Performance management functions as an integral part of comprehensive development strategy, research will be geared towards the water sector
Today’s situation is challenged by uncertainties such as in water demand, by worsening water quality, by pressure for cost-efficient solutions, and by fast changing socio-economic boundary conditions. One expects additional uncertainties, due to climate change, such as a shift in the pattern of extreme events. Current regimes in resource management are often unsustainable as judged by ecological, economic and social criteria. Many technological resource management regimes are inflexible and not built to adapt to changes in environmental, economic or social circumstances. The water sector is currently undergoing major processes of transformation at local, regional and global scales. Henceforth, new strategies and institutional arrangements are required to cope with risk and change in general. Institutions and rule systems may cause resistance to change but can also enable and facilitate necessary transformation processes.
Research has to explore conceptual approaches in social learning and adaptive management introduces participatory approaches as promising new developments to explore and foster changes towards sustainability and the required transformations in technological regime and institutional settings. Water supply and sanitation is a monopoly industry providing essential services, government needs to regulate the industry and has to strike a balance between providing actors with the incentives to invest and operate efficiently, and ensuring that the interests of society at large are protected. Because of aspects such as the monopoly of water as a product, capital intensity and sunk costs for infrastructure, unregulated competition on a free market is not an option for the water sector. Research study will be examining major contention of performance based theory from within the water sector that the water sector can simultaneously enhance the interests of performance management function and other relevant functions found in the water sector. Financial data relating to Kenya’s water supply industry and customer service performance indicators as introduced in privatization to protect customer interests provide basis of research grounded analysis. Several results may show that, although improving customer service performance is costly for firms in terms of profits, as well as shareholder returns responding significantly positive manner to such improvements in the water sector, being consistent with performance based theory.
The need to apply theory development forum by comparing total quality and management theory at global and topic specific levels, analysis have to suggest that management research could be enhanced by incorporating some insights of performance and quality into water management theory and that management practice could be improved by incorporating insights from management theory into performance quality efforts as in fact, performance functioning have already incorporated water development insights as well as suggest some directions for theory development and research on performance functions within Kenya’s water sector ( 1997). The performance management process is seen as closed loop control system which deploys policy and strategy, and obtains feedback from various levels in order to manage the performance of the business. The performance measurement system is the information system which is at the heart of the performance management process and it is of critical importance to the effective and efficient functioning of the performance management system. Research identifies two critical elements with respect to the content and structure of the performance measurement system, the integrity and deployment. The viable systems mode will provide framework for assessing the integrity of the performance measurement system. The reference model developed for integrated performance measurement systems provides a framework against which performance measurement systems can be designed and audited ( 1997).
Recent changes to the structure of the water sector have occurred at a time of unprecedented spotlight on sustainable resource use, pollution control and conservation. However, the role of the new water institutions in planning and the role of the planning process in achieving sustainable use of aquifers and rivers has been little explored. For example, new process in England and Wales, the National Rivers Authority’s ‘Catchment Management Planning’ is analyzed in terms of its early documentary outputs. It is found that, with the notable exception of the Thames Region of the Authority, lack of experience in pro-active involvement with town and country planning has led to a clear lack of impact in the early Catchment Management Plans. There is no clear ‘bid’ for particular patterns of land use. The contents of ‘parallel’ development plans are compared and improvements for the National Rivers Authority’s documents and liaison processes can be suggested (1994).
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