With the current global financial crisis, the uncertain economic outlook in South Africa and the pressure on financial institutions to operate more effectively and efficiently, there has been a significant shift in focus for banks in South Africa. This shift in focus entails placing greater emphasis on stream-lining internal operations, an increased focus on customer needs, and a superior service delivery in relation to competitors, in order to retain their existing customer base as well as to increase market share. Many organisations have adopted lean manufacturing as their approach to process optimisation and quality management, in an effort to improve their efficiency and value offering for customers. The objective of this research was to identify a financial institution in South Africa that has already adopted the lean approach, and to focus on the physical implementation of their lean projects so as to understand what the success factors are in this regard. This paper presents a detailed literature review, highlighting key success factors for the implementation of lean. The research questions are based on these factors. The report presents findings from 20 face-to-face interviews with subjects involved in the physical implementation of lean projects in the bank selected for the analysis. The paper reveals that the top five success factors for the successful implementation of lean projects are commitment and involvement from senior management; buy-in from staff that are being effected by the project; resources with the relevant and appropriate skills and competencies to execute the change, a culture focused on lean; and finally, for all parties involved to have a clear shared goal and understanding of what the project aims to deliver. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

This interpretive exploratory case study investigated the challenges and barriers to the multi-grade context in general, as well as to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) implementation in a multi-grade context. Possible solutions based on teacher perceptions were generated inductively within a three-level typology. The research took place in three phases. Pre-training data were gathered in the first phase, using an open-ended questionnaire (all participants: n=20); personal interviews (n=9); and two focus group interviews, which consisted of three participants per focus group. Training on the Intel® Teach ICT programme and the provision of laptops (one per teacher) constituted the second phase. The third phase included post-training data generation using an open-ended questionnaire (all participants) and two focus group interviews, which consisted of three participants per focus group, to elicit teacher perceptions of the training programme and their use of the laptops in the classroom after the training. The findings suggest that first order (school or meso level) challenges pertaining to multi-grade teaching relate to the lack of resources; curriculum challenges; learner related challenges; isolation, impact on communication and teaching; time constraints; and a work overload as a result of the multiple roles. Second order challenges (self or micro level) related to the perceived uncaring attitude of the Department of Basic Education that left teachers feeling hurt and neglected; the unpreparedness for the multi-grade context which demotivated teachers; and the negative perceptions the teachers had about their learners. Third order challenges (system level, beyond the school level or micro level) were related to the lack of Departmental support from officials; the lack of curriculum training for the multi-grade context; and the lack of support on various fronts. Regarding ICT related challenges, the findings suggest that first order barriers related to the lack of suitable infrastructure for ICT implementation; lack of peer support; lack of access to appropriate hardware and software; and lack of time. Second order barriers related to the negative beliefs in the self; negative perceptions about the learners’ ability to use the laptop; and negative beliefs related to teaching and learning. The third order barriers were related to the lack of support and assistance from the Department of Basic Education for ICT implementation. The findings suggest that the participants viewed the provisioning of enabling programmes for parents as an important solution to first order challenges, and a change in mindset as the most important solution for second order problems. Third order solutions included a “multi-grade Renaissance” towards a new model for multi-grade teaching; re-thinking the curriculum requirements regarding multi-grade teaching by the Department of Basic Education; increased support and training from the Department; incentives to teach with ICT in the multi-grade context; encouraging further research inmulti-grade teaching; providing sufficient resources; establishing partnerships with stakeholders; and the closure and merger of multi-grade schools. There was evidence that the laptops provided were used in a variety of ways after the Intel® Teach training by the participants, including email as a tool to communicate with their fellow multi-grade peers, which serve to break their sense of isolation. Quantitative data from the open-ended questionnaire confirmed an increase in the usage of the laptop after the Intel® Teach training intervention. Although the participants generally experienced the Intel teach training intervention as positive, they also identified negative experiences. These findings enabled the embedding of ‘self and sustainable support from stakeholders’ more explicitly in the professional teacher development ICT implementation framework of Du Plessis and Webb (2012b), which suggests that the Intel® Teach training intervention can be used as a vehicle to address ICT implementation within the multi-grade context. It is suggested that the Department of Basic Education should consider exposing all teachers to the Intel® Teach programme and assist multi-grade teachers by providing better on-going support and putting the necessary policies, implementation and infrastructure in place.

This research was undertaken to determine the profitability of investing research funds into the Three Strata Forage System (TSFS) project, a cattle production project funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and carried out in the village of Pecatu, Bali. The purpose of the project was to increase the production of cattle and productivity of the traitional farming system by introducing different grass, ground ground legumes, fodder shrubs and trees, and changing the pattern of land allocated to these forages. A TSFS plot foregoes 0.09 hectares of crop production to produce 0.09 hectares of grass and ground legumes (strata 1), 2000 shrubs (strata 2) and 42 fodder trees (strata 3) on the perimeter of a 0.25 hectare crop field. Cattle are fed exclusively with forages obtained from the plot, in contrast to the traditional system where cattle are tethered on marginal land and fed with feed obtained from other locations on the farm. The TSFS researchers have claimed that the TSFS will "not only increase the quantity and quality of the forages, but it could also increase the stocking rate [of cattle] and carrying capacity of the land, increase the soil fertility, reduce the soil erosion, increase the firewood supply, increase the farm income, induce other on-farm activities, and induce better ecological balance of the environment" (Nitis et al, 1989). In this study, the claims made by TSFS project researchers have been evaluated using financial analyses. Using data collected from farms in Pecatu, Bali, the values of TSFS production inputs are estimated from local market prices and regressions estimating farm production relationships. The results of the financial analyses were then used to infer the social welfare effects of the TSFS. The results of the analyses show that the TSFS plot incurs negative returns, relative to a traditional crop field. Elements of the TSFS system, such as improvements to the local ecosystem, are believed to have a minimal effect on the final estimates of the profitability of the plot and are excluded from the analysis. The large negative returns of the plot indicate that there are resource allocation costs associated with the transfer of high value crop land to the low value forage production advocated by the TSFS. The grasses and ground legumes introduced by the TSFS project were not familiar to farmers in Pecatu. However, the farmers were willing to experiment with the new varieties, with varying degrees of risk averseness and success in adoption (in accordance to the findings of Antle and Crissman (1990)). The tree and shrub forages of the TSFS were already known to farmers in Pecatu; the introduction of the TSFS did not appear to affect the use of tree fodder resources but may have increased the use of forage shrubs. The results of financial analysis of individual project forages indicate farmers have preferences for specific forage species. While farmers agreed to participate in the TSFS project due to financial incentives, they found they could reduce the costs of the TSFS by adopting profitable aspects of the TSFS, using a more flexible approach to land allocations and choice of forage species. As the shrubs, grasses and ground legumes are well-known throughout Asia, it appears that the only new management techniques introduced by the TSFS are the planting arrangement and feeding system - and these aspects have resulted in negative returns. Therefore, any positive welfare effects associated with the project are due to an increase in the rate of adoption of the forages included in the TSFS - although these effects are not large enough to offset the losses imposed by an inefficient allocation of land and labour resources to forage production. Reviewing all resource allocation effects of the TSFS, and given the size of the payments needed to obtain farmer participation it is clear that the net welfare effects are negative. Notwithstanding the optimistic claims of the project literature, the forages produced by the TSFS regime are not valuable enough to match the profitable crop activities they are supplanting. There is evidence to suggest that TSFS researchers have been prone to misjudge the true costs and benefits associated with the TSFS plot. This arises not only as a result of overly optimistic claims of project benefits and understated project costs, but a pervasive disregard for the rationality of traditional farmers. For future research projects, it is recommended that the funding agency, IDRC, require ex ante economic analyses, to determine the true social costs and benefits of a proposed technology. In this way, projects of net negative social value can be identified and improved before research resources have been allocated to the generate an inefficient technology. / Land and Food Systems, Faculty of / Graduate

This study investigated what judges looked for in an experimental science fair project and how the judges conducted a judging conversation. Audio-recordings of three judges' conversations with the same student and an in depth interview with each judge provided the data base for this study. This data base provided insight into the judging task and revealed aspects that these judges felt were important in evaluating a science fair project. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

The thesis is; a retrospective examination of two economic plans and their respective planning processes, undertaken for the same area during the same time period. The geographic setting for the thesis is northwestern British Columbia. The time period covered by the review is approximately 1980 to 1985. The thesis describes the differences which can occur between the two plans and searches for variations in the planning processes which seem to account for these differences. The economic plan produced by the British Columbia provincial government recommends a future regional economy based on large-scale, capital-intensive technology and functional integration of the region with a world economy. The planning process used was centralized and technocratic. The other plan, produced by the regional Economic Development Commission, also recommends functional integration but is oriented towards sustained community development and appropriate (i.e. small-scale, locally-controlled) technology. The plan is informed by a locally-based, participatory process. Categories for comparing the two plans and processes are drawn from regional development planning literature, planning theory literature and review of the cases themselves. Nine planning process variables are employed in the analysis. The study concludes that the critical planning process variables which affect the content of the plans are: the level of public participation in each process, the manner in which control over planning process is centralized or decentralized, and the spatial interest of key actors. The study method used, an ex post facto case study, however, can only infer causal relationships between process and plan variables; it does not provide certain knowledge of these relationships. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

A dissertation submitted to the FACULTY OF ARTS in partial fulfillment of the requirements for MASTERS DEGREE IN SOCIAL WORK (Community work) in the Department of Social Work at the University of Zululand, 2000. / The purpose of this study is to identify the role played by women in the agricultural development projects that are managed and worked by women in the Nseleni district of Kwazulu-Natal. The other purpose of this study is to establish the impact that these projects have. Females are heads of families in many households of rural communities of Nseleni. This is attributed to the fact that most males are working in remote urban areas of the country. Many of these females are fully engaged in different agricultural projects. When it comes to the administration of these projects, women are relegated to the bottom of the ladder as regards positions. Nseleni is under a tribal authority, which is composed of six different amaKhosi. In all these tribal authorities, the second in charge, the Izinduna, are all males. This has had a negative effect on the role of women in terms of getting access to farming land, where they have to get a male guarantor. Looking at extension officers, particularly from the government, most of them are males. This imbalance in the government employees has also influenced decisions taken to favour males. This is contrary to the 2020 vision of the Department of Agriculture which is to unlock agricultural development and to improve service delivery in KwaZulu-Natal without any gender discrimination. This vision is aiming to use participatory methodologies in involving communities at large in agricultural development.

<p> In many organizations, the working activities of individuals are accounted for on the basis of projects to which they are assigned. Usually all such information and the descriptions of the projects are recorded manually during the advancement of each project. This primitive procedure is not efficient to maintain information for enabling ongoing project control and analysis of the allocation of personnel resources. Hence there is a need for a computerized system. Such a system has been designed and partly implemented by employing the CDC DMS-170 Database Management System using COBOL as the host language.</p> / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

In this study, 85 students registered in a biochemistry course were administered a survey of science engagement modeled after the High School Survey of School Engagement (HSSSE), created by the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy. The survey, Postsecondary Survey of Science Engagement – High School Version (PSSSE-HSV), was used to measure the participants’ recall of science engagement from grades 7-12 and the perception of support from school leadership. Additionally, participants provided a 400-500 words statement detailing their current work and future careers in science or science related fields. This study examines the proficiency of writing samples as an outcome of science engagement. A qualitative data analysis of writing samples and a constructed response item on the PSSSE-HSV investigates the outcome of complex human-environment interactions. The results showed that human-environment interactions are a significant aspect of science engagement, learning outcomes, and career choice.

Approaches to projects and development have undergone considerable change in the last decade with significant policy shifts on governance, gender, poverty eradication, and environmental issues. Most recently this has led to the adoption and promotion of the sustainable livelihood (SL) approach. The adoption of the SL approach presents challenges to development interventions including: the future of projects and programmes, and sector wide approaches (SWAPs) and direct budgetary support. This paper `A livelihoods-grounded audit of the Magu District Livelihoods and Food Security Project¿ is the ninth in the series of project working papers. / Department for International Development

Approaches to projects and development have undergone considerable change in the last decade with significant policy shifts on governance, gender, poverty eradication, and environmental issues. Most recently this has led to the adoption and promotion of the sustainable livelihood (SL) approach. The adoption of the SL approach presents challenges to development interventions including: the future of projects and programmes, and sector wide approaches (SWAPs) and direct budgetary support. This paper `A livelihoods-grounded audit of the Sustainable Coastal Livelihoods Programme (SCLP)¿ is the twelfth in the series of project working papers. / Department for International Development