“In today's environment, hoarding knowledge ultimately erodes your power. If you know something very important, the way to get power is by actually sharing it.” – Joseph Badaracco, professor of business ethics at Harvard Business School.
The Gautrain Management Agency’s philosophy on the sharing of knowledge is that the true value of knowledge is in sharing it. The more knowledge is shared the more improvement and efficiencies there will be in day-to-day processes particularly in the public service.
The Gautrain Learnings – A collection of case studies book is the first publication that documents the journey of the Gautrain Project in book form. With case studies and technical papers, the book’s chapters are structured around six themes. The first chapter, Public Private Partnership (PPP) Contracting, gives context to the nature of the Gautrain as a PPP project and offers some insights into planning and considerations for such projects...
“In today's environment, hoarding knowledge ultimately erodes your power. If you know something very important, the way to get power is by actually sharing it.” – Joseph Badaracco, professor of business ethics at Harvard Business School.
The Gautrain Management Agency’s philosophy on the sharing of knowledge is that the true value of knowledge is in sharing it. The more knowledge is shared the more improvement and efficiencies there will be in day-to-day processes particularly in the public service.
The Gautrain Learnings – A collection of case studies book is the first publication that documents the journey of the Gautrain Project in book form. With case studies and technical papers, the book’s chapters are structured around six themes. The first chapter, Public Private Partnership (PPP) Contracting, gives context to the nature of the Gautrain as a PPP project and offers some insights into planning and considerations for such projects.
Although a distant memory for many, some readers may remember the period of infrastructure construction for the Gautrain, including road closures and other disruptions. The second chapter, Gautrain Construction, is consequently set around this time and the selection of case studies focuses largely on legislative approvals, environmental impact assessments and the management of construction for the Gautrain Project.
One of the success stories of the Gautrain is that the stakeholder management and communication components were an integral part of the project right from the start. The cases in the third chapter, Stakeholder & Brand, recall the Gautrain brand story and how stakeholder management was conducted in a public transport project of this magnitude. The accolades that the Gautrain has received over the past 17 years in recognition of excellence are also noted.
Chapter 4, Passenger Services & Technology, captures the essence and insights from the Gautrain operations phase. It covers the service, technologies employed for fee collection and integration with other public transport modes in the Gauteng Province.
Governance is an integral part of the Gautrain Management Agency as a public entity. Accordingly, the cases in Chapter 5, Governance, are about financial management, document management and audit in a public entity context following transition from a project.
The Gautrain Technical Papers are a year in the making and the newest feature in the collection of Gautrain publications. Chapter 6, the book’s final chapter, features just two of these technical papers. The focus of the technical papers is on the future of the Gautrain, the use of innovation to plan for technologies, and the enhancements of the Gautrain system to contribute to a sustainable environment by reducing the use of traditional fossil fuels and introducing the use of renewable energy.
The Gautrain Learnings Book is the first of its kind for the organisation, but is by no means the last. We welcome the beginning of sharing our knowledge in this form.
Happy reading!
VIWE MGEDEZI
Executive Manager: Knowledge Management
Gautrain Management Agency
