D.Ed. / This study originated from a need for an improved understanding of the legal academic as teacher. It is an ethnographic exploration of the culture of the legal academic as teacher. To this end, the aim was to create an image of the very essence of how legal academics create and live their lives as teachers. In exploring the culture of the legal academic as teacher, I drew on various theoretical concepts in literature. The four primary concepts framing this study theoretically are culture, identity, the teacher and the law domain. I conducted studies of three law teachers at a South African university through observation during class visitation, discussion about teaching in interview sessions and review of teaching related documents. In analysing the data a thematic pattern, constituting the findings emerged. From three categories namely students, self and discipline, and sub-categories, themes emerged. Based on the category of student with sub-category of care and support of students, the theme of supportive relationship with students emerged; the focus being on participants as law teachers’ attitudes and behaviour in as far as relationships with students are concerned. From the category of the self and sub-categories of seeking feedback and recognition, dedication and enjoyment materialised the theme of participants’ primary identity as teacher. From the category of discipline and the sub-categories of being a subject specialist, what participants teach and how they teach as well as the “universal” language of law the theme of social identity as teacher and the law teacher as subject specialist emerged. In line with the ethnographic design type of the study findings were organised according to two topics harmonious to cultural ethnographic writing namely the topic of social organisation of culture and the topic of ideational organisation of culture. Since the topic, social organisation of culture is concerned with social behaviour and the way that individuals organise themselves into interacting social systems, participants’ interaction with students and the way they mediate a sense of self within the social systems within which they function relates to the topic of social organisation. Findings suggest that participants share dimensions of their teaching role with academics in general and even teachers in general. These common dimensions mainly relate to the way that participants experience the self as teacher and the supportive relationships they forge with their students. One could therefore argue that features related to the sense of selfhood and relationship with students form part of a culture of academics at a macro level. Notwithstanding, both these components are integral to the teaching identities of the legal academics that participated in this study. From the perspective of participants’ sense of self, their identities as teachers have at its core a sense of choice. Not only do participants choose to be law teachers but also they demonstrate passion, take pride in teaching and constantly measure their success in order to ensure they live up to their own and their students’ expectations. In contrast to their individual selves, touched on above where identity is driven by self-interest in their relationship with students, participants were found to be sensitive and caring in their dealings with students.

Within the context of technological development, the needs and preferences of the 21st century student (Generation Y), the changing higher education environment, the increasing use of technology in teaching and learning, and the significant role of online learning facilitators in e-learning, the e-readiness of academic employees became imperative. Thus, considering the importance of academic employees' e-readiness, the primary objective of the study aims to determine the role of key human factors in their e-readiness, with specific focus on personal work profile patterns, preferred learning style and pace and style of technology adoption. The research problem therefore is how to determine the role of these key human factors in the e-readiness of academic employees. In this respect the study argues that the e-readiness assessment of academic employees must be included in the human resource performance appraisal process. The purpose of this research is to develop a framework for assessing the ereadiness of academic employees during their performance appraisals, as well as determining and assessing the role of key human factors in their e-readiness in order to draft an e-profile which will provide guidance in terms of structuring unique training and development approaches for each e-profile. Once accademic employees' e-readiness has been assessed during their performance appraisals, they can be plotted on the framework. The outcome of their e-readiness assessments will reveal their e-profiles, which will portray insight into the presence or absence of particular ereadiness indicators, outlined in an e-readiness construct. Subsequently, a personal development plan can be drafted, making provision for uniquely structured training and development interventions, best suited for each accademic employees' e-profile. The most suitable motivating factors for each employee will also be considered during the drafting of the personal development plan. The empirical research by means of a self-administered questionnaire and a focus group discussion revealed two prominent e-profiles indicating various levels of ereadiness, namely an early adopter-pragmatist-compliance e-profile and an early majority-theorist-steadiness e-profile. The findings made it evident that the traits portrayed by a person belonging to a certain technology adoption category show similarities to traits portrayed by particular learning styles and personal work profile patterns. Certain profiles could be identified, based on trends and similarities pertaining to interpersonal traits. The findings further revealed that with an increase in age and teaching experience of respondents (which also imply an increase in age), the willingness to be assessed on e-readiness declined. It was also determined that the human resource performance management policies and practices at the North-West University (NWU) (which is used as case study), do not make provision for the inclusion of e-readiness in performance appraisals of academic employees. Further it became evident that training and development interventions should not only focus on the technical skill of e-learning, but follow a broader teaching and learning approach, also including the philosophy of e-learning and the use and adaptation of teaching and learning strategies to obtain optimal learner learning. The findings of the study thus supported the need for a framework, providing guidance in this regard. Presently, neither the literature of human resource performance appraisal nor the literature of e-readiness or e-learning makes provision for assessing the e-readiness of academic employees. The study thus contributes to the scholarly discourse and knowledge in the field of public human resource management, as sub-field of Public Administration, by developing a theoretical framework (that currently does not exist), consisting of three matrixes for this purpose to determine the role of the key human factors in the e-readiness of academic employees. / Public Administration / D. Litt. et Phil. (Public Administration)

Within the context of technological development, the needs and preferences of the 21st century student (Generation Y), the changing higher education environment, the increasing use of technology in teaching and learning, and the significant role of online learning facilitators in e-learning, the e-readiness of academic employees became imperative. Thus, considering the importance of academic employees' e-readiness, the primary objective of the study aims to determine the role of key human factors in their e-readiness, with specific focus on personal work profile patterns, preferred learning style and pace and style of technology adoption. The research problem therefore is how to determine the role of these key human factors in the e-readiness of academic employees. In this respect the study argues that the e-readiness assessment of academic employees must be included in the human resource performance appraisal process. The purpose of this research is to develop a framework for assessing the ereadiness of academic employees during their performance appraisals, as well as determining and assessing the role of key human factors in their e-readiness in order to draft an e-profile which will provide guidance in terms of structuring unique training and development approaches for each e-profile. Once accademic employees' e-readiness has been assessed during their performance appraisals, they can be plotted on the framework. The outcome of their e-readiness assessments will reveal their e-profiles, which will portray insight into the presence or absence of particular ereadiness indicators, outlined in an e-readiness construct. Subsequently, a personal development plan can be drafted, making provision for uniquely structured training and development interventions, best suited for each accademic employees' e-profile. The most suitable motivating factors for each employee will also be considered during the drafting of the personal development plan. The empirical research by means of a self-administered questionnaire and a focus group discussion revealed two prominent e-profiles indicating various levels of ereadiness, namely an early adopter-pragmatist-compliance e-profile and an early majority-theorist-steadiness e-profile. The findings made it evident that the traits portrayed by a person belonging to a certain technology adoption category show similarities to traits portrayed by particular learning styles and personal work profile patterns. Certain profiles could be identified, based on trends and similarities pertaining to interpersonal traits. The findings further revealed that with an increase in age and teaching experience of respondents (which also imply an increase in age), the willingness to be assessed on e-readiness declined. It was also determined that the human resource performance management policies and practices at the North-West University (NWU) (which is used as case study), do not make provision for the inclusion of e-readiness in performance appraisals of academic employees. Further it became evident that training and development interventions should not only focus on the technical skill of e-learning, but follow a broader teaching and learning approach, also including the philosophy of e-learning and the use and adaptation of teaching and learning strategies to obtain optimal learner learning. The findings of the study thus supported the need for a framework, providing guidance in this regard. Presently, neither the literature of human resource performance appraisal nor the literature of e-readiness or e-learning makes provision for assessing the e-readiness of academic employees. The study thus contributes to the scholarly discourse and knowledge in the field of public human resource management, as sub-field of Public Administration, by developing a theoretical framework (that currently does not exist), consisting of three matrixes for this purpose to determine the role of the key human factors in the e-readiness of academic employees. / Public Administration and Management / D. Litt. et Phil. (Public Administration)