Corporate governance - A critical analysis of the effectiveness of board diversity in public entities in ZIMBABWE: A case of NRZ, TELONE, PSMAS AND GMB.

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effectiveness of public procurement processes on service delivery performance of Zimbabwe United Passenger Company. The objectives of the study were to: ascertain the current state of public procurement policy on performance at ZUPCO; evaluate the extent to which public procurement planning influences the service delivery performance at ZUPCO; assess the effect of public tendering process on service delivery performance at ZUPCO and proffer possible recommendations on how best public procurement and service delivery can be improved. The current study adopted pragmatism philosophy. This study adopted quantitative method that is used for exploring the association among variables. The mixed methods research designs were adopted for the study so that they can complement each other to review the aspects under study. Public procurement process at ZUPCO suggested that they have a significant effect on service delivery of public entities. The study observed that there is a lot that needs to be done at ZUPCO to make the parastatal efficient in terms of the public procurement process and service delivery. The study presented mixed feelings about the state of planning at ZUPCO, sometimes the planning processes works well and sometimes it fails; tendering processes at ZUPCO is not very transparent, the study concludes that tendering process must be transparency and procurement contracting management is effective at ZUPCO. The target population was 65 ZUPCO employees and sample size was 56 employees. The study concluded that contract management affects service delivery in local government since it helps to reduce costs and improve financial and operational performance of the organizations. The study concluded that there is a positive association between public procurement processes and service delivery effectiveness at ZUPCO; there is a positive relationship between procurement planning and service delivery effectiveness at ZUPCO and there is a positive link between public tendering process and service delivery at ZUPCO. The study recommends that Government should create tight procurement oversight mechanism on departmental procuring entities and the State Procurement Board; all the procurement staff and persons involved in the tendering process is necessary in order to provide them with skills and knowledge of procurement process; and agitates for the establishment independent Contract Management Department for easy tracking of the contracts in the entity. This study was constrained on ZUPCO and hence study should be conducted in other entities in the country for comparison. Further researches should be conducted in other procurement procedures. Lastly research should be done in private institutions for comparison purposes and thus act on the divergences.