27 July 2007
Senior Management Service Conference 2007
Date: 12 to 14 September 2007
Venue: Cape Sun hotel, Cape Town
Theme: Performance and leadership development management in the 21st Century:
Best practice and implication for service delivery improvement
Intended audiences: Senior managers in the Public Service
Background
The Senior Management Service (SMS) conference is an annual event and has
run since the introduction of the SMS framework in 2001. A total of �400 senior
managers in the Public Service are yearly given the opportunity to attend. The
conferences are devoted to presentations on key issues and challenges which are
relevant to address priority issues of the Public Service. Speakers drawn from
local and international public and private sectors are given the opportunity to
share best practices and experiences with the delegates. The event is also an
opportunity for members of the executive to address the SMS members.
SMS conferences have in the past focused mostly on current trends and
dynamics with regard to the government programmes in an attempt to enhance
cross and public sector learning. This was done by inviting public and private
sector specialists and experts to make presentations to senior managers. The
main aim of all the conferences held thus far, although they were educational
and knowledge based, there was less emphasis on the consultative part on policy
matters for senior managers especially on issues pertaining to their own
development. The focus of previous SMS conferences is attached at tag A. Since
the establishment of the SMS in 2001, the only SMS conference that focused on
formal consultation with SMS members was the 2002 SMS conference which
consulted members on professional aspects of the SMS. This resulted in an
attempt to establish a professional association for the SMS. The 2007 SMS
conference would focus on the Leadership Development Management Framework and
Organisational Performance Management. Aspects such as best practice on
performance, training and development, learning, coaching and mentoring will be
discussed.
Demands for services, poverty relief, more inclusion in governance, new
technology and management techniques, new strategies bring more
responsibilities to senior managers and require complicated approaches to
policy making and implementation. These require senior managers to have
cutting-edge knowledge perhaps more than it is required from managers in other
countries. Learning and proper consultation on performance management, coaching
and mentoring, assessment and development centres need to happen at the SMS
conference.
Objectives
The overall aim of the conference is to create a platform and an opportunity
for SMS members in the public service to convene as a group for the following
reasons:
Networking
* allows SMS members to meet with their peers and to share experiences in
order to adopt best practices
* creates an opportunity for SMS members to meet and share experiences with
international and continental speakers with regard to SMS issues
* creates a space for business leaders to share business practices and
principles that can benefit SMS members.
Motivational sessions
* creates an opportunity for SMS members to meet with the Minister for the
Public Service and Administration (MPSA) and it gives the Minister an
opportunity to address the delegates directly and collectively
* creates an opportunity to meet other motivational speakers who can boost the
morale of SMS members, including political leaders such as Ministers, MECs,
Premiers, the Deputy President, and the President Professionalism
* develops a culture of professional and ethical behaviour
* promotes service delivery, efficiency and effectiveness in the Public
Service,
* creates a forum for debate and discussion on professionalism in the senior
management service
* evaluates the new dispensation of the SMS in order to identify gaps and
possible interventions
* creates learning sessions for SMS members
* reviews new developments in the SMS.
Bookings
Information about bookings will be made available soon
Contact details:
R Singh
Tel: 012 336 1241
E-mail: Sms@dpsa.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Public Service and Administration
27 July 2007
Source: Department of Public Service and Administration (http://www.dpsa.gov.za)
