When the first democratic government came into power in 1994, it was faced with a number of challenges. One of these challenges was to ensure that the public service is transformed in order to redress the imbalances of the past. The National Archives of South Africa as a branch of the public service was therefore no exception. Prior to the 1994 elections, this branch was known as the State Archives Service. It was converted into the National Archives of South Africa through the passing of the National Archives of South Africa Act (Act No. 43 of 1996). It is important to note that before the 1994 election the exercise of hegemony by the government was through the control of social memory, and this control involved remembering and forgetting. Furthermore, this control demonstrated an extraordinary capacity to secure the support of most white South Africans and the minority of blacks who collaborated with this system. Therefore, the promulgation of the National Archives of South Africa Act (Act No. 43 of 1996) was of crucial significance in South Africa, since it portrayed the death knell for archival legislation moulded by apartheid. This Act converted the State Archives Service into the National Archives of South Africa with the new mandate of serving all the people of South Africa. This study examines a strategic approach to the management of the National Archives of South Africa. Firstly, the National Archives of South Africa Act (Act No. 43 of 1996 is discussed in detail, with emphasis on its formulation and implementation. This act came into operation on 1 January 1997. Secondly, the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats experienced by the National Archives of South Africa during its conceptualisation and launching are discussed. Thirdly, the transformation of the National Archives of South Africa was examined and discussed using the public management functions, namely, policy-making, organising, planning, leadership, motivation, control and evaluation. The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats experienced by the National Archives of South Africa are focused on. Lastly, conclusions and recommendations end the study. / Thesis (MPA)-University of Durban-Westville, 2001.

The aim of this research project was to investigate the impact of funding on the service delivery of the Information Technology Division in the Department of Finance, North West Province. A secondary related purpose of the study was to determine the existence and utilisation of a proper strategic plan in the Division of Information Technology. A Division or Programme without a proper strategy would not be in a position to compile a credible budget. Two different self-administered questionnaires were developed. The first questionnaire was a survey of all Information Technology staff members including high-ranking officials such as assistant directors, deputy directors and managers. The second questionnaire was directed to provincial departmental officials across various departments who were willing to take part in the study. Eight provincial departments were chosen and the sample represented a total population of twelve provincial departments in the North West Provincial government. In addition to the surveys, direct interviews were conducted in cases where the respondents were not able to complete questionnaires without assistance. Although the intention of the study was to determine the impact of funding on the service delivery of information technology Division in the Department of Finance, the overall findings revealed that the strategic plan, which was not well defined, was found as the major problem that impacted on the process of compiling a reasonable budget. This, in effect, had a greater impact on service delivery than the actual funding of the Division. / (MBA) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2004

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2004. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The South African society and economy are characterised by a duality - one is highly developed and able to participate in the global KnowledgeEconomy; the other, largely focused on subsistence with no access to the "infostructure" and opportunities of the Information Age. At the root of this duality is the disparity in skills between the developed and developing sectors of our society. Whileskills development is required in the developingsector along with other measures to address the "digital divide", skills retention through the transfer and sharing of knowledgeis required in the developed sector where various factors are causing a flight of skills from South Africa. These disparate objectives further exacerbate the unequal distribution of skills, knowledge, opportunities, and income and increase the chasm between "the two economies", negating any participation by South Africa in the global Knowledge Economy. Communities of Practice, as a proven and mature knowledge management strategy, is proposed as an appropriate method whereby skills development and knowledge transfer can take place in South African organisations and it is proposed that the National Skills DevelopmentStrategy recognises communities of practice as a core element. Individual and organisational learning in terms of skills development and knowledge transfer as well as the nature, support, structure, and value of communities of practice are conceptualised and described to provide a broad understanding of and illustrate the contribution that that communities could make to South Africa's ability to participate in the KnowledgeEconomyand closing the divide between our "twoeconomies". / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: KENNISGEMEENSKAPPE AS 'N NASIONALE VAARDIGHElDS ONTWIKKELING STRATEGIE Die Suid Afrikaanse samelewing en ekonomie word gekenmerk deur 'n dualiteit - een sektor is hoogs ontwikkel en neem deel aan die globale Kennis Ekonomie; die ander is hoofsaaklik gefokus op oorlewing met geen toegang tot die inligting infrastruktuur van die Inligtings Era nie. Die ongelykheid in vaardighede tussen die ontwikkelde en ontwikkelende gemeenskappe is die kern van die genoemde dualisme. Die ontwikkelende sektor benodig dat die vaardighede van die breë samelewing ontwikkel word ten einde hulle in staat te stel om deel te neem aan die kennis samelewing. Aan die ander kant is daar 'n behoefte by die ontwikkelde sektor om bestaande kennis oor te dra en te deel ten einde die aaneenlopende verlies aan kennis en vaardighede te bekamp. Kennisgemeenskappe as 'n bewese kennisbestuur strategie, word voorgestel as 'n gepaste metode waardeur die ontwikkeling van vaardighede en die oordrag van kennis kan plaasvind binne Suid Afrikaanse organisasies en dit word aanbeveel dat kennisgemeenskappe erken word as 'n kern element van die Nasionale Vaardigheids Ontwikkeling Strategie. Individuele en organisatoriese kennis inname/bestuur in terme van vaardigheidsontwikkeling en kennis oordrag asook die aard, struktuur, ondersteuning en waarde van kennisgemeenskappe word bespreek. Dit word gedoen ten einde 'n breë begrip daar te stel van die aard en inhoud van, en die bydrae wat kennisgemeenskappe kan maak tot Suid Afrika se deelname aan die Kennis Ekonomie te illustreer. Dit word gestel dat kennisgemeenskappe kan bydra om die dispariteit tussen die twee ekonomieë in Suid Afrika aan te spreek.

A review of the literature on strategy implementation reveals that there is limited knowledge on how strategies should be implemented. This thesis focuses on a case study of strategy implementation at a major Eastern Cape component supplier company in the automotive industry, for purposes of establishing how the company implemented its strategies to become one of the best cost leaders in the manufacture of automotive pressed metal body components in South Africa. Data collated from the company is analysed and discussed with a resultant description of how the research participants understood the process of strategy implementation within the research company during the period January 2006 to December 2007. Interviews were undertaken within the levels of top management, middle management and the operational employees. Interpretations were made of the constructs made by the research participants in their understanding of how the research company implemented its strategy to become one of the best cost leaders in the manufacture of automotive pressed metal body components. It transpired from the findings of the research that the research company manufactured 70% of its products for one major client. During the manufacture of its products, the research company had to conform to the quality standards required by the main client. The main client was therefore offered the desired service at the best price. The strategy of the research company was to strive to be one of the best cost leaders in the manufacture of its products. It sought to do this by producing high quality products. Analysis is made of the strategic content, strategic context, operational processes and outcomes for the research company after the implementation of its strategy. It emerges in the case study that the strategy implementation factors cannot be considered separately in linear models but holistically, since one implementation factor may influence the others, resulting in a context and process based approach.

South Africa became a democracy after its election in April 1994. Thereafter, the country faced the daunting task of trying to fast-track economic growth and addressing social challenges. The Department of Trade and Industry was mandated by the newly elected government to spearhead economic development in order to address these challenges. Trade policy instruments such as industrial development zones formed part of government’s strategic economic instruments to achieve economic reform. The Coega Industrial Development Zone (CIDZ) near Port Elizabeth was one of many economic development zones created principally to promote export orientated manufacturing. The Coega Development Corporation (CDC) was registered as a company to develop, operate and manage the CIDZ. The literature suggests that strategic leadership is important for organizational success. Strategic leadership is described as the ability to influence others to make day-to-day voluntary decisions that enhance long-term viability while maintaining short term financial stability. Literature further suggests that strategic leaders deal with the evolution of organizations and their changing aims and transform them through their capabilities and strategic leadership roles such as being a figurehead, spokesperson, team builder, design school planner and so on. The aim of this research is to analyse the role of strategic leadership with the objectives to ascertain whether strategic leadership contributed to the success of the development of CDC, and identify possible challenges they are confronted with in the execution of their leadership duties. This research was conducted from an interpretivist perspective as the researcher attempted to develop insight into how the strategic leadership of CDC viewed and understood their role. The strategic leadership of CDC, who were the focus of this study, consisted of the executive management team of the organization, including the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). The research design was in the form of a case study of the CDC leadership, with data collected through semi-structured interviews and documents. The most prominent roles exercised by the leadership of CDC included creating a vision and strategy development and inculcating a teamwork corporate culture. Other roles identified include that of team builder, fostering innovation and developing human capital etc. A lack of stakeholder management as well as managing the culture of the organization as it expands and grows, remain critical challenges. Finally recommendations are made together with suggestions for future research.

The aim of this study was to find the relationships between leadership style, organisational culture and organisational performance and subsequently develop a conceptual framework for enhancing Organisational Performance through the linkage between Leadership style and Organisational Culture in the public sector, in the South African Police Service (SAPS). Many of the previous studies have explored the direct relationship between specific culture domains and a specific performance measure and researchers have paid attention to mediators and moderators of the link between organisational culture and performance only in private sectors. According to the literature, leadership style and organisational culture have been independently linked to organisational performance (Ogbonna & Harris, 2000; Denison & Mishra, 1995; Xenikou & Simosi, 2006; Cameron & Quinn, 2011). All these authors focused on the effect of organisational culture and leadership style on organisational performance in the private sector. In order to achieve the research aim and objectives extensive an intensive literature review of the relevant and current literature was done. The mixed methods approach was applied. Data was collected by the use of self-administered questionnaires for the quantitative data and in-depth interviews and observations for the qualitative data. Regression analysis was used to investigate the relationships between the key study variables and more importantly the mediating and moderating effect on the effect of leadership style on organisational performance. The results of this study indicated that the transformational leadership style does not have a direct effect on organisational performance but rather through organisational culture as a mediating and moderating variable. It was also found that transformational leadership style and organisational culture affect each other. The implication was that leaders should cultivate an organisational culture which is conducive to work in order to enhance organisational performance. / Business Management / D.B.L.

This study investigated strategic change management in the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) during the period 1994 until 2014. Theoretical perspectives on strategic management, institutional culture, leadership and strategic change management in the SANDF were discussed. In addition, a historical perspective on the evolution of South African military culture was given. The study found that a transactional leadership approach was used to transform the SANDF. This transactional leadership approach is commensurate with the preservation of the status quo without radically transforming the institution. On the contrary, the transactional leadership approach fits in well in transforming an institution with a view to bring about a new composite institutional culture, drawn from the integrated institutions. The strategic change management as applied in the SANDF has not succeeded in creating a unified inclusive military culture of the seven former armed forces, from 1994 until 2014. The research has also shown that the institutional culture of the SANDF does not reflect the shared assumptions, beliefs and values of all integrated armed forces. However, the study concluded that transformation in the SANDF as a planned strategic change intervention has not been managed adequately between 1994 and 2014, to achieve the desired results. / Public Administration / D. P. L.

Changes and challenges that have occurred in the past two decades have forced a radical shift in the basic foundations of how business is conducted. Internal, as well as external forces have forced organisations to constantly monitor their surrounding environment in order to create an awareness of opportunities and threats to allow them to survive in their competitive environment. Organisations need to gather all the information at their disposal, and turn the raw data into intelligence through a process of analysis and an exercise of human judgement. By utilising the potential offered by information systems in the process of generating intelligence and creating a corporate knowledge base to be used in strategic decision-making will lead to competitive advantage and constant innovation. Strategic Intelligence has information as its foundation. This research proposes that through its ability to absorb sources of information, the synergy of Business Intelligence, Competitive Intelligence, and Knowledge Management combined to form Strategic Intelligence, will allow organisations to incorporate all of their information and intellectual capital into a single database or system which will meet the intelligence requirements of management. The purpose of this study is to identify the current use of Strategic Intelligence in the Long-term Insurance Industry in the South African environment, and through the use of a survey questioned the benefits or problems experienced by executive management who have not yet implemented and used Strategic Intelligence as an input to the Strategic Management process, and identified the perceived value Strategic Intelligence could add in the decision-making process. The research study shows that organisations have not yet fully embraced a model for a cooperative global internal corporate Strategic Intelligence System or Portal that will incorporate all aspects of Strategic Intelligence into a single, easily manageable resource for management’s strategic planning and decision-making process, even though it could enhance their ability to withstand the onslaught of global competitors and expand their business into new markets, protect their local market or identify potential merger or acquisition targets, and increase innovation within the organisations. / Business Management / M. Com. (Business Management

"Can you define 'plan' as 'a loose sequence of manifestly inadequate observations and conjectures, held together by panic, indecision, and ignorance'? If so, it was a very good plan." Jonathan Stroud, The Ring of Solomon Jonathan Stroud knew that a plan cannot stand alone and needs more. Every business needs a strategy. Academics in the field of strategic management have bewailed the field's disparate, ambiguous nature. The question arises: how can these concerns be compliant with the substantial success that strategic management experienced in the past? The weaknesses of strategic management seem to be its strengths. In their study, Nag, Hambrick and Chen (2007) suggest that strategic management acts as an intellectual dealer entity, which thrives by enabling the simultaneous pursuit of multiple research orientations by a variety of disciplinary and philosophical regimes. The Bain and Company Management Tools and Trends, (Rigby & Bilodeau 2011) indicated the importance of management tools and how these tools can enhance an organisation's ability to strategise for the future. Mankins and Steele (2005) identified factors resulting in a strategy-to-performance gap and made recommendations on how an organisation can minimise such gaps. Tait and Nienaber (2010) came to the conclusion that the use of management tools could reduce challenges of formulation, implementation and evaluation resulting in closing or minimising the strategy-to-performance gap. In view of the findings of these three above-mentioned studies, this study of SAEO aimed to explore (identify, describe and understand) what factors top, middle and frontline managers perceived to hinder strategy implementation at SAEO during the 2009/10-2010/11 financial years, resulting in a strategy-to-performance gap and to determine how these factors affect the organisation. This study was conducted as a qualitative case study that used empirical evidence from real people in a real-life organisation. Data was collected from a South African electronics organisation (henceforth referred to as SAEO) involving 14 managers at three different hierarchical levels (top, middle and frontline managers). They were required to answer semi-structured questions on to how these strategy-formulation-implementation-evaluation phases affect their working environment. The interviews were conducted at the premises of the organisation and permission was sought from the CEO who granted permission for the researcher to request the managers to participate. Information was used from previous authors and a replication study was conducted using the Mankins and Steele (2005) and Tait and Nienaber (2010) studies. The purpose of this study was to identify, describe and understand "what factors, if any, hinder strategy implementation" (Ehlers & Lazenby, 2004; Mankins & Steele, 2005; Tait & Nienaber, 2010). Ehlers and Lazenby (2004:117) and Mankins and Steele (2005:66) have indicated that strategy implementation is the most difficult part of the strategic management process. In the Mankins and Steele (2005) and Tait and Nienaber (2010) studies, although the order differed, the most prevalent performance factors contributing to the strategy-to-performance gap were identified as a lack of focus/conflicting priorities and no resources, inadequate skills and capabilities, unclear accountabilities for execution, insufficient rewards and consequences and poorly communicated strategies. The results of this SAEO study confirmed that ineffective communication, followed by inadequate monitoring; insufficient leadership and no approved strategy were the main reasons for the strategy-to-performance gap. It seemed as if SAEO had a bigger challenge in communicating its strategy to employees than was the case in the Mankins and Steele (2005) and the Tait and Nienaber (2010) studies. Although the biggest challenge at the four South African Life Insurers (Tait & Nienaber, 2010) was inadequate or unavailable resources, the challenge at SAEO was ineffective communication and it was evident that it should be addressed to close the strategy-to-performance gap. Both challenges are part of the strategy implementation phase although communication could be related to formulation, implementation and evaluation of strategy. Although the results (ranking of factors indicated to contribute to the strategy-to-performance phenomenon) of this study did not entirely concur with the studies of Mankins and Steele (2005) and Tait and Nienaber (2010), the important fact remains that without a formulated strategy on how to ensure survival and growth of an organisation, challenges such as ineffective communication and/or inadequate or unavailable resources which were found in the three studies (Mankins & Steele, 2005; Tait & Nienaber, 2010; and the SAEO study) will have a negative effect on an organisation's future growth and prosperity. It became evident from this (SAEO) study that every member of an organisation will be affected should a strategy-to-performance gap exist. Therefore it is crucial that each organisation timeously identify possible factors that can result in a strategy-to-performance gap and determine what can be done to close or narrow those performance gaps. Lear (2012) contends that even if an organisation has the most outstanding strategy, the strategy will mean nothing if it is not understood at all levels within the organisation. That includes all processes to be aligned to achieve the organisation's objectives. / Business Management / M. Tech. (Business Administration)

A review of the academic literature related to “strategic leadership” reveals that the performance of an organization will indeed be influenced by the application of this phenomenon. This thesis confines its research to a case study on Ellerine Holdings Limited, a multi-billion rand enterprise that trades in the competitive Southern African furniture retail industry. Following the 2007 acquisition of Ellerine Holdings Limited (EHL) by African Bank Investments Limited (ABIL), a new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) was appointed to develop and to lead the strategic changes that were envisioned for EHL. The research examines how the performance of EHL has been influenced since the appointment of Toni Fourie as the new CEO in February 2008. Boasting a reputation borne from his previous successes in organizational transformation, Fourie was ABIL’s first-choice leader for this challenge. Fourie displays qualities, attributes, behaviours and traits that are characterized by the phenomenon of “strategic leadership”. He has been the focus of media attention for the aggressive strategic changes that he has introduced within the organization. A quantitative analysis of EHL’s financial performance (between 2007 and 2009) indicated that there was a constant decline in the organization’s PBT (Profit Before Taxation) during the period observed. However, the research determined that turbulent conditions in the macro-economic environment (such as the global economic recession in 2008 and 2009) complemented by mitigating micro-economic factors, would have adversely skewed the conclusions in this document if the research was limited to quantitative analysis alone. Hence, the researcher explored a qualitative research framework by collecting and assimilating data from available documentation, and from formal interviews that were conducted with research participants representing the organization’s new leadership. These participants included the new CEO, Fourie, and the new Director of Strategy, Dr. Louis Carstens. Information was also obtained from informal discussions that were conducted with other senior executives, and with an ex general manager of one of EHL’s business units, who was based in the Eastern Cape region at the time. An examination of all of this data concluded that although Ellerine Holdings Limited was not achieving all of its financialperformance objectives, there was general consensus that the CEO’s strategic choices would yield the desired financial results from the mediumterm (namely, year-03 of his tenure) onwards. The CEO’s optimism and conviction that his strategic interventions will address long-term financial sustainability is shared by both EHL’s internal and external stakeholders. It emerged that EHL’s stakeholders were satisfied with the accelerated progress reflected in the organization’s non-financial performance indices. These indicators included the sowing of a new organizational culture; improved cost-base efficiencies; labour productivity; customer satisfaction; employee empowerment; innovation and creative thinking; collaborative and participative engagement; structural rationalization, and the introduction of new processes and procedures. The research from the EHL case study concluded that the phenomenon of strategic leadership can have a positive influence on various qualitative indicators within an organization. The research also determined that despite unforeseen conditions in both the macro and micro economic environments, an effective strategic leadership will remain committed to its vision, and resilient to its critics and competitors. This research further concludes that successful organizational transformation (within a macro enterprise) is ostensibly dependent on the interventions of a strategic leader who displays a specialist set of skills and behaviours. These strategic leaders have the ability to successfully shift the cognitive paradigms of their employees, thereby creating an enabling environment for the implementation of their strategic choices.