An evaluation of asset management compliance in the national office of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development

Abstract

The study was aimed to evaluate compliance to the management of assets in the National Office of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development in Pretoria. Since moveable asset management is still an unfamiliar concept in South African public sector, not much research ·has been done in this field. From the problem statement, it was evident that asset management is indeed a subject within the department that needs attention. Literature review on the study was conducted and most sources highlighted the evolution of asset management in the public sector and comparison was made to the current study and asset management concepts were also analysed. The methodology followed in the study was of a descriptive quantitative research design and data were collected by means of questionnaires and presented in the form of tables. One hundred and fifty questionnaires were randomly distributed in both offices of the national office of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development. From the total questionnaires distributed only 130 were received back and sorted, coded and analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21 , with frequency count, percentages, correlation and multiple regression. Demographic results showed female dominance over males in terms of number of respondents (45.4% males and 54.6% were females). Most respondents (45%) were on the ages of 30-39 which is the most active age in the society. The office has 39.2% staff as clerical/admin. Supervisors also reflect a 29%, management 17.7% and executive management 9.2%. About 89% of staff is aware that there is a supply chain management policy. A relatively high percentage of respondents (74.6%) knew about the department's asset management policy; a notable 63.1% of the respondents did not attend any training on supply chain/asset management policy while only 33% of staff members did attend a related training The results also show that there is a significant relationship between compliance with asset management and knowledge by employee (r = 0.34, p < 0.05); knowledge by managers (r = 0.28, p < 0.05); awareness of asset management objectives (r = 0.68, p < 0.05) and awareness of asset management guidelines (r = 0.67, p < 0.05). This shows that compliance to asset management is positively correlated to knowledge and awareness of asset management by employees and managers. The results further show that independent variables were significantly related to the compliance with asset management principles and guidelines. The F value of 18.33 shows a strong relationship between the independent variables and compliance with asset management principles and guidelines. Which implies that the model is well fit and adequate The significant determinants are aware of asset management objectives (t = 6.258, p < 0.05); awareness of guidelines (t = 5.77, p < 0.05); age (t = 1.96, p < 0.05) and types of employment (t = 2.07, p < 0.05). This implies that as the awareness of asset management objective and guidelines, age of respondents and types of employment increases compliance with asset management principles and guidelines will also increase.