The success of any organisation depends on its ability to adapt to an ever-changing environment. Inorder to be able to adapt, an organisation needs visionary leadership, a management team that ispassionate, professional and entrepreneurial, and employees that are engaged. With the rightstrategies, organisational practices and management the hidden value of an organisation can beunlocked. The traditional hierarchies in the organisation can be broken down in order to empowermanagement teams to be more entrepreneurial. The right organisational climate should also be createdto unleash potential.As part of the business planning process and the drive to reconnect with citizens, to respond to theneed to do things differently, to build new relations and to improve service, the municipality shouldcontinuously evaluate the human resource management practices in place, to determine whether theyare sufficient and effective to enable it to achieve its objectives. Knowledge of organisational climatevariables also enables management towards the accomplishment of organisational goals.Local government is key to the realisation of a promise of a better life for all. It is therefore critical forits employees to always perform at their optimal, and adhere to all the principles of the Batho Pelewhen delivering service to the public. All the principles of this policy are intertwined and collectivelyguide all three spheres of government efforts in transforming and accelerating service delivery.Managers at all levels must support staff in service responsibility so that staff members feel valued,motivated, informed and challenged to put forth their best efforts on behalf of the people they serve.The objectives of this study were to determine the reliability and validity of the OCQ, the HRPQ, andthe SSPPQ instruments, as well as to assess the relationship between human resource practices andorganisational climate in the municipality.In Article 1 and Article 3 employees from the municipality were targeted, and in Article 2 citizensfrom the municipality were targeted separately. The study popUlation from the municipality includedemployees from managerial and non-managerial categories, and the study population from the citizensincluded the public which the municipality serve. A cross-sectional survey design was used to obtainthe research objectives. Three standardised questionnaires were used in the empirical study, namely the Organisational Climate Questionnaire, the Standardof Service as Perceived by the PublicQuestionnaire and the Human Resource . Practices Questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, factoranalyses, Cronbach alpha coefficients, correlations, MANOV AS and regression analyses were used to analyse the data.In Article 1 the results indicated a four-factor structure for the OCQ. Statistically and practicallysignificant differences were found between organisational climate dimensions and some of the biographical characteristics, namely age, service years and job leveL Employees with more years of service experience higher levels of organisational climate, than emlpoyees with fewer years ofservice. A significant difference in communication was found between job levelland job level 3. Employees in higher positions do not communicate well with employees at lower levels. In terms of Article 2 the study extracted a two-factor structure, namely Consultation and Efficiency.The scales showed acceptable internal consistencies. Most of the Batho Pele principles received negative responses from the public. The results showed that customers who feel they are notsufficiently consulted on services also feel that the services they received were not effective. Knowledge of the service environment was perceived as poor, and consultation on services was perceived as a challenge. The public also perceived responsiveness as poor.In Article 3 the scales showed acceptable internal consistencies and also confIrnled a relationship between human resource management practices and organisational climate Responsiveness!cooperation and human resource development contributed most to people care. Supervision, humanresource development, responsiveness/cooperation, employee support andrecognition contributed to structure. Openness, feedback and responsiveness/cooperation contributed most to efficiency.Recognition, responsiveness/cooperation, superviSIOn and openness contributed most tocommunication.Based on the results, recommendations were made for urgent actions to be implemented by themunicipality, as well as for future research
