Published Article / Knowledge is universally considered to be a public good and something that should be developed and supported. The information explosion and enabling technologies (such as the Internet and cellular technologies) of the past decade has firmly established the Age of Knowledge. Knowledge has normative value that extends far beyond a single discipline and the Age of Knowledge has resulted in a paradigm shift with regard to the way in which knowledge is generated, applied and stored. As the custodians of knowledge, universities should pay particular attention to the management of knowledge as they take the lead not only in generating new knowledge, but also in converting new and existing knowledge into innovative ideas, products and practices that benefit society at large. Knowledge should, for this reason, be strategically managed to be of value to universities. It is thus imperative that universities should ascertain the nature and extent of their knowledge resources and pay special attention to their Knowledge Management practices that include the way in which knowledge is acquired, disseminated and rewarded. Universities of Technology (UoTs), with their distinct emphasis on applied research, innovation and knowledge transfer, need to manage knowledge in such a way that it enhances the creation of solution-based technologies. This paper provides a theoretical basis for understanding Knowledge Management in a UoT context and reflects on the Knowledge Management practices of a UoT in the South African context.

Published Article / This paper examines the discourses on technical vocation education and training (TVET) adopting a comparative perspective. In particular, we critically analyse the notion of academic and professional pedagogy to embed curriculum and pedagogy at Universities of Technology (UoTs) in South Africa and at the Central University of Technology (CUT). This is conducted by analysing the term, vocational pedagogy within the context of Universities of Applied Sciences (UASs) and Universities of Technology (UT) in Germany, and Universities of Technology (UoTs) in South Africa, respectively. We then proceed by exploring the idea of an Institute of Pedagogy at the Central University of Technology (CUT) that will become a centre of excellence where research on professional pedagogy will be undertaken by staff and students from CUT and other institutions, as well as other bodies, including government and the employer/industry.

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Technology Degree in Business Administration, Durban University of Technology, 2014. / The UoTs are operating in an environment in which they have to deal with multifarious and complex challenges. Responding effectively to such challenges has become critical for UoTs in achieving a competitive advantage and in outsmarting competitors. Traditional approaches which deal with rapid changes in the higher education landscape have become obsolete. The fact is that UoTs are faced with transformational challenges - increasing student intake, the need for improving throughput rate, the need for remaining financially sustainable while producing the top graduates required by industry. Given this background, this study investigates the application of a learning organisation philosophy for improving processes and practices in the UoTs of KwaZulu-Natal. Learning organisation philosophy has been identified as one of the best approaches for organisations in the corporate sector. It is used to achieve and sustain a competitive advantage. Learning organisation philosophy encourages the culture of continuous learning by members of the organisation, so as to achieve strategic objectives. This study provides UoTs’ perspectives of the learning organisation theory. Data was collected from employees of DUT. The sample was drawn from both administrative and academic employees. A self-administered questionnaire was used in collecting the data. The findings of this study reveal that the application of a learning organisation philosophy will help UoTs improve their processes and practices. Based on the findings, the majority of participants indicated that they would embrace and support the application of a learning organisation philosophy at DUT. It has to be noted that in the study, DUT was used as a case study.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Higher education is important to the country's economic growth. Due to globalisation, it is important for higher education institutions to keep up with change. The introduction of universities of technology in response to this places a new demand on academic institutions in South Africa, creating more occupational stress on employees. Other expectations, for example demands for more research and publication exert more pressure on staff, which escalates these stress levels. Workload of staff fluctuates between higher and lower and with this, a change of fluctuating periods of stress from acute to chronic is described. This chronic stress has a negative impact on the individuals' physical and psychological health, their interpersonal relationships at work and the quality of their work, as well as on workplace morale. The objectives of the study were to establish how occupational stress, ill health and commitment are conceptualised in the literature; to establish what the occupational stress levels of staff at a university of technology are and to assess the mutual relationships among occupational stress, organisational commitment and ill health of employees at the specific institution. The research method consisted of a brief literature review and an empirical study. A cross-sectional survey design was used. A stratified random sample was taken of academic and support staff at a specific university of technology (N = 334). The ASSET Organizational Stress Screening Tool and a biographical questionnaire were administered on the personnel. Cronbach alpha coefficients were used to determine the significance of dimensions of the ASSET. Exploratory factor analysis was used to investigate the factor structure of the occupational stress items of the ASSET. Pearson correlation coefficients were used to specify the relationship between the variables. Standard multiple regression analyses were used to assess whether occupational stress predicts ill health and organisational commitment. The results showed that two occupational stressors, namely control and work relationships were higher than the norm. Physical and psychological ill health was predicted by occupational stress due to job demands and lack of organisational support. Occupational stress because of job demands had a significant effect on both affective and behavioural commitment of employees. Recommendations for future research were made. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

Higher education is important to the country's economic growth. Due to globalisation, it is important for higher education institutions to keep up with change. The introduction of universities of technology in response to this places a new demand on academic institutions in South Africa, creating more occupational stress on employees. Other expectations, for example demands for more research and publication exert more pressure on staff, which escalates these stress levels. Workload of staff fluctuates between higher and lower and with this, a change of fluctuating periods of stress from acute to chronic is described. This chronic stress has a negative impact on the individuals' physical and psychological health, their interpersonal relationships at work and the quality of their work, as well as on workplace morale. The objectives of the study were to establish how occupational stress, ill health and commitment are conceptualised in the literature; to establish what the occupational stress levels of staff at a university of technology are and to assess the mutual relationships among occupational stress, organisational commitment and ill health of employees at the specific institution. The research method consisted of a brief literature review and an empirical study. A cross-sectional survey design was used. A stratified random sample was taken of academic and support staff at a specific university of technology (N = 334). The ASSET Organizational Stress Screening Tool and a biographical questionnaire were administered on the personnel. Cronbach alpha coefficients were used to determine the significance of dimensions of the ASSET. Exploratory factor analysis was used to investigate the factor structure of the occupational stress items of the ASSET. Pearson correlation coefficients were used to specify the relationship between the variables. Standard multiple regression analyses were used to assess whether occupational stress predicts ill health and organisational commitment. The results showed that two occupational stressors, namely control and work relationships were higher than the norm. Physical and psychological ill health was predicted by occupational stress due to job demands and lack of organisational support. Occupational stress because of job demands had a significant effect on both affective and behavioural commitment of employees. Recommendations for future research were made. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

The accounting profession has been identified as one of the scarce skills in South Africa. This phenomenon has attracted many students aspiring to tertiary education to enrol for an accounting degree. Regrettably, most of these students drop out of the programmes in the second year of their studies due to many challenges that they were not prepared for and that the institutions are not making any extra efforts to address. The objective of the study is to investigate the key factors that contribute to a high rate of second-year Accounting students drop-out in the Department of Accounting at Tshwane University of Technology in the academic years of 2004 to 2006. The study comprises two phases: the theoretical phase and the empirical phase respectively. The theoretical phase encompasses an in-depth review of relevant literature on issues affecting students to drop out of institutions of higher learning. The empirical phase of the research entails testing the opinions of second-year Accounting students on the factors causing the high drop-out rate among them through the use of a questionnaire and followed by interviews with the relevant stakeholders. The study will further report on the findings and recommendations made by the lecturing staff, academic development practitioners, support staff and students on how to improve on the factors identified as the cause of drop-out of students in institutions of higher learning. The findings and recommendations of the study will assist the institution in formulating appropriate strategies that will provide remedial services and that will lead to the reduction of the drop-out rate, and subsequently lead to high retention rates of students at Tshwane University of Technology. This research should also be extended to other similar institutions. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

The accounting profession has been identified as one of the scarce skills in South Africa. This phenomenon has attracted many students aspiring to tertiary education to enrol for an accounting degree. Regrettably, most of these students drop out of the programmes in the second year of their studies due to many challenges that they were not prepared for and that the institutions are not making any extra efforts to address. The objective of the study is to investigate the key factors that contribute to a high rate of second-year Accounting students drop-out in the Department of Accounting at Tshwane University of Technology in the academic years of 2004 to 2006. The study comprises two phases: the theoretical phase and the empirical phase respectively. The theoretical phase encompasses an in-depth review of relevant literature on issues affecting students to drop out of institutions of higher learning. The empirical phase of the research entails testing the opinions of second-year Accounting students on the factors causing the high drop-out rate among them through the use of a questionnaire and followed by interviews with the relevant stakeholders. The study will further report on the findings and recommendations made by the lecturing staff, academic development practitioners, support staff and students on how to improve on the factors identified as the cause of drop-out of students in institutions of higher learning. The findings and recommendations of the study will assist the institution in formulating appropriate strategies that will provide remedial services and that will lead to the reduction of the drop-out rate, and subsequently lead to high retention rates of students at Tshwane University of Technology. This research should also be extended to other similar institutions. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Technology: Business Information Systems in the Faculty of Business and Management Sciences at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology / This study has investigated the role of Education Technology as means to transform education at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. The department of Office Management and Technology was selected for the case study. The research focused on determining the significance of modern Education Technology on teaching and learning strategies at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. A quantitative approach was used for data collection, while this was done by using questionnaires, which employed 5 point Likert scales. The responses from 54 participants were recorded and analysed, and these results show that respondents held strong views about the significance of the role of Education Technology in teaching and learning strategies at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. Furthermore, the results show that Education Technology helps to improve teaching and learning strategies at the institution. The significance of this research is that the results may be interpreted within a broader South African context. The study, therefore, contributes to the body of knowledge concerning the impact of Education Technology at Universities of Technology in South Africa.

D. Tech. (Business, Faculty of Management Sciences), Vaal University of Technology / The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between job satisfaction, organisational commitment, turnover intention, absenteeism and work performance amongst the academics within South African universities of technology (UoTs). South African higher education has gone through numerous changes in terms of restructuring and transformation. Rapid changes of this nature within a higher education system necessitate alternative work restructuring and arrangements, which could have a potential negative influence on the behaviour of academic staff. Research addressing these problems on the academic staff within UoTs in the context of developing countries such as South Africa has remained scarce. This study, therefore, was conducted to fill this gap. Universities of technology in South Africa employ approximately 2987 (N) academic employees. In order to measure the study constructs, the survey material was designed interactively in a form of a structured questionnaire. Participants were asked to complete five test instruments, namely, job satisfaction survey (JSS), organisational commitment questionnaire (OCQ), intention to stay questionnaire (ISQ), absenteeism questionnaire (AQ), and individual work performance questionnaire (IWPQ). 600 questionnaires were distributed to the identified sample of academics of which 494 (n) responded. A correlation analysis was conducted to evaluate the strength and effect size of the relationship between the variables. The maximum correlation value between the constructs were 0.442 thus providing evidence of discriminate validity. Factor analysis was performed for organisational commitment questionnaire (OCQ) and individual work performance questionnaire (IWPQ) through statistical software package SPSS version 22.0. Organisational commitment revealed four factors and all of them accounted for satisfactory total variance explained of 65.2%. Work performance revealed three factors, which also accounted for satisfactory total variance explained of approximately 65%. The Mann-Whitney U-test was used to test whether males and females were similar in perception in terms of study constructs. Statistically significant differences were found between gender and four study constructs except work performance. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to examine the differences of the various age categories, which revealed statistically significant differences between the various age categories and study constructs. The reliability results confirmed that all constructs reached the generally agreed upon minimum scale range for Cronbach’s alpha of 0.70. The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed to establish scale accuracy. All measures conformed to acceptable model fit and composite reliability (CR) and revealed that the scales used in this study are reliable. Finally, the structural model was tested; seven postulated hypotheses were supported and one hypothesis (H8) that postulated the relationship between organisational commitment and work performance was rejected. As such, it was concluded that the conceptual model captured accurate relationships among the variables and that organisational commitment has no significant influence on work performance. After reviewing the results, the conclusion was drawn that the study has both theoretical and practical value as envisaged. Theoretically, this research has contributed by further strengthening organisational commitment as a multidimensional construct. Contrary to some previous studies that reported high levels of significance between organisational commitment and work performance this study found no significance between these constructs. These results contribute more to the expanding body of knowledge. The current study added practical value by providing an integrative model that can be used as an important tool by management within the South African universities of technology to understand and manage job satisfaction, organisational commitment, turnover intention, absenteeism and work performance of academics. The results of this study can also be used for future organisational planning and policymaking. A number of recommendations have been made for the attention of relevant stakeholders in the academic environment. Future research possibilities and limitations of the study have also been highlighted.