The purpose of this study was to explore employee perceptions of performance appraisal in two public Technical Education Vocational Entrepreneurship and Training (TEVET) institutions located in the Southern Province of Zambia. This study followed a quantitative research approach using the census method to obtain data. Seventy-three (73) participants out of a total population of 129 at varying employment levels consented and participated in the study. A 59 item self-administered questionnaire was administered to obtain responses. The main conclusion from this study was that employees held positive attitudes about performance appraisal. The study found that the performance appraisal system was integrated into institutions’ culture and that the respondents were satisfied with the performance appraisal process and that 68% of the respondents agreed that the performance system in their institution was fair. However, concerns about the low frequency of appraisal meetings were noted. The frequency of performance evaluation on how well the employees were meeting their targets was mostly once in a year. This called for urgent attention by the management of the institutions to ensure that at least two appraisals were conducted in a year. The study also found evidence of rating standards varying from supervisor to supervisor. The study recommended that supervisor training in rating formed part a continuous process. These findings and the recommendations in this study are expected to be of benefit to the principals and supervisors in the institutions. The findings of the study contributed to the knowledge in the field of education management and leadership by providing empirical evidence about employee’s perceptions about performance appraisal in the two public TEVET institutions in Zambia. / Educational Leadership and Management / M. Ed. (Educational Management)

Many Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICTD) projects are established with the overall aim of positively developing the communities they are implemented in. However, the solutions that are provided are often commonly developed without the needs of these communities being sufficiently investigated beforehand. As a result the ICTD strategy of the project ends up not well aligned with the aims and targets of the needs of the community. As a result of this, an appropriate programme theory for the project and relevant impact indicators fail to be adequately developed. Consequently, when an impact assessment is conducted it is often found that the intended effects are not directly linked to the needs of the community or what the community had hoped to gain from the ICTD initiative. The purpose of this research serves to develop a needs-ICTD strategy alignment foundation that supports the identification and formulation of impact assessment indicators. Through this research, a framework is developed to support the alignment of ICTD strategy, the development and the promotion of contextual needs of rural communities and other frequently marginalized areas. The Needs-ICTD strategy alignment framework is composed of eight main components that describe the process that can be used to align ICTD strategy with community needs. These components include: collaboration between the internal and external stakeholders, the development of the community, conducting baseline studies, the needs assessment, the ICTD strategy, linking of the needs-ICTD strategy, and lastly the identification of impact indicators. An interpretive research approach is used to explore and inform the framework through a multi-case study investigation of the Siyakhula Living Lab and two projects in the Systems Application Products (SAP) Living Lab. Two main case study questions drive the exploration of the framework, that being: 1) How are the needs of the community elicited and how is the ICTD strategy aligned to the needs of the community? 2) And, why were the selected approaches chosen for aligning the needs of the community and ICTD strategy? Data for this research was collected qualitatively through interviews, document analysis and participant observation. Key findings indicate that the involvement of internal (local) stakeholders in the development and alignment of ICTD strategy to the needs of the community is still lacking. As a consequence, many community members end up not fully understanding the project objectives and how these objectives aims are to be achieved. The research also finds that ‘solution specific’ projects also fail communities as they focus specifically on one target group and repeatedly fail to assist the community holistically in supporting their information and their community development needs.

The purpose of this project is to determine National Insurance Company Limited (NAT) customer preferences for using claims systems via the Internet.

This study investigated the causes of employee dissatisfaction by means of a case study of the Business Application Solution Centre (BASC) at the Eskom Academy of Learning (EAL). The rationale for the study was to contribute further to a general understanding of employee dissatisfaction. This study highlighted the issue of the under-representation of blacks and females (of all races) in senior positions, and further emphasised appointment and recruitment issues that promote unfair labour practices, organisational culture and structure issues that undermine workplace relations, and the extent to which management responds to the abovementioned issues. A mixed method approach was employed to gather data from BASC employees. Qualitative data was collected by means of one focus group discussion and nine in-depth, face-to-face interviews. For the focus group and face-to-face interviews, purposive sampling was used for the selection of respondents, in order to ensure representation on all race, gender and occupational strata. A semi-structured questionnaire was used for both the focus group and face-to-face interviews. The questioning route was guided by the themes of gender, appointment and recruitment issues, culture and structure issues, and management response and practice. Quantitative data was collected by means of an online survey. Even though the online survey link was sent to employees on all strata, top managers did not participate. The use of a web-based online survey had an element of immediacy and also ensured maximum confidentiality, as responses were transferred to a development server with no link or trace to the respondents. The study revealed many underlying causes of employee dissatisfaction, such as the following: (1) the main drivers of black and female under-representation in top positions were lack of skills development, mentoring and career-pathing; (2) among the recruitment and appointment practices leading to employee dissatisfaction was the appointment of employees to ‘acting’ rather than permanent management positions; (3) there was a perception that managers abused their authority by promoting their favourites and overlooking those who they did not like; (4) although an affirmative action (AA) policy had been implemented at BASC, it was felt that employees should be appointed and promoted on merit, and that this should be accompanied by mentoring; (5) in some instances, the hiring of consultants deprived employees of opportunities to perform critical tasks. The fact that consultants were paid more than employees was also a source of discontent; (6) appointment criteria were non-transparent, and respondents revealed that they knew who was going to be appointed even before the recruitment process had been completed; (7) a bureaucratic culture was found to be the main organisational culture issue undermining workplace relations. On the other hand, a culture of teamwork appeared to reduce dissatisfaction and enhance unity; (8) the major organisational structure issues undermining workplace relations were managers who lacked managerial competencies and unequal payment on the same grade; (9) employees who stood their ground were given a low rating during performance appraisals. Others were bullied by senior managers and colleagues, who were rude towards them; (10) a hostile working relationship between managers and employees was caused by managers who lacked human resource skills; and (11) junior managers were undermined by employees who bypassed them and went straight to senior managers to discuss workplace issues. This study addresses both the general lack of information regarding the causes of employee dissatisfaction in South Africa, and of employee dissatisfaction in the information and communication technology (ICT) workplace environment. The findings of the study will also contribute towards a better understanding of the general causes of employee dissatisfaction. The results of this study suggest that more in-depth investigations of the causes of employee dissatisfaction are necessary to fully address this issue, and in order to ultimately prevent a further increase in the rate of employee turnover. Some implications for further research became apparent during the course of this study: similar studies on employee dissatisfaction should be conducted with top managers; studies on the experience of managers appointed to acting positions should be undertaken; and follow-up studies on employee dissatisfaction should be conducted as causes are addressed and relevant interventions are implemented. / Business management / D.Litt. et Phil. (Sociology)

The advent of democracy in the Republic of South Africa has brought about fundamental changes in the spheres of governance. One of these changes is the implementation of the employee performance management and development system in the public service. One of the Constitutional imperatives of the country requires all government institutions to cultivate good human resource management and career development practices to maximise human potential. The Gauteng Department of Social Development and in particular, Father Smangaliso Mkhatswa Centre, is also expected to implement the employee performance management and development system. The study seeks to examine to what extent performance management can enhance employee‟s performance. To achieve this, a semi-structured interview was conducted with employees of Father Smangaliso Mkhatswa Centre. The findings indicate that managers use performance management as a tool to control and discipline subordinates, whilst subordinates use performance management as a means of getting extra money through performance bonuses. This could be the reason that performance assessment period is viewed as a period of high tension between supervisors and subordinates. / Public Administration and Management / M.P.A.

Many scholars lament of poor infrastructure to manage and preserve digital records within the public sector in South Africa to support electronic government (egovernment). For example, in South Africa, the national archives’ repository and its subsidiary provincial archives do not have infrastructure to ingest digital records into archival custody. As a result, digital records are left to the creating agencies to manage and preserve. The problem is compounded by the fact that very few public sector organisations in South Africa have procured systems to manage digital records. Therefore, a question is how are digital records managed and stored in these organisations to support e-government? Do public organisations entrust their records to the cloud as an alternative storage given the fact that both physical and virtual storages are a problem? If they do, how do they ensure accessibility, governance, security and long-term preservation of records in the cloud? Utilising the Digital Curation Centre (DCC) Lifecycle Model as a guiding framework, this qualitative study sought to explore digital curation of records in the cloud to support e-government services in South Africa with the view to propose a framework that would guide the public sector to migrate records to the cloud storage. Semi-structured interviews were employed to collect data from the purposively selected Chief Information Officers in the national government departments that have implemented some of the electronic services such as the Department of Arts and Culture, Department of Home Affairs, Department of Higher Education and Training and the Department of Basic Education. Furthermore, the National Archives and Records Services of South Africa was also chosen as it is charged with the statutory regulatory role of records management in governmental bodies. So is the State Information Technology Agency (SITA), a public sector ICT company established in 1999 to consolidate and coordinate the state’s information technology resources in order to achieve cost savings through scale, increase delivery capabilities and enhance interoperability. Interview data were augmented through document analysis of legislation and policies pertaining to data storage. Data were analysed thematically and interpreted in accordance with the objectives of the study. The key finding suggests that although public servants informally and unconsciously put some records in the clouds, government departments in South Africa are sceptical to entrust their records to the cloud due to a number of reasons, such as lack of policy and legislative framework, lack of trust to the cloud storage, jurisdiction, legal implications, privacy, ownership and security risks. This study recommends that given the evolution of technology, the government should regulate cloud storage through policy and legislative promulgation, as well as developing a government-owned cloud managed through SITA in order for all government departments to use it. This study suggests a framework to migrate paperbased records to cloud storage that is controlled by the government. / Information Science / D.Lit. et Phil. (Information Science)

A considerable amount of research effort has been invested in investigating the under-representation of women and their career advancement in traditionally male dominated sectors. Although it is widely recognised that females’ participation at all levels of management as well as in the economy has increased substantially over the years, more than half of the economically active women in South Africa are still found in occupations which are extensions of the traditional female role. The technology sector is regarded as one of the vital sectors to the economic development and sustainability of any country, therefore, attracting and retaining women in the sector is an imperative. Despite initiatives to address inequalities in the workplace, attracting and retaining women in the ICT sector nevertheless remains a challenge. Thus, the aim of this research was to explore the career advancement experiences of female managers in the ICT sector. An exploratory qualitative study approach was adopted to gain insights into the said career advancement experiences of female managers at different levels in an ICT company. Semi-structured interviews were administered to ten female managers in the company. Insights from the interviews formed the basis of the data analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Integrating the participants’ experiences with pertinent literature provided an in-depth understanding of female managers’ career advancement experiences. Literature and findings of the research indicate that various factors combine to give effect to the so-called glass ceiling, which denies women access to opportunities crucial for their career advancement. Lack of role models, mentoring and networking opportunities, work/family conflict, working hours, training and development and organisational culture were identified as factors that inhibit the advancement of women into senior leadership positions. In addition, the findings further revealed that commitment to ongoing development, mentorship, an enabling organisational culture and flexible work environment are career advancement enablers. The outcome of the study confirms that there is an imbalance in the representation of women at senior management levels in the participating organisation (at the time the study was done) and, while numerous studies have sought to analyse the trends in employment and retention, in South Africa very little is known about the factors that influence the retention and advancement of women, specifically in the ICT sector. The study thus highlights the interventions required to attract, develop and retain women in the ICT sector as a means for organisations gaining a competitive advantage. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M. Com. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

Efficient records management is a founding block for successful transparency and accountability initiatives. Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) promotes transparency and accountable management of extractive resources by disclosing governments’ and extractive companies' value chain information in resource-rich countries. Without proper management of records, transparency and accountability in the extractive industry become difficult. This study sought to explore the integration of records management in the Tanzania Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (TEITI) with the view to develop a framework for incorporating records management in such an initiative. This qualitative case study anchored on the interpretivism research paradigm used the researcher’s conceptual framework as a theoretical lens. The study sample was purposively selected from the public institutions involved in TEITI, namely, TEITI Committee and the Secretariat, Mining Commission, Records and Archives Management Department, Tanzania Revenue Authority, and Regional Mines Office Dodoma. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, observation, and analysis of documents. The study established that Tanzania has a well-established archives and records management infrastructure. However, institutions involved in TEITI did not implement the infrastructure or developed in-house procedures to incorporate records management in the initiative. Also, the non involvement of various players of the extractive sector in TEITI resulting in silos approaches to the initiative was noted. In addition, the studied institutions do not plan for their records management activities, and the budgets to support records management activities are inadequate. Records management staff are also insufficient, and their competencies to manage records mining activities is limited. The study concludes that because of the failure to integrate records management in TEITI, the initiative will not succeed in releasing its goal of bringing about transparency and accountability in the extractive sector in Tanzania until deliberate efforts are taken to incorporate records management as a critical component of the initiative. The study proposes a framework upon which the TEITI Committee, institutions and governments can apply to integrate records management in the EITI. Overall, the study bridges the gap of a missed inclusion of records management in the EITI initiative by proposing a framework. A further study on the underlying factors deterring the integration of records management in the organisational business process of institutions involved in TEITI is proposed. / Information Science / Ph. D. (Information Science)

The purpose of the study was to explore and describe leadership at Matlala District Hospital in Limpopo, a province of South Africa. The study was critical for a better understanding of leadership styles adopted in different situations (hospital, district or province) at Matlala District Hospital in the Sekhukhune district. The main objectives of the study were described in chapter 1 on leadership styles (transformational and transactional), to determine how best to investigate leadership styles at Matlala District Hospital, to determine what the current leadership style at Matlala District Hospital is and to propose the most appropriate leadership style for Matlala District Hospital. A mixed-methods approach was used with an exploratory and descriptive design. In terms of the qualitative methodology, purposive sampling was used as the managers were selected on their knowledge of the issues under investigation. Firstly, an interview schedule was developed and used to collect data at Matlala District Hospital. The sample size was 82. Interviews were conducted with 12 members of the executive committee who were regarded as senior managers of the hospital. Secondly, the researcher distributed the questionnaires to participants of the hospital that met the inclusion criteria. Seventy participants completed questionnaires, which were collected upon completion. A 100% response rate was reached. Thematic analysis was used to assess the qualitative data. With regard to quantitative data analysis, descriptive, frequency tables and charts and inferential statistics were used. According to the results, those managers who felt that resources had be provided felt strongly that leadership at the hospital should be improved. Accordingly, guidelines for improving leadership at Matlala District Hospital have to be developed to ensure that mitigating factors are in place for the improvement of the situation at the hospital. / Public Administration and Management / M. P. A. (Public Administration)

Abstract in English, Afrikaans and Tswana / The study responds to calls for research within wider contexts. In particular, it is positioned within the South African non-profitable sector – non-profitable organisations (NPO) – in social care. The non-profitable sector is also called the Third Sector, and this research adopted the strategy-as-practice perspective to explore the strategy in this sector. The study investigates how managers and leaders of these NPOs strategise to sustain their organisations and services in a changing and demanding environment. The survival of NPOs is affected by a range of constraints linked to personnel, finances, resources, volunteering, and continuous increase in demand for social care. These constraints require managers and leaders of non-profitable organisations to devise strategies and practices to ensure success and sustainability. The findings of this study confirm the need for resilience to survive over the long term. The findings indicate that NPOs need to adapt to the external and internal environments constantly. Leadership drives resilience through governance and maintains services that are fit-for-purpose for the ever-changing needs of the society they serve. Adapting practices should react to changes through training and retraining, meticulous reporting to partners and other financiers, and complying with their governing entities by applicable legal statures and strict financial control. Adapting is amongst the most important practices identified through this study. A leadership style that enables sustainability was specifically highlighted. Through semi-structured interviews, the researcher uncovered strategic practices of longstanding NPOs to identify the strategies that contribute to long-term survival. Leaders in different management positions shared detailed descriptions of their practices, which served as the data for this research. The data provided the opportunity to research the strategy from a practical perspective, and were confirmed by secondary documents. Using the strategy as practice paradigm, the researcher identified strategic practices within drivers of value and found them to be contributing toward sustainability. The strategic practices were then organised in themes and assertions toward the theory of sustainability regarding these service organisations. The practices influence the stages of the organisational life cycle in a collective system of practices, leading to identifying a phase within the life cycle that contributes to resilience and renewal to aid survival and sustainability. Implementation strategies in the organisations provide good governance inclusive of reporting adequately. They also provide good leadership to ensure stable personnel committed to working together as a team and establish a culture of fit-for-purpose in service delivery. Most important is adapting towards resilience in the short term and developing resources to provide financial stability. / Hierdie studie is in reaksie op die oproep om navorsing in breë kontekste onderneem. Dit is in die Suid-Afrikaanse sektor sonder winsoogmerk – organisasies sonder winsoogmerk (OSW’s) – in maatskaplike sorg onderneem. Die sektor sonder winsoogmerk word ook die Derde Sektor genoem. In hierdie navorsing word die strategie-as-praktykperspektief gevolg om strategieë in die sektor te verken. Die strategieë wat bestuurders en leiers van OSW’s formuleer om in ʼn veranderende en veeleisende omgewing hulle organisasies volhoubaar te bedryf en dienste te lewer, word ondersoek. OSW’s het met allerlei beperkings te kampe waaronder ʼn gebrek aan personeel, finansies, hulpbronne en vrywilligers benewens die immergroeiende vraag na maatskaplike sorg. Weens hierdie beperkings moet bestuurders van organisasies sonder winsoogmerk strategieë bedink en bepaalde praktyke toepas sodat hulle organisasies suksesvol en volhoubaar bedryf word. Die bevindings van hierdie studie bevestig die noodsaak van veerkrag om op die duur te oorlewe. Die bevindings laat blyk dat OSW’s hulle voortdurend by die eksterne en interne omgewing moet aanpas. Bestuurders openbaar veerkrag in die wyse waarop hulle hul organisasies bestuur en doelgemaakte dienste volgens die immerveranderende behoeftes van die samelewing lewer. Praktyke moet deur opleiding en heropleiding volgens veranderings aangepas word. Voorts moet noukeurig verslag gedoen word aan vennote en finansiers, en bestuurders moet aan die wet voldoen en streng finansiële bestuur toepas. Aanpasbaarheid is een van die belangrikste praktyke wat in hierdie studie aangetoon word, en nadruk word gelê op ʼn leierskapstyl wat volhoubaarheid vooropstel. Die navorser het halfgestruktureerde onderhoude oor die strategiese praktyke waaraan organisasies hul oorlewing te danke het, met gevestigde OSW’s gevoer. Leiers in verskillende bestuursposte het hulle praktyke uitvoerig beskrywe. Hulle beskrywings was die data vir hierdie studie. Die geldigheid van die data word in verskeie sekondêre dokumente gestaaf. Die bestuurspraktyke is uit ʼn praktiese oogpunt ondersoek. Volgens ʼn praktykparadigma is strategiese praktyke in waardedrywers aangetoon wat op grond van die bevindings tot volhoubaarheid bydra. Daarna is die strategiese praktyke volgens tema en stellings oor die volhoubaarheidsteorie rakende hierdie diensorganisasies gerangskik. Die praktyke beïnvloed die stadia van ʼn organisasie se lewensiklus in ʼn kollektiewe praktykstelsel. Gevolglik kan ʼn stadium in die lewensiklus geïdentifiseer word wat tot veerkrag en vernuwing bydra met die oog op oorlewing en volhoubaarheid. Die strategieë van die organisasies in hierdie studie kom neer op goeie bestuur en behoorlike verslagdoening. Bestuurders openbaar goeie leierskap, die bestendige personeel werk as ʼn span saam, en ʼn kultuur van doelgemaakte dienslewering heers in hierdie organisasies. Afgesien van aanpassing met die oog op veerkrag in die kort termyn, is die aanpassing en ontwikkeling van hulpbronne vir finansiële stabiliteit van die allergrootste belang. / Thutopatlisiso e tsibogela boikuelo jwa gore go nne le dipatlisiso tsa bokao jo bo anameng. Tota tota, thutopatlisiso e theilwe mo lephateng le le sa direng lotseno la Aforikaborwa – ditheo tse di sa direng lotseno (NPO) – mo tlhokomelong ya loago. Lephata le le sa direng lotseno le bidiwa gape Lephata la Boraro, mme patlisiso eno e tsere molemo wa togamaano-jaaka-tiragatso go tlhotlhomisa togamaano mo lephateng leno. Thutopatlisiso e batlisisa ka moo batsamaisi le baeteledipele ba diNPO tseno ba logang maano ka gona go tsweletsa ditheo le ditirelo tsa bona mo tikologong e e fetogang le e e lopang go le gontsi. Go tswelela go nna teng ga diNPO go amiwa ke ditlhaelo di le mmalwa tse di amanang le badiri, ditšhelete, ditlamelo, boithaopo, le go koketsego e e tswelelang pele ya topo ya tlhokomelo ya loago. Ditlhaelo tseno di tlhoka gore batsamaisi le baeteledipele ba ditheo tse di sa direng lotseng ba dire ditogamaano le ditiragatso go netefatsa katlego le go nnela ruri. Diphitlhelelo tsa thutopatlisiso di tlhomamisa botlhokwa jwa kgotlhelelo go tswelela go nna teng mo pakeng e e telele. Diphitlhelelo di supa gore diNPO di tlhoka go nna di itlwaetsa seemo sa kwa ntle le sa ka fa gare. Boeteledipele bo bona kgotlhelelo ka taolo le go tsweletsa ditirelo tse di maleba tsa ditlhokego tse di nnang di fetoga tsa setšhaba se bo se direlang. Ditiragatso di tshwanetse go tsibogela diphetogo ka katiso le katisosešwa, dipegelo tse di matsetseleko go balekane le batlamedi ba bangwe ba ditšhelete, le go obamela ditheo tsa taolo ka melao e e maleba le taolo e e tsepameng ya ditšhelete. Go itlwaetsa seemo go magareng ga ditiragatso tsa botlhokwatlhokwa tse di supilweng mo thutopatlisisong eno. Go sedimositswe thata boeteledipele jo bo kgontshang go nnela leruri. Ka dipotsolotso tse di batlileng di rulagane, mmatlisisi o upolotse ditiragatso tsa togamaano tsa diNPO tse di sa bolong go nna gona go supa ditogamaano tse di tshwaelang mo go tsweleleng go nna teng mo pakeng e e telele. Baeteledipele ba ba mo maemong a a farologaneng a boeteledipele ba neetse ditlhaloso ka botlalo malebana le ditiragatso tsa bona, tseo di dirileng jaaka data ya patlisiso eno. Data e tlametse ka tšhono ya go batlisisa togamaano ka mogopolo wa tiragatso mme e tlhomamisitswe ke dikwalo tse dingwe. Ka tiriso ya togamaano ya molebo wa tiragatso, go supilwe di tiragatso tsa togamaano mo ditsamaising tsa boleng mme go fitlhetswe di tshwaela mo go nneleng leruri. Morago go ne ga rulaganngwa ditiragatso tsa togamaano ka meono le dipolelo go ya kwa tioring ya go tswelela go nna teng malebana le ditheo tseno tsa tirelo. Ditiragatso di tlhotlheletsa magato a sediko sa botshelo jwa setheo mo thulaganyong e e kokoantsweng ya ditiragatso, mme di lebisa kwa goreng go supiwe mo sedikong sa botshelo, legato le le tshwaelang mo kgotlhelelong le ntshwafatsong go thusa go tswelela go nna teng leruri. Go diragadiwa ga ditogamaano tse di fitlhetsweng mo ditheong tsa thutopatlisiso eno di tlamela ka bolaodi jo bo siameng jo bo akaretsang go dira dipegelo ka tolamo. Gape go tlamela ka boeteledipele jo bo siameng go netefatsa gore go nna le badiri ba ba tsepameng e bile ba itlamile go dira mmogo jaaka setlhopha go tlhama setso se se siametseng tlamelo ya ditirelo. Sa botlhokwatlhokwa ke go itlwaetsa kgotlhelelo mo pakeng e e khutshwane le go itlwaetsa le go dira gore go nne le ditlamelo tsa tsepamo ya ditšhelete. / Business Management / Ph. D. (Management Studies)