Abstract
This study focuses on the factors that influence performance measurement in order to improve planning and decision making in the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality oversight committees. Furthermore, the significance of performance measurement in the public sector, particularly in local government units that practice organisational effectiveness and measurement through reporting, such as oversight committees, is critically assessed in this dissertation. The main research question of the study is: “what are the factors that influence performance measurement to support better planning and decision making in the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality oversight committees?”. The study aims to address this main problem by looking at the concepts, theories, and views underpinning performance; the benefits and challenges of performance measurement in local government; the statutory and regulatory frameworks governing performance, accountability, and oversight committees; the structure, role, and functions of oversight committees; the relationship between performance measurement, planning, decision making, reporting in oversight committees; and the recommendations and indicators that can be considered to improve performance measurement in oversight committees.
The problem, according to the suggested research, has to do with how crucial it is to evaluate performance, especially in local government where organisations like oversight committees encourage organisational effectiveness and evaluation through reporting. Since the advent of performance principles, it has been more crucial than ever to keep track of service delivery, improvement, and compliance with good governance standards. This study conceptualises and provides a theoretical framework and explores the factors that influence performance measurement using a literature review and case study at the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality.
Every research project needs to have a clear, disciplined, systematic (planned, coordinated, and public) strategy in order to get the desired findings. This study employs a qualitative research methodology, as was previously indicated. Qualitative research is inductive in nature (abstract generalisations and conceptions), according to Miles and Huberman (1994:19), and the researcher typically explores implications and alternative meanings, including discoveries in a particular scenario or problem. The conceptual and theoretical focus of this study will be on research methods involving understated techniques, such as conceptual and contextual (documentary) examination of secondary materials that cover a wide range of topics but are also cohesively tied to the subject. In this study's qualitative research methodology, the case study approach will be employed to thoroughly investigate and analyse the factors influencing performance measurement. Case study research focuses on a detailed examination of the activities that occur in a particular municipality, namely the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality.
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Keywords: Performance Measurement, Oversight Committees; Reporting, Accountability, Theories