Calls for papers

 

International Journal of Management Practice

 

Special Issue on: "The Infusion of Business Management Practices in the Public Sector: Trends, Innovations and Challenges in the Sub-Saharan African region"

Guest Editor:
Dr. Sam Koma, Milpark Education, South Africa

Governments around the world face, to varying degrees, the same problems of inequality, unemployment and growing poverty levels and limited provisioning of basic services to communities. These realities are aggravated by international trends and new realities such as urbanisation, the technological revolution and globalisation, and the increasingly competitive environment globally. The impact of these factors on the economies of cities and towns, in general, and African towns and cities, in particular, are not an exception. In South Africa and other less developed countries, for instance, economies are characterised by market failures, market imperfections, inefficiency, risk and a lack of an entrepreneurial culture. This places a huge responsibility on the governments in as far as job creation, poverty alleviation and economic growth are concerned. This has necessitated public sector organisations to a lesser or greater extent to innovate, experiment and employ some of the management practices commonly implemented in the private sector. Thus, the involvement of the private sector in the delivery of public services has essentially eased the burden and backlogs facing most public sector organisations, albeit, there are variations in the performance of this sector.

The involvement of the private sector in the business of public service delivery ensures that there is the proper infusion of business management principles and practices within governments. In this way, government executives and bureaucrats are able to create value for money in meeting the basic needs and aspirations of the communities. Concepts of efficiency, cost effectiveness, speed, customer relationship management and cost-benefit analysis are becoming central in public service delivery planning. Thus, the boundaries between the public and private sectors are becoming blurred in a practical sense.

This special issue examines management practices in African public sector organisations. The aims of this special issue are, first, to provide African scholars with a platform to showcase their work and communicate with one another within the international marketplace of academic ideas and secondly, to inform the global readership of this journal about a continent whose management and governance practices are not well known.

Subject Coverage
Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Public sector administrative reforms and innovations
• Corporate governance and risk management
• Business process improvement
• Contracting out of public services
• E-government and technology management

Notes for Prospective Authors

Submitted papers should not have been previously published nor be currently under consideration for publication elsewhere. (N.B. Conference papers may only be submitted if the paper has been completely re-written and if appropriate written permissions have been obtained from any copyright holders of the original paper).

All papers are refereed through a peer review process.

Abstracts are to be submitted via email to Dr. Sam Koma at Samuel.koma@milpark.ac.za.

All papers must be submitted online. To submit a paper, please read our Submitting articles page.

If you have any queries concerning this special issue, please email the Guest Editor Dr. Sam Koma at Samuel.koma@milpark.ac.za.

Important Dates

Manuscripts due by: 8 August, 2017