NEWS
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leaves the industry with a gap within which they
operate,” Motloba noted.
The intention is to get the processes for all
standards committees to be improved, to
identify on a systematic basis where the
SABS is likely to have problems, and to make
evaluations on a holistic approach.
REVIEW OF ALL MANDATORY
STANDARDS OF THE PAST
Not all standards have areas of concern.
Improvement of the SABS’ accessibility and
engagement with the market is being initiated.
The SABS’ stakeholder engagement is not at
the required level, but the SABS needs to also
be able to provide a governance framework
without dictatorship from the markets. The
statutory mandate to develop standards resides
with the SABS, notwithstanding the critical
participation of industry and other stakeholders.
Committee support has been neglected and
action is required, but a divisional overhaul cannot
be implemented until capacity is adequate and a
systematic approach to fixing the things that can
be fixed is adopted, notwithstanding restrictions
such as budget constraints.
Motloba added, “An environment that is
credible, robust, and efficient must be re-
established. Turnaround time is important,
quality is important, understanding of roles
and governance is important, and the SABS’
role in the standards development process is
important, so training and strengthening of
capacity in these areas is a focus point.”
TC members primarily are industry experts for
a reason. They work with the standards and
want to know when things have failed — and
the SABS relies on their input. One of the
problems identified is poor participation by TC
members in voting processes and reviewing
of documents. Part of this is because of
inefficiency and ineffectiveness. The South
African National Standards (SANS) need to be
the tools for driving economic growth with a
long-term vision; reviewing standards through
its own research, and making decisions based
on educated evaluation of data from the
markets — including what new standards
should be established.
www.plumbingafrica.co.za
A CULTURE CHANGE
Motloba continued, “Having spoken to the
people who are actually doing the work about
the culture change, about service delivery,
and about observing turnaround times, in
this regard it is important to lead by example
— and that starts from senior management.
If the answer to a query or request is no, let
the client know and close the loop — it is the
minimum action required, rather than keeping
the clients waiting and becoming frustrated.
Maintaining a level of professionalism through
all communications is also highly important.
Many of the improvements we can make are
not linked to our budget but rather the attitude
in which things are done. The culture of non-
performance cannot be accepted. It must be
corrected with guidance and structure. The
SABS does not need massive changes in policy
and procedures; everyone just needs to do their
job as the current processes are intended. We
need to walk the talk and not get caught up in
self-importance of a role — there is work to be
done on all levels.”
MONITORING AND REWARDS
All the SABS processes get monitored, but
there has not been much by way of corrective
action being implemented. This space has
had many changes in the leadership and this
has also contributed to some of the erosion
of efficiencies. Chasing numbers rather than
focusing on quality service delivery has been
another challenge; the reward should not be
how many balls can be juggled. Everything
that is done needs to mean something to meet
the objectives.
TCs that function and meet their objectives
need to be recognised for doing a good job.
This will also encourage TC members to be
more engaged in their commitments to output.
This is something Motloba has seen being done
at ISO and other international bodies. Everyone
involved has vested interests and by following
best practices, they achieve the objectives
quickly and efficiently — this should be the
normal course of action. This will hopefully
bring greater alignment between the SABS and
its broader stakeholder base.
Continued on page 9 >>
February 2018 Volume 23 I Number 12