Background: Creating an enabling organisational culture in an organisation is important for a successful strategy implementation, yet the influence of organisational culture on organisational performance in South African (SA) public entities is unknown.Aim: This study aimed to determine the influence of organisational culture on organisational performance during strategy implementation in schedule 3 public entities in the Northern Cape (NC) province.Setting: The schedule 3 public entities at the provincial level, in terms of organisational culture, leadership, corporate controls, strategy alignment, strategy implementation and organisational performance.Method: The survey design and a semi-structured questionnaire were used to collect data from a random sample of 38 respondents, comprising 32 senior managers of the public entities and six executives from three NC Provincial Government Departments. Data were analysed using regression analysis and document analysis.Results: Based on the perceptions of the respondents, it was found that organisational culture does not affect the organisational performance during strategy implementation. The existing organisational culture does not support strategy implementation, and this is negatively affecting organisation performance in the public entities.Conclusion: The findings reveal that organisational culture does not affect the organisational performance during strategy implementation in the schedule 3 public entities in the NC province. In some cases, the cultures would be able to facilitate strategy implementation, but they cannot because of a lack of financial and human capital resources. Hence, the issues around resources need to be addressed for the entities to meet their strategic objectives and management should make appropriate interventions to promote a healthy organisational culture that will support strategy implementation.

Background: A lot of research on audit-related services and accountability in the international and African contexts has been conducted. However, none of those empirical investigations have been done in the South African context, focussing specifically, on how the material irregularity (MI) of the recently amended Public Audit Act impacts accountability, governance and oversight.Aim: This study aimed to explore the perceptions of middle and senior managers in the Northern Cape provincial administration on the impact of the implementation of the MI provisions of the amended Public Audit Act on accountability, oversight and governance. The focus of the investigation was the recommendation strand of MI.Setting: Northern Cape provincial administration with regard to MI provisions of the Public Audit Act in relation to accountability, oversight and governance.Method: The survey design and a stratified sample of 200 middle and senior managers were used. The response rate was 68.5%. Regression analysis was done.Results: It was found that the implementation of MI provisions of the amended Public Audit Act positively impacts on accountability, governance and oversight. The MI serves as a deterrent to future wrongdoing in the provincial administration. This finding implies that MI processes have significant value creation and protection in the South African public finances through deterrence even though that cannot be quantified in monetary terms.Conclusion: The study recommends that government should cooperate and encourage the implementation of the MI provisions to improve accountability, governance and oversight in the event when MI is detected or suspected during the audit process.

Background: South African national public entities play a significant role in the economy as they assist government to achieve the public service delivery mandate. However, these entities are facing numerous problems and challenges including a misalignment between corporate (i.e. government department) and business strategies of business units. The impact these problems and challenges have on organisational performance and hence service delivery, and why the misalignment exists are not known. Hence, this study was intended to fill this gap.Aim: This study was intended to analyse the extent of misalignment or alignment between corporate- and business-level strategies and the resulting impact on organisational performance in schedule 3 public entities in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa (SA).Setting: The public sector entities at the local, provincial and/or national level, in terms of culture, legal framework, structure, linkages and, especially, performance as it relates to the topic, political dynamics.Method: The survey design and the multicase study design with mixed methods (i.e. qualitative and quantitative methods) were applied. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 38 randomly selected executives of public entities and provincial government, and in-depth interviewing was used to collect qualitative data. Multiple regression and thematic analysis were used to analyse the data.Results: It was found that a misalignment between the corporate- and business-level strategies in SA public entities caused by, amongst others, lack of capacity and ineffective communication, negatively affects the strategy implementation, hence causing service delivery problems.Conclusion: The misalignment between the corporate- and business-level strategies affects the strategy implementation, hence affecting the service delivery negatively. This gap should be minimised by addressing the problems and challenges faced by the public entities such as lack of human resources capacity and ineffective communication in order to enhance organisational performance.

Background: Those in leadership must always envision endless possibilities even in the event of what appear to be insurmountable problems. Leadership exists to solve problems in any given context. Leadership is a determinant of value creation and sustainable competitive advantage through superior organisational performance in any organisation. Yet, pervasive leadership challenges are prevalent in the South African public entities, and not a lot of research has been done in this area. Hence, this research was an attempt to determine the influence of leadership on organisational performance during strategy implementation in the Northern Cape based public entities.Aim: To empirically investigate the relationship between leadership and organisational performance during strategy implementation in the Northern Cape provincial public entities in South Africa.Setting: Public entities in the Northern Cape province with regards to relationships amongst financial and human resources, poor organisational culture, leadership, organisational performance, as well as service delivery.Method: A survey design and mixed methods were applied in this study. A survey questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data from a simple random sample of 38 executives of the public entities and government departments in the Northern Cape province. The response rate was 78%. The t-test, correlational analysis, multiple regression analysis were performed. These were complemented by content analysis of government’s strategic documents.Results: It was found that unqualified leadership and insufficient financial and human resources affect strategy implementations and organisational performance negatively. Most entities have problems with leadership capacity, which creates strategy implementation challenges. Weak Boards in some entities translate into weak leadership because there is no direction in the entities.Conclusion: Unqualified leadership affect organisational performance negatively. This implies that the public sector entities might fail to fulfil their mandate to serve the public. Recommendations are made to minimise the challenges of leadership in the South African public entities to increase organisational performance. When appointing Board members, the quality of the members in terms of qualifications should be considered. Board members, apart from having competence and requisite skills to execute the mandate in the entity, should also be visionary and dedicated to the province. They should provide ethical leadership and corporate governance both at the strategic and governance level. Ethical and honest leadership which is not tainted by corruption (real or perceived) is of critical importance in any organisation and setting.