On title page: Master of Philosophy (Decision Making, Knowledge Dynamics and Values). / Thesis (MPhil) Stellenbosch University, 2005 / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Knowledge based organisations must continually create, share, and capture knowledge in order to improve performance. This demand for performance improvement has now also reached the public sector. The Parliamentary Service responded to this demand by contracting consultants to design systems, policies and strategies in areas such as performance management, information technology, human resource management, financial resource management, training and development. Against this background, a case study was conducted within the Parliamentary Service to explore how organizational knowledge is created and transferred in practice. The theoretical lens for this case study is Nonaka's knowledge spiral, which puts emphasis on the creation, codification and diffusion of knowledge. The study explores processes and mechanisms of creating, transferring and capturing knowledge. This is done through the examination of strategies and systems for codifying tacit knowledge and storing that codified knowledge. Thereafter technological, cultural and organizational barriers that inhibit these efforts at sharing and storage of knowledge are identified. In the light of the above, implications for managing organizational knowledge are outlined. Lastly recommendations are made on how tacit and explicit knowledge could be efficiently managed within the sections and divisions of the Parliamentary Service. Data was gathered through interviews, observation and an analysis of organizational documents. These demonstrate that through the contracting of consultants and the involvement of internal stakeholders, parliamentary service has made remarkable progress in creating, sharing, and codifying knowledge of the performance management system at individual, group and organizational levels. This progress was made as the result of the institutionalization of a performance management forum, the use of workshops, the training of trainers and staff, the publications of newsletters, the development of manuals and the writing and submission of reports. However, it was also found that there are certain technological, cultural and organizational barriers to effective knowledge management. These include the lack of electronic databases, a culture of hoarding knowledge and the fact that knowledge management roles are not assigned. Based on the analysis of these technological, cultural and organizational barriers the -- study makes six recommendations for the management of organizational knowledge within the parliamentary service. These recommendations deal with the following issues: The codification of tacit knowledge, the creation of a knowledge repository, the promotion of a knowledge sharing culture, the institutionalization of knowledge sharing incentives, the establishment of a knowledge management unit, and the appointment of a chief knowledge officer. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Kennisgebaseerde orgamsas1es moet aaneenlopend kennis skep, deel en kodifiseer om kompeterend te bly. Kennisgebaseerde prestasie-verbetering word toenemend 'n prioriteit in die openbare sektor. Die Parlementere Diensafdeling het, in 'n poging om prestasie te verbeter, konsultante gekontrakteer om sisteme, beleide en strategiee te ontwerp in areas soos prestasie-bestuur, informasie tegnologie, menslike hulpbronbestuur, finansiele bestuur, en opleiding en ontwikkeling. 'n Gevallestudie in die Parlementere Diensafdeling is teen hierdie agtergrond geloods om uit te vind hoe organisatoriese kennis in die praktyk geskep en oorgedra word. Die teoretiese lens vir hierdie gevallestudie is N onaka se kennis-spiraal, wat die skep, kodifiseer en deel van kennis benadruk. Die studie verken die prosesse en meganismes vir die skep en oordrag van kennis. Dit word gedoen deur die strategiee en sisteme vir die kodifisering van verswee kennis (tacit knowledge) en die stoor van die eksplisiete kennis (explicit knowledge) te ondersoek. Daama word die tegnologiese, kulturele en organisatoriese hindemisse wat die pogings tot die skep en deel van kennis frustreer gei"dentifiseer. In die lig van bogenoemde word implikasies vir die bestuur van kennis uitgestippel. Laastens word voorstelle gemaak vir die bestuur van kennis in spesifiek die Parlementere Diensafdeling. Data vir die studie is verkry deur onderhoude, observasie en die analise van organisatoriese dokumente. Hierdie demonstreer dat die Parlementere Diensafdeling, deur die kontraktering van konsultante en die betrek van interne belangehebbers, wel daarin geslaag het om kennis rondom die prestasiebesuurstelsel te skep, te deel en te kodifiseer op individuele, groep en organisasie vlak. Dit is hoofsaaklik toe te skryf aan die institusionalisering van 'n prestasiebestuursforum, die gebruik van werkswinkels, die opleiding van personeel, die publikasie van nuusbriewe, die ontwikkeling van handboeke en die skryf en indiening van verslae. Dit is egter ook gevind dat daar sekere tegnologiese, kulturele en organisatoriese hindemisse tot effektiewe kennisbestuur in die Parlementere Diensafdeling is. Hierdie sluit in die gebrek aan 'n elektroniese databasis, 'n kultuur van kennis-opgaarding, en die feit dat kennisbestuursrolle nie toegeken word nie. Die studie maak dan ses voorstelle vir die bestuur van organisatoriese kennis binne die Parlementere Diensafdeling gebaseer op die analise van hierdie tegnologiese, kulturele en organisatoriese faktore. Hierdie voorstelle gaan oor die volgende kwessies: Die kodifisering van verswee kennis (tacit knowledge), die skep van 'n kennis poel (knowledge repository), die bevordering van 'n kultuur van kennis deel, die institusionalisering van kennis insentiewe, die vestiging van 'n kennisbestuursafdeling, en die aanstelling van 'n Hoof Kennis Beampte (Chief Knowledge Officer).

Thesis (MPhil (General Linguistics))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: During interpreting in the National Parliament of South Africa, the South African Sign Language (SASL) signs used for terms frequently occurring in political debates appear to differ from one interpreter to the next. The question arises as to whether this could be a possible source of miscommunication, and, if so, whether there is a need for SASL to be standardised in order to promote successful communication and/or avoid misunderstandings while interpreting the proceedings of Parliament for a Deaf Member of Parliament as well as for Deaf members of the public. The present research set out to answer these questions. In order to do so, video-recordings were made of two parliamentary SASL interpreters each independently signing 10 English terms often used during Parliamentary sittings. These recordings were shown to three Deaf adults, from more or less the same linguistic background, who were tasked with writing down the meaning of each sign of each interpreter. Responses given by the informants were allocated marks and a total score was calculated to reveal the level of intelligibility of the signs of each interpreter. It was found that not one of the deaf adults could understand all 10 signs of any one interpreter, and that the signs used by the two interpreters for eight of the 10 English terms differed vastly. The answers indicate the possibility of miscommunication, which could be avoided if standardised terms were available for use in the Parliamentary environment. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Tydens tolking in die Nasionale Parlement van Suid Afrika blyk tekens in Suid Afrikaanse Gebaretaal vir terme wat gereeld in politiese debatte voorkom, te verskil van tolk tot tolk. Die vraag is of dit ‘n bron van moontlike wankommunikasie kan wees en, indien wel, of daar dan ‘n behoefte daaraan is om Suid-Afrikaanse Gebaretaal te standardiseer met die doel om suksesvolle kommunikasie te bevorder en/of om misverstande te vermy terwyl die verrigtinge van die Parlement getolk word vir die dowe Lid van die Parlement asook die dowe lede van die publiek. Die huidige navorsing is gedoen om ‘n antwoord op hierdie vrae te verkry. Vir hierdie doeleindes is video-opnames van twee parlementêre gebaretaaltolke gemaak. Elke tolk het onafhanklik van die ander een 10 Engelse terme getolk wat gereeld voorkom gedurende parlementêre sittings. Hierdie opnames is dan aan drie volwasse Dowes gewys, wat afkomstig was van ongeveer dieselfde taalagtergrond, wat die betekenis van elke tolk se gebare neergeskryf het. Tellings is aan die response van elke informant toegeken en die totale telling is uitgewerk om die vlak van verstaanbaarheid van die gebare van elke tolk uit te werk. Daar is bevind dat nie een van die Dowe volwassenes al 10 terme korrek kon verstaan nie en dat ag van die 10 Engelse terme grotendeels verskillend getolk is deur die tolke. Die antwoorde dui daarop dat daar ‘n moontlikheid van wankommunikasie bestaan, wat vermy kan word as gebaretaalterme gestandardiseer kan word in die parlementêre omgewing.

In parliaments, the tasks of drafting legislation and conducting oversight are accomplished by means of complex chains of spoken, written and multimodal texts. In these genre chains, information is recontextualized from one text to another before being debated in sittings of the houses of parliament. This study employs the point of view afforded by linguistic ethnography to investigate critically the ways in which meanings are recontextualized in one section of such a genre chain, namely the process by which committees of South Africa's National Assembly oversee the budgets of government departments and state-owned entities. It does this to identify possible sources of communication difficulties in this process and suggest ways in which these can be minimized. In so doing, it develops a theoretical model of the discursive effects of recontextualization informed by Latour's (1987) notion of black-boxing as well as Maton's (2011) Legitimation Code Theory. This model uses Interactional Sociolinguistics and elements of Systemic Functional Linguistics, including APPRAISAL and Transitivity as tools to describe the realization of these effects in language. This study finds that ideational and interpersonal meanings are condensed and decondensed at particular points in the genre chain in ways that lead to some MPs’ voices being recontextualized more accurately than others’. It also shows that common sources of communication difficulties in the committee process include differences in political background and understandings of committee procedure and participant roles. It recommends that representatives of departments and entities reporting to the committees should receive a fuller prebriefing on their roles; that MPs should receive training on asking clear, focused questions; and that the role of committee secretaries as procedural advisors should be strengthened.

Thesis (MPhil (Information Science))--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / South Africa’s ten year old democracy puts great emphasis on being a participatory government, where citizens are able to engage with the policy and legislative process. An important aspect of this is the role played by Parliament which is not only the place where citizens are able to make their voices heard, but is also an important mechanism in keeping the government in line with the views and needs of the “people”. Its role of oversight (of the government departments) is a critical one in keeping the democracy intact, and an important part of this is their ability to access and use information from a wide range of sources. The purpose of this assignment was to consider the current use of information in Parliament and identify the flaws in the management and use of information by Parliamentary Committees. A number of questions are posed, questioning whether the current management and use of information allows Parliamentary Committees to fulfill their obligations in terms of the Constitution. In exploring these questions I have provided background to the role that NGOs have played in the past in South Africa, with specific reference to their relationship to Parliament/government and their expertise in the area of sustainable development. I have explained the role of Parliament (and more specifically the Parliamentary Committees in South Africa), as envisaged in the Constitution, as well as the problems facing Parliament in fulfilling these roles. I also indicated the ways in which civil society organizations could assist Parliament in fulfilling its role as effectively as possible. After considering the various theories of information and knowledge management a model was built on which the current information behaviors of Parliamentarians, specifically with regard to their work in the Committees, could be evaluated. Various key problems were identified and elaborated on. A strategy was outlined to address some of these problems.

This study was devoted to researching the effectiveness of e-learning, in terms of the reported experiences of the Language Services section employees in Parliament RSA. At present, the internet is seen as a successful and influential educational tool in both academic and corporate institutions. Academically, it has been adopted for e-learning methods of teaching and learning. It is perceived as a cost-effective method of providing lifelong education. It is important to know about the pros and cons of e-learning in adult education and compare them with the experiences of the people who are and have been engaged in adult education. To create an adult education skills development framework that can be used successfully in e-learning, it is important to get information about and from the people concerned regarding their learning experiences. To understand more about the influence of e-learning, this study administered a questionnaire to the employees of the Language Services Section of Parliament who participated in the pilot learning programmes offered by Parliament. The questionnaire was designed to gather structured responses from the participants in the inquiry. The results were studied and applied to draw recommendations for what can be improved in the programme to promote and endorse continuing learning experiences as is the aim of the in-house programme offered by Parliament. The study also has relevance in terms of a discussion of issues that arise in the literature on adult education, which were located as part of the study. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Adult Education)