Boards as custodians of companies have to understand and lead digital transformation. Chief Information Officers (CIOs) can assist with educating and advising the board on digital transformation, but how do CIOs engage boards on the matter? Digitisation is at the heart of the financial services companies. Accordingly, this dissertation focussed on companies in the financial services industry. The main research question for this dissertation is: how do CIOs of South African (SA) financial services companies engage boards on digitisation? A detailed literature review was conducted which suggested research questions on digitisation, the role of the board and the CIO’s, engagement between them, and performance. The interview schedule was based on the foregoing topics. The researcher adopted an interpretivist epistemological perspective to understand digitisation engagements from the perspectives of board members, non-IT executives, and CIOs. The researcher employed a qualitative research method to gain an in-depth understanding of the subject. Fifteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with board members, non-IT executives and CIOs from financial services companies. Six key themes emerged from the thematic analysis of the interviews, namely: digitisation, the board’s role, the CIO’s role, non-IT executives’ role, digitisation engagement, and value. It’s important to note that the non-IT executives’ role was an additional role that emerged from the thematic analysis, this role had not been discussed in the literature review. Non-IT executives owned strategy and owned digitisation initiatives. A new Chief Digital Officer (CDO) role also emerged from the thematic analysis as a sub-theme of the CIO’s role. The CDO’s mandate was to drive company-wide digitisation over and above the CIO’s role. Considering the six themes collectively, the three entities (boards, non-IT executives, & CIOs) have a key role to play pertaining to digitisation. The findings suggested that CIOs often engaged the board through board meetings, board committees, and ad-hoc engagements. CIOs often educated the board on digital technologies, digitisation opportunities and digitisation issues. Further, findings suggested that digitisation engagement influenced How CIOs Engage Boards on Digitisation: The Case of Financial Services Companies in South Africa - 2 - value (e.g. responding to digitisation opportunities & issues) rather than performance which was difficult to prove. The dissertation concludes with methodological, substantive and scientific reflections, and recommendations for practice and future research. The dissertation contributes to the growing body of knowledge on digitisation and demonstrates how the logic espoused in the Complex context of Snowden and Boone's (2007) Cynefin framework can be used to guide how CIOs and boards engage on digitisation.

Advancement in digital technologies has directed the attention of developing countries toward ICT’s to aid socio-economic advancement. These technological solutions cannot be implemented as an island, and its effective use requires proportionate advancement in local ICT skills levels to ensure effective operation and sustainability. Increasingly demands for skilled ICT workforce globally is placing pressure on institutions to be more responsive, and to produce ICT graduates with a skillset that is more relevant and closer aligned to the needs of industries. In South Africa the ICT skills landscape remains an object of conflicting reports. Depending on who the question is posed to, the paradoxical views describe the country as either facing a critical shortfall of skilled ICT professionals, or that droves of qualified ICT professionals cannot find suitable employment. These contradictory notions suggest a possible mismatch between the current skills of ICT professionals, the supply of appropriately skilled ICT graduates by education institutions and industry demands for appropriately skilled ICT workforce. Attempts to reform the country’s skills landscape has resulted in numerous policy pronouncements and skills development strategies by the public and private sectors with limited success. This focus of this study was to evaluate the National Certificate Vocational Information Technology (NCV IT) strategy, an ICT skills development mandate issued to South African Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Colleges in response to the country’s ICT skills shortage. Using the Design-Reality Gap Model, the study evaluated the intended design objectives and current reality of NCV IT to gauge its status ten years post inception. While the South African government boasts increasing access to the programme, little focus is given to the handful of graduates who successfully complete the programme and even less who find meaningful employment. The study further operationalised the Design Reality Gap Model to demonstrate its applicability and value in the evaluation of Vocational Education and Training (VET) programmes. Primary data informing the study was from focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews with key NCV IT stakeholders. Secondary data supporting the study was collected by reviewing key documents relating to NCV IT. The findings reveal significant gaps exist between the programme’s intended design and current reality, indicative of the key challenges hindering the effective delivery of its ICT skills promise. It further positions the NCV IT programme as a post-apartheid dumping ground for financially disadvantaged and academically underperforming individuals hoping to achieve self-sufficiency. What was envisaged to be an enabler for the country’s ICT skills development has instead become a black hole for public funding yielding no return on investment. Recommendations were suggested along particular structural dimensions to improve the NCV IT programme, and the development of a more effective vocational ICT skills development strategy.

Weakening health systems in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has led to a shift towards a greater acknowledgement of the involvement of non-state providers in health care services and delivery. A wide range of non-state health providers exist in the region, one type being Islamic health providers (IHPs) which fall under the category of non-state, not-for profit health providers. There is very little information available about the non-state sector in the MENA region, and almost nothing about IHPs, although anecdotally they are described as providers of choice, said to provide high quality services at low cost. This research aims to explore the public/private mix in the MENA region, delving into the types of collaborations that occur between the public and non-state sector. It will then narrow down in a single case study focusing on looking at IHPs in on MENA country (Egypt), and consider how IHPs 'fit’ within their national health system. Egypt was chosen for this study as IHPs have a long presence there, as Egypt is the birthplace of many Islamic groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, which then migrated to neighboring countries. Common themes found in the case study was the lack of regulations for both the non-state sector and IHPs, competition in service provision with the public sector, and inequality in provision of health services (the latter issue observed in the broader non-state sector in the MENA region, but not specifically in IHPs). With regards to IHPs in Egypt, they were found to serve nearly 20% of the population. Exact numbers of the presence of IHPs in the country is difficult to obtain, as they are largely invisible in literature and are often categorized as non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Estimates show that there are around 5000 NGOs providing primary health care (PHC) and other health services. Most of these facilities are concentrated in urban areas. It was found that the 'Islamic’ label of IHPs is utilised either to gain donations, to denote the fact that this is a charitable institution, or because the facility is attached to a mosque. Most of the IHPs in the country practice a form of social rather than political Islam, making them not that different from other non-state secular facilities.

Background: The implementation of information technology (IT) solutions by end-users, while bypassing organisational laid-down IT acquisition and implementation processes and controls, poses a significant challenge for most organisations. This phenomenon, which is known as Shadow IT (SIT), has major financial, legal and security implications for the organisation. Studies indicate that even when organisations implement IT policy to minimise the implementation of SIT, end-users may still find innovative ways to bypass the IT department when implementing unsanctioned software. Purpose of the research: The objective of this study was to investigate how end-users (functional departments) who implement SIT in organisations justify their actions. The term Justification refers to the techniques employed by a social actor to indicate that their deviant behaviour is actually reasonable. Understanding justifications for SIT is essential for IT managers since they can understand them as justification and not confuse them with other phenomena and at the same time they can devise appropriate strategies to counter them. IT Managers who are not aware of the justifications for SIT may implement measures which may not be effective in curbing the phenomena. Design/Methodology/approach: The study adopted an interpretivist approach. The study was guided by the 'Neutralisation Theory’ from the social deviance discipline. The study examined whether an organisation had an IT policy which prevents end-users from implementing SIT, and also assessed the 'Neutralisation’ techniques employed by end-users to justify SIT. The study adopted a case study approach based on a South African office of a multinational organisation. The study collected data through (i) semi-structured interviews with end-users from different functional departments who were involved with implementation of SIT and (ii) documentation (IT policy and email correspondences). The study adopted the purposeful sampling (snowball) technique to target the employees who were involved with the implementation of SIT. A total of 13 respondents were interviewed. The data was analysed using thematic analysis approach. Findings: The organisation did not have an IT policy which prevented functional departments from implementing SIT. Instead, it had a policy which allowed functional departments to implement their own IT solutions as long as they inform the IT department to assess the software application for potential risks and compatibility with the existing landscape. Most respondents did not use Neutralisation techniques to justify the implementation of SIT due to the policy which allowed them to implement their own IT solutions. Nevertheless, the respondents who employed Neutralisation techniques mainly used Denial of responsibility, Denial of injury and Appeal to higher loyalties to justify SIT. Originality/contribution: The study contributed to the justifications of SIT literature when it explored the concept of SIT in a corporate company setting - as opposed to earlier studies that used quantitative methods and experiments when exploring the concept of SIT. The study also makes a further contribution to literature by investigating SIT in an environment where functional departments are allowed to implement their own IT solutions - this was not explored by previous studies on Justification of SIT. The study also contributes to the practice where there is a need by IT management to minimise SIT by providing awareness of Neutralisation techniques which may be employed by functional departments to justify SIT. Through the understanding of the Neutralisation techniques, IT managers could make sound decisions when implementing measures to minimise SIT

Bibliography: leaves 93-103. / Managing Information Systems (IS) personnel has frequently been cited as a major challenge for organisations, particularly with respect to reducing and controlling the high rate of turnover that IS personnel have historically displayed. In the past, with demand for qualified IS personnel outstripping supply, alternative job openings were plentiful and organisations found it difficult to attract and retain sufficient staff. However, the last few years have seen significant cutbacks in IS spending, resulting in declining growth rates and a reduced demand for IS personnel. Although the South African IS job market does not appear to be as severely affected as in other parts of the world, and there are still pockets of high demand worldwide, it seems unlikely that the IS industry will return to its former glory in the foreseeable future. Despite these stringent market conditions, organisations continue to be plagued with high, and even more surprisingly, increasing turnover rates. This trend is particularly perturbing for organisations that are highly dependent on IS because of its negative implications. Employee turnover is costly and disrupting, often leading to delays in project completion, there is a loss of valuable expertise and productivity of the IS department is reduced. Although, this research project only considered IS personnel turnover at the individual level, there are many other factors related to the work and external environments that are believed to affect IS personnel turnover in South Africa. However, these factors which include organisational structure, perceived job market and government policy, are very difficult to measure and are often beyond the control of organisations endeavouring to reduce and control turnover; and as such were not explicitly studied.

Bibliography: leaves 98-112. / This exploratory research is aimed at the development of a conceptual model and assessment instrument to assess the extent to which IT supports organisational agility. The concepts of uncertainty, flexibility and agility are reviewed and a synthesis of concepts is undertaken to form the agility construct to be used in this research, together with proposed dimensions and measurement indicators. in deciding how to assess lT's support of organizational agility the idea of measuring ""fit"" or ""alignment"" is used. We conceptualise an organization as having a ""business agility orientation"", similar to Venkatraman's (1989) ""business strategic orientation"", and we measure this ""business agility orientation"" along the constituent agility dimensions developed in this research. As with Chan (1993), a set of matched ""IT agility orientation"" dimensions and related indicators is proposed and an ""agility alignment"" score is calculated by matching, on a one-to-one basis, the indicators of the ""business agility orientation"" and the ""IT agility orientation"". The degree of alignment between the organizations business and IT agility orientations is thus indicative of lT's support for organizational agility. The measurement instruments developed are subjected to pilot testing for reliability and validity. No causal model is posited in this research. High measurement scale reliability was reported although concerns of multicollinearity caution against over reliance of these results. Given the limited focus of this pilot testing and the limited study of only four organisations, encouraging internal validity is found. Crucial to any extension of this research are the use of a shorter set of questions and the extension of validity testing.

Participatory design (PO) pertains to the different ways of incorporating ideas and acts of organisational members in designing, developing and evaluating an Information Systems (IS) artefact. The context of this study is community organisations in African settings participating in the designing and developing of an IS artefact. The study traces and synthesises findings from 95 articles on community PO in Information Systems Development in Africa. It argues that community PO consists of vast diverse constructs and implementations. This produced and reproduced concept is formulated in five major themes of: conceptualisations; ethics; standards; checks and balances and approaches; and perspectives and methodologies of PD. The themes constitute the possible ways of classifying PO research and practice in African settings. The results demonstrate that there is a wide belief that participation is one of the vital ingredients necessary for successful designing of IS artefacts for human development. However, the different elements involved in PO involve much discussion on what is known and needs to be known about PO and how to achieve the desired results by PD. The study uses Critical Research philosophy to pay special attention to the behavioural and attitudinal arguments of the different PO practices on community organisations. The researcher found Design Science (OS) principles that centre on devising an artefact as appropriate to frame this work. In sum, through the use of Critical Research and a OS lens, the researcher found that community participation is important in designing a useful IS artefact, but treacherous if misunderstood and inappropriately implemented.

Supporting improved performance of health workers is vital in health system strengthening. There are several factors that have been identified as playing key roles in influencing health worker performance. Motivation of HWs is one of the areas for improving delivery of health care services, yet it is under investigated. Moreover, the mechanisms underlying the interactions between motivation and other variables such as workplace trust relations are largely unknown. This dissertation is organised into three parts. Part A is the review protocol which outlines the background and the review methodology. A qualitative systematic review approach is adopted and literature search of the five chosen databases is conducted using keywords and phrases derived from the review question. Defined inclusion and exclusion criteria are used to identify and select suitable articles. An appropriate tool is then used to appraise selected articles which are then subjected to thematic analysis. Part B is a literature review of existing empirical and theoretical work on health worker motivation. It provides the background to the systematic review in Part C. It defines the word motivation as used in the health sector, and then explores empirical work on health worker motivation using an appropriate conceptual framework. The literature review further summarises and concludes on the possible link between trust and motivation in the health sector.

Includes bibliographical references. / This study set out to investigate the identified contradictions in conceptions, and to explain limited usage of a C/LMS among lecturers in South African universities. The goal was to empower curriculum planners, educators, policy makers, learners, system administrators and developers, with insight to improve e-Learning activities, and to make conceptual and theoretical contributions to the scientific body of knowledge. For this purpose, the interpretive research paradigm was adopted, together with qualitative data collection and analytical methods to investigate the factors affecting the integration of C/LMSs into academic programmes. Interviews were held with individual lecturers, and with groups of students at the Universities of Cape Town (UCT), Stellenbosch (US), the Western Cape (UWC), and the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT).

This thesis examines what Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) mean to South African university students and how these meanings form the basis of technological identities. It explores the relationships between these meanings and identities and the possibilities and opportunities that they create or limit.