenges alluded to above, the present study strives to close this

knowledge gap and possibly demonstrate relations between empowering leadership,

employee work effort, performance and service delivery in the CJMM. By filling this

gap in academia, the study will further assist by contributing to the empirical

literature, and theory that may inspire further studies. Additionally, the study will

contribute in assisting other municipalities to apply the lessons learned throughout

the country, since the overall current state of municipalities in South Africa is

precariously characterised by “increasing debtor books, qualified audits, poor

performance in contact centres, poor systems, poor long-term planning, huge service

delivery backlogs, increasing salary bills, unfunded mandates, government debt,

concerns about sustainability, and greater demands and expectations by all

stakeholders” (Kumar, 2008).4

1.4 RESEARCH OBJECTIVESThe aim of this study is to investigate to what extent leadership impacts on work

effort, performance and service delivery in the CJMM.

1.4.1 Theoretical objectives

The following theoretical objectives were developed:

1.4.1.1 To review the literature on empowering leadership, employee work effort,

employee performance, and service delivery.

1.4.2 Empirical Objectives

The following empirical objectives were developed:

1.4.2.1 To explore the influence of empowering leadership on employee work effort;

1.4.2.2 To ascertain the effect of empowering leadership on employee performance;

1.4.2.3 To investigate the relationship between employee work effort and employee

performance;

1.4.2.4 To examine the influence of employee work effort on service delivery; and

1.4.2.5 To determine the influence of employee performance on service delivery.

1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONSThe research questions are as follows:

1.5.1 Does empowering leadership affect employee work effort?

1.5.2 Does empowering leadership affect employee performance?

1.5.3 How does employee work effort affect employee performance?

1.5.4 To what extent does employee work effort affect service delivery?

1.5.5 To what extent does employee performance affect service delivery?

5

1.6 CONCEPTUAL MODELDrawing from the literature, in particular the literature mentioned below, a research

model was conceptualised, and hypothesised relationships between the research

variables were developed. Figure 1 below illustrates the proposed conceptual model.

Figure 1: Conceptual Model

Source: Researcher’s Conception

1.6.1 Hypotheses

The hypothesis of a research study is defined as a tentative statement that suggests

a probable reason to some phenomenon or event. It is further also referred to as a

testable statement, which may include a prediction (Answers.com Dictionary, 2008).

For this research study, based on the above conceptual model, the following

hypotheses are stated:

H1 Empowering leadership has a positive influence on employee work effort

in the CJMM;

H2 Empowering leadership has a positive influence on employee performance

in the CJMM;

H3 Employee work effort has a positive influence on employee performance in

the CJMM;

H4 Employee work effort has a positive influence on service delivery in the

CJMM; and

H5 Employee performance has a positive influence on service delivery in the

CJMM.

6

H5

H4

H3

H2

H1

Improved Service Delivery

Employee Work Effort

Empowering Leadership

Employee Performance

1.7 DELIMITATIONS TO THE STUDYMaree (2007: 42) stated that limitations of the research study indicate that there are

potential challenges that could affect the research such as time limits, availability and

access to participants and the manner in which the researcher plans to deal with

these issues. Alternatively, Withal and Jansen (1997: 35) stated that acknowledging

limitations of the research is important.

The researcher acknowledges that time constraints might have an impact on the

project completion. The researcher will try to use available time in an effective and

efficient way; planning the research processes and progress and adjusting when

necessary.

The researcher acknowledges that it is possible that the data collected is much

narrower and does not include data from external customers, other municipalities and

regions and may result in limited information as it will provide mathematical

descriptions, including less elaborate accounts of human perception. The researcher

utilises a purposeful selected population sample with ample experience to minimise

the effect of a narrow approach, which may have a negative effect on the data. The

researcher acknowledges that not all employees will complete the questionnaires.

1.8 STRUCTURE OF THE MINI-DISSERTATIONChapter 1 provides the introduction and background to the study, and includes,

among others, the problem statement, objectives of the study, the research

questions, and the conceptual model. It discusses the limitations of the study, and

gives an overview of the other chapters.

Chapter 2 comprises of the literature review on:

Leadership in general;

Transformational leadership theory;

Knowledge sharing;

Employee work effort;

Employee performance; and

Service delivery.

7

The literature review provides insight into local government operations not always

apparent from a superficial observation of what local government needs to do to

dispatch its constitutional mandate. It also provides an opportunity to unpack the

issues so that the interview process can be enriched. The literature review forms the

basis for analysis of the data feedback obtained through the study.

Chapter 3 describes the research methodology and design deployed. Information on

the design and formulation of the research questionnaire is described in detail. The

bases of selecting the sample is explained, together with the methodology to collect,

record, collate, analyse and present the data. Ethical aspects as well as limitations to

the study are addressed.

Chapter 4 provides a write-up on the findings. This chapter describes the

demographic profile of the sample, as well as the other results from the research.

Chapter 5 provides an in-depth discussion on the findings from the study by linking it

with relevant literature. It further highlights the factors that are important to the

CJMM’s vision.

Chapter 6 includes the final conclusion and recommendations chapter. It draws from

Chapters 4 and 5 for its content. This chapter highlights problems and make

recommendations in relation to factors identified to improve service delivery and

expedite query resolutions. It further pinpoints the limitations of this study as well as

areas where more research needs to be done in future.

1.9 CONCLUSIONThe aim of this study is to explore the impact of empowering leadership on

employees’ work effort, performance and service delivery in the CJMM. This chapter

introduced the research topic, by providing the background and rationale to the

research and described why service delivery is a problem that affects all residents.

This chapter also provided a framework to commence with the research in order to

understand the relationships between the variables and the impact thereof on service

delivery.

8

Chapter 2 covers relevant information about various theories, concepts and models

on service delivery, and other factors integrating the theory with the research

problems.

9

CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF LITERATURE

1

2

2.1 INTRODUCTIONAll research is grounded in literature, which explains theoretical concepts and

reviews previous studies relevant to the current study. The purpose of this study is to

identify challenges that affect effective service delivery of employees within the

Revenue department of the CJMM. The researcher discusses the following literature:

2.1.1 The research context, namely, the Revenue & Customer Relations

(R&CRM) department;

2.1.2 Leadership theory and empowering leaders;

2.1.3 Empowering;

2.1.4 Transformational leadership theory;

2.1.5 Employee performance; and

2.1.6 Service delivery.

2.2 THE RESEARCH CONTEXT – THE REVENUE AND CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT

The discussion regarding the R&CRM department’s value chain provides background

to the complexity of the CJMM’s integrated processes and procedures. These

integrated value-chain factors work in cohesion towards the main objective of the

CJMM, which is to provide quality service to the customers as stipulated in the vision

and mission. The objectives include providing excellence through constantly

contributing to the satisfaction and well-being of customers, in a passionate,

courteous and knowledgeable manner; to take pride in all the actions by providing

the highest level of service; to consistently act honourably and above reproach and

keep promises made; and to maintain a high regard for customers in daily

engagements (COJ - Marketing Department, 2013).

10

The CJMM's Geographic Information System (GIS) assists employees to interpret

vast amounts of complex information through simple visual maps or graphs. (GIS

Department, 2008). GIS is the basis of all billing and revenue within the CJMM

geographical area. Geographic Information (GI) consists of the basic land, including

roads, robots, parks, parking areas, street names, areas, regions, etc. and contains a

unique SG identity number, linked to each stand and is the foundation of the billing in

the CJMM. The Land Information System (LIS) is aligned “on top” of the GIS and

contains the basis for billing customers, and includes tariffs, usage and consent use,

which will inform the Systems Application Programming (SAP) system to bill the

rates, refuse, water, sewer and electricity. The LIS also contains the customer detail

and owner detail of the properties and this is where change of ownership is being

updated and captured. A push strategy from the Deeds Office to the CJMM informs

the LIS of change of ownership. Figure 2 is a schematic representation of the inter-

linked systems which flow into the billing system to raise income in the CJMM as

discussed in this paragraph.

Figure 2: A Schematic Representation of the Integrated Systems in the CJMM

Source: Van Wyk, R., (2013)

11

Figure 3 displays the various functions within the value chain of the R&CRM

department, which is a mere drop in the complete value chain of the CJMM. The

billing department is the source which initiates income generation and debtor

accounts, as invoices are raised through the input from meter readings and other

billing information, like sewer charges, rates and taxes charges and other sundry

charges. Billing is also responsible for statement distribution through e-mails,

postage, collections and delivery agents.

Account payments can be received, among others, through various channels, e.g.

banks, electronic transfers, debit orders, cashiers at CJMM pay points and third

parties (Pick n Pay or the Post Office). These payments are uploaded into the SAP

system utilising the Metro Cash Router System to allocate the payments - using

various payment allocation rules built into the system – to the customer accounts.

Queries, Front and Back Office are critical departments in recording the customer’s

concerns, and generating a relationship with customers. The front office receives

various requests from customers; copy statements, change of ownership, payments

not reflecting on accounts, incorrect billing, incorrect tariffs on accounts, potholes,

broken bins, address changes, water leakages and many more. These queries are

recorded and rooted to the correct department outside R&CRM and the back office

will resolve billing and statement queries and give feedback via the Customer

Interface department.

The Refunds, Payments and Clearances departments include statements and

property adjustments and updates. These updates will be rooted back to the Billing

department where the statements will be updated and distributed to the customers.

Non-payment or default payments result in credit management actions. The system

is linked with various integrated systems to cater for pre-termination notices

(warnings to cut services), termination notices, first cuts and final cuts. It further

includes actions from debt collectors and legal notices. Charges are raised and

routed back to the Billing department to send updated statements to customers.

The Finance, Data Management, and Reporting departments are responsible for

comprehensive and accurate analyses of financial reports and trends, as well as

ledger reconciliations and management reporting. These departments provide data

for decision-making purposes and improvements of data quality. The departments

12

work hand-in-hand with the Billing, Risk and Compliance, Audit Requirements and

Management Support departments. Critical issues are raised and highlighted in

reports which are figured at management meetings and recommendations

implemented. Performance reports are created and provided to management for

decision-making purposes.

Figure 3: A Schematic Representation of the Integrated Systems in the R&CRM Value Chain

Source: (City of Johannesburg, 2012)

The most critical factor within the value chain of the CJMM is that a cohesive and

holistic approach is required within the R&CRM department to ensure that all areas

are addressed to eliminate departments working in silos, initiating their own projects

and processes, overlooking concerns which impact on service delivery to manage or

eliminate challenges hampering service excellence. These departments within the

R&CRM are the final components to provide the customer with accurate bills,

timeous feedback and superior service. Failure of these conditions results in

increasing debtors, qualified audit reports, poor systems, poor performance, poor

long-term planning, service delivery backlogs and queries, increasing salary bills,

unfunded mandates, government debt, concerns about sustainability, and greater 13

demands and expectations by all stakeholders (COJ - Business Planning

Department, 2012).

2.3 LEADERSHIPRobbins and Judge (2013: 402) define leadership as the “ability to influence a group

in order to achieve a specific vision or set of goals”. Kotter (2007: 97) highlights the

“importance of leadership for driving successful change”. Bass (2008: 25) defines

leadership as a “link between two or more members of a group that often includes

structuring or restructuring of the situation and the perceptions and expectations of

the members”. The significance highlighted here is that effective leaders are agents

of change.

The task of leadership at all organisational levels seems to be getting more and more

difficult. Latham (2014: 11) commented that perhaps too much credit is given to

leaders for organisational success and failure, but also said that there is consensus

among academics and practitioners that it is important to give credit to leaders and

that it does make a difference. Latham (2014: 11) also found that recent knowledge

about leadership comprises of narrow definitions of leader efficiency and

effectiveness which are detached from their framework, thus making the application

in practice difficult.

Drawing from the above, Winston and Patterson (2006: 7) defined leadership as “an

individual who chooses, provides, and trains and influences followers who have

mixed gifts, abilities and skills”. The leader changes the focuses of followers to

support the organisation’s mission and objectives freely and eagerly, using spiritual,

emotional, and physical energy in a focused and coordinated manner. Winston and

Patterson (2006: 7) further state that the leader influences followers by humbly

communicating the vision clearly, which results into changing followers’ beliefs and

values so that they can comprehend and construe the future into present-time action

steps.

The leader makes use of critical thinking skills, vision, instinct, convincing rhetoric

and interactive communication methods, active listening and positive discourse

whereby s/he then facilitates and extracts the opinions and beliefs of followers,

motivating them to move towards understanding and clarity, accepting the future 14

state of the organisation as a desired condition worth pledging their commitment

toward goals and objectives. The leader accomplishes this through ethical conduct

and ensuring that followers are better off as a result of his/her leadership initiatives.

(Winston and Patterson, 2006: 7).

In order to bring about change in an organisation, strategic leadership plays a

fundamental role in shaping the organisation’s culture and style. Strategic leadership

relates to the aptitude to shape the organisation’s decisions, inspiring and managing

others in the organisation. Strategic leadership starts at the top, but is not only limited

to the top management in the organisation. (Lynch, 2012: 599 - 610).

Kotter (1996) conducted research on why efforts fail, and he found that leadership is

the “one most significant factor for failure” in an organisation. The role of a strategic

leader is to move the organisation from the current to the future state, creating

visions and opportunities for the organisation, inspiring and changing employees in

the organisation, instilling the required culture in the organisation and to mobilise and

focus resources to implement the strategy. (Buller, 1988: 50). This is why it is critical

that the leader has the ability and skills to fulfil this role.

The leader must be able to create and focus energy towards a vision, the ability to

communicate that vision, the ability to build trust, the capacity to build self-awareness

and the ability to create an atmosphere of empowerment and continual organisational

learning (Buller, 1988: 50).

Srivastava, Barton and Locke (2006: 1240) mentioned that empowerment was

initially conceptualised as a facet of a relation or power-sharing view. The theoretical

origins of the view of empowering leadership include the Ohio State leadership

studies (Fleishman, 1953) on consideration; work on supportive leadership (Bowers

and Seashore, 1966) and among others, the training, partaking and delegating

behaviours included in situational leadership theory (Hersey and Blanchard, Training

& Development Journal). The leader must use various tactics to be empowered:

delegation, professional mentorship, education, open door policy, integrity and

trustworthiness (Belcher, n.d.).

Randolph (2000: 94) stated that empowerment can work very well. He further said

that in order to achieve empowerment, the way that managers and employees

15

interact must be thoroughly analysed as very few managers and employees really

understand empowerment. This boils down to the need for massive change in people

and organisational systems. (Randolph, 2000: 94 - 95).

Randolph (2000: 95) described empowerment as a “process whereby managers

must embrace their inner power - knowledge, experience, and internal motivation –

and focus on ways to release the power within people to achieve amazing results” .

Roger Fritz (2002) said that “the greatest delight of real leaders is incubating new

ones”. The leader must thus use his/her abilities to grow new leaders for the future.

The main challenge for creating empowering workplaces might exist in in the role of

effective leadership. Managers create the conditions for employees' work by

determining the quality of support, information, and resources in work areas. When

employees notice that their leaders are authentic, open and honest, involving them in

decision-making, employees respond positively to their work, reporting increased

performance, trust and commitment to management. (Wong and Laschinger, 2012:

948).

It is evident from the above discussions that a leader influences the perception,

behaviour and performance of employees, ultimately impacting on the goals and

objectives of the organisation. The fact remains that managers and employees want

compatible results: outcomes linked with empowerment. This fact is fundamental to

generating new ideas and developing new opportunities through identifying and

aligning leadership to empowerment. This study will attempt to identify and focus on

ideas, concepts and gaps to change and empower leadership in the CJMM, using

literature theories as discussed to align and improve leadership in the CJMM.

2.4 EMPOWERMENTEmpowerment, as a theoretical model, applied as management tool, is defined by

scholars and experts in numerous ways. Bowen and Lawler (1992) in Cheung, Baum

and Wong (2010) stated that empowerment is a notion which comprises of “sharing

information, rewards, knowledge and power with frontline employees”. The

employees are called by Bateson and Hoffman (1999) in Cheung, Baum and Wong

(2010) “boundary-spanning workers”, acting as mediators between customers and

the organisation. These employees may make their own decisions and improve their 16

abilities and skills through development initiatives. Cheung, Baum and Wong (2010)

stated that “management researchers strive to expand the conceptualization of

empowerment further than only discretionary power and job autonomy”. For example,

Spreitzer (1995) in Cheung, Baum and Wong (2010) states that empowerment must

be “operationalized as a psychological construct” replicating an employee’s self-

control and self-efficacy; whereas Arnold, Arad, Rhoades and Drasgow (2000) claim

that empowerment should “seize the nature of the relationship between managers

and their subordinates” (Cheung, Baum and Wong (2010).

Apart from the above, severe uncertainty (for example, Baum 2006) has been

created on the “applicability of workplace empowerment, in its westernized form,

within cultures where managerial structures are, perhaps, more formal and power

distance is greater” (Cheung, Baum and Wong, 2010).

Cheung, Baum and Wong (2010) go further, stating that there are “several reasons

for managers hesitating to empower employees”. Among others, these contain

traditions, approach, decision-making and problem solving, fear of disorder and

chaos, personal uncertainty, lack of skills and job or promotion uncertainty. They go

on to say that even when empowerment is implemented, cultural perceptions can

also be an obstacle to empowerment. These perceptions include customs of

hierarchy; fear of revenge; failure to identify empowerment; mistrust and negativity

(Cheung, Baum and Wong, 2010). The fact is that the barriers to empowerment and

the effect of empowerment on the behaviour of individuals must be investigated and

thus were identified as a factor which influences employee work effort and

performance in this study.

Cheung, Baum and Wong (2010) found that empowerment is perceived to involve

trust from management as it permits employees to make decisions, deal with difficult

problems and increase their productivity and performance. Empowerment further

enables employees to be flexible and to solve problems instantly, which results in

higher job satisfaction and thus increased performance. Empowerment further

assists employees to appreciate and understand their full potential and assists

managers with solutions in the organisation (Cheung, Baum and Wong, 2010)

17

It is evident from the research done by Cheung, Baum and Wong (2010) and other

academics that empowerment can have a negative effect on an individual and the

CJMM should implement strategies to manage and improve the skills and confidence

of the managers to empower their subordinates.

2.5 TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP The transformational leadership theory will provide a framework to examine the

relationships of managers and peers leadership within individual and team outcomes

among R&CRM employees in the CJMM. Limited research has been done to

examine mechanisms that link empowering leadership and team performance

(Srivastava, Bartol and Locke, 2006: 1239). Results obtained in research done by

Srivastava, et al. (2006) showed that empowering leadership was positively linked to

both knowledge sharing and team efficiency and effectiveness, which, in turn, were

both positively related to performance. Srivastava, et al. (2006: 1240) stated that

several scholars reviewed empowerment as an aspect of the relational or power

sharing view.

Avolio and Yammarino (2013: 11) stated that “leaders should in principal first display

transformational behaviour often, thereafter contingent reward leadership, then

management-by-exception active, then management-by-passive and maybe laissez-

faire leadership thereafter”. What is transformational leadership? Leadership is

multidimensional and contains transactional, transformational and laissez-faire

behaviours which include the absence of leadership (Price and Weiss, 2013: 266).

Transformational leadership is more positively associated with the effectiveness of

the organisation and the satisfaction of the customer (Avolio and Yammarino, 2013:

12).

James MacGregor Burns (2012) discusses the concept of transformational

leadership in his book Leadership and describes it not as a set of specific

behaviours, but rather a continuous process by which " leaders and followers raise

one another to higher levels of morality and motivation". Transformational leaders

increase expectations by raising the bar, appealing to higher standards and values of

followers. By doing this, they model the values and use charismatic methods to draw

people to mirror the values and to follow the leader. The leader offers a purpose that

18

surpasses short-term goals and concentrates on higher order fundamental needs

(MacGregor Burns , 2012: 20).

The transformational leadership theory is built on Mazlow’s Hierarchy of Needs which

recognises that people have a range of needs. The extent to which they will perform

efficiently and effectively in the workplace will be influenced by the extent to which

their needs are satisfied. Transformational leadership fits into the higher levels, as it

requires a high level of self-esteem and self-actualisation to successfully be a

genuine transformational leader (Koltko-Rivera, 2006: 302). Transformational

leadership theory highlights the leader-follower relationship, making it relevant to the

study of employee performance in the R&CRM department (Price and Weiss, 2013:

266). Transformational leaders encourage and motivate followers to surpass

performance expectations by influencing followers’ beliefs and attitudes.

Transformational behaviours contain: “inspirational motivation (e.g., creating a

vision), idealized influence (e.g., modeling behaviors or values), individualized

consideration (e.g., considering followers’ individual needs), and intellectual

stimulation (e.g., encouraging follower creativity)” (Price and Weiss, 2013: 266).

Transactional leadership on the other hand comprises of behaviours like contingent

reward, management-by-exception active and management-by-exception passive.

Contingent reward is an exchange process between leaders and followers –

rewarding employees for meeting objectives. Management-by-exception comprises

of two forms which discuss the remedial action a leader will implement based on the

employees’ transactions. According to Price and Weiss, (2013: 266) Bass’ (1985)

model reflects that often transformational and transactional behaviours and

occasionally laissez-faire leadership reflect an optimal leadership profile (Price and

Weiss, 2013: 266).

Transformational leadership has shown encouraging and positive effects on

followers’ motivation, commitment, satisfaction, efficiency, performance and other

outcomes; and can be applied to many domains, including municipal environments.

Thus, managers and leaders who engage in transformational leadership behaviours

can make a positive contribution and impact on individual outcomes, such as

perceived competence, emotional responses, intrinsic motivation and team cohesion,

goals and objectives (Price and Weiss, 2013: 266).

19

Leaders offer Inspirational Motivation when they exhibit enthusiasm,

encouragement and reliability in their communication of high standards and an

alluring, attractive vision of the future. As a companion to charm and charisma, the

inspirational leader stimulates and transforms employees to a mentality and mind-set

believing in greatness. While Idealised Influence discusses motivating individuals,

Inspirational Leadership speaks to motivating an entire organisation through

communicating high goals and expectations and increasing team spirit, eagerness

and enthusiasm (Saxe, 2011: 25).

Further, apart from strengthening a trusting and inspiring relationship with followers,

transformational leaders also provide Intellectual Stimulation for the values and big

ideas of others. Through this stimulation, values and norms of operations are

frequently reviewed and questioned to stimulate innovative and creative approaches

through which the mission can be accomplished. Followers are thus empowered to

design and propose new, innovative and even controversial ideas without fear of

ridicule (Saxe, 2011: 25).

The fourth dimension, Individualised Consideration, involves considering each

person’s individual abilities, needs and ambitions. The transformational leader who

utilises Individualised Consideration listens, directs, guides, teaches and coaches to

ensure further development of the followers. People are treated with respect,

differently and individually based on their talents, knowledge and experience. The

individual considerate leader considers needs for growth and achievement through

personalised interactions, encouraging two-way communication, delegation, shared

leadership and recognising potentials in each individual, regardless of cultural

differences (Saxe, 2011: 25 - 26).

This section discussed the dimensions of transformational leadership as outlined by

Bass (2008) in his model of leadership. In order to effectively measure the

components of transactional, transformational leadership, and laissez-faire

leadership in the R&CRM department, the Multi-factor Leadership Questionnaire

(MLQ) developed by Bass (2008) will be applied in the questionnaires and discussed

in more detail in chapter 3.

20

The MLQ will assist with identifying how managers measure up in their own eyes and

in the eyes of those with whom they work (Price and Weiss, 2013: 268). The

proposed research questions will include facets such as ideal influence, inspiring

motivation, logical stimulation, contingent reward, management-by-exception active,

and management-by-exception passive behaviours and behaviours such as avoiding

decisions or being absent when needed.

There are various studies proposing that Transformational Leadership is totally

suitable and required in government settings, for example, Paarlberg and Lavigna,

(2010) promote the benefits of pro-social incentives and how they affect employee

behaviour in the public sector. Paarlberg and Lavigna, (2010) in McLean (2013: 13)

stated that employees in the public sector are more receptive to Transformational

Leadership behaviours, as municipal employees are characteristically motivated to

adhere to a set of values and to assist to improve the lives of others. The incentives

are entrenched in the Transformational Leadership model. In comparison,

Transactional Leadership models have self-interest at their basis, which is not like

the psychological model of most municipal employees. Transactional Leadership

models are not suitable to adapt to the fast changing work environments to which

municipal employees are exposed to.

Studies of Transformational Leadership have shown improvements in total

organisational performance. A study relating to bank managers (Barling, Weber and

Kelloway, 1996) has shown substantial positive effects of Transformational

Leadership training, which included improved employee commitment to the

organisation, as well as improved financial performance. The same study proposed

that training managers resulted in improved Transformational Leadership behaviour

as perceived by their subordinates.

A study done by Howell and Avolio (1993) regarding managers in a large Canadian

financial institution specified that Transformational Leadership behaviours were

directly interrelated to enhancements in the business unit performance (Howell and

Avolio, 1993).

Trottier, Van Wart and Wang (2008) used data from a 2002 study of more than 100

000 federal government employees in the U.S. in order to determine the apparent 21

importance of Transformational Leadership, as opposed to Transactional Leadership

capabilities. They grouped the attributes of inspirational motivation, idealised

influence and intellectual stimulation together to have a more condensed theory of

Transformational Leadership. Management by exception and contingent reward

methods were combined with individual consideration to give a contrasting

Transactional Leadership regime. The study revealed that government managers are

largely more capable and competent transactional leaders, especially in the area of

individual consideration. Government managers are weakest in inspirational

motivation. Leadership styles have considerable effects on follower satisfaction and

the Transformational Leadership competency is alleged to be a more effective

leadership style than Transactional Leadership (McLean, 2013: 15 - 16).

Generally, government organisations that hire managers who are also credible

leaders are perceived to be more successful, more adaptive and more effective

(McLean, 2013: 19).

Avolio and Yammarino (2013: 27) concluded that they have evidence that

transformational leaders are linked to organisational success, efficiency and

effectiveness, customer satisfaction and improved performance, which prompted the

interest for this research in discovering facets within the leadership of the R&CRM

department to change leaders to transformational leaders.

2.6 EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE Performance is defined as the achievement of a specified task measured against

predetermined known standards of accurateness, comprehensiveness, cost and

swiftness (Business Dictionary, 2013). Dudley, (2010) describes performance as

factors, like culture, vision, mission, work-flow, goals and objectives, the environment

and knowledge and skills. Dudley (2010) further explains that all these factors work

together to produce value for the consumer, thus performance is all about outputs

and results. The levels of performance consist of organisational, process, and

individual performance (Dudley, 2010). The above definitions highlight the fact that

there should be objective methods to quantify and measure how these objectives are

met. It goes further to indicate that various factors influence performance. In this

research the objective is to understand factors influencing individual performance.

22

The Municipal Structures Act (Act No. 117) of 1998 determines that councillors must

establish methods and/or mechanisms for delivering services and developing criteria

for evaluating performance in service delivery (Mathibane, 2010: 13). This raises the

question regarding the input or role that employees play towards accomplishing

service excellence in the CJMM.

The enormity and variety of challenges which the R&CRM department faces in the

CJMM can include, among others, poor productivity, high levels of absenteeism,

diversity management, poor leadership, corruption, unhappy staff, and lack of

transformation, and they inform the construction, classification and comprehending of

applicable principal organisational behavioural concepts. Some of these major

challenges and uncertainties facing local government could be implicitly resolved

only if management in the municipal environment comprised of people with proper

qualifications and experience, excellent personal skills, general ability and the right

attitude for the job (Opperman, 2007: 69).

Though it is essential to address performance problems, several factors can

dissuade managers and supervisors from confronting poor performing employees.

Perkins (2013: 1) suggests that managers and supervisors elude performance

discussions with poor performers as they do not want to have confrontations or

create negative work environments. Perkins (2013) even believed that confronting

problem employees will result in a negative reputation. Some managers and

supervisors fear that employees will raise complaints or formal grievances against

them. Perkins (2013: 1) further states that managers feel that employment laws

protect municipal employees and that the performance management process is time-

consuming and complicated (Perkins, 2013: 1).

Mc Lean (2013: 5) cites Abels (1996) who said that while municipal employees are

focused on establishing policy to benefit the community in the long-term, local

government representatives are preoccupied with satisfying the short-term demands

of a negative minority. Abels (1996) continues by stating that “progressively, the

reward and motivation for service as a local government elected legislator is power

or ego gratification and not the satisfaction attained by assisting to construct a

greater community” and “the new designated local official views their role as

representing people who express a dominant view regarding an issue and to protect

23

the minority interests from the oppression of arbitrary and seemingly foolish

government rule” (McLean, 2013: 5).

Based on these challenges, it will be mandatory for municipalities to increase

performance and identify new and innovative ways to solve challenging problems.

Should this happen, managers need to have essential skills to inspire and motivate

high performance and innovation among employees. Managers will need to be

champions and change agents, inspiring employees towards adaptability to ensure

success. Managers must also create and construct cooperative and non-

dysfunctional relationships with executive levels such as group heads, municipal

councils and chief administrative officers (McLean, 2013: 5 - 6). This creates

awareness that managers must be cognisant of methods to motivate and inspire

employees to improve their performance in the CJMM by establishing factors that

affect their performances which will be investigated in this research.

Liao and Chuang, (2004: 41) stated that it is critical to understand what forecasts

employee service performance. Their study was based on developing and testing a

multilevel framework, examining employee service performance as a combined

function of employee individual characteristics and service environment

characteristics. They found that previous works on service performance focused on

either organisation- or individual-level analysis. Organisational factors had a common

theme, being that if an organisation values service and forms practices to enable and

reward excellent service, a "climate for service" is likely to emerge. This culture will

stimulate service performance and improve customer satisfaction (Liao and Chuang,

2004: 41).

Rogelberg, Barnes-Farrell and Creamer (1999) examined individual differences and

related factors which indicated that personality traits are not related to employee

customer service behaviour once job responsibilities are outlined. Liao and Chaung

(2004: 42) recognised that organisations do not "perform" and that it is individuals in

an organisation who perform and achieve desirable outcomes (Liao and Chuang,

2004: 42).

Liao and Chuang, (2004: 53) also found that training and incentives were not related

to service performance. Their explanation was that although service-related themes

24

are included in training, employees do not necessarily learn them, transfer them to

their jobs appropriately or maintain them over time. The aforementioned researchers

proposed that future research should directly measure training effectiveness and the

transmission of the learning to the workplace to examine the impact of training on

performance (Liao and Chuang, 2004: 53). This could be a potential threat in the

CJMM work environment and this research will include training and the transfer of

training in the workplace to measure the impact on performance.

The impact of monetary incentives, promotion opportunities, and intrinsic factors

such as informal recognition and appreciation in motivating service performance

should also be included in the research questions.

2.7 EMPLOYEE WORK EFFORTEffort is seen as one of most significant concepts in motivation theory and is defined

as the quantity or costs of energy put into a behaviour series of behaviours (Iqbal,

2013: 5 - 6). It is expected that work effort positively influences job satisfaction. Iqbal

(2013: 6) cites Brown and Peterson (1994), who stated that expenditure of effort has

a habit to increase employees’ assessments of objects, outcomes, and feeling states

by means of their efforts. The apparent exertion of effort in the work permits

individuals to fulfil their intrinsic needs to be competent, efficient, effective, and self-

determining, and thus contributes to job satisfaction.

Iqbal (2013: 6) also cites Cherrington, (1980) who stated that “grounded on the

terminal value perspective of work, it is more likely to have affective consequences

effortful engagement in work, as it results in a sense of dignity, self-respect, and

satisfaction”.

Brown and Peterson (1994) and Walker et al. (1977) as cited by Iqbal (2013: 6) said

that effort is considered as a mediator between motivation and performance, or as a

tool to change motivation into accomplished work and found a strong, positive

influence of work effort on job satisfaction (Iqbal, 2013: 6).

Leibenstein (1966) was among the first economists to highlight the fact that work

effort is optional and emphasied the importance of employee motivation in work

25

effort. He further stated that the role of supervising and relationships in the workplace

influence work effort and motivation.

Traditionally, money rewards have been seen as a motivator for work effort.

However, recognition has been extended to factors like employee attitudes and work

environment factors. These factors further include intensity of monitoring by

supervisors, gift exchanges, cost of job loss, reciprocity and fair wages (Morris, 2009:

20 - 25).

Based on the above discussions, the author realises that work effort has a large

impact on motivation and performance, which ultimately influence service delivery.

Thus, the researcher will attempt to identify factors influencing work effort, specifically

looking at satisfaction levels regarding responsibilities, the influence of positive

feedback from a manager, team members’ influence on work effort, the perception

that employees have of their employer, the community and non-monetary influences.

2.8 SERVICE DELIVERYService quality has been defined as a form of attitude, associated, but not equal to

satisfaction, that results from the comparison of expectations with performance

(Zeithaml, Berry and Parasuraman, 1988).

Poor, insufficient or a complete lack of service delivery remains an important

challenge in South Africa. There have been many violent service delivery protests in

municipal areas, including the CJMM, which are a cause for concern. These protests

might have resulted from both the lack of service, or from poor quality services

rendered (Mathibane, 2010).

Lately there has been a rise in community-level protests against municipalities due to

them not delivering essential services and opportunities, being corrupt and acting

against the spirit of the constitution by victimising those too poor to pay for municipal

services (Pieterse et al., 2008: 51-52).These protests are an indication that service

delivery is not in line with the expectations of the community.

26

The aim of service delivery must be primarily to provide satisfaction as an objective.

Customers must be pleased and satisfied with the quality of the services that they

receive. To guarantee this status quo, the CJMM must inspire customers to

participate in the processes that lead to service delivery. Fox and Meyer (1996), in

Minnie (2000: 89), argued that service quality, satisfaction and value can be seen as

indicators of levels of the service delivery.

Nealer (2007: 148) defined service delivery as a provision for public activities,

benefits or satisfaction. Fox and Meyer (1996: 118), in Mathibane (2010: 10), argued

that services relate to the provision of both intangible goods and tangible services.

Mathibane (2010: 10) further stated that service delivery is theorised as the

implementation of exact policy objectives in the public sector with numerous grades

of success. Furthermore, that public service is related with government and it is

expected that government should be the provider of the public services (Mathibane,

2010: 10).

Municipalities are faced with numerous challenges. The White Paper on Local

Government indicates that due to the amalgamation of the earlier divided jurisdiction

the residents which municipalities must attend to have increased, without an

equivalent increase in the tax base (Republic of South Africa, 2001). Resource

challenges like capital and human resources play a vital role in service provision.

With regard to the issue of financial resources shortages, the White Paper on Local

Government states that a combination of service backlogs, weakening

infrastructures, deteriorating creditworthiness and borrowing capacity, municipalities

also experience financial stress and, in some instances, crisis’. The CJMM, for

example, can improve its services by shortening operational processes to serve more

customers in less time, through initiating a change project or process re-engineering.

Municipalities are also experiencing upward pressure on salaries and loss of

experienced personnel (Republic of South Africa, 1998b). The White Paper on Local

Government also comments that some municipalities have insufficient financial

management capacity due to weak budget and accounting controls, a deficiency in

credit control and financial reporting systems. The budget practices are often not

aligned to the municipal business plans, nor open to public participation (Republic of27

South Africa, 1998b). These risks contribute to the deterioration of service delivery in

the municipality.

Cloete (2002: 287), in Parnell, Pieterse, Swilling, Wooldridge (2002), identified

general challenges faced by local government in South Africa which include:

• Inexperienced, unfaithful and/or uncommitted officials;

• Vested interests and a work culture not favourable to the new goals and

objectives;

• Municipal structures, processes and technologies not aligned to the business

model;

• A deficiency in funding and resources; and

• A lack of capability to change in line with new policy requirements.

Service delivery within municipalities consists of a complex set of relationships

among all three spheres of government, business and the community and calls for

new, original and innovative methods to enhance service delivery. Alternate service

delivery involves a quest to identify and implement new, appropriate organisational

forms and arrangements, as well as partnerships with the other levels of government

and non-governmental sectors (Mathibane, 2010: 21).

The Service Profit Chain (SPC) (Heskett et al., 1994: 166) as illustrated in Figure 4

below, establishes relationships between profitability, customer loyalty, employee

satisfaction and productivity. The SPC illustrates that customer loyalty drives

profitability and growth; customer satisfaction drives customer loyalty; value drives

customer satisfaction; employee productivity drives value; employee loyalty drives

productivity; internal quality drives employee satisfaction and leadership is a critical

factor to the chain’s success (Heskett et al., 1994: 165 - 168).

As illustrated in the SPC, the researcher will explore the effects of leadership, internal

quality, employee loyalty and productivity through research questions.

Figure 4: The Links in the Service-Profit Chain

28

Source: The Service-Profit Chain (Heskett et al., 1994: 166)

Further to the above, the lack of service delivery has a large impact on the brand of

the CJMM and the researcher will attempt to identify some factors impacting on

service delivery. The factors measured will comprise of corruption, financial

resources, the loss of skills and salary demands in the workplace.

2.9 HYPOTHESIS DEVELOPMENT

2.9.1 Empowering Leadership and Employee Work EffortEmpowering leadership is defined as the leader’s empowering style of behaviour, as

well as the process of implementing conditions that increase employees’ feelings of

self-efficacy and control, leaving an employee with a feeling of power and motivation,

which will result in increased work effort and performance (Ching, 2012: 8).

Effort is understood to be one of most important notions in the motivation theory and

is defined as the quantity or costs of energy put into a behaviour series of behaviours

(Iqbal, 2013: 5 - 6). It is expected that work effort positively influences job satisfaction

and thus, performance.

Zhang and Bartol (2010) tested a theoretical model to link empowering leadership to

employee work effort and proved that empowering leadership does not only positively

29

affect employee work effort, but also has a positive influence on employee motivation

and creativity in the workplace. They further proved that an empowerment role

identity moderates the link between empowering leadership and psychological

empowerment, whereby the leader stimulated creativity, work effort, motivation and

performance. The behaviour of the leader may have a positive or negative influence

on employee motivation, work effort and performance, affecting the objectives of the

organisation (Zhang and Bartol, 2010).

Ching (2012: 6) cited Ahearne, Mathieu and Rapp (2005), Rau and Robert (2010)

and Cogner and Kanungo (1998), stating that people are more likely to be motivated

in their work by elements of empowering leadership behaviours. Ching (2012: 6)

went further to say that it has been proven that empowering leadership has an

influence on employee work effort and employee motivation. He concluded that

management has the ability to apply empowering leadership behaviour uniformly to

all employees or differentially across employees, to teams, or to individual employees

(Ching, 2012: 6).

Thus, based on the literature and empirical evidence in the various research papers,

this study therefore hypothesises that:

H1: There is a positive relationship between empowering leadership and employee

work effort in the CJMM.

2.9.2 Empowering Leadership and Employee PerformanceThe literature as discussed in the research of Ching (2012) and Zhang and Bartol

(2010) does not only confirm that empowering leadership has a positive effect on

work effort, but further substantiates the fact that empowering leadership has a

positive impact on employee motivation and performance.

Ahearne, Mathieu and Rapp (2005) focused on the effect of empowering leadership

on employee performance, which confirmed a close link between these factors.

Spreitzer (1995: 1442) defines psycological empowerment as the increased instrint

task incentive grounded in four cognitions – meaning, competence, self-

determination and impact - reflecting an individual’s positioning and alignment in

30

their work role. Psychological empowerment is thus seen as a powerful motivator to

increase employee performance.

Ahearne, Mathieu and Rapp (2005) showed that empowering leadership behaviour

positively influences employee performance. They further proved that increased self-

efficacy motivates employees to increase their work effort, increasing performance

and thus increasing departmental and organisational performance. Hence, the

following hypothesis is formulated:

H2: There is a positive relationship between empowering leadership and employee

performance in the CJMM.

2.9.3 Employee Work Effort and Employee PerformanceLooking at the literature discussed in points 2.8.1 and 2.8.2, the author highlights the

fact that employee work effort and employee performance are interrelated elements

which both affect performance in the organisation and are driven by empowering

leadership and motivation as discussed in the studies of Ching (2012) and Zhang

and Bartol (Zhang and Bartol, 2010).

Based on this literature and empirical evidence as discussed in the above points

2.8.1 and 2.8.2, the study therefore hypothesises that:

H3: There is a positive relationship between employee work effort and employee

performance in the CJMM.

2.9.4 Employee Work Effort and Service DeliveryDefining service delivery at first requires a common definition of service, which is

seen as a product or activity that meets the needs of a user or which can be applied

by a consumer. To be effective, services should be available, timely, dependable,

reliable, usable, useful, credible, authentic, responsive, flexible, sustainable and

expandable. Service delivery is defined as a continuous, cyclic process for

developing and delivering consumer focused services. Through incorporating the role

of employees in the day-to-day operations, customers are more likely to receive

excellent services that meet their needs. Improvements in service delivery are thus a

31

natural consequence of using empowering leadership management tools (The World

Meteorological Organization, 2012: 2 - 3).

In the studies of Ching (2012) he concluded that empowering leadership has a

positive effect of employee work effort, motivation and performance which rolled out

to the organisation in a ripple effect, as illustrated in the Regenesys Integrated

Management Model (Regenesys Business School, 2013: 3). Thus, the performance

and effort of employees have a positive effect on organisational performance, goals

and objectives.

Therefore, based on the literature and empirical evidence as discussed above, the

study therefore hypothesises that:

H4: There is a positive relationship between employee work effort and service

delivery in the CJMM, and

H5: There is a positive relationship between employee performance and service

delivery in the CJMM.

Drawing from the literature, in particular the literature mentioned above in points 2.3

to 2.7, a research model was conceptualised, and hypothesised relationships

between the research variables were developed. Figure 5 below illustrates the

proposed conceptual model.

Figure 5: Conceptual Model

Source: Researcher’s Conception

32

H5

H4

H3

H2

H1

Improved Service Delivery

Employee Work Effort

Empowering Leadership

Employee Performance

2.10 CHAPTER SUMMARYThe literature review provided an insight into the CJMM’s operations that are not

always apparent from a superficial observation of what the municipality needs to do

in order to meet its constitutional mandate.

The study also concentrated on the correlation between the variables and how they

influence each other. Table 1 below provides a summary of hypotheses for the study

that constitutes this thesis.

Table 1: Summary of Hypothesis

Hypothesis Number

Hypothesis Statement Hypothesised Relationship

H1 Empowering leadership has a positive influence on

employee work effort in the CJMM;

Empowering leadership →

Employee work effort (+)

H2 Empowering leadership has a positive influence on

employee performance in the CJMM;

Empowering leadership →

Employee performance (+)

H3 Employee work effort has a positive influence on

employee performance in the CJMM;

Employee work effort →

Employee performance (+)

H4 Employee work effort has a positive influence on Employee work effort →

33

service delivery in the CJMM. Service delivery (+)

H5 Employee performance has a positive influence on

service delivery in the CJMM.

Employee performance →

Service delivery (+)

The literature further provided an opportunity to unpack issues to enrich and enhance

the interview process. This literature review forms the basis of the analysis of the

feedback obtained through the interview process, which is described in Chapter 3

hereof.

34

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

323

3

3.1 INTRODUCTIONThis chapter discusses the research method applied to accomplish the objectives of

the study.

The primary objective of this study is to explore research questions that examines if

empowering leadership has a positive influence on employee work effort and

employee performance, and if employee work effort has a positive influence on

employee performance, and if employee work effort has a positive influence on

service delivery, and if employee performance has a positive influence on service

delivery in the Revenue department in the CJMM.

The research questions guiding this study are as follows:

(1) To what extent does empowering leadership affect employee work effort?

(2) To what extent does empowering leadership affect employee

performance?

(3) To what extent does employee work effort affect employee performance?

(4) To what extent does employee work effort affect service delivery?

(5) To what extent does employee performance affect service delivery?

This chapter further deals with the bases of data collected, tools used as a means of

collecting data, as well as the sampling and selection procedure, data collection and

methodology of analysis and a description of the quantitative analysis procedures

employed to analyse the data and the conclusion to the chapter.

35

It is assumed, for the purpose of this study, that when the CJMM experiences certain

challenges in service delivery levels, other municipalities within South Africa are likely

to experience similar challenges.

Therefore, a secondary objective of this study is to document the detail of challenges

experienced by the Revenue department so that they may serve as lessons or

guidelines to other municipalities to ensure service delivery can be maximised in their

own environments.

3.2 RESEARCH DESIGN

3.2.1 Research ApproachResearch is defined as a careful study and investigation, especially in order to

discover new facts or information (Nouri, 2012: 3). A quantitative research design will

be applied as it embraces the fact that the findings are objective, reliable, valid and

reproducible (Curtis and Drennan, 2013: 133). The researcher explored factors in the

Revenue department that affect service delivery with the intention to propose

different tools, policies, processes or methods to improve service delivery.

A quantitative approach is well-suited to research scenarios in which the research

concepts and phenomena of interest are well-defined and the relationships between

the variables are established. It is particularly applicable where the research can be

embedded in existing theory in order to identify an analytical model and/or

hypotheses a priori and tested through the research. Quantitative methods are

further suitable to develop and empirically test quantifiable measures of new

variables (Morris, 2009: 88 - 90).

The different levels of numerical measurements prescribe the range of techniques

available for the presentation, summary and analysis of the data. Quantitative data

can be divided into two distinct groups: categorical and numerical. Categorical data

being data where values cannot be measured numerically, but can be either

categorised into groups according to the features that identify or describe the

variable, or it can be placed in rank order (Saunders et al., 2007: 417).

36

Quantitative data can further be sub-divided into descriptive and ranked categories

where descriptive data or nominal data cannot be defined numerically, or cannot

be ranked. Thus the occurrences will simply be counted in each category of a

variable (Saunders et al., 2007: 417 - 418).

For almost all studies the variables have been unambiguous and discrete and have

one distinct feature. Though this data is purely descriptive, it can be counted to

establish which category is the greatest and whether cases are spread evenly

between categories (Saunders et al., 2007: 418).

Numerical or quantifiable data is the data where the values are measured or totalled

statistically as quantities, which relate to more precise results than categorical, as

each data value can be assigned to a position on a numerical scale. Further, the

researcher can utilise a far wider range of statistics (Saunders et al., 2007: 418).

There are two techniques of sub-dividing numerical data:

Interval data where the researcher can differentiate between, or state an interval

between any two data values for a specific variable, but the relative difference

cannot be calculated. This means that the values on an interval scale can

meaningfully be added and subtracted, but not multiplied and divided.

Ratio data where the researcher can also calculate the relative difference or ratio

between any two data values for a variable (Saunders et al., 2007: 418 - 419).

Continuous data can theoretically take any value (sometimes within a limited range),

provided that it can be measured accurately enough. Whereas discrete data can, by

contrast, be measured precisely. Each case takes one of a restricted number of

values from a scale that measures changes in discrete units. The data often consists

of whole numbers (integers). Figure 6 is a schematic presentation of the mapping of

methodologies to identify research methodologies (Saunders et al., 2007: 417).

37

Figure 6: Defining the Data Type

Source: (Saunders et al., 2007: 417)

Quantitative approaches are thus more structured, formal, objective and

scientifically-based than qualitative methods (Malhotra, Shaw and Crisp, 1996).

The samples in quantitative research are usually larger and more representative

than those samples in qualitative research. The data gathered were subjected to

quantitative analysis from which conclusions were made regarding the population.

Thus, the research outcomes are typically conclusive in nature (Morris, 2009: 89 -

90). The quantitative research method was done in a natural environment where the

researcher acted as the instrument in the collection and analysis of the data.

3.2.2 Research Methodology

Frankfort-Nachmias and Nachmias (1997: 201) define research methodology as a

method with clear rules and techniques upon which research is constructed and

38

against which claims for knowledge are appraised. Robson, (2011: 152) defines

research methodology as hypothetical, rational and supporting sets to social

research and the implications in the manner of the research and the application of

certain research methods. Denzin and Lincoln (2000: 20) conclude that research

methodologies are a system of investigation and analysis that gives direction to a set

of processes.

Likewise, Petty, Thomson and Stew (2012: 144) proclaim that research methodology

refers to a method that is utilised for the purpose to acquire and evaluate data in

order to create new knowledge. Research methodologies have definite influence on

the rationality, validity and broad view of a study and play a critical role in knowledge

development (McGrath and Bringberg, 1983: 32).

Comprehending and applying a relevant research methodology into the study is vital

in order to pinpoint the unit of analysis and use compatible methods that will provide

the intended results.

The research methodology comprises of the following distinct phases:

3.2.2.1 Internalising the research questions: a literature study accentuated the

research paradigm and frame of reference, and enhanced the

researcher’s understanding of the field of study and the findings of other

researchers on the topic (Mouton and Marais, 1992: 24). This, in

conjunction with the research objectives, assisted the researcher to

compile questionnaires that would test what the literature review

uncovered.

3.2.2.2 Collection of data from the questionnaires of the target population

(Revenue department employees) was set to collect the relevant data (De

Vos, 2005: 346). The questionnaires provided descriptions and

explanations of situational influences and factors on the issue under

investigation. It further supplied the researcher with access to the

viewpoints of Revenue employees and also provided a holistic

understanding of their view when exploring the challenges of service levels

in the Revenue department within the CJMM (Scheurich, 1997: 61).

39

3.2.2.3 The questionnaires were distributed to the selected sample of Revenue

employees, exploring challenges that employees are faced with daily.

These employees are located in the Revenue department, situated in

Thuso House, Braamfontein, Johannesburg. These questionnaires have

been developed comprising of closed-end questions and provided the

researcher with accurate, specific data and an overall view of factors

relating to the impact of empowering leadership on employee work effort

and employee performance, the impact of employee work effort on

employee performance, and if these elements have a positive influence on

service delivery in the Revenue department in the CJMM.

3.3 RESEARCH POPULATIONPopulation refers to all individuals that meet the sample criteria for inclusion in the

study, whereby sample refers to a split of the population that is selected for the study

(Burns, Grove and Gray, 2013: 776, 779). Officials working within the Revenue

department of the CJMM formed the main body of the population for this research

study. Convenience sampling was used to guarantee that specific elements were

included in the sample. Participants, in different sections within the Revenue

department, who were able to provide a diversity of viewpoints were chosen and

were engaged. More specifically, the following criteria for selection were used:

(a) They are employed within the Revenue department of the CJMM;

(b) They have ample knowledge of their environment within the Revenue department;

or

(c) They had the necessary experience to add value to the study and for purposes of

this study, experience refers to “the accumulation of knowledge or skill that

results from direct participation in events or activities” (Collins Concise

Dictionary, 2013).

The population of this study was identified, based on the above criteria and

comprised of employees employed in the Revenue department of the CJMM.

3.4 SAMPLINGA sample is a subset, part or measurement of the total population. Due to the large

population within Revenue, the researcher’s target population was unmanageable,

40

and thus a sample was selected to study and understand the target population. Thus,

sampling can be seen as a rational method of making statements regarding the total

population, based on the findings about a smaller population (Regenesys Business

School, 2013: 39 - 42).

A sampling frame is a complete list in which each unit of analysis is mentioned only

once (Welman, Kruger and Mitchell, 2005: 57). It is impossible to judge the

representativeness of the sampling frame if a complete listing of the population is not

available, and therefore the researcher has requested an extraction of all Revenue

employees from the Human Resources department.

3.4.1 Sampling Methodology

As time and resource constraints were a factor in deciding which employees to use

for the questionnaires, the researcher opted to target employees utilising a non-

probability sampling method. The researcher applied a convenience sampling

methodology, ensuring that a diversity of employees in different units were included

in the sample (Saunders et al., 2007: 213). This was based on those employees in

the Revenue department that were easily accessible, until the sample reached a

desirable size.

3.4.2 Sample Size

The Revenue department consists of 1,823 employees confirmed by Human

Resources through an e-mail received 22 January 2015. The R&CRM department

consists of the Finance department with a staff complement 228 of employees,

Marketing department with 12 employees, Customer Relations Management

department with 848 employees, Credit Management department with 224

employees, Billing department with 376 employees, Management Support with 49

employees and IT Support with 66 employees.

This staff complement consists of various levels within the R&CRM department, top

management 6 employees, 66 senior managers, 148 middle manager 404 skilled

and junior management, 180 semi-skilled employees and 19 unskilled employees.

Most employees have been employed for periods in excess of five years as the

CJMM applies various instruments to retain employees “such as flexible working

hours, training and development initiatives, funded education, fair and transparent 41

human resources policies and employee representation (COJ - Business Planning

Department, 2012: 45) .

The researcher selected a sample of 200 employees in the Revenue department

across various sections and distributed, based on a percentage target per

department the questionnaires in each department. The employee database were

allocated a percentage per level, per department to the total staff complement and

thereafter the researcher applied the total sample to the percentages in order to

calculated the distribution of the questionnaires.

The questionnaires distributed in the various departments were calculated as follows:

Due to the fact that Marketing department employees are part of the R&CRM

department and are well informed about the service delivery issues in the CJMM,

they were included in the sample selection.

Unskilled workers are permanent employees in the R&CRM department and are

constantly in touch with customers and other departments. Although they are

unskilled, they pose ample experience and knowledge to complete the questionnaire

and contribute valuable knowledge to the study.

The researcher ensured that the process was fair and unbiased by distributing

questionnaires based on a percentage of the total number of employees in each unit

versus the total sampling size of the Revenue department.

3.5 RESEARCH INSTRUMENTSThe researcher developed structured questionnaires to have control and guidance for

answers. These closed-end questions consisted of a list of predetermined answers

42

from which participants could choose (Nouri, 2012: 23-24). These questionnaires

were given to Revenue department employees.

The questionnaires distributed to candidates contained the same questions which

they had to complete in the same order (Sappsford and Japp, 2006: 97). The

questionnaires comprised of a list of questions that formed the basis for the research

objectives.

Appendix 1, the Employee Questionnaire, was used to gather data for this study. This

questionnaire starts with Section A, requesting background information to compare

responses of different culture groups in the Revenue department. The items for this

section were adopted from Wood, Van R., Bhuian, S. and Kieker, P. (2000).

Section B comprises of questions based on the Likert scale, divided into five sections

with a total of 45 questions for respondents to answer. The questions were

formulated in such a manner that different scenarios with respect to possible answers

were given, from which the respondents could reply by marking an “X” in the tick

boxes provided. There were options ranging from one extreme to another extreme of

response (namely rating criteria, strongly agree, moderately agree, agree slightly

more than disagree, disagree slightly more than agree, moderately disagree, and

strongly disagree) and they were provided on each question to allow respondents to

complete all the research questions. The sections are structured as follows:

3

3.3

3.4

3.5.1 Section one (items 1.1 to 1.15) comprises of 15 questions regarding

empowering leadership with the choice on a scale of 1- 5, choosing if

respondents strongly agree or disagree with the statements given. These

questions are based on the research done by Zhang and Bartol (2010:

107 - 128) in their journal article “Linking Empowering Leadership and

Employee Creativity: The Influence of Psychological Empowerment,

Instrinct Motivation, and Creative Process Engagement”.

43

3.5.2 In Section two (items 2.1 to 2.10) respondents were also asked to rate their

level of agreement or disagreement regarding employee performance.

These questions were self-generated.

3.5.3 In section three (3.1 to 3.10) respondents were requested to choose on a

scale from 1- 5 how wrong or right the statements regarding work effort are

in their opinion. These questions were formulated based on the work done

by Morris (2009: 350).

3.5.4 In section four (items 4.1 to 4.10) respondents were asked to rate service

delivery on a scale comprising of excellent, good, average, poor and non-

existing. These questions were self-generated.

The researcher was present at all times during which employees responded to the

questionnaires to ensure that the necessary questionnaires were completed,

problems resolved and inputs submitted for recording.

3.6 DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUESTypically, the researcher chose a data collection technique considering its overall

suitability to the research, along with other useful factors, such as the expected

quality of the collected data, the estimated costs, the predicted non-response rate,

the expected level of errors and the length of the data collection period (Biemer et al.,

1991).

All methods for data collection require some degree of structure and the evaluation is

between highly- and less-structured methods. Highly-structured methods, where

questions are involved, require a careful methodology in order to retain the interest

and attention of the candidate (Sappsford and Japp, 2006: 57, 93-97). The primary

data was collected for the research from the actual sites of occurrence of the events,

being the questionnaires distributed among Revenue department employees.

The researcher has, after receiving the completed questionnaires, investigated

possible correlations between performance, leadership, change and work effort

which impact on service delivery in line with the objectives of the research proposal.

44

It is crucial for the researcher to understand the organisational culture in the Revenue

department, which is heavily informed by the organisational structure of the CJMM

and heavily influenced by political decisions. The culture can have an impact on

motivation, performance and service delivery levels in the Revenue department.

Additionally, there are many different operational functions and systems within

Revenue which confuse employees and can impact on individual, team and

organisational behaviour (OB). The processes are part of, and link directly into the

value chain of the CJMM and are a key factor in service delivery.

3.7 DATA ANALYSISData analysis is considered a very serious task that needs to be performed with

perfection, in order to obtain high scoring, accurate research work. Statistical

analysis comprises of a means to reduce huge sets of data into more manageable

and comprehensible sets, making it easier to interpret.

Confirmatory factor analysis was applied to identify and excerpt concepts from

Revenue department employees’ responses to the survey. This procedure aided in a

data reduction method that delivers a practical applied basis to decrease a huge set

of variables into a few factors. This is done by combining correlated variables.

Once the variables were identified through factor analysis, the Pearson correlation

analysis was utilised in answer to the research questions by investigating the

relationships between the variables in this research study. According to Bordens

and Abbott (1991) this analytical technique yields a Pearson correlation coefficient

(Pearson r), which is an “index of the direction and degree of linear relationship

between two variables” (Bordens and Abbott, 1991: 341). The value of r ranges

from +1 through zero to -1. The closer the coefficient is to one of the limits (-1 to 1),

the stronger the relationship between the two variables is. Further inspection relating

to the strengths of the relationships between the variables was achieved by the

calculation R square (r2), or the coefficient of determination. Pearson r2 is a

measure of the amount of variance joined by two variables, and represents the

degree to which the variability in the dependent variable can be explained by the

variability of the independent variable (Malgady and Krebs, 1986: 110). Pearson r2

values range from zero to one and the nearer the r2 value is to one, the greater the

proportion of variance that is explainable.

45

The researcher will apply, based on the questionnaires and the research objectives,

the following methods to analyse the data:

(a) Simple regression analysis to calculate the correlation between the responses

and the query resolution rates;

(b) Constructing a frequency and percentage distributions table where necessary;

and;

(c) Descriptive statistical measures which refer to calculations that are used to

describe the data set and consist of the:

i. Mean - the numerical average of scores for a specific variable;

ii. Minimum and maximum values - the highest and lowest value for a

specific variable, and the

iii. Median - the mathematical middle point or score that divides the

distribution in half for a specific variable.

Creswell (2003: 142-165) believes that the process of data analysis and

interpretation may best be presented as a spiral image - a data analysis spiral: “the

researcher participates in a process of moving in analytical circles rather than using a

fixed linear approach. The researcher enters the spiral with the data of text or images

… and exits with an account or a narrative” (Creswell, 2003: 142). The researcher

will apply Creswell’s Data Analysis Spiral (2003: 142) which outlines the

researcher’s methods in analytical circles rather than using a fixed linear approach.

The Creswell data analysis spiral (2003: 142) consists of the following steps:

In relation to data collection Creswell (2003) indicates that the researcher should plan

a methodical recording of the data in a way that will enable analysis even before the

data collection commences. The researcher formulated the questions into categories

in line with the literature review, to simplify the analysis of the interviews.

In terms of managing the data, Creswell (2003) recommends that managing data

should be the first step in data analysis and as it is the first loop in the spiral, it

initiates the process. The researcher will at an early stage organise the data into file

46

folders on the computer. For this study, interviews will be transcribed and organised

into files. In addition, responses from questionnaires will be recorded and stored on

the researcher’s computer.

Cresswell (2003) explains that reading and memoing is the stage where the

researcher must continue analysis by reading transcripts several times to get a sense

of the interview as a whole before breaking up the interview into segments. This

process will ensure that large data will be more manageable and easier to

summarise. The researcher will extract responses to the interview questions and

tabulate it to ensure that the data will be more manageable.

Creswell (2003) further said that describing, classifying and interpreting the data is at

the core of the whole data analysis process and include segmenting the qualitative

data in an attempt to find categories, themes or dimensions of information. In this

study, major themes have been identified in the manner in which the interview

schedule was designed.

In closing, Creswell (2003) advises that the final stage in the spiral comprises of the

presentation of the researcher’s data by packaging it in presentable forms. In this

study, answers will be presented in various forms, e.g. tabular, graphically or in text

to explain the research results.

3.8 VALIDITY AND RELIABILITYThe identifying element of good research is the reliability and validity of the data.

Irrespective of the research approach, the purpose of validity is to examine the

quality of the data and the outcome or results (Thompson, 2010: 54 - 55). In

quantitative research this proposes that the researcher can draw meaningful

conclusions from the results to a population, while reliability means that participant

scores are reliable and constant. Thompson (2010: 54) further states that reliability is

an investigation of the stability between a set of independent observations that are

interchangeable and can be defined as “the degree to which test scores are free from

errors of measurement”, where measurement errors reduce reliability and thus the

generalisation of the results obtained for a researcher from a distinct measurement.

This research used two tests to assess reliability, namely composite reliability (CR),

and average variance extracted (AVE). Since data analysis entailed structural

47

equation modelling (SEM) for purposes of confirming reliability (Hair (Jnr) et al.,

2009) it is suggested to use CR. CR calculates internal consistency at an item level,

using factor loadings from individual items produced from a structural model (Kline,

1998). It is thus computed after the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) model is

developed, using the formula: CRη = (Σλyi)2 / [(Σλyi)2 + (Σεi)], where (Σλyi)2 is the

square of the sum of the factor loadings, and (Σεi) the sum of error variances. CR

ranges from 0 to 1, with coefficients closer to 1 indicating more internal consistency.

Although Nunnally and Bernstein (1994) recommended a threshold of 0.7, a

coefficient of 0.6 is also seen as marginally acceptable.

Validity refers to the suitability, relevance and practicality of evidence that is used to

back interpretations. Decisions made and actions taken based on the assessment

scores also contributes to validity. Thus, establishing validity for a survey testing

concentrates on the use to which the instrument is put and not on the study itself

(Thompson, 2010: 54). Authenticating and validating the research includes gathering

evidence for conclusions regarding the influence of leadership on employee work

effort, performance and service delivery in the Revenue department.

This researcher determined discriminant validity, which is grounded on the notion

that, as each construct is measuring one variable, the items should thus be more

highly correlated with each other than with items from other constructs (Lucas, et al.,

1996). Through applying an inter-construct correlation matrix, the analysis has

depicted the degree to which the constructs are discriminant from one another and

are not evaluating the same variable (Lucas, et al., 1996). This encompassed plotting

constructs next to one another to examine the strength of their relations with one

another. The correlation coefficients run from negative infinity to positive 1, with

lesser absolute values indicating a lesser degree of correlation and therefore more

discriminant construct validity (Krommenhoek & Galpin, 2013). Negative coefficients

show negative correlations, while positive coefficients indicate positive correlations

between constructs. The recommended upper limit is 0.7 (Bagozzi & Yi, 1988; Lucas,

Diener, & Suh, 1996) as coefficients closer to 1 suggest that the correlated

constructs may be measuring the same variable. In this research, discriminant

validity is assessed for the constructs using an inter-construct correlation matrix.

3.9 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

48

In collecting the data to achieve the objectives of this study, it will be important to

place emphasis on ethics.

The research will be guided by the principles of:

(a) The right to freedom of choice, expression and access to information;

(b) The right to privacy, confidentiality and anonymity of the interviewees;

(c) Informed consent by population;

(d) Striving to achieve and maintain a professional level of competence at all times;

(e) Being responsible and acting with integrity;

(f) Being authentic, honest and true;

(g) Avoiding conflicts of interest at all times and handling conflict situations

constructively (Cummings and Worley, 2009: 70-72).

The researcher will ensure that the target population is informed and that consent is

obtained to distribute and complete questionnaires for the research project.

Participants will be briefed on the process to protect their confidentiality and privacy

by issuing a cover letter and thereafter verbally during the interview processes. The

right to freedom of choice, expression and access to information will be guaranteed

through voluntary participant involvement; with a choice to withdraw or terminate their

participation in the research at any time without fear of prejudice. The target

population will further have access to research findings when requested and will be

advised of this option before starting the interview. Confidentiality is the treatment of

information in a confidential manner. Data and information obtained will be treated as

confidential and only individuals directly involved with the gathering and analysing of

data will have the privilege to access to the information.

The researcher highlights the fact that ethics in research refer to acceptable

behaviour or rules commencing from the onset in the way the researcher formulates

and ask questions. In interviewing people, the researcher has to acknowledge the

respondents’ privacy, upholding an agreement of confidentiality of data, preserving

the anonymity of respondents as well as using the information gained for research

purposes only.

49

In line with the code of ethics in the CJMM, the researcher will be honest,

transparent, professional, efficient and effective at all times during the process to

gather and report the information (Johannesburg Risk and Assurance Department,

2010). The researcher will communicate and explain the research process and

objectives to the target population to ensure clarity and understanding of questions

and interviews to avoid conflict situations.

In terms of this research study, ethical issues will be considered and adhered to, to

ensure the success on achieving the overall objectives of the study. It is further

important - as far as this study is concerned - to ensure that:

(a) No harm comes to participants – referring particularly to data obtained from

employees who will be interviewed and complete questionnaires. In the

research study employees had the right to not complete questionnaires and

even those to be interviewed had a right to refuse to divulge certain information.

(b) No harm will be done to the data- data will be utilised for research purposes

only. Participants will be assured that no third party would have access to

interview data, as well as the data obtained through questionnaires. Where

necessary, confidentiality will be maintained and respect will be shown to those

involved.

(c) Preserving anonymity in the study is critical and the names of participants will

not be used. The researcher will identify by other means, such as numbers.

(d) The researcher will also ensure that no physical harm will come to any

participants of the study.

(e) Data extracted from the systems will reflect the true and actual situations and

outcomes to reflect accurate relationships.

3.10 LIMITATIONSThe nature of this study, as well as the timeframe required for completion and the

extent of the sample size to be studied, posed a limitation. The study was limited to

the Revenue department in the CJMM. Further, the number of subjects required to

50

participate in the study was limited to the availability of Revenue department

employees who agreed to participate voluntarily. Revenue department employees

felt threatened and were not willing to participate in this study.

To overcome this problem, the researcher assured respondents of their guaranteed

confidentiality and met with them to clarify the purpose of the research. As required,

the researcher provided information to the participants, assuring them of the

authenticity and value of the research.

3.11 CONCLUSIONThis chapter provided a detailed description of the study’s research methodology. A

quantitative methodology will be employed to explore whether empowering

leadership has a positive influence on employee work effort and employee

performance, and if employee work effort has a positive influence on employee

performance, and if employee work effort has a positive influence on service delivery,

and if employee performance has a positive influence on service delivery in the

Revenue department in the CJMM.

A description of the research design and method was provided. After identifying the

target group, non-probability, convenience sampling techniques were used in

selecting the respondents to the study; then structured questionnaires were

distributed. In addition, before gathering data, respondents’ permission was obtained.

The researcher ensured that the anonymity, confidentiality and dignity of the

respondents were carefully protected.

The data collection procedures employed were intended to yield complete, consistent

and unbiased results regarding findings about the relationships between independent

and dependent variables in the study.

In the next chapter, a comprehensive, accurate and meticulous exercise to analyse

and interpret the data is revealed using the methods mentioned in this chapter.

51

CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS

44.1 INTRODUCTION4The researcher discusses the methods that were used to acquire the results that will

be presented in this chapter. This chapter commences by explaining the data

screening process; thereafter deliberates the data analytical processes, and presents

and discusses the results obtained through the data analysis, including the

assessment of the research model fit.

In order to analyse the data, the Statistical Package Smart PLS (SPSS) was utilised.

The hypothesis testing part, using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM), will also be

presented and the results discussed.

4.2 DATA SCREENING2344.1Subsequent to data collection, the next phase is the data screening process as

recommended by Malhotra, Peterson and Kleiser (1999: 183) and Churchill (1991:

250). Data screening process is included to verify that data collected is cleaned

before any further statistical analyses are performed. Screening data is the first task

towards obtaining some interpretation into the characteristics of the data. It is further

a vital facet to verify the accuracy of the data and assessment of outliers before

continuing to analyse the summary statistics for the questionnaires’ collected

responses (Schumacker and Lomax, 2004: 32).

Vital analytical tasks included in the data screening process are checking, editing,

coding, and tabulation of the data. The responses were carefully coded with an

52

identification number that is related to a specific SME. Using the SPSS software,

each data field was tested for the mean and standard deviation to detect any

typographical errors and possible outliers. The data was cleaned after any identified

errors in the data entries were corrected.

4.3 DATA ANALYTICAL PROCEDURES5678The data analytical process of analysis commences by capturing data, screening for

errors and irregularities, which are commonly referred to as data cleaning (Burns and

Bush, 2006). The analysis process consists of running data through several empirical

and statistical procedures and tests, all for the purpose of conscripting conclusions

about the hypotheses postulated previously in the research. Due to this research

utilising a scientific approach, data analysis is a vital measure of the research

process as new knowledge will be generated through the research based on

empirical and statistical analyses of the observations.

In order to analyse the empirical data, various relevant statistical techniques were

used. First, the Smart PLS software for Structural Equation Modelling (SEM)

technique was used to assess the measurement instruments.

Smart PLS is a regression-based technique that has emerged as a powerful

approach to test causal relationships among variables (Chinimino and Moloi, 2014:

309; Wong, 2013: 1), even under conditions of non-normality. In addition to that,

Smart PLS is an excellent software tool for partial least squares structural equation

modelling (PLS-SEM) and can handle complex predictive models in small-to-medium

sample sizes. Therefore it befits the purpose of this study since the current study

sample size is relatively small (150).

When data analysis includes structural equation modelling (SEM), for the purpose of

confirming reliability, Hair et al (2006) propose using the Cronbach’s alpha as well as

Composite Reliability (CR), as Cronbach’s coefficient has a tendency to understate

reliability. CR calculates internal consistency at an item level, using factor loadings 53

from each individual item generated from a structural model (Kline, 1998). It is

therefore calculated after the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) model is

developed. It is computed using the formula CRη = (Σλyi)2 / [(Σλyi)2 + (Σεi)], where

(Σλyi)2 is the square of the total sum of the factor loadings, and (Σεi) is the sum of

error variances. Similar to Cronbach’s alpha, CR ranges from 0 to 1, with coefficients

closer to 1 representing higher internal consistency. Although the suggested

threshold for CR is 0.7 (Nunnally and Bernstein, 1994), a coefficient of 0.6 is also

seen as marginally adequate.

The Average Variance Extracted (AVE) is an indicator of the total variation accounted

for by the construct, matched with variance due to measurement error (Segars,

1997). Similar to CR, it is calculated at an item level applying the factor loadings in

the CFA model, and is calculated using the formula Vη = Σλyi2 / (Σλyi2 + Σεi), where

Σλyi2 is the total of the squared of the factor loadings, and Σεi is the sum of error

variances. AVE ranges from 0 to 1, where values nearer to 1 indicate greater

variances due to the construct. Fornell and Larcker (1981) suggested that the desired

outcome for the AVE should range to be equal to or greater than 0.5, as this

proposes that the variance attributable to the construct is greater than the variance

due to measurement error. However AVE values exceeding 0.4 are considered to be

marginally acceptable.

SEM being a valued statistical method to test theory in numerous areas of knowledge

(Nusair and Hua, 2010) was used to study and examine assumed relationships in the

research model (Liao and Hsieh, 2013). SEM is defined as a multivariate statistical

process mainly used for studying relationships between hidden and observed

variables to establish a model. (Qureshi and Kang , 2015). He et al. (2012) stated the

SEM is considered to be analogous to regression analysis, but is more predominant

as it measures causal relationships among concepts and considers measurement

error at the same time.

Table 2 - provided below – show the measurement reliability, validity, mean values

and the item loadings of the variables.

Thereafter a cross-tabulation analysis - also known as contingency table analysis -

was applied to analyse the categorical or nominal scale date. Being a two- 54

dimensional table, it records the number (frequency) of the respondents that have a

specific characteristic as described in the cells of the table. Cross-tabulation tables

further provide a wealth of information about the relationships between the variables.

The results of the cross tabulation can be seen in table 9 and 10. The Chi-Square

statistics is primarily used for testing the statistical significance of the cross-tabulation

table and test whether or not the variables are independent (Williams, 2015).

4.3.1 Measurement ModelConvergent validity was checked by assessing the values of items loaded on their

respective variables. The item loadings are expected to reach a threshold of equal to,

or greater than 0.6 to be acceptable. Discriminant validity was checked by ensuring

that there were no significant inter-research variables cross-loadings (Chin, 1998).

As can be seen (Table 2), all items have loadings greater than 0.6 (i.e. ranging from

0.997 to 0.999, with cross-loadings greater than 0.897), while t-statistics derived from

bootstrapping (100 resamples) suggest all loadings are significant at pb0.001. As

such, this confirms that all the measurement items converged well on their respective

constructs and therefore are acceptable measures.

Table 2: Accuracy Analysis Statistics

Research Construct

Mean Value

R-Squared Value

Cronbach’s value

C.R. Value

AVE Value

Factor Loading

EL

EL1

0.999 0.999 0.997

0.999

EL2 0.999

EL3 0.999

EL4 0.998

EL5 0.998

EL6 0.999

EL7 0.998

EL8 0.998

EL9 0.999

EL10 0.999

EWE1 0.999

EWE2 0.998

55

EWE 0.993 0.999 0.999 0.997

EWE3 0.998

EWE4 0.999

EWE5 0.997

EWE6 0.999

EWE7 0.999

EWE8 0.998

EWE9 0.999

EWE10 0.998

EP

EP1

0.998 0.999 0.999 0.997

0.999

EP2 0.999

EP3 0.999

EP4 0.999

EP5 0.999

EP6 0.997

EP7 0.999

EP8 0.999

EP9 0.998

EP10 0.998

ISD

ISD1

0.997 0.999 0.999 0.997

0.999

ISD2 0.998

ISD3 0.998

ISD4 0.999

ISD5 0.998

ISD6 0.999

ISD7 0.999

ISD8 0.999

ISD9 0.999

ISD10 0.999

56

Note: EL = Empowering Leadership; EWE = Employee Work Effort; EP = Employee

Performance; ISD = Improved Service Delivery

According to Chin (1998), research variables should have an average variance

extracted (AVE) of more than 0.5 and a composite reliability of more than 0.7

(convergent validity), and inter-construct correlations should be less than the square-

root of the AVE (discriminant validity). As can be seen (Table 2), all constructs

exceed these criteria, with AVE and CR generally equal to or greater than 0.6 and

0.9, respectively. However, as indicated in Table 3, some of the inter-construct

correlation coefficients are above the recommended 0.850 (Chin, 1998), and

therefore do not indicate the existence of discriminant validity. Since the least

Average Variance Extracted (AVE) value is 0.997; all in all, these results confirm the

existence of discriminant validity of the measurement used in this study.

57

Table 3: Correlations between Constructs

RESEARCH CONSTRUCTS EL EWE EP ISD

EL 1.000

EWE 0.899 1.000

EP 0.897 0.898 1.000

ISD 0.899 0.898 0.897 1.000

Note: EL = Empowering Leadership; EWE = Employee Work Effort; EP = Employee

Performance; ISD = Improved Service Delivery

Tables 2 and 3 present the results of the PLS analysis of the structural model along

with the path estimates and t-values. Support for the hypotheses, which are labelled

on their corresponding paths in Figure 7, could be ascertained by examining the

directionality (positive or negative) of the path coefficients and the significance of the

t-values. The t-statistics are expected to be at least 0.2 (Chin, 1998). The results

provide support for the proposed positive relationships between the five relationships

(i.e. H1, H2, H3, H4 and H5). Moreover, the t-statistics of all the relationships indicate

the hypothesised relationships are exceedingly significant (H1 – H5 t-statistics =

3.824; 2.563; 8.945; 3.065; 2.789 respectively).

4.3.2 Path ModelPLS also generates the path coefficients for the relationships modelled among the

constructs. The significance of these coefficients was assessed using the bootstrap

procedure (with 100 sub-samples) that provided the t-values for each path estimate.

Figure 6 and Table 4.3 present the results of the PLS analysis on the structural

model along with the path estimates and t-values. Support for the study hypotheses,

which are labelled on their corresponding paths in Figure 7, could be ascertained by

examining the directionality (positive or negative) of the path coefficients and the

significance of the t-values. The t-statistics are expected to be at least 0.2 (Chin,

1998).

58

Figure 7: Measurement and Structural Model Result

Note: EL = Empowering Leadership; EWE = Employee Work Effort; EP = Employee

Performance; ISD = Improved Service Delivery

The results provide support for the proposed positive relationships between the

five relationships (i.e. H1, H2, H3, H4 and H5). Moreover, the t-statistics of all the

relationships indicate the hypothesised relationships are exceedingly significant (H1

– H5 t-statistics = 3.824; 2.563; 8.945; 3.065; 2.789 respectively). Figure 7 and Table

4 provide the path coefficients for H1, H2, H3, H4 and H5 (i.e. 0.997, 0.147, 0.851,

0.676 and 0.323 respectively).

59

H5

H3

H2

H4H1

Table 4: Correlations between Constructs

Proposed Hypothesis Relationship

HypothesisPath Coefficients

T-StatisticsRejected / Supported

EL à EWE H1 0.997 3.824 Supported

EL à EP H2 0.149 2.563 Supported

EWE à EP H3 0.851 8.945 Supported

EWE à ISD H4 0.676 3.065 Supported

EPà ISD H5 0.323 2.789 Supported

Note: EL = Empowering Leadership; EWE = Employee Work Effort; EP =

Employee Performance; ISD = Improved Service Delivery

Overall, R² for EWE, EP, ISD (0.993; 0.998; 0.997 respectively) in Figure 6, indicates

that the research model explains more than 92% of the variance in the endogenous

variables. Following formulae provided by (Tenenhaus et al., 2005), the global

goodness-of-fit (GoF) statistic for the research model was calculated using the

equation:

GoF = √AVE * R²

The calculated global goodness of fit (GoF) is 0.89, which exceeds the threshold of

GoF>0.36 suggested by Wetzels, Odekerken-Schroder and Van Oppen (2009).

Thus, this study concludes that the research model has a good overall fit.

This study reveals that the empowering leadership has stronger effects on employee

work effort (0.997) than on their performance (0.149). However, employee work effort

has a robust influence on employee performance (0.851). The results also indicate

that employee work effort has a stronger impact on improved service delivery (0.676)

than their performance (0.323).

By implication, these results indicate that empowering leadership has a strong

influence on service delivery via employee work effort. Perhaps this could be due to

the fact that the employee’s performance is also determined to a large extent by the

employee’s work effort. Therefore, when the employees increase their work effort,

both their performance and service delivery are likely to improve.

60

Table 5: Relationship between Empowering Leaders and Employee Performance

CorrelationsEL EP

EL Pearson Correlation 1 .205*

Sig. (2-tailed) .045N 96 96

EP Pearson Correlation .205* 1Sig. (2-tailed) .045N 96 96

*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

The relationship between empowering leaders and employee performance was

measured by using Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Preliminary analysis was

performed to ensure no violation of the assumptions of normality, linearity and

homoscedasticity. There was a relationship between leaders’ empowerment and

employee performance. It explains that employees in the organisation perform better

when they are empowered by their leaders as shown in the table above, with the

significant level at the Sig (2-tailed) value with 0.45, which is less than the accepted

probability value of p, which must always be less than 0.05 to determine its

significance level. This is further explained as: r = .205, n = 426, p = 0.45 < .05.

Table 6: Relationship between Work Effort and Service Delivery

CorrelationsISD EWE

ISD Pearson Correlation 1 .207*

Sig. (2-tailed) .043N 96 96

EWE Pearson Correlation .207* 1Sig. (2-tailed) .043N 96 96

*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

The relationship between work effort and service delivery was also measured by

using Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Preliminary analysis was performed to ensure

no violation of the assumptions of normality, linearity and homoscedasticity. There

was a relationship between the effort by the employees and the service that is

delivered by them. It demonstrates that the effort put in by management to ensure

61

that work is done in the organisation has an influence on the employees' service

delivery. This is explained in the interpretation: r = .207, n = 96, p = .043 < .05.

Table 7: Year in the Organisation and Employee Performance

Chi-Square Tests

Value DfAsymp. Sig. (2-sided)

Pearson Chi-Square 1.256E2a 96 .023Likelihood Ratio 91.652 96 .607Linear-by-Linear Association 1.444 1 .230N of Valid Cases 96125 cells (100.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .02.

A chi-square test for independence indicated a significant association between years

in the organisation and employee performance; the result explains that the longer

employees stay in the organisation, the more experienced they become and they are

then enabled to perform as shown in the interpretation above: x2 (1,n = 96), p = 0.23

< 0.05. In the table above the Pearson Chi - square value that corresponds with the

Asymp. Sig (2-sided) value is used for the determination of it being significant or not.

The P value .023 was less than 0.05, which shows that there was a relationship

between the two variables.

Table 8: Years in the Organisation and Work Effort

Chi-Square Tests

Value dfAsymp. Sig. (2-sided)

Pearson Chi-Square 1.256E2a 96 .023Likelihood Ratio 91.652 96 .607Linear-by-Linear Association 1.444 1 .230N of Valid Cases 96125 cells (100.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .02.

A chi-square test for independence also indicated a significant association between

years in the organisation and work effort, such that the longer employees stay in the

organisation, the more effort they put into their work to perform as shown in the

interpretation above: x2 (1,n = 96), p = 0.23 < 0.05.

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Table 9: Years in the Organisation and Service Delivery

Chi-Square Tests

Value dfAsymp. Sig. (2-sided)

Pearson Chi-Square 1.265E2a 112 .164Likelihood Ratio 106.966 112 .617Linear-by-Linear Association .286 1 .593N of Valid Cases 96145 cells (100.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .02.

A chi-square test for independence indicated no significant association between

years in the organisation and employee delivery of service, such that the longer

employees stay in the organisation, the more they are not able to deliver service to

their clients. This is shown in the interpretation as: x2 (1,n = 96), p = 0.23 < 0.05.

In the above table, the P value .164 was greater than the acceptable probability value

of 0.05, which means that there was no association between the number of years

one has been in the organisation and efficient nature of his service delivery to clients.

4.3.3 Descriptive StatisticsDescriptive statistics provide condensed characteristic information regarding the

sample and form the basis of quantitative data analysis (Burns and Bush, 2006). It

supports inferential statistics used to make assumptions about the sample by

reducing the risk of constructing conclusions with regard to the research purely on

probabilistic indicators (Kumar, 2005). This is imperative as it assists understanding

the sample, and contributes to the conclusions and recommendations regarding the

relevance to the characteristics of the sample (Vogt, 2007; Mukher and Albon, 2010).

Table 10 represents a cross-tabulation between gender and their ability to meet

deadlines, whereas table 11 represents a cross-tabulation between gender and how

they required incentives.

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Table 10: A cross-tabulation between gender and their ability to meet deadlines

Ability to meet deadlinesTotal

1 2 3 4 5

Gender Male 17 21 3 0 1 42Female 19 30 2 1 2 54

Total 36 51 5 1 3 96

The above results have shown that more females are able to meet deadlines in the

organisation than males – with female recording 54%, while male recorded 42%.

Table 11: A cross-tabulation between gender and how they required incentives

Require Incentives Total1 2 3 4 5

Gender Male 20 6 7 5 4 42Female 20 14 4 13 3 54

Total 40 20 11 18 7 96

From the table above, it is evident that females require more incentives to work than

males. 54% of the females attested to the need for incentive to be given in the

organisation, while 42% of males also responded in that regard.

4.4 CONCLUSIONThis chapter commenced with an introduction, followed by a discussion on data

screening and data analytical processes. The research variables results then

followed and a discussion on reliability tests was then undertaken followed by

hypothesis testing. Descriptive analysis results were then provided. The next chapter

presents the discussions of the findings referring to the literature reviewed.

64

CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSIONS

3

4

5

1

2

3

4

55.1 INTRODUCTIONThe main empirical findings were summarised in chapter four. This chapter will

synthesise the empirical findings to answer the research questions and discuss the

results by referring to the literature reviewed. The aim of this research is firstly to

understand and describe the effect of empowering leadership on employee work

effort, performance and service delivery.

The purpose of this study is to determine the influence of empowering leadership on

employee work effort, performance, and service delivery in South Africa. To test the

proposed hypotheses, data was collected from 96 respondents in South Africa. The

following discussions are based on the results of the hypothesis testing in the path

65

analysis which were reported in the previous chapter (4.3.2). The discussion below

moves from an overall to a more specific discussion.

This dissertation combines leadership theories, (e.g., Winston and Patterson, 2006;

Lynch, 2012; Srivastava, Bartol and Locke, 2006), empowerment theories (e.g.,

Randolph, 2000; Cheung, Baum and Wong, 2010; Zhang and Gheibi, 2015), work

effort theories (e.g., Iqbal, 2013; Morris, 2009; Mehrabani and Shajari, 2013), and

performance theories (e.g., Dudley, 2010; Opperman, 2007; Perkins, 2013; McLean,

2013) to examine how empowering leadership influence employee work effort and

performance and service delivery in the CJMM.

The theoretical model was tested in the CJMM environment using data collected from

the selected sample.

5.2 OVERALL FINDINGS It became evident, after measuring the relationships between the various

hypotheses’ by using Pearson’s correlation coefficient that there is a positive

relationship between empowering leaders, work effort and employee performance,

which confirms that employees in the CJMM will perform better when they are

empowered by their leaders.

Firstly, this study revealed that empowering leadership has a stronger effect on

employee work effort, than on employee performance. This study builds on work by

Ahearne, Mathieu and Rapp (2005) who also indicated that empowering leadership

positively influences employee work effort.

The results support the research from Zhang and Bartol (2010) where they tested a

theoretical model to link empowering leadership to employee work effort. They found

that empowering leadership does not only positively affect employee work effort, but

also has a positive influence on employee motivation and creativity in the workplace.

This theoretical model relates directly to this study which affirms that there is a strong

correlation between the construct of empowerment and work effort. This study

supports the theory that empowering leadership has a positive influence on

employee work effort.

66

In Cheung, Baum and Wong (2010), Bowen and Lawler (1992) indicated that

empowerment is “a way to share information, rewards, knowledge and power with

employees and this creates threats to the managers by means of a tradition of not

sharing, approach or limiting the growth of subordinates, limited decision-making and

problem-solving, fear of losing control, disorder and chaos, personal uncertainty, lack

of knowledge, skills and job or promotion uncertainty” (Cheung, Baum and Wong,

2010). The results of this study revealed a positive correlation between the construct

of empowerment, work effort and performance. It is important to note as indicated by

Cheung, Baum and Wong, (2010) that these constructs can be negatively influenced

by the tradition of “managers feeling threatened to share”. This research supports

the concept that empowerment positively influences work effort.

Mehrabani and Shajari, (2013: 61) said that “empowering others will lead followers to

do a better job”, which will lead to increased work effort as supported by the results of

this study.

The results of the post-hoc analysis in the study of Mehrabani and Shajari, (2013: 66)

illustrated that “inspiring a vision amongst employees will show the advantages of

empowerment”. They go further stating that the goals of empowerment assist in

changing the vision of employees to yield more employee effectiveness and effort

from the employees. It is thus noted, from this statement, that empowerment is an

effective tool to increase work effort which has been confirmed through the results

yielded in this study.

Secondly, Srivastava, et al., (2006) stated that limited research has been done to

examine mechanisms that link empowering leadership and performance and results

obtained revealed that empowering leadership is positively linked to both knowledge

sharing and team efficiency and effectiveness, which, in turn, were both positively

related to performance. Mehrabani and Shajari, (2013: 65) also noted that are

numerous studies that support the positive effect of empowerment on employee

performance (Kirkman and Rosen, 1999; Spreitzer, 1995; Spreitzer et al., 1997), but

mentioned that there is limited research literature available in the public sector.

67

The results yielded in this study thus contributed to the gap identified by Mehrabani

and Shajari, (2013: 65) and produced a positive contribution in that empowering

leadership positively influences employee performance.

Empowered employees are willing to do additional work of a higher level and quality,

with increased responsibilities, feeling more committed to their tasks and to their

organisation, which will improve performance (Zhang and Gheibi, 2015: 367). Zhang

and Gheibi (2015: 368) went further, stating that “the higher empowering leadership,

the higher work engagement and, the higher performance”. The results of this study

are reinforced by the findings in Zhang and Gheibi, (2015) which support the notion

that empowering leadership positively influence performance.

Thirdly, Iqbal (2013: 6) noted that work effort is considered as a mediator between

motivation and performance, or as a tool to change motivation into accomplished

work and found a strong, positive influence of work effort on job satisfaction which

supports the findings of this study. The researcher highlights the fact that work effort

has a large impact on employee performance as the results of this study support the

view of Iqbal (2013: 6), revealing that employee work effort has a robust influence on

employee performance. This result positively contributes to knowledge creation in

view of the limited research done in the field of employee work effort.

Fourthly, it became apparent that there is a gap between empowering leadership,

employee work effort, employee motivation and service delivery in the CJMM as it

was found that in South Africa, the norm became the insufficient or complete lack of

service delivery. The violent service delivery protests in the CJMM resulted from both

the lack of service and poor quality services rendered (Mathinabe, 2010). This study

has yielded positive correlations between empowering leadership, employee work

effort, performance and service delivery in the CJMM, which relates to the notion that

if empowering leadership is increased, an increment will be experienced in the other

constructs included in this research study.

The findings indicate that empowering leadership strongly influences service delivery

via employee work effort, which might be due to the fact that the employee’s

performance is also determined, to a large extent, by the employee’s work effort,

which supports the findings in the research of Cheung, Baum and Wong, (2010). It 68

has been found that when the employees increase their work effort, both their

performance and service delivery are likely to improve. Employee work effort and

employee performance are interrelated elements which equally affect performance in

an organisation and are driven by empowering leadership and motivation, as

discussed in the studies of Ching (2012) and Zhang and Bartol (2010).

In this study PLS was used to demonstrate the path coefficients for the relationships

modelled among the constructs. The results provided support for the proposed

positive relationships between the five relationships and moreover, the t-statistics of

all the relationships indicate the hypothesised relationships are exceptionally

significant. These findings support the studies of Ching (2012) and Zhang and Bartol

(2010).

5.3 CONCLUSIONIn spite of what is often reported about service delivery in the CJMM, the benefits of

empowering leadership, the effects thereof on employee motivation and work effort

can drive the CJMM to new heights to deliver excellent service.

Market positioning relies on management’s professional ethics for the improvement

of services offered to consumers (Wood, Bhuian and Kieker, 2000), and the ability to

provide better services through creativity is fostered within empowering leadership

which has been identified in this study (Stevenson, 2000; Department of Trade and

Industry, 2005). This positive correlation between the different hypothesis elements

drives employees to perform better, thus improving service delivery.

As performance is an indicator of adequate use of resources (Kotler and Keller,

2012), this research identifies that the CJMM, through empowering leadership,

manages to mobilise human and other resources to bring new value to their

customers and improve service delivery.

The next chapter will discuss the conclusions, limitations, implications and

recommendations.

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CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSIONS, LIMITATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

6.1 INTRODUCTIONThe purpose of this study is to determine the influence of (empowering) leadership

on employee work effort, performance and service delivery in South Africa. This

study further sets out to explore the extent to which leadership impacts employee

work effort, performance and service delivery, which in turn affect the well-being and

quality of life of the residents. This study also seeks to determine whether

empowering leadership can result in an improvement in employee work effort,

motivation and service delivery in the CJMM.

The study seeks to answer these questions:

(1) Does empowering leadership affect employee work effort?

(2) Does empowering leadership affect employee performance?

(3) How does employee work effort affect employee performance?

(4) To what extent does employee work effort affect service delivery?

(5) To what extent does employee performance affect service delivery?

This chapter further includes discussions on proposed suggestions for future

research, taking into consideration the limitations of this study. Lastly, an overall

conclusion and contribution of this mini-dissertation to academics will be presented,

followed by a summary of this chapter.

6.2 MAJOR FINDINGSThe results of this study provide support for the proposed positive relationships

between the five relationships, and moreover, the t-statistics of all the relationships

indicate the hypothesised relationships are exceptionally significant.

This study further reveals that empowering leadership has stronger effects on

employee work effort than on employee performance. Employee work effort though

has a strong influence on employee performance. The results also indicate that

employee work effort has a stronger impact on service delivery than on employee 70

performance. Consequently, these results show that empowering leadership has a

strong influence on service delivery via employee work effort.

6.3 ACADEMIC AND MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONSThe findings provide fruitful implications to both practitioners and academicians. On

the academic side, this study makes a significant contribution to the leadership and

service delivery literature by systematically exploring the impact of empowering

leadership on service delivery in South Africa. In particular, the current study findings

provide tentative support to the proposition that empowering leadership should be

recognised as a significant antecedent and tool to employee work effort, performance

and service delivery in South Africa. On the practitioner’s side, the important

mediating role of employee work effort and employee performance in the

empowering leadership – service delivery relationship in South Africa’s public sector

is highlighted.

“Empowering leadership offers both positive and negative outcomes towards work

performance” (Zhang and Gheibi, 2015: 375), and therefore the study accentuates

the processes to implement empowering leadership and highlight the fact that the

manner in which empowerment is implemented and driven should be monitored

closely to yield positive results from this initiative.

The findings support the recommendation that managers need to drastically change

their approach to motivating growth, innovation, performance enhancement and work

effort in the workplace. Being able to draw a workforce together, having consensus to

obtain the same goals and objectives will flow from empowering leadership. This will

result in a ripple effect flowing from the leader, outwards to the employee, improving

the service delivery in the City of Johannesburg. Service organisations consist of

people, technology, information sharing, customer inputs and strong leaders to

enhance employee and organisational performance. These leaders will apply

knowledge, processes and management skills to empower employees in order for

the organisation to benefit from their initiatives and achieve goals and objectives.

Ample evidence exists for a positive relationship between empowering leadership

and employee performance, but the work effort relationship is an important finding.

Regardless of the significance of employee performance, which affects

71

organisational efficiency and effectiveness, to the best of the researcher’s

knowledge, limited prior research has assessed this relationship in the public sector.

The theoretical cases relating to the effect of empowering leadership on employee

work effort, performance and service delivery therefore need to be revisited in order

to further understand the livelihood dynamics of the leadership and how to effectively

empower employees to improve service delivery.

This research for this mini-dissertation suggests the importance of identifying

underlying factors of motivation behind empowering leadership, which affect

employee work effort, performance and service delivery. As managers and leaders

have a crucial role to play in the empowerment process, it is essential to comprehend

the manner in which empowering leadership will drive employees to perform better

and increase their work effort to deliver superior service.

The research also further accentuates that an important benefit of empowering

leadership is to ensure that employees’ performance and work efforts increase

through empowerment, which will contribute to improved service delivery by the

CJMM. The evidence of a strong relationship between empowering leadership,

employee work effort, performance and service delivery has been identified in this

study, which raises an opportunity for management and leaders in the CJMM, when

changing their vision, to include empowering initiatives, will increase service delivery

in line with the CJMM’s objectives and mandate.

As limited research was found on the effects of motivation on work effort, the

researcher highlights that the impact of employee motivation on work has not been

explored much and is thus a field for future research.

6.4 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDYThe study has offered an evaluative angle on the relationship between empowering

leadership and service delivery in the CJMM. Empowering leadership was shown to

have a definite impact on employee performance and work effort, which affect the

service delivery in the CJMM. As a direct consequence of this methodology, the

study faced a number of limitations, which need to be considered. Only employees

from the Revenue department were identified as participants and convenience

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sampling method was used. The number of subjects that participated in the study

was limited to the Revenue department employees who agreed to participate

voluntarily. The research can be extended to the CJMM in totality for a complete

global view of all employees’ input.

6.5 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCHAlthough this study extended the scope of empowering leadership research to the

effect thereof on employee performance, effort and service delivery, it is important for

future research to study other factors affecting service delivery (e.g., environmental

factors, unions, management styles, political influences and culture) to further test

the generalisability of the effects of empowering leadership on employee

performance, employee work effort, and service delivery. It is also important to

explore the effect of motivation on work effort to understand factors affecting

performance and deliverables of employees. As skills and the fear of losing control

by managers may be a threat to change in the CJMM, it creates an opportunity for

further research identifying the effect of leadership skills and abilities on empowering

leadership.

Management’s participation in research and workshops for empowering skills is

crucial for the CJMM. As Winston and Patterson (2006: 7) defined leadership as “an

individual who chooses, provides, trains and influences followers who have mixed

gifts, abilities and skills,” the results from this research align with this definition as

they highlight the fact that empowering leadership has a direct influence on and

correlation with performance, work effort and service delivery. From the results

yielded in this study, the researcher points out that the leader can change the

focuses of followers to support the organisation’s mission and objectives freely and

eagerly, using spiritual, emotional, and physical energy in a focused and coordinated

manner (Winston and Patterson, 2006: 7)

The study also highlights the importance of examining both motivation and work

effort in one model in order to be more theoretically inclusive, and to obtain more

meaningful results regarding factors that can influence service delivery. It is also

important that future research includes processes and innovative settings and uses

arduous psychometric methods to test the discriminant validity and incremental

effects of each category of variables.73

The CJMM, among other municipalities, has huge outstanding debts, huge backlogs

of queries and a bad reputation due to ineffective and inefficient service delivery

levels (Financial and Fiscal Commission, 2011: 81). The positive correlation identified

between employee effort, performance and service delivery is illustrated and aligned

to the Service Profit Chain (SPC), as it demonstrates how employee satisfaction

drives value, productivity, customer satisfaction and ultimately revenue growth and

profitability (Heskett et al., 1994: 165 - 168). It is thus crucial that employees are

empowered to drive the CJMM to higher levels of performance, work effort and

increased service delivery in line with their mandate. This study further accentuates

the fact that public sector managers should pay attention to aspects that influence

the employees’ work efforts such as empowering them, because it will strongly

influence the employees’ performance at the work place as well as eventually leading

to service delivery to the public.

A process of re-engineering should be implemented in the CJMM in that

management should be upgrading their skills in sharing, innovation, creativity,

delegation, co-creating value for employees and customers that will result in a trust

relationship between employees and management. In practice, managers need a

radically different approach to reignite the growth and innovation capabilities of their

employees. Service systems involve customer input, human resources, technology

and the application of competences to benefit from it. It is thus critical to optimise

human capital to ensure that organisational goals and objectives are achieved

(Tung, 2008).

The results if this study also indicate that to improve service delivery, the dominance

of service excellence, improved work effort and increased employee performance,

the manager should push for empowering the employees, driving the team with a

strong sense of change, creativity and innovation, facing the challenges of emerging

service science, management and engineering in the public sector.

A further aim for researchers and practitioners would be to consider investigating the

impact of empowering leadership in private companies and other business types

globally. Some prospective research questions to address may include the following:

“Does empowering leadership change employee work effort in private companies? 74

How does the performance of women influence service delivery in the municipal

sector? What are the drivers to change management that will empower employees?”

The researcher feels that is also important, for future research, to find ways on how

to improve the power and responsibility of leaders to their followers.

Therefore, future research may investigate various alternate methods to improve

service delivery, but, human input is the key driver towards excellence and thus

should be empowered to perform and deliver goals in line with organisational

objectives.

6.6 CONCLUSIONWhile this study has yielded highly relevant and important conclusions relevant to the

CJMM, it further showed that the phenomenon of work effort and the impact thereof

on service delivery has not yet been fully explored, particularly in the local

government area, and therefore it remains as an opportunity to create exhilarating

and pioneering research.

75

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no. 1, January, p. 293 0 298.

Zeithaml, V.A., Berry, L.L. and Parasuraman, A. (1988) 'Communication and control

processes in the delivery of service quality', The Journal of Marketing (1988): 35-48.,

vol. 52, April, pp. 35 - 48.

Zhang, X. and Bartol, K.M. (2010) 'Linking Empowering Leadership and Employee

Creativity: The Influence of Psychological Empowerment, Instrinct Motivation, and

Creative Process Engagement', Academy of Management Journal USA, vol. 53, no.

1, pp. 107 - 128.

Zhang, P. and Gheibi, S. (2015) 'The Impact of Empowering Leadershop on Work

Performance and Work Family Conflict: The Role of Gender', European Scientific

Journal, vol. 11, no. 11, April, pp. 367 - 379.

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APPENDICES

Appendix 1: Questionnaire

Employees’ responses to the extent that empowering leadership affects

employee work effort, performance and improved service delivery in the City of

Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality

CONFIDENTIALITY AND CONSENT

Before you continue, please confirm that you consent to the use of data you

provide in this research project.

I consent to use of the information collected in this questionnaire in your academic study. I know my information will be kept confidential, and destroyed three to five years after the completion of this project. I know that I don’t have to answer all the questions and can decide to stop answering this questionnaire at any time. Please mark with an “x”.

  Yes

I want to thank you in advance for your input - you’ll be making a really valuable

contribution to expanding the knowledge in this area of study!

Petra Smit082-772-7644Petras@joburg.org.za

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SECTION A: RESPONDENTS SOCIAL DEMOGRAPHICSKindly tick with an X where required

iGENDER

MALE FEMALE

   ii AGE

20 - 25 26 - 30 31 - 35 36 - 40 41 - 45 46 and older

           

iii MARITAL STATUS

SINGLEMARRIE

D WIDDOWED DIVORCED SEPARATED

         iv JOB TITLE

 

vCULTURE

BLACK WHITE INDIAN COLOURED OTHER  (SPECIFY)

viYEARS AT THE ORGANISATION

0 - 3 3 - 5 5 - 10 10 - 20 20 and above

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SECTION B: EMPOWERING LEADERS 1

On a scale of 1- 5, tick in the appropriate box on how you strongly agree or disagree with the statements given.

Stro

ngly

agre

Agr

ee

Not

su

re

Dis

agr

ee

Stro

ngly

D

isag

ree

Promoting participation in decision-making1.1 My manager makes decisions together with me. 1 2 3 4 5

1.2 My manager consults with me regarding strategic decisions. 1 2 3 4 5

1.3 My manager asks my opinion on decisions that may affect my work.

1 2 3 4 5

Providing autonomy from bureaucratic constraints1.4 My manager allows me to be innovative and perform my job

my way.1 2 3 4 5

1.5 My manager keeps rules and regulations simple which simplifies my job.

1 2 3 4 5

1.6 My manager permits me to make important decisions quick to satisfy customer needs.

1 2 3 4 5

Enhancing the meaningfulness of work1.7 My manager helps me to understand how my goals relate to

those of Revenue.1 2 3 4 5

1.8 My manager helps me to realise the importance of my work to the overall efficiency of Revenue.

1 2 3 4 5

1.9 My manager ensures that I understand how my job fits into the overall picture.

1 2 3 4 5

Expressing confidence in high performance1.10 My manager has faith in my abilities to handle demanding

tasks.1 2 3 4 5

1.11 My manager trusts that I can always improve, even when I make mistakes.

1 2 3 4 5

1.12 My manager has confidence in my ability to perform exceptionally.

1 2 3 4 5

Expressing confidence in innovation and creativity1.13 My manager trusts my capability to suggest new ways to

increase quality.1 2 3 4 5

1.14 My manager gives me the opportunity to be innovative and change the way we work.

1 2 3 4 5

1.15 My manager creates an atmosphere of change and creativity. 1 2 3 4 5

1 These questions are based on a Journal of the Academy of Management, USA, volume 53, issue 1, pages 107-128, by Zhang, X. and Bartol, K.M., (2010), Linking Empowering Leadership and Employee Creativity: The Influence of Psychological Empowerment, Intrinsic Motivation and Creative Process Engagement.

91

SECTION B: EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE2

On a scale of 1 - 5, tick in the appropriate box on how strongly you agree or disagree with the

statements given.

Stro

ngly

agre

e

Agr

ee

Not

su

re Dis

agr

ee

Stro

ngly

D

isag

ree

2.1 You always complete your tasks within or

before the due date.1 2 3 4 5

2.2 You work harder than the average worker

in your department.1 2 3 4 5

2.3 You take on additional work without being

told to do so.1 2 3 4 5

2.4 You do more work than expected. 1 2 3 4 5

2.5 You work with energy, motivating others to

perform well. 1 2 3 4 5

2.6 You complete your duties without 

supervision.1 2 3 4 5

2.7 You work harder when you are rewarded.  1 2 3 4 5

2.8 You like learning new ways and means to

improve your performance, keeping in mind

that you’ll grow in knowledge and have a

more prosperous career.

1 2 3 4 5

2.9 You always attend work 100% (not

pretending to be ill). 1 2 3 4 5

2.10 You assist other employees when they are

behind with their work. 1 2 3 4 5

2 These questions were based on research done by Peerbhai, R. (2006: 135) in her dissertation on Job Satisfaction at IT SMEs in Durban.

92

SECTION B: WORK EFFORT3

Statements Stro

ngl

y

Agr

ee

Not

su

re Dis

agr

eeSt

ron

gly

Dis

agre

e

3.1 I strive as hard as I can to be successful in my work.  1 2 3 4 5

3.2 I usually start work early and leave late. 1 2 3 4 5

3.3 When there’s a job to be done, I devote all my

energy to getting it done.1 2 3 4 5

3.4 Few of my co-workers put in more hours working

each week than I do.1 2 3 4 5

3.5 When I work, I do so with intensity. 1 2 3 4 5

3.6 I work at my full capacity in all of my job duties. 1 2 3 4 5

3.7 I spend long hours doing my work. 1 2 3 4 5

3.8 When I work, I really exert myself to the fullest. 1 2 3 4 5

3.9 Among my co-workers, I am usually first to arrive or

last to leave work.1 2 3 4 5

3.10 I put more hours into my job throughout the year

than most people in my work area.1 2 3 4 5

3 These questions were constructed based on the research done by Morris R.J. (2009: 350) in his Dissertation on Employee Work Motivation and Discretionary Work Effort.

93

The scale below represents the level of work effort that you could achieve in your job. Looking

at your job, your responsibilities and the Revenue department, kindly indicate how strongly you

agree or disagree with the statements by circling the number which best describes your view.

SECTION B: SERVICE DELIVERY4

On a scale of 1 - 5, tick in the appropriate box on how you would rate the service delivery in the Revenue department.

Scale Exce

llent

Goo

d

Ave

rage

Poor

Non

Ex

istin

g

4.1 Customers always receive accurate bills. 1 2 3 4 5

4.2 Employees are equipped with the correct tools to assist customers.

1 2 3 4 5

4.3 Employees are well trained and competent to execute their daily tasks.

1 2 3 4 5

4.4 Management manages the department efficiently. 1 2 3 4 5

4.5 Employees go the extra mile to ensure queries are resolved.

1 2 3 4 5

4.6 The systems are reliable and supportive in order to perform well.

1 2 3 4 5

4.7 Customers understand the processes in Revenue. 1 2 3 4 5

4.8 The CJMM is always trying to improve its service delivery to ensure service excellence.

1 2 3 4 5

4.9 Daily tasks are completed efficiently and recognition or rewards given to employees where management identified excellent performance.

1 2 3 4 5

4.10 The environment is exciting, although demanding. 1 2 3 4 5

Appendix 2: Permission Letter to Conduct Research4  These questions were constructed based on research done by Darren Mclean  (2013:  45 -  52)  in his 

dissertation on  The  Relationship  of  Transformational   Leadership   to  Organizational  Outcomes   in  Municipal Government Settings in Nova Scotia. 

94

City of Johannesburg R &: CRM

Thuso House3'd Floor61 Jorissen StreetBraamfonteinTel +27(0) 11 628 4002

9 July 2013

Regenesys Business SchoolPostnet Suite #71Private Bag X9976SANDTON CITY

Attention: Research Committee

PERMISSION LETTER TO CONDUCT RESEARCH IN THE REVENUE DEPARTMENT OF THE CITY OF JOHANNESBURG METROPOLITAN MUNICIPALITY (CJMM).

On behalf of the CJMM, I am informing you formally that we are aware of the proposed research concerning an investigation into the extent that empowering leadership impacts on employee work effort, employee performance and improved service delivery in the CJMM done by Petra Smit, a student at Regenesys Business School.

We are aware that Mrs. Smit intends to conduct her research through administering questionnaires to Revenue department employees.

Regards

GAVIN PRINGLE Director: FinanceCity of JohannesburgRevenue & CRM DepartmentTel: 082 414 7565E-mail: gavinp@joburg.org.za

95