Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2002. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In the business sector of the Information Society, information plays a crucial role in giving
an enterprise a competitive advantage. Information as a resource in a small enterprise
includes internally produced information, information obtained from the external
environment as well as the knowledge residing in people's heads. However, this
information and knowledge needs to be processed and recorded in physical formats for the
purposes of decision-making and problem solving as it is part of the information resources
of the small enterprise. This study explored the extent of information and knowledge
management in developing communities' small enterprises in pursuit of survival and
success. A deeper understanding of the business information needs, sources of information,
frustrations and problems were investigated in order to establish and meet the specific
needs of small enterprises in developing communities. More specifically, the objective of
the study was to promote effective information organisation in small enterprises, with
special reference to developing communities, as a means to support economic and social
development of South Africa.
For data gathering, a questionnaire was developed and distributed to owner/managers of 17
small enterprises in Kayamandi, a developing community in the Stellenbosch area. The
purpose was to determine owner/managers's needs with regard to information organisation
and to identify existing systems, tools and procedures that might be appropriate for this
sector. The results indicated the absence or insufficient business education of
owner/managers in Kayamandi, which has a damaging effect on their ability to acquire the
information they need for their daily business work and operational activities. Moreover,
the owner/managers do most of their information gathering using a variety of informal
sources, and that information is not organised in information packages. This, in tum,
affects their business development.
Information should interact with tacit knowledge to improve the quality of work. In
addition, the oral tradition should be promoted because it plays an important role in the
daily running of the small enterprises in developing communities. In that sense,
owner/managers should create an environment that can assist in knowledge sharing from
various information sources. Maintaining such knowledge as information in retrieval based information systems could assist owner/managers in the overall functioning of their
businesses because they are faced with the challenge of responding effectively to changing
customer expectations. An affordable information system model is recommended and
structured to fit owner/manager's work habits. The arrangement of information resources
in the system can be used for categorisation of information either in a manual or electronic
system. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In die sakesektor van die Inligtingsamelewing speel inligting 'n kritieke rol om aan 'n
onderneming 'n mededingende voorsprong te bied. Inligting as hulpbron in 'n klein
onderneming sluit in intern-geproduseerde inligting, inligting wat uit die eksterne
omgewing verkry word, asook die kennis wat in mense se koppe is. Dié inligting moet
egter verwerk en vasgelê word in fisiese formate met die oog op besluitneming en
probleemoplossing, aangesien dit deel is van die inligtingshulpbronne van die klein
onderneming. Hierdie studie verken die omvang van inligtings- en kennisbestuur in
ontwikkelende gemeenskappe se klein sake-ondernemings met die oog op oorlewing en
sukses. 'n Dieper begrip is gesoek van die sake-inligtingsbehoeftes, bronne van inligting,
frustrasies en probleme ten einde die spesifieke behoeftes van 'n klein onderneming te
bepaal en daaraan te voldoen. Meer bepaald was die doel van die studie om effektiewe
inligtingsorganisering in klein ondernemings te bevorder, met spesifieke verwysing na
ontwikkelende gemeenskappe, as 'n manier om ekonomiese en sosiale ontwikkeling in
Suid-Afrika te bevorder.
Met die oog op dataversameling is 'n vraelys ontwikkel en versprei onder
eienaarslbestuurders van 17 klein ondernemings in Kayamandi, 'n ontwikkelende
gemeenskap in die Stellenbosch-gebied. Die doel was om eienaars/bestuurders se
behoeftes met betrekking tot inligtingsorganisering te bepaal en stelsels, werktuie en
prosedures te identifiseer wat vir hierdie sektor toepaslik sou wees. Die uitslae dui op die
afwesigheid of ontoereikendheid van sake-opleiding onder die eienaars/bestuurders in
Kayamandi, wat 'n skadelike uitwerking het op hul vermoë om die nodige inligting te
bekom vir hul daaglikse sake-bedrywighede en operasionele aktiwiteite. Verder hanteer die
eienaarslbestuurders grotendeels hul eie inligtingsversameling deur gebruik te maak van 'n
verskeidenheid informele bronne, en hierdie inligting word nie in inligtingspakkette
georganiseer nie. Dit beïnvloed op sy beurt hul sake-ontwikkeling.
Inligting behoort in wisselwerking te wees met versweë kennis ten einde die kwaliteit van
werk te verbeter. Daarby behoort die mondelinge tradisie bevorder te word, want dit
speel 'n belangrike rol in die daaglikse bestuur van die klein sake-ondernemings in
ontwikkelende gemeenskappe. In daardie opsig behoort eienaars/bestuurders 'n omgewing
te skep wat kan help met kennisdeling vanuit verskeie inligtingsbronne. Die
instandhouding van sulke kennis as inligting in herwinningsgebaseerde inligtingstelsels,
sou eienaarslbestuurders kon help in die algehele funksionering van hulondernemings,
want hulle staar die uitdaging in die gesig om effektief te reageer op veranderende klanteverwagtinge.
'n Bekostigbare inligtingstelselmodel word aanbeveel en gestruktureer om by
eienaarslbestuurders se werksgewoontes te pas. Die rangskikking van inligtingsbronne in
die stelsel kan gebruik word vir die kategorisering van inligting óf in 'n hand- óf in 'n
elektroniese stelsel.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:sun/oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/53162 |
| Date | 12 1900 |
| Creators | Magagula, Nomcebo Faith |
| Contributors | Van der Walt, M. S., Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Information Science. |
| Publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en_ZA |
| Detected Language | Unknown |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 122 pages : illustrations |
| Rights | Stellenbosch University |
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