M. Tech. Business Information Systems

Thesis (Master of Construction Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2019. / This study evaluates both the Contractor Development Programme (CDP) mentorship programme and the emerging contractors’ personal limitations in achieving a successful programme implementation. The objectives of the study were as follows: (i) to ascertain whether the perception of limitations of the mentorship programme differs in accordance with contractor’s profile; (ii) to ascertain whether there is any statistically significant difference between the profiles of contractors with regard to the perception on mentorship programme limitations; (iii) to ascertain whether the perception of limitations of the contractors’ personal limitations differs in accordance with contractor’s profile; (iv) to ascertain whether there is any statistically significant difference between the profiles of emerging contractors with regard to the perception on personal limitations. The study adopted a quantitative research method which was preceded by an exploratory study. The study targeted emerging contractors in the Western Cape. The exploratory study was undertaken at the initial stage of the study to gain more insight in terms of the impact of limited contracting opportunities for emerging contractors on the Western Cape CDP mentorship programme. The data was collected by means of conducting semi-structured interviews to purposely selected emerging contractors, and was subsequently transcribed and analysed using content analysis. With regard to the main study, the questionnaire survey with closed-ended questions was distributed to the population of 16 emerging contractors with CIDB grade 3 and 5. The descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the main study. The study has uncovered a number of gaps in terms of the implementation processes of CDP mentorship programme. In regard to the mentorship programme limitations: The findings have revealed the use of ineffective recruitment and selection methods, the lack of training projects for contractors to tender, the lack of MOUs between the banks and the Western Cape CDP to ease access to credit, the lack of continuity in terms of mentoring services, the failure to evaluate contractors when they enter the mentorship programme, failure to monitor contractors’ development during mentorship, the failure to evaluate contractors when they exit the mentorship programme. In regard to the emerging contractors’ personal limitations: The findings have discovered the lack of tendering skills among contractors, lack of skills in interpreting construction drawings, the lack of planning for construction projects, the lack of estimation, and the lack of negotiation skills with material and plant suppliers. The research concludes by recommending that the Department of Transport and Public Works should review the entire mentorship programme. This will be achieved by appointing a business development practitioner to re-design and re-structure the entire mentorship programme so that it can be able to attract and select suitable contractors while meeting the governments’ objective of developing and promoting of emerging contractors in the construction industry.

Masters in Public Administration - MPA / Emerging contractors play a significant role in the employment and skills development landscape as they are the employers of unskilled and semi-skilled labour in the construction industry (Western Cape Department of Transport and Public Works (DTPW): Contractor Development Policy, 2016; Rass, 2019). In 2004, the National Cabinet approved the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) to encourage job creation imperatives through the provisioning of skills and business enhancement initiatives for the targeted Historically Disadvantaged Individuals (HDIs), specifically the unskilled and semi-skilled labour force of the South African construction industry (Makiva, 2015; DTPW, 2021; DTPW: Contractor Development Programme (CDP) Policy, 2016; Rass, 2019). In response to this call, in 2012 the Western Cape Department of Transport and Public Works (WC DTPW) designed and implemented the Contractor Development Programme (CDP) with parallel aims.

The aim of this study is to determine whether the introduction of a transport economic regulatory authority would serve as a valid intervention mechanism in the Public-Private Partnership of the transport infrastructure in South Africa. In order to achieve this objective, the study focused on the analysis of the concept of Public-Private Partnership, and how it has unfolded in a number of industrialised countries. Much attention was devoted in examining how the Public-Private Partnership arrangements followed by the studied countries influenced the current transport infrastructure management process in South Africa. To deal with the above, a host of macro-environmental variables were analysed in respect of their potential impact on the South African Department of Transport. The establishment of various agencies by the Department of Transport was seen as a consequence of the influence of the prevailing environmental forces. The outcome of the analysis revealed that a sustainable transport infrastructural development is a product of genuine partnership between the public and private sectors. Competition for the market and the significance of such competition in the transport infrastructure were outlined. The main goal of competition within the context of this study is to diffuse the economic power of the toll road industry and the protection of the individual's fundamental rights. The study also unearthed a need to deepen the talent and skills of both public and private sector officials as this would enable them to protect the citizens' right to make well-considered choices in the toll road industry. The study identified a need to establish a transport economic regulatory authority that would control the market dynamics of power relationships in the transport industry. Such a body should be creative and need to have regulatory oversight over transport infrastructure. / Transport Logistics & Tourism / D. Comm.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / If one compares governments to the corporate world across the globe, it often plays second fiddle when it comes to strategy; new ideas, adopting of new management styles & processes and lastly, change, for this reason, the Provincial Government of the Western Cape recently undertook a journey that would shed it from these stereotypical behaviours. The journey was Christened „The Modernisation Programme‟ and was launched in 2009; one of its brainchildren named „Project Management Approach‟ was created as the bastion against inefficiencies and ineffective service delivery. A case in point is the unfinished Eastern Boulevard freeway in the city centre of Cape Town; the project was scrapped in the seventies, as the need for it was not justified by the traffic demand at the time in relation to its astronomical cost - a clear indication of poor project planning and management. This study was therefore undertook to examine whether the Project Management Approach (PMA) as part of the holistic Modernisation Programme was successfully implemented and if it yielded the expected results and attitude change in the project management environment in the Department of Transport and Public Works, which is responsible for more than half of all Provincial Government‟s projects. The study examines the impact the Project Management Approach had on service delivery, project management IT infrastructure and as a strategic tool. The analysis showed that although the PMA was welcomed by top management and even has the Director General (DG) as its business champion. However, it fell by the way side two to three years later, this was mostly due to limited communication, which practically ceased two years later and a steering committee that was never fully established and supported by senior official. An outcome, which resulted in roughly half of the project leaders being partially aware of the PMA, a similar analysis also revealed that they were not even aware of it being a long-term strategy. The analysis based on stakeholder involvement was more positive and many of the client department‟s end users were satisfied with the degree of improved cooperation between departmental teams. Further analysis conducted on the client/end user‟s opinion resulted in positive responses but failed to fire up the researcher‟s enthusiasm, as it was hardly the response one would expect from clients, had international standards and best practices been present. “Project management can be defined as a way of developing structure in a complex project, where the independent variables of time, cost, resources and human behaviour come together.” (Rory Burke) “Operations keeps the lights on, strategy provides a light at the end of the tunnel, but project management is the train engine that moves the organization forward.” (Joy Gumz)

The aim of this study is to determine whether the introduction of a transport economic regulatory authority would serve as a valid intervention mechanism in the Public-Private Partnership of the transport infrastructure in South Africa. In order to achieve this objective, the study focused on the analysis of the concept of Public-Private Partnership, and how it has unfolded in a number of industrialised countries. Much attention was devoted in examining how the Public-Private Partnership arrangements followed by the studied countries influenced the current transport infrastructure management process in South Africa. To deal with the above, a host of macro-environmental variables were analysed in respect of their potential impact on the South African Department of Transport. The establishment of various agencies by the Department of Transport was seen as a consequence of the influence of the prevailing environmental forces. The outcome of the analysis revealed that a sustainable transport infrastructural development is a product of genuine partnership between the public and private sectors. Competition for the market and the significance of such competition in the transport infrastructure were outlined. The main goal of competition within the context of this study is to diffuse the economic power of the toll road industry and the protection of the individual's fundamental rights. The study also unearthed a need to deepen the talent and skills of both public and private sector officials as this would enable them to protect the citizens' right to make well-considered choices in the toll road industry. The study identified a need to establish a transport economic regulatory authority that would control the market dynamics of power relationships in the transport industry. Such a body should be creative and need to have regulatory oversight over transport infrastructure. / Transport Logistics and Tourism / D. Comm.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the retention of employees in the Department of Transport in the Ministry of Works and Transport. The research was undertaken because employees in the Department of Transport are resigning rapidly, creating a high vacancy rate in the department. There is thus a need to investigate the reason/s why employees are leaving the institution so that strategies can be implemented to mitigate the high number of resignations. In order to obtain the desired results, the research project used both qualitative and quantitative research methods. The study revealed that the Department of Transport has no guidelines on retention of employees and this has negatively affected the department, particularly its failure to retain employees with specialised skills that are highly sought in the labour market. Another shortcoming of the Department of Transport is the failure to offer performance-related incentives and market-related remuneration. In the absence of these benefits, employees opt to resign and seek better remuneration packages elsewhere. It is therefore proposed that the department should review its efforts to retain employees, including the formulation of retention guidelines and reviewing the remuneration of employees. / Public Administration / M.P.A.

The dissertation gives the background to the need for management of roads and transportation research in the Republic of South Africa. The close co-operation between researcher and end-user of research findings in the above-mentioned fields and its application into practice, is described. The advent of autonomy of research institutions in 1986, highlighted the need for a structured approach for the management of road and transportation research. Tasks, previously undertaken mainly by the Division for Road and Transport Research of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research on behalf of the South African road and transportation authorities, had to be taken over by the Department of Transport. A transition period of five years was given (from 1987 to 1992) to implement a suitable scientifically sound system. Details towards co-ordination and formalising of needs such as determination, prioritisation, allocation, funding and control of transportation research are given. / Public Administration and Management / M.A. (Public Administration)

Public sector decision makers are confronted by pressures to make faster and better decisions as a result of the competitive environment they operate in. However, there is a trend in the public sector, including the Department of Transport (DoT) in South Africa, to invest in management information systems (MIS) that are highly fragmented and not aiding effective and timely decision-making. As a result, the country witnessed several service delivery protests since 2008 which also affected the public transport sector, such as the widespread burning of Metrorail trains several times by angry commuters. In most instances, poor service delivery emanates from the fact that public servants do not have information at their fingertips to make decisions. This quantitative study utilised Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies 5 (COBIT 5) as a theoretical framework to investigate the integration of MIS at the DoT with a view to enhancing business intelligence for effective decision-making. Data were collected through a questionnaire directed at middle managers and senior managers that were selected through stratification of business units at the DoT, as well as analysis of documents such as system specifications and strategic plans. The study established that the DoT has several systems such as Alfresco, BAS, GIS, Logis and Persal to name a few, which serve different purposes. However, in most instances, the systems are not integrated as the current infrastructure did not support integration needs and plans to accommodate changing requirements. This is compounded by the system policy implementation constraints, as well as ageing legacy systems that are obsolete. The only component where MIS was found to be integrated, was in the financial business units (Supply Chain Management, Finance and Budgeting). Core business units use off-the-shelf systems and, in some cases, custom-made applications that do not integrate with any other system and thus hinder decision-making. In conclusion, decisions are made based on thumb-sucking, as management does not have access to comprehensive information that is stored in fragmented unintegrated systems. The study recommends that governance structures should be set up to deal with a more holistic business, information and technology architecture for the DoT that enable integration of various systems for effective decision-making. Failure to transform this pattern would lead to service delivery protests persisting. A further study on a framework to integrate MIS in the public sector is recommended. / Information Science / M. Inf.

The dissertation gives the background to the need for management of roads and transportation research in the Republic of South Africa. The close co-operation between researcher and end-user of research findings in the above-mentioned fields and its application into practice, is described. The advent of autonomy of research institutions in 1986, highlighted the need for a structured approach for the management of road and transportation research. Tasks, previously undertaken mainly by the Division for Road and Transport Research of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research on behalf of the South African road and transportation authorities, had to be taken over by the Department of Transport. A transition period of five years was given (from 1987 to 1992) to implement a suitable scientifically sound system. Details towards co-ordination and formalising of needs such as determination, prioritisation, allocation, funding and control of transportation research are given. / Public Administration and Management / M.A. (Public Administration)