Organisational Effectiveness in a Metropolitan Municipality: Proposing and Validating a Model

Abstract

The aim of this study was to propose and validate a model of organisational effectiveness which could be utilised by a metropolitan municipality to address problems and weaknesses in order to maintain its credibility in the eyes of the public and fulfil its legislatively prescribed mandate. As a first step, this study designed a conceptual model of organisational effectiveness for a metropolitan municipality by including organisational and behavioural variables published in previous studies, as well as variables contained in existing models of effectiveness. In order to validate the model, the next step was to conduct a cross-sectional survey using the Effectiveness Survey (ES) in an existing metropolitan municipality in South Africa (n = 6 514) and expose the data gathered to structural equation modelling (SEM). The confirmatory factor analysis that was conducted subsequently confirmed the existence of the three main variables proposed in the conceptual model, namely Healthy Systems, Goal Achievement and Service Delivery, but did not support all the hypothesised relationships between these variables. The implications of the statistically significant and insignificant relationships obtained are discussed and the utility of SEM as a means of validating a conceptual model is confirmed