Answer to Question #313855 in Management for Happiness

Question

Public Manager need to be mindful of the many technological advances and should not persist in using obsolete aids and techniques to carry out their activities.instead they should endeavour to replace outdated aids and techniques with sophisticated and advanced technology as far as possible.in the past 20 years the world has gone through numerous advances innovation and technology.this has changed the way in which the south African government carries out some of the activities and services.in the essay you are required to critical examine three innovative changes in the South Africa public sectors.your discussion should include information on the process or system which existed before a more innovative one came to existence and replace it.Remember to include introduction this should contain brief background information on the organisation,in text reference to indicate where you obtained your information

Answer 1

Since the advent of democracy in 1994, South Africa has undergone an extensive process of state reform aimed at overcoming the legacy of Apartheid system and at building a more egalitarian social and political order. Although the progress has been made in reforming the state infrastructure, the pursuit of an inconsistent economic growth path has meant that inequality and poverty remain serious challenges to the social order (Seekings and Nattrass, 2006). The inability of oversight institutions to control powerful political interest groups, furthermore, has led to the growth of public sector corruption and to power struggles within the ruling alliance.  After 1994, development planning that includes basic service delivery has become a significant mandate of local government (Madumo, 2015; Rogerson, 2018). A particular focus for the South African National System of Innovation (NSI) is to include poorer segments of the population into the innovation system, either as beneficiaries or co-creators of innovations (DST, 2013, 2015, 2017; RSA, 1996a).

The country’s centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators, with the Department of Science and Technology and Statistics South Africa, released the latest national business innovation survey. The survey helps to answer critical questions facing business leaders, industry groups and government policy-makers. The survey found that innovation was pervasive across all sectors, but particularly in engineering and technology, manufacturing and trade. A high percentage almost 70% of South African businesses were innovation-active. This meant that they had taken some scientific, technological, organisational, financial or commercial steps towards implementing an innovation. Innovation surveys typically measure four types of innovation i.e. product, process, organisational and marketing. The survey found that there were distinct patterns of these types of innovation in different economic sectors. For instance, mining and utilities businesses reflected low levels of innovation. For its part, manufacturing had the largest proportion of businesses with product innovation 59.8% and marketing innovation 43.4%. Process innovation was most prominent in logistics businesses 61.7%. More finance 52.0% and manufacturing 49.1% businesses reported organisational innovations than businesses in any other sector.

Each type of innovation requires specific forms of support. Businesses most typically invested in innovation activities that helped them to prepare for technological and organisational change. They did this by training their workforce's and investing in new information technology capabilities. For both the industrial and services sectors, the biggest-ticket item of innovation spend was the acquisition of machinery and equipment. A substantial number of innovation-active businesses reported the use or development of advanced new technologies. These included computerized design and engineering, material handling, supply chain and logistics technologies, business intelligence technologies, and green technologies.

Reference

Morris, M. H., & Jones, F. F. (1999). Entrepreneurship in established organizations: The case of the public sector. Entrepreneurship theory and practice, 24(1), 71-91.