Thami Nompula MBA Dissertation March 2007 - Rhodes eResearch ...

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investigative skills in regulation (Downes and Husbands, 2003; Makaya, 2001; Stern, 2000). The research and investigative functions of a regulatory institution require a number of supporting staff who are specialists or knowledge workers in their own right. These are librarians, information specialists, customer service or complaints officials, communication specialists, project managers, policy analysts and statisticians (Downes and Husbands, 2003). Given the general scarcity of skilled professionals in developing countries such as South Africa, the recruitment, development and retention of this type of human resource base is a pressing issue for regulatory effectiveness, and by extension, economic development. Studies of regulatory agencies generally conclude that in order to be successful, there needs to be an analytical infrastructure capable of in-depth investigation and reporting on all the variables that must be taken into account to arrive at fair and balanced decisions (Downes and Husbands, 2003; Domah et al, 2002; Makaya, 2001; Stern, 2000; World Bank, 2004). Knowledge workers want an environment in which they can perform their own independent research and not be merely project managers for other knowledge workers. The pool of expertise required to support regulators to carry out their mandate needs to demonstrate superior capabilities in the respective technical fields of the regulatory agency (Downes and Husbands, 2003) In a market where the skills necessary to ensure effective regulation leading to investor confidence and market competition, it is important for regulators to allocate the requisite resources to attract, develop and retain professionals. The availability of adequate resources and expertise to carry out the regulatory mandate of the agency would afford it the capacity to design tariffs, assess and monitor the performance of utilities. Furthermore, it would enforce all other regulations effectively and affordably to meet the socio-economic objectives of government, provide returns for investors and protect consumers (Downes and Husbands, 2003; Makaya, 2001; World Bank, 2004). The recruitment and retention of expertise must therefore be seen as central to the development of the required regulatory capability. Regulators that are understaffed with respect to professionals threaten the broader socio- economic and financial interests of government, investors and consumers (Downes and Husbands, 2003). Having a sufficient pool of professionally qualified specialists will provide institutional continuity of regulation. Retaining knowledge workers lies at the heart of this 6
continuous success. South Africa, as a developing country, is in a similar position that is compounded by a shortage of skilled professionals. For example, the Bureau of Market Research estimates the shortage of engineers at 56% and of financial specialists at 48% (BMR, 2006). Assessing regulatory effectiveness is contingent upon the quality of the staff providing the technical and professional inputs since the decisions of the regulator must be based on competent research and expert technical advice (Downes and Husbands, 2003; Makaya, 2001; World Bank, 2004). The ability to attract and retain a pool of knowledge workers is essential for effective regulation in developing countries. Effective regulation comes down to the quality of employees in the regulatory institution. 1.6 Labour Turnover among Knowledge Workers in Regulatory Institutions A review of Annual Reports of five regulatory agencies in Australia, the UK, Norway and the United States as well a study by Downes and Husbands (2003) in the Caribbean and the World Bank (2004) in developing countries indicate that generally regulatory institutions experience staff turnover challenges from time to time. The Annual Reports were for the period 2003 to 2005 while the Caribbean study (Downes and Husbands, 2003) was more longitudinal as it looked at developments since 1993, while the World Bank (2004) was a five-year review of developments in the regulatory space in developing countries. The major themes that came from the review are: cost of turnover, opportunity costs, poaching of staff as well as mitigation strategies (Downs and Husbands, 2003; ESC, 2005; OFGEM, 2006; SRC, 2005; TDLR, 2006). If regulatory institutions are unable to retain knowledge workers in their respective agencies they run the risk of failing to meet the mandate citizens have given to their political principals. It is especially important in South Africa as a developing country to have efficient and effective regulation in order to improve access and affordability to resources for the majority who were previously excluded as well as assure quality of supply and foster investment in the economy. 7
Page 1 and 2: AN EXPLORATORY INVESTIGATION OF THE
Page 3 and 4: Declaration I, Thami Ignatius Nompu
Page 5 and 6: Acknowledgements A number of people
Page 7 and 8: 2.2.4 Definition of knowledge work
Page 9 and 10: 3.6.2 Factors that influenced the c
Page 11 and 12: CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMEND
Page 13 and 14: Table 4.21 Sense of achievement ana
Page 15 and 16: LIST OF APPENDICES Appendix A: The
Page 17 and 18: 1.1 Introduction CHAPTER 1: INTRODU
Page 19 and 20: 1.3 The National Energy Regulator T
Page 21: 1.5 The Importance of Knowledge Wor
Page 25 and 26: 1.6.2 Cost of turnover and opportun
Page 27 and 28: 1.6.5 Staff Turnover at the Nationa
Page 29 and 30: 2.1 Introduction CHAPTER 2: LITERAT
Page 31 and 32: Knowledge-based organisations rely
Page 33 and 34: 2.2.5 Definition of a knowledge wor
Page 35 and 36: • Knowledge workers tend to work
Page 37 and 38: esent unnecessary supervision; they
Page 39 and 40: equipment, exist and are worth cult
Page 41 and 42: the organisation that cause or are
Page 43 and 44: Although knowledge workers may be a
Page 45 and 46: Guest’s (2001) findings. The Hay
Page 47 and 48: ecruiters. In the United States top
Page 49 and 50: sustainable objectives both for the
Page 51 and 52: 2.5 The Work Dimension According to
Page 53 and 54: environment is more conducive to hi
Page 55 and 56: improved productivity and a longer
Page 57 and 58: 2.7.1 Quality of leadership Quality
Page 59 and 60: leave an organisation because senio
Page 61 and 62: 2.8.3 Capacity Building In an attem
Page 63 and 64: for staff working for regulatory in
Page 65 and 66: 3.1 Introduction CHAPTER 3: RESEARC
Page 67 and 68: inefficiencies of management may le
Page 69 and 70: 2004). Furthermore, because the int
Page 71 and 72: According to Walonick (2004), one o
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contained section one of the questi
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Wisniewski (2002) describes reliabi
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Of the 34 respondents, there were m
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As indicated in Figure 3.4, of the
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3.8.7 Number of previous years work
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3.8.9 Divisional distribution This
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The Chi test was used to test furth
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generated and these are attached as
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to a leader who believes in their v
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Senge (1990) introduced the concept
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According to the literature once kn
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4.3.1 Job enrichment Seventy six pe
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4.3.3 Control over work assignments
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4.3.5 Challenging work For 70% of t
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and RERA are continental initiative
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Table 4.17: Exchange programmes wit
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either work for two years for NERSA
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4.5.1 Sense of achievement and numb
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and Armstrong and Murlis’ (2004)
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Table 4.25 Freedom to plan and exec
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The next chapter explores in greate
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need to create a favourable environ
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5.3.3 Focus on the individual and g
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5.4.1 Factors Analysis: factors tha
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workers’ need for individualism a
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Branham, L. (2005). Keeping the peo
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Dumas, J. and Redish, J. (1999). A
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Kaye, B. and Jordan-Evans, S. (1999
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National Energy Regulator, (2006).
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Sturgess, J. and Guest, D. (2001).
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November 2006 Dear Colleague APPEND
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SECTION 2: FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE Y
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APPENDIX B: SOURCES OF RETENTION VA
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38 Opportunities for feedback, self
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Table 3: Opportunity to achieve per
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Table 9: Information sharing 127 FR
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Table 14: Scope to balance work and
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Table 20: Scope to create desirable
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Table 26: Job enrichment Table 27:
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Table 31: Adequate remuneration, be
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Table 37: Management that values in
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Table 43: Reputation of the organis
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