The issue of organizational culture is generally dismissed as a "soft issue" (both in public and private sectors) and thus not worthy of any serious attention. However, various studies have demonstrated the centrality of culture in order to have effective and efficiently functioning organizations. After all, it is people who have to implement processes, systems, and thereby deliver services. Technology, process and systems-based solutions on their own are essential but not sufficient to make organizations function optimally. It is people who make or break service delivery - through their work ethic, ethos, attitudes, behaviours, beliefs and so forth. Hence it is important to address the issue of culture in a systematic fashion - like the Change Management Engagement Programme is attempting to do.

Therefore the Change Engagement Programme seeks to address organizational cultural issues in the Public Service. The President's State of the Nation Address remarks about the state of work ethic in the Public Service could not better capture the seriousness of the matter and thus the need to have a systematic approach to address it.

Change Engagement Programme is therefore a culture change process to foster appropriate behaviours and attitudes among public servants to reinforce the ethos of Batho Pele. This programme recognises the influence of organisational culture on service delivery and highlights people issues in the attainment of organisational goals. The programme is identified by a slogan "together beating the drums of service delivery", which means working together in teams to ensure that outputs are maximised, duplication is avoided, flaws and weaknesses are identified and addressed before they escalate.

The objectives of the programme are as follows:

• Introduce and roll out the Belief Set - We belong, We care, We serve, through a series of workshops and leadership engagements in national and provincial departments, as part of a broader process of culture re-orientation in the Public Service. A service-centric culture is a prerequisite for effective service delivery and therefore successful implementation of Batho Pele.
• Begin a process of institutionalising and embedding the Belief Set through a series of workshops whereby various practical exercises on making the Belief Set real are conducted.
• Create excitement, passion and better understanding about the Belief Set and Batho Pele (service delivery) in general.
• Motivate those public servants that go beyond the call of duty through recognition and publicity.
• Ensure that the Belief Set is rolled out throughout the Public Service and in the process also ensuring ownership of the programme by departments - and public servants themselves individually and collectively both at national and provincial levels.
• Deepen the understanding of Batho Pele as a noble Government service delivery policy deserving support and implementation by all who work in the Public Service.
• Catapult the subject of culture to the centre stage of Public Service discourse and thereby raising the level of consciousness about the subject matter. Generally the role of culture (both in public and private) in organizations tends to be dismissed as a "soft issue" and therefore not worthy of any serious attention.
• As a result of the roll out of the new Belief Set, it is hoped that the Belief Set will positively influence the behaviour, attitudes, work ethic, code of conduct and value systems (and there by the macro organisational culture of the Public Service) of all public servants.

Currently, a pilot project on Batho Pele Change Management Engagement Programme is underway in the Eastern Cape and it is envisaged to roll-out to other provinces.