SAPS Solutions

Cays Margison  14012004

Introduction to service The public service that the Vega students have chosen is SAPS, this stands for the South African Police Service, this is the national police force of the Republic of South Africa. SAPS has 1,138 various police stations situated all over South Africa and are divided according to the provincial borders. The core function of the SAPS is to raise the standard by performing quality service to the community. In order to achieve this, it is imperative to have a collective commitment from the community and all other stake holders to reach an ultimate goal of a safe and secure environment for all people to enjoy. The vision of the SAPS which clearly stipulates “To create a safe and secure environment for all inhabitants of South Africa “ The South African Police force has the responsibility to prevent, combat and investigate crime, maintain public order, protect and secure the inhabitants of the republic and their property, uphold and enforce the law, create a safe an...

Why does this service exist? South Africa became an internationally-accepted democracy in 1994 when President Nelson Mandela was elected as the first President of the new South Africa, bringing the era of "apartheid" to an end. This new democratic order brought about many changes in the country and also had a substantial impact on policing. On 29 January 1995, General George Fivaz was appointed by President Nelson Mandela as the first National Commissioner of the new South African Police Service (National Commissioner George Fivaz had the responsibility to first and foremost amalgamate the eleven policing agencies into a single united South African Police Service and secondly to align the new Police Service to new legislation and the process of transformation in South Africa. Great importance was placed on building cohesive, caring and sustainable communities (SAPS, 2017).

Innovation process Innovation is a collaborative process by which organizations abandon old paradigms and make significant advances. Innovative ideas come from several sources, including unreasonable demands or goals and time pressures. An innovative idea is not helpful to an organization unless it is tested and implemented. The innovation process regarding the SAPS was done through the use of design thinking. Design thinking consists of five (5) steps, Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test. Design Thinking is a design methodology that provides a solution-based approach to solving problems. It’s extremely useful in tackling complex problems that are ill-defined or unknown, by understanding the human needs involved, by re-framing the problem in human-centric ways, by creating many ideas in brainstorming sessions, and by adopting a hands-on approach in prototyping and testing (Siang, 2017).

Design thinking process Design Thinking is a methodology used by designers to solve complex problems, and find desirable solutions for clients. A design mindset is not problem-focused, it’s solution focused and action oriented towards creating a preferred future. Design Thinking draws upon logic, imagination, intuition, and systemic reasoning, to explore possibilities of what could be—and to create desired outcomes that benefit the end user. (Naiman, L) Empathize Design thinking begins with a very human-centered approach, thinking about the primary experience and the challenge at hand. Gathering a number of stakeholders to understand and describe the challenges from their perspective is central to the process (Siang, 2017). In this report the main focus area was to explore the service rendered to the community. The report will be focusing on the internal and external clients of the SAPS. The following method was used: ● Questionnaires Questionnaires The following questionnaire ...

Systemic Practice The primary aim of the systemic thinking section is to introduce you to the nature of systemic thinking and to reinforce the holistic and interdependent nature of brand and brand building in terms of society served, stakeholder relationships and the design and practice of the value chain in building a healthy brand.  The two types of systemic thinking that were used by the Vega students was Synthetic and analytical thinking.

Analytical thinking Analytical thinking is a critical component that gives one the ability to solve problems quickly and effectively. It involves a methodical step-by-step approach to thinking that allows you to break down complex problems into single and manageable components. it’s thinking about the parts or elements of a situation. Analytical thinking attempts to explain a complex system from an outsiders perspective.  (Bartlett, G 2001) The key/ main issues the SAPS are facing currently: • The moral of the SAPS staff • The reaction tie of the SAPS staff when faced with emergency calls • Internal and external communication, also including client service • Signage such as branding and information at stations for public use

Synthetic thinking Synthetic thinking is a simple thinking technique for gaining systemic (situation-wide) insights into complex situations and problems. It puts the benefits of the systems thinking revolution within the reach of everyone. Synthesis is more than putting things back together again after you’ve taken them apart: It understands how things work together. Synthetical thinking enables us to understand how they work together. Synthetical thinking is deliberately finding repeating patterns (or common themes) across a system or situation. The basic idea in systemic thinking is to list as many different elements as you can think of, then look for similarities between them.  (Bartlett, G 2001) All the problems that SAPS are faced with are interlinked. The general public and staff perception of SAPS is low therefore the staffs’ morels will be low. Low morale will lead to slower response times to emergency calls, which will lead to ad perception of the SAPS. Ad internal comm...

Innovation communications Management Communications management is the systematic planning, implementing, monitoring, and revision of all the channels of communication within an organization, and between organizations closed innovation is a thing of the past. Scalable, open innovation as a business practice has yielded the most dramatic and successful results - and communication and connection with your audience is essential to success. By engaging through at least four of eight channels (website, email, social, public relations, partners, events, offline, and beyond), a robust communications process and schedule can yield valuable insights to help you innovate better. Communications is becoming a critical skill set, because closed innovation is a thing of the past and now scalable open innovation is the business practice yielding the most dramatic and successful results. However, engaging the crowd to give and refine and build on new ideas is not something that happens organically. ...

Organizational Structure   Organizational structure is a system that consists of explicit and implicit institutional rules and policies designed to outline how various work roles and responsibilities are delegated, controlled and coordinated. Organizational structure also determines how information flows from level to level within the company. (Investopedia, 2017) For example, in a centralized structure, decisions flow from the top down, while in a decentralized structure, the decisions are made at various different levels. Organizational structure, stated simply, defines a specific hierarchy within an organization, and businesses of all shapes and sizes use it heavily. A successful organizational structure defines each employee's job and how it fits within the overall system. This structuring provides a company with a visual representation of how it's shaped and how it can best move forward in achieving its goals. Organizational structures are normally illustrated in...

The Traditional hierarchy The traditional take on organizational structure in a business is hierarchical, meaning power flows vertically and upward, and employees are departmentalized. All employees follow a chain of command (Huebsch, 2017). For an image of a traditional hierarchy, refer to Appendix E. Flatter Organizations Flatter organizations are usually illustrated with one box at the top of the organization. The top box usually represents the president or chief executive officer. Sometimes, the company president serves the dual role of president and CEO in a small company. The wider array of boxes beneath the president represent vice presidents or senior vice presidents. Many small companies use a flatter organizational structure because of a lack of manpower. Companies that use a flat organizational structure make greater use of employees' skills and knowledge. For an image of a traditional hierarchy, refer to Appendix F. Flat Organization A flat organization refers to ...

SAPS Organizational Structure The SAPS currently has a traditional hierarchical structure which can be seen below: A traditional hierachy has many benefits such as employees have a clear knowledge of their role and responsibilities within the organization. Therefore, organisations with this structure make predictable moves and are easily controlled. Hierarchical organizations tend to have many rules that let managers use predetermined guidelines for managing conflict. However it also has many disadvantages, In today's global and Internet-driven economy, the rapid movement of people and goods across borders means the traditional hierarchical organizational structure can slow down functions in a company. Companies trying to adapt to the new economy can create additional problems by altering their outdated organizational structure rather than redesigning it from top to bottom, causing confusion among employees as to who has authority (Huebsch, 2017).

Restructuring of SAPS The SAPS structure currently follows a traditional hierarchical structure. Changing a structure to a completely new one could cause a lot of problems as it would take time to adjust and in some cases, it could fail. The best structure for the SAPS to implement would be a flatter organizational structure. Flatter organizations tend to create greater communication between employees . Employee morale may be higher, especially those who are high achievers. A company with a flatter organizational structure also has less bureaucracy because of fewer tiers. Therefore, a company can make quicker decisions in with a flatter organizational structure. However some employees may report to more than one boss in a company with a flatter organizational structure. A company's emphasis on a flat organizational structure could also hinder growth. But overall, a flatter organisational structure would be the best route to practice. 

Crisis Management A crisis can be defined as any situation that is threatening or could threaten to harm people or property, seriously interrupt business, significantly damage reputation and/ or negatively impact the bottom line  (Bernstein, 2016) . If an organization does not prepare for a crisis, more damage will be created in the process. Experience demonstrates that organizational leadership often does not understand that in the absence of adequate internal and external communications: Ø    Operational response will break down. Ø    Stakeholders will not know what is happening and quickly become confused, angry, and negatively reactive. Ø    The organization will be perceived as incompetent, at best, and criminally negligent, at worst. Ø    The length of time required to bring full resolution to the issue will be extended, often dramatically. 1.         The impact to the financial and re...

Creative Execution The creative execution had been done through the use of a blog that can be seen using the URL below: Defining Organizational Culture Organizational culture is a system of shared assumptions, values, and beliefs, which governs how people behave in organizations. These shared values have a strong influence on the people in the organization and dictate how they dress, act, and perform their jobs. Every organization develops and maintains a unique culture, which provides guidelines and boundaries for the behavior of the members of the organization. Let's explore what elements make up an organization's culture. Organizational culture is composed of seven characteristics that range in priority from high to low. Every organization has a distinct value for each of these characteristics, which, when combined, defines the organization's unique culture. Members of organizations make judgments on the value their organization places on these characteri...

Appendix A – Questionnaire What is your experience that you received at the police station? The experience was either great or poor, depending on area of the police station. How long did you have to wait in order for a police official to help you? The wait was approximately five to ten minutes depending on how many police officials were around to assist, how long it took them to assist or how long the queue was. Is the station environment welcoming? The station was not welcoming as there were no clear directions of where to go or who to speak to for certain problems, you had to wait in a queue until then sent you to the right department and this made the client not feel welcome and comfortable.  Although some stations did have signage but it wasn't properly implemented. Was the communication skills good? The communication was quite bad as police officials were not approachable, morale was low, or the co...

Time Event Learning Objective 9:00 a.m. Arrival and welcome Overview of retreat Get everyone on the same page 9:15 a.m. Icebreakers Break the ice and have fun! 9:45 a.m. Reality Check Adapting to change ZIN Monument Build communication skills 11:00 a.m. Coffee Break Opportunity to get to know each other better 11:15 a.m. Covey’s Trust Account Mousetrap Trust Sequence Build trust noon Lunch 1:00 p.m. Memory Explore team values 4-Sided River Crossing Build cooperation skills Planks Problem solving 4:00 p.m. Whole Group Debrief Share experience amongst group 4:30 p.m. End of Program Team Building Activity Descriptions Reality Check
The team is split into their pod groups. Each pod is given a finite amount of time to learn how to play a new card game. A tournament takes place where team members need to adapt to rule changes and player changes. ZIN Monument
The team is given a set of 30 clues. Each person has a number of secret clues. Utilizing co...