- Title
- A Strategy for good IT Governance in South African Municipalities
- Creator
- Sibanda, Mbusi
- Subject
- Information technology -- Management -- South Africa
- Date Issued
- 2020
- Date
- 2020
- Type
- Thesis
- Type
- Doctoral
- Type
- DIT
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10948/49573
- Identifier
- vital:41737
- Description
- Information technology (IT) is widely used in South African municipalities as a tool for enabling business processes and therefore its design and implementation are critical to municipalities delivering on their core mandate of delivering services to their communities. The implementation of IT relies on the adoption of sound IT governance practices, whose outcome is to ensure that municipalities derive value from the use of IT and minimise the risk associated with it. However, the implementation of IT governance has proved to be challenging in most municipalities. This research sought to devise a strategic approach to the effective and viable implementation of IT governance in municipalities in South Africa. The research was carried out by adopting a design science research approach, which is increasingly being used for studies in the IT discipline as it assists in solving problems through the design of innovative artefacts, in this case a strategy for the implementation of IT governance. To address the objectives, the research was carried out through case studies of South African municipalities which enabled a detailed investigation of phenomena in its natural context. The data was collected by means of mixed methods consisting of a literature review, a survey and semi-structured interviews. A literature review connected to the research problem was done in order to identify the present state of the issues and how they have been confronted. A survey was sent out to municipalities, institutions and individuals with a mandate to support municipalities, while semi-structured interviews were conducted in five municipalities, government departments and regulatory bodies. A thematic analysis of the data collected was performed which led to a diagnosis of the issues. These include inadequate IT infrastructure; lack of coordinated external support; inadequate IT skills; lack of strong and committed IT leadership; poor IT controls; and fragmented planning. Guiding policies and a set of coherent actions for solving the issues were developed. This culminated in the devising of a strategy for the coordinated implementation of IT governance in municipalities. The primary contribution of this study is the formulation of a strategy for the sound implementation of IT governance in South African municipalities. The research contends that by identifying the strategic issues facing municipalities and implementing the proposed actions, most of which fall outside the municipalities, a new contribution to knowledge has been made. Accordingly, the strategy facilitates the development of plans that address the root causes of the poor implementation of IT in municipalities.
- Format
- xv, 330 leaves
- Format
- Publisher
- Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
- Publisher
- Faculty of Engineering, the Built Environment and Technology
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
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NMU School of Information and Communication Technology
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | Sibanda, S.pdf | 3 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |