IMPROVING LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT EFFECTIVENESS:

THE ROLE OF LEGISLATIONBy Adv. Shirley Misser

Presentation to the SMS ConferenceCape Town

14 September 2007

1. Key Relationships Explored• Leadership and management: The role

played by legislation in governing this relationship.

• Administration and the imperatives of the developmental state.

• The legal pillar and leadership/management debate.

• The transformational pillar and leadership.• The psychological pillar and leadership.

What is Public Administration?• Cora Hoexter: “the organs and functionaries of

the executive branch of the state that are concerned with the day to day business of implementing law and administering policy.”

• Close relationship – urgency in delivering against an agenda that is transformational, developmental and democratic.

• In delivering – need leader-managers, push the limits of possibilities within the law.

• Legislation, enabling, not an excuse for slow service delivery.

How legal compliance is viewed?

LEGALCan be viewed

As either

ENABLER CONSTRAINT

Adhering to Public Administration Principles

• ALL Constitutional principles for public administration must be adhered to.

• The human factor is pivotal – compliance required that is also timeous, service delivery oriented.

• The developmental state – activist and interventionist – must be mirrored in the leader-manager.

2. Leadership and/or Management?• Managers must be conversant with the

applicable legislation so as to lead and direct. • Management – largely maintenance, necessary

but not sufficient to optimise the developmental state.

• Need to move away from the uses of red tape over smart tape, locked in the mould of the old .

• Leadership – more visionary and exploratory, necessary to support the developmental state, takes calculated risks, advances service delivery.

3. The Legal Basis

• Direct statutory framework:- Public Service Act, 1994- Public Service Regulations, 2001- Collective agreements- Directives issued by the Minister of the DPSA

Macro Legislative Framework• Section 195 of Constitution, sets basic values and principles• Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000 • Promotion of Administrative Justice Act, 2000• Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act, 1993• Unemployment Insurance Act, 2001• Public Service Commission Act, 1997• Employment Equity Act, 1998• Basic Conditions of Employment Act, 1997• Skills Development Act, 1998• Skills Development Levies Act, 1999• Occupational Health and Safety Act, 1993• Government Employees Pension Law, 1996• Public Finance Management Act, 1999 • The Immigration Act, 2002 • (This list is not exhaustive)

Implementing Key Legislation• Being able to implement these Acts are

important, often implementation is weak shown by reviews from the PSC, Auditor-General.

• Problems rooted in many areas: may be an unwillingness to comply, experience levels are thin due to high staff mobility, and poor M&E systems.

• Procedural irregularities, shown in increased litigation against the state.

• Points to weak quasi-judicial skills amongst managers.

Constitutionally Mandated Legislation• The Promotion of Administrative Justice Act,

2000, is considered as one of the most transformational piece of Legislation.

• It puts the spotlight on fairness, justice, transparency and accountability.

• Allows for redress and checks abuse of power.• Central to advancing the goals of the

developmental state.• Helps in the shift from management prerogative

to management accountability.

PAJA and the Developmental State• Critical to the functioning of the developmental

state (DS) since:• It is premised on good governance, implies

transparency, accountability and the right to redress.

• The DS expects innovative leadership, with decision-making subject to due process, review.

• The DS is people-oriented – decisions need to empower, not act against, goes to the PAIA.

• DS is dynamic – decisions can be challenged and the quality thereof improved.

What PAJA Requires?• Clearly PAJA compliance is weak, as shown by

various studies.• Shift towards PAJA requires a fundamental

change in how managers operate, enshrined in section 33 of the Constitution.

• Government is expected to be citizen-centred.• Constitution affords rights through the Bill of

Rights, PAJA allows for the state to be challenged.

The Promotion of Access to Information Act

• Also poor compliance, appears that there is a persistence of the secretive society.

• In a functional democracy very little is top-secret, records can be called for scrutiny.

• Managers need to embrace this change and create transparent working conditions conducive to critique.

• These constitutional principles are echoed in the Batho Pele.

Batho PeleBehavioural Requirements:

• Consultation(- the right to make representation)

• Information(- notice of the constitutional right to be given written reasons; and - the right to appeal and review)

• Openness and transparency(- prior notice of admin action)

• Redress(- provide reason for admin decisions)

SUPPORTIVE RELATIONSHIPS: PAJA, DEVELOPMENTAL STATE, MANAGEMENT AND GOOD GOVERNANCE

PAJA PRINCIPLES Transparency, accountability

DEVELOPMENTAL STATEActivism, transparent

GOOD GOVERNANCEAccountable, redress,

transparency

MANAGEMENTActivist, innovative

4. Transformational Pillar• Imperative that managers recognise their role in

driving transformational policies of the country.• Requires an involved, rather than detached, so-

called professional approach.• Management training must be contextualised to

capture the transformational imperatives such as the 9 Constitutional Principles, PAIA, PAJA, the Employment Equity Act and Batho Pele Prnciples.

The basis of change: SMS

BETTER GOVERNANCE

LEGISLATION

SMS TO UNDERSTAND THEIR TRANSFORMATIONAL ROLE

5. Psychological Basis• Often regarded as the most difficult shift –

as the new seems to have comfortably slipped into the mould of the old.

• Autocratic leadership style has to be replaced by a visionary, participatory one.

• Management style that is purely focused on compliance, without any appreciation for the importance of this compliance is limited.

5. Psychological Basis cont.

• Within the legal framework there is space for risk-taking and innovation, provided that these advance the goals of the developmental state.

• Need to be conversant with quasi-financial and quasi-judicial issues, as well as governance imperatives.

6. Conclusion and Way Forward• Senior managers are expected to display more

leadership, whilst also showing management competence.

• Excuses for delays in service delivery, blaming legal processes, cannot be entertained.

• Leader-Manager must show a high degree of activism, interventionism and creativity.

• Both formal and experiential skills are required.• Need to reduce the high mobility that exists, as

it prevents organisational learning and institutional memory from being developed.

THANK YOU