Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references. / This investigation is exploratory and seeks to gain an insight into the culture of IT organisations by using an SA based IT organisation as a case study. The initial assumptions are that the organisational culture in IT influences the business outcomes and the effectiveness of IT as a service provider to meet business demands. The finding of this investigation confirms the impact and significance of the IT organisational culture and describes how this manifests in the organisations performance.

Includes bibliographical references. / Studies show that women entrepreneurs are constrained and faced with challenges that inhibit the growth and performance of their businesses. Such challenges include race and gender differences, inadequate education, family responsibilities, lack of access to capital and other socio-cultural factors. However, with their human competencies, mobile technology and the appropriate business strategy, women-led small and medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) can steer their businesses to better performance. While the need for SMEs to align these three elements (human competencies, mobile technology and business strategy) has been suggested, there is limited knowledge on how SMEs can achieve this; no studies, to the author’s knowledge, have examined this in women-led SMEs. This study therefore sought to fill this gap by investigating how women-led SMEs can best align these three elements to enhance their business performance. In light of this, extensive literature review and theoretical work on the phenomenon was conducted. Given the existence of the interplay between these three elements (human competencies, mobile technology and business strategy), the study adopted the perspective of alignment as Gestalts as the most appropriate method in determining the best way women-led SMEs may align these three aspects.

Bibliography: pages 182-188. / The problems besetting software development and maintenance are well recorded and numerous strategies have been adopted over the years to overcome the so-called "software crisis". One increasingly popular strategy focuses on managing the processes by which software is built, maintained and managed. As such, many software organisations see software process improvement initiatives as an important strategy to help them improve their software development and maintenance performance. Two of the more popular software process improvement (SPI) models used by the software industry to help them in this endeavour are the Capability Maturity Model for Software (SW-CMM) from the Software Engineering Institute and the Software Process Improvement and Capability determination (SPICE) model from the International Standards Organisation. This research begins with the supposition that, although these SPI models have added significant value to many organisations, they have a potential shortcoming in that they tend to focus almost exclusively on the software process itself and seem to neglect other organisational aspects that could contribute to improved software development and maintenance performance. This research is concerned with exploring this potential shortcoming and identifying complementary improvement areas that the SW -CMM and SPICE models fail to address adequately. A theoretical framework for extending the SW-CMM and SPICE models is proposed. Thereafter complementary improvement areas are identified and integrated with the SW-CMM and SPICE models to develop an Extended SPI Model. This Extended SPI Model adopts a systemic view of software process and IS organisational improvement by addressing a wide range of complementary improvement considerations. A case study of an SPI project is described, with the specific objective of testing and refining the Extended SPI Model. The results seem to indicate that the framework and Extended SPI Model are largely valid, although a few changes were made in light of the findings of the case study. Finally, the implications of the research for both theory and practice are discussed.

The qualitative interpretive synthesis carried out for this MPH mini-dissertation reviews existing empirical literature for evidence on organisational culture and its influence on the implementation of health sector reforms in Low and Middle Income Countries. This mini-dissertation is organised into three parts: PART A: This is the review protocol which outlines the introduction, the background and the review questions for both the scoping review (which forms section B) and the qualitative interpretive synthesis ( which forms section C) along with their justifications. It also outlines the methodology for both the scoping review and the qualitative interpretive review. The literature search was carried out in eight electronic databases using key search terms developed from the review questions. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were developed to determine the articles for inclusion into the review. All the search terms, data extraction templates and summary tables used in both reviews are provided in this section. PART B: This is the literature review section which was carried out to map the scope of literature on organisational culture within the health sector in Low and Middle Income Countries in order to support the more detailed analysis in Section C. It begins with a general description of organisational culture and its conceptual frameworks, as well as a description of the tools used in assessing organisational culture that were identified from a broader reading of literature on organisational culture. The reviewer then describes the literature search strategy of the scoping review and maps the retrieved articles based on themes on organisational culture in the health sector. Lastly, the reviewer classifies the different dimensions of organisational culture identified in the reviewed articles using the Competing Values Framework in order to facilitate comparison of organisational culture across the studies. PART C: This is the full qualitative interpretive synthesis presented as a journal ready manuscript. This review begins with an introduction on health sector reforms and organisational culture. This is followed by a description of the methods used to identify the literature, an outline and synthesis of the findings, discussion section and lastly, the conclusion. The findings of this interpretive synthesis indicate the potential influence of various dimensions of organisational culture such as power distance, uncertainty avoidance, in-group and institutional collectivism, mediated through organisational practices, over the implementation of the health sector reforms. It also highlights the dearth of empirical literature around organisational culture and therefore, its results can only be tentative. There is need for health policy makers and health system researchers in Low and Middle Income Countries to conduct further analysis of organisational culture and change within the health system.

Graduate employability has been a common subject among researchers, governments and higher education systems around the world. However, while there is a lot of information and numerous models that inform on graduate employability, there has been limited empirical research in this area. Furthermore, most employability studies have been conducted in the United Kingdom and other parts of the world, which may not be representative of the South African environment. Despite Information Technology (IT) being one of the most sought after qualification by employers in South Africa, it still remains unclear as to why many IT graduates struggle to secure jobs after graduation. This study provides insight into the concept of employability in South Africa, with a particular focus on Information Systems (IS) graduates in Cape Town. The study addresses three research questions: What individual factors affect the employability of IS graduates in Cape Town, South Africa? Who is responsible for graduate employability in South Africa? How can employability be embedded into South African curriculums? The study was guided by Dacre Pool and Sewell's (2007) CareerEDGE model, and Yorke and Knight's (2006) definition of employability. Data was collected from 19 individuals using focus group and in-depth interviews. Results showed that career development learning, experience (work and life), degree subject knowledge, skills and understanding, generic skills, emotional intelligence, self-confidence and reflection and evaluation affected one's employability. Employers, graduates and academic institutions were each expected to play a role in graduate employability. To embed employability into curriculums, universities need to ensure that curriculums are aligned to industry needs, that there is a balance between the soft and hard skills taught and that effective methods of teaching are being used. Universities are also encouraged to incorporate experiential learning in their programs and to provide proper career guidance counselling services to students early in their degree studies, so that students can make informed decisions regarding career paths and goals, and start tailoring their skills accordingly. The research contributes to the existing literature and debate on graduate employability, and builds upon the employability factors and relationships defined by Dacre Pool and Sewell's (2007) CareerEDGE model. The research also contributes to the existing theories on employability by providing empirical evidence regarding individual graduate employability factors. Lastly the research provides recommendations for practice and for improving employability in graduates.

Objectives: In South Africa, and globally, community participation has become a key feature in the health system. In order for meaningful participation to occur within the health system several mechanisms have been identified as critical and this includes formation of health committees (HCs) at health facility level. Previous research indicates that health committees are imperative in both actualizing community participation and realisation of right to health. However, few studies have been undertaken to understand the impact training health committees has on community participation and right to health. This study sought to evaluate the impact training clinic health committees in community participation, health and human rights has on participation and right to health. The training been evaluated was led by Learning Network on Health and Human Rights and targeted four clinics in Cape Town Metropole of Western Cape, South Africa. The Learning Network is a grouping of five civil society organisations (CSOs) in Western Cape, South Africa at four universities which was launched in 2008 after the recognition of a gap in documented knowledge that CSOs had on health and human rights. The study explored health committees' changes in knowledge, perceived competencies, documented member's understanding of roles and HCs sustainability as well as the trainings impact on relationship between HCs and health service providers. Methods: The study was a multiple case study with multiple qualitative methods for data collection. Narrative data was collected through twelve in-depth interviews with health committee members, one facility manager, two focus group discussions and three physical observations across four health facilities. Health facilities were purposively selected from a list of health facilities trained by the Learning Network in 2014. Inclusion criteria also included English speaking health facilities and those in close proximity to each other. 2 Results: The study revealed that training HCs contributed to improved competencies, awareness and knowledge of community participation and the right to health. After the training, HC members were perceived to be more aware and responsive to their roles and responsibilities at the health facility. It was also noted that the training aided improved HCs perspectives on sustainability and roles, improved interpersonal skills and self-esteem. Conversely, the study revealed that despite the training improving participation and right to health, power imbalances between HC members and facility staff/managers who hold authority has a bearing on when and how participation occurs. Conclusion: The study demonstrates that training health committees contributed to improving the levels of community participation such as planning, consultation and advise [Arnstein, Rifkin and Loewenson] in the realisation of right to health. It is recommended for wider community participation that trainings of such magnitude are conducted together with facility managers/staff.

Technology advancement has resulted in the creation of new paradigms such as the Internet of Things (IoT). The IoT is defined as the interconnectedness of devices or things through a path or network. The IoT is powered by Radio Frequency Identifiers (RFIDs), sensors, actuators, and the internet to enable an anytime, anyplace, with anything and anyone connection. The IoT is perceived as a major technological advancement in history, even though its enabling devices have been in existence for many years. The IoT is moving the digital world into an era where it will power billions of devices bringing about the transformation of products and services offered by businesses. The IoT is predicted to change business processes by the year 2020 while 33% of South African businesses are set to invest in the IoT in the next 3 years. Businesses that will invest in the devices or things that make up IoT are expected to gain more and grow exceptionally well when compared to other businesses in that same market that are not using the IoT. The IoT is changing the retail industry by providing new opportunities to businesses and its customers creating new efficiencies in the business structures resulting in the increase in revenue. The research took a subjective ontological stance with an interpretive view of reality using a deductive approach to theory employing the Technology Organisation Environment (TOE) Framework as a lens for the research. Data for this research was collected using a qualitative research approach using interviews as data collection method. For this research, heads of Information Technology (IT) were interviewed to answer the main research questions which included: 1. What is the potential use of IoT in South African retail businesses? 2. How can the South African retail environment potentially use IoT? 3. What are the potential benefits of using IoT in South African retail businesses? 4. What are the potential challenges of using IoT in South African retail businesses? The findings revealed that retail businesses in South Africa are potentially looking at using the IoT for business processes in the coming years. Currently, retail businesses are not extensively using IoT as the devices and things that power the IoT are not widely available in South Africa. Other barriers that limit uptake is the cost of IoT devices in South Africa and bandwidth. However, respondents stated that the benefits of the IoT outweigh its challenges. The data further revealed that the Return on Investment (ROI) in the IoT will not be realised immediately. Retail businesses are looking at using the IoT for internal business processes rather than customer interaction. Retailers believe that the South African environment is not ready for a fullyfleshed IoT structure such as Amazon Go or Monoprix as the average South African is not technologically savvy. These findings support the TOE Framework that assumes that the technology, organisation, and environment are the driving forces behind a decision to innovate technologically.

Supervisor: K.A. Johnstone Includes bibliographical references (leaves 48-56).

No description available.

Word processed copy. / Includes bibliographical references. / This thesis aims to further the understanding of the conditions under which IT investments add value and conducts a replication of a study by Dehning, Richardson and Zmud (2003) in the context of South Africa.