Integrated Portfolio

I completed the Professional Certificate in Public Management (PCPM) at the University of Witwatersrand in 2006. An Integrated Portfolio is the final requirement for achieving the PCPM, presented by P&DM of the University of Witwatersrand.

The Wits Graduate School of Public and Development Management PCPM Study Guide 2006, states the purpose of the Integrated Portfolio as “building professional skills and capacity” (Wits Study Guide, 2006:48). The Integrated Portfolio is therefore a requirement for attaining the Professional Certificate in Public Management (PCPM). The Integrated Portfolio give students an opportunity to assess what has been learned from the programme, critically reflect on the learning and applying this learning process. This approach to learning is also called an “action learning approach”, an approach which not only provides the theoretical background, but also relates to the practical environment of management in the Public Sector.
After being appointed in a management position in the public sector, the need arose to understand the managerial functions in the public sector, the “workings” of public administration. Previous work experience included management in a non-profit organisation as well as management in the private sector, but no formal managerial or “public sector” education was ever sought.

Personal Objective

Self Assessment

The vision of Wits P&DM is to provide the framework for equipping leaders in “development and democratic governance” (Wits Study Guide, 2006:7). PCPM is therefore aiming in providing the necessary knowledge for public sector management in a developing country, knowledge which is grounded in theory and practice.

To achieve this, the course is structured in the following modules and outcomes (Wits Study Guide, 2006:9):

1. Governance & Development: Interpret the implications of different approaches to governance and development for the distribution of power resources and authority.
2. Managing Information & Communications: Collect, analyse and disseminate information using basic qualitative and quantitative tools and different media.
3. Economics and Public Finance: Explore the roles of the state in supporting mixed economy with the aim of promoting equitable growth and democratisation.
4. Managing Change: Apply theories of change management and capacity building/organisational development, using skills developed in class. Having a clear understanding of organisational design and strategy.
5. Public Policy: Use policy-relevant concepts and terms appropriately and understand public policy processes. Apply basic steps in analysing a public policy issue and understand the constraints of policy processes in developing country context.
6. Managing Service Delivery: Demonstrate familiarity with the key principles of Operations Management and evaluate, design and manage service delivery operations in public and development organisations.

Measuring my knowledge in relation to the overall outcome of PCPM, I have little knowledge of the framework of management in the public sector.

My knowledge of the framework and concepts of a developing country is also limited. Reading the introductory article, Governance, Democracy and Development in the Third World (Leftwich, A : 1993), I realised how little I know about democracy and development. Leftwich (1993) opened my own reflecting process with the possibility that development might have other conditions than a simplistic approach to democracy.

Following my self assessment in relation to the broad outcome of the PCPM course, I assessed my knowledge in relation to the different modules individually.

Governance & Development

Having studied modernization and the Enlightenment in previous disciplines, and also noting the effect post-modernisation have in this discipline, I realised that changes in societies do have an effect on governance, democracy and development. But because of my limited knowledge of the concepts of governance, democracy and development, I have a need to understand this concepts and how these changes in society effect our interpretation of “good governance” and development.

Managing Information & Communication

Being involved in Information & Technology (IT), management of information is an essential task. IT plays an increasingly and pivotal role in sorting and indexing information and making it available. Therefore a clear understanding of managing electronic Information is important.

Assessing my own knowledge, and from past experiences working with statistics & data, I realised that interpreting statistical data is much more than producing a few graphs. Many different conclusions can be made from the same set of statistical data. I am therefore, in need of a clear understanding in interpreting statistical data as well as the communication of this information.

Economics & Public Finance

Reading the article on Development, I realized that I have no clear understanding of the mixed economic system which contributes to development, let alone the role economics play in the democratization process of developing countries.

Public sector finance draws its income mainly from taxes and should therefore be accountable to the masses, but at the same time, the public sector participates in the supply and demand principles of the private sector economics. It seems easy to generate more revenue by just raising taxes, but that raises other issues which inevitably affect the macro-economy of a country. Add to that the desire to grow as a developing country, made me realise how little I know of public finance & economics. I am constantly challenged with the reality of needs in providing the support to the Legislature and available funds, and am keen to understand more about economics in the private sector.

Managing Change

Being involved in the management of a non-profit organization, I have experience in the management of change. But applying this experience and knowledge to the important component of an organization’s “culture” and its strategy, adding to this the culture of the public sector, and the changes that the public sector undergone, made me realize the necessity of understanding organizational change and development practices.

An organisation’s culture explains a lot of how decisions are made, “how things work”. It is therefore important to understand culture and how to manage changes that becomes necessary in a changing environment.

Public Policy

Being exposed to the long decision-making process and the role of regulatory laws and organizations, made me realize that I need to understand the processes involved in public policy. I participated in the drafting of IT policies and realized the need for understanding public policy as a whole.

Because the context in South Africa change since 1994, the aim and process of making public policies are different, and I realised the need to understand this.

Managing Service Delivery

The “buzz” word is always the efficiency of service delivery, even in the private sector. But where the private sector is motivated by “the bottom-line” profit, service delivery in the public sector has a different aim. Although public service delivery should still be efficient, it does not concentrate on a profit principle, but is also governed by social and economic priorities of the government.

To be able to provide efficient service, one needs to understand the operations and management thereof. Although I have limited experience in Project Management, I realised a need in applying these principles in the public management.
I will now follow with the “Learning Diaries” of the PCPM modules.

Following this self assessment, I will present my personal "learning diaries" of each module. Follow the links on the left.

After this course and reflection:

• I do understand different approaches to governance and development and are able to internalise these implications to my own environment.
• I'm more able to analyse and interpret statistical information.
• I understand the role of government in the economy and understand budgeting and the governments economic priorities regarding development.
• I have a deeper insight in organisational behaviour, culture and change management.
• I have a clearer view of the policy processes and analysis, the different model of public policies and implementation and evaluation.
• I understand the operations management framework and have deeper understanding of how to implement better service delivery in the public sector.

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