LEADERSHIP AND ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION IN SOUTH AFRICA

Abstract

This article focuses on the leadership milestones and challenges in local government administration organisational culture. It commences with reflections on the organisational architecture of local government administration as in the role of leadership, strategic leadership, processes, structures, and systems. Furthermore, it examines the milestones and challenges in local government administration with reference to the new technologies, the beneficiaries of the services provided by local government, and, most importantly, organisational culture as a component of local government administration architecture. This article argues that leadership in the history of local government administration plays a significant role in engineering an organisational culture, defined by leadership excellence in the delivery of services. Further to this, the article acknowledges that some of the deficiencies in local government organisational cultures are attributable to shortcomings in leadership and organisational agility and responsiveness to the fast-changing environment, globalisation, market pressures, and technological changes. Therefore, this article recommends that local government administration’s leadership embrace organisational change to counter the fast-changing environment, globalisation, and market pressures in order to enhance its competitiveness in service delivery performance.

Keywords

• leadership
• organisational culture
• local government administration
• organisation architecture