Doctoral Degrees (School for Organisation and Resource Management)

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    The influence of the business environment on Botswana’s public procurement process and its impact on military
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2021-03) Rasetshwane, Bushy Simon; Theletsane, Kula Ishmael; Stellenbosch University. School for Defence Organisation and Resource Management.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: While limited literature on public procurement exists, not much research has been conducted on how the influence of the business environment on public procurement has impacted on military capability in Botswana. The limited literature has only concentrated on reforms, without much emphasis on evaluating the impact on military capability. In attempting to close this gap, this thesis thoroughly explains the concept of public procurement based on the existing literature. Of importance are the legislative and policy frameworks in Botswana in which public procurement is conducted, as well as their implications for defence procurement. In formulating the possible best practice for defence procurement in Botswana, international perspectives were evaluated,which culminated in a regional perspective of conducting defence procurement. This study sought to address the question:“What needs to be done to ensure a prompt and efficient defence force,while being dependent on public procurement that exists in a complex business environment characterised by a bureaucratic system?” In answering this question, this study contributes to addressing the existing deficiency in the literature, as well as contributing a solution to an existing practical problem.This was a qualitative study in approach, case study by design, and an exploratory study by purpose. The study used interviews with a non-statistical expert purposive sampling technique, as well as document analysis. A deductive approach to data analysis and interpretation was adopted through the application of the systems theory and systems thinking approach as major theories. These were augmented with the organisational buying behaviour and dialectical theories. As the analysis was deductive in approach, the elements of systemic structures as derived from the iceberg model were applied for coding. The study concluded that Botswana’s defence procurement requires total structural reforms, which include proper placement of the procurement function, engagement of civil professionals, the development of a security and defence policy, as well as developing a procurement model that will be in line with striking a balance between defence spending and national development goals in line with the current Fourth Industrial Revolution debate.
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    The role of social capital in a trust-building model between police and communities in the Ethekwini Metropolitan Municipality, South Africa
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2020-12) Mkhize, Mbekezeli Comfort; Erasmus, Willem Driesse; Theletsane, Kula Ishmael; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Military Sciences. School for Defence Organisation and Resource Management.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The trust between the police and communities in the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality has conceivably diminished, thereby creating infertile grounds for the implementation of crime prevention strategies and collaborative efforts. In response, this study employed social capital as a trust-building model between the police and communities. While social capital solves social problems through established collaborations and partnerships, a knowledge gap exists in the South African context since not many studies have paid attention particularly to improving police-community relations. In bridging this knowledge gap, this study employed a mixed-methods approach to collect data. To operationalise the approach, structured questionnaires with closed-ended questions were administered to 150 participants. Two focus group interviews were conducted with police officials and Community Policing Forum (CPF) members respectively. Twelve personal in-depth interviews were conducted with traditional and political leaders. Existing literature was used to augment the interviews. Quantitative data were analysed through the use of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), while qualitative data were analysed by means of the content analysis method. The social network theory, social disorganisation theory, and contingency theory were employed to explain the relationships between the police and communities. The key findings reveal that social capital is strong at the level of friends, neighbours, and relatives; however, it is weak when one transcends this level and reaches the level of institutions (especially the police) and how they cooperate with the community. There are challenges that complicate the relationships between the stakeholders. The findings also reveal that the CPF acts as a buffer between the police and the community, but it is unable to function effectively because it is politically aligned, non-functional, and is undermined by uncooperative police officials. There are ongoing power struggles between police officials and CPF members. The findings show that in light of these power struggles, traditional leadership plays a central role in terms of building trust between the police, the CPF, and the community. This is because traditional leadership is seen as impartial as opposed to other role players in the community. As a consequence, this study developed a proposed social capital model that is context specific and anchored on traditional leadership as a pathway to building trust between the police, the CPF, and the community. This study recommends that there should be a mutually beneficial (or synergistic/collaborative) relationship between all the stakeholders that are involved in ensuring safety and security in communities. The study recommends that all stakeholders should undergo training in order to learn how to establish effective collaborative relationships or partnerships. In order to become a sustainable or effective bridge between the police and communities, CPF members should undergo training that involves confidence building, character building, and emotional intelligence. CPF members should be screened before they are elected. Because this study was based in a semi-rural area, a larger study (using a comparative analysis of urban and rural settings) is suggested for future research.
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    A critical analysis of the role of cooperatives in enhancing the socio-economic developments of Chris Hani District Municipality
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2019-12) Gotyi, Zamikhaya Gladwell; Theletsane, Kula Ishmael; Erasmus, W D
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The inclusion of cooperatives in the country’s major development frameworks is a declaration of the government’s confidence in their ability to enhance socio-economic development. Given the conviction, this study was conducted primarily to establish the extent to which cooperatives have enhanced the socio-economic development of poor communities; also to analyse the role of legislation in developing cooperatives; to identify factors that facilitate or impede the development of cooperatives, and lastly; to formulate a framework that can improve the functionality and sustainability of cooperatives. The Chris Hani District Municipality (CHDM) was used as the research site from which a diverse sample of 254 purposively selected state officials, cooperative members, and community members was assembled. Data from the sample was collected by focus groups and in-depth individual interviews. Effectively, the study has used data triangulation in the collection of data and interpretivist thematic content analysis to analyse it. The findings of the study established that cooperatives indeed contribute to socio-economic development. Poor communities use cooperatives for job creation, income generation, poverty alleviation, food security, crime reduction, and community empowerment. Apart from this positive finding, the study has also revealed that the legislation specifically promulgated to support cooperative development is poorly implemented. State institutions meant to implement these laws are reluctant to do so. Moreover, the study has identified a myriad of factors that impede the performance of cooperatives in socio-economic development. Together with poor implementation of the legislation, these factors debilitate the performance of cooperatives and result to their underdevelopment. Overall, this study has established that poor state support is the major factor that hinders the performance of cooperatives in socio-economic development. Based on this finding, the research recommends a comprehensive and integrated support programme as the conceptual framework by which state support should be provided to cooperatives to improve their performance in socio-economic development.
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    Exploring the military role in support of development in Southern Africa
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2019-12) Ramokgadi, Shadrack Baleseng; Theletsane, Kula Ishmael; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Military Sciences. School for Defence Organisation and Resource Management.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Abundant pieces of legislation and policy frameworks exist that link the military role and durable peace, and those that link durable peace and sustainable development. The linkage between the military role and sustainable development is absent in these source documents. The researcher submits that this “absence” constitutes both a theoretical and a policy-based gap that demands the attention of the policy practitioners and scholars in Public Administration. In attempting to close this gap, this study begins with the fundamental concepts that emerged from the literature review. Among others, they include regional administration and defence administration that led to the formulation of regional defence administration (RDA) as a higher-order construct. The concepts “operations other than war” (OOTW) and “operational activities for development” (OAD) led to the formulation of “military operational activities for development” (MOAD). In theorising the concept of MOAD, this study seeks to close the identified gaps. In closing this gap, this study depended on the grounded theory and methodological analysis using case studies selected from Southern Africa. The theoretical sampling method was used to generate data from various databases using three key terms, namely the military role, durable peace, and sustainable development. In analysing and synthesising the emerging data, the study focused on the most common words, utterances, concepts, properties, and categories to formulate the higher-order constructs. Furthermore, the study borrowed from biological studies to juxtapose the “unknown” with the “known” for purposes of theory building. In doing so, the study borrowed from systems thinking, biomimicry, metaphorical thinking, tensegrity systems, design by analogy to biology, and the theory of biological compressions and tensions. These theories assisted the researcher to establish the interdependence of civilian and military organisations that respond to worldwide complex emergencies. In doing so, the researcher argues that rapid responses and effective interventions in managing complex emergencies are a step in achieving the long-term Agenda for Sustainable Development. It is on the basis of this theoretical line of argument that the study establishes the military role in support of development.
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    Knowledge management for the South African Department of Defence
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-12) Putter, Andries Petrus; Theletsane, Kula Ishmael; Jansen Van Rensburg, Johannes Lodewikus; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Military Science. School for Organisation and Resource Management. Dept. of Management [Mil]
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The purpose of this research is to respond to the limited stock of knowledge about military Knowledge Management (KM) and specifically South African Department of Defence (SA DOD) KM. A world in the knowledge era, struggling with data/information saturation, requires KM as an advantage driver and multiplier. The SA DOD is still entrenched in the information era, practising information management as a primary enabler for decision-making, action, effects and advantage. The SA DOD does not seem interested in KM as a primary advantage driver. The research problem and aim of this dissertation are to clarify the extent to which coherent and integrated KM will be beneficial to the SA DOD and what SA DOD KM fundamentals are. The research scope is inclusive of a broad literature review and documents analysis of both the published material on USA military KM and SA DOD legislation and policy, supplemented with questionnaires to a selected sample of SA DOD senior managers. The researcher has a relativist worldview (ontological assumption), calibrated with a constructivist paradigm, favouring a qualitative research methodology and case study research approach/design that will render the rich description of the phenomenon using techniques such as questionnaires and document analysis. A deductive reasoning approach and case study research design was used to structure the research. Document analysis was the primary research method. The secondary research method was questionnaire data collection and analysis to provide insight into the level of interest in KM by the SA DOD and possibly supporting evidence to the findings of the document analysis. The combination of the research philosophy, methodology, design, and methods assisted the researcher in the quest to extract new meaning and propose new solutions for consideration by the SA DOD. A universal definition void for knowledge and KM remains a practical challenge for organisations and a major obstacle to coherence and integration. Literature and business recognise the importance of KM as an advantage multiplier. Even military organisations such as the United States of America (USA) military recognise the importance if KM. The USA military is currently a military KM leader. In contrast, the SA DOD does not recognise the advent of the knowledge era and the importance of KM yet. The SA DOD’s disinterest in KM is based principally on the analysis of legislative, policy and doctrine voids; leadership aspects; information era entrenchment; various levels of misunderstanding; KM policy and doctrine vacuum; and extensive construct dissonance. It is imperative that the SA DOD adopt knowledge era thinking and practice supporting survival and advantage. As a lead department in RSA securing national security, the SA DOD should lead the RSA government in a transition to the knowledge era and KM. Knowledge and KM are fundamental to organisational survival, gaining and sustaining advantage and as enablers to decisions, actions and effects. Public service organisations’, such as the SA DOD, KM motives are typically related to effectiveness and efficiency, economies and risk mitigation. To cope with a world saturated by ubiquitous knowledge continuum artefacts, complexity, and discontinuous change; and fundamental to the decision, action, effect enablers and advantage a KM Capability (KMC) and coherent and integrated KM are recommended by this dissertation for the SA DOD (and probably the entire SA government). SA DOD knowledge is defined by this dissertation as evolving meaning in the form of intellectual capital (IC) that capacitate understanding, decision-making, action, effect and advantage. SA DOD KM is defined by this dissertation as the integrated process transforming organisational IC into evolving meaning to capacitate understanding, decision-making, action, effect and advantage. These definitions are fundamental to a future SA DOD KMC and KM. The dissertation proposes the expansion of KM to Knowledge Continuum Management; within the framework of acknowledging knowledge as a continuum and supporting the continuous requirement for integrated management of divergent approaches, processes and enablers. The dissertation argues for the review of current legislation and the Defence Review 2015 for alignment with the knowledge era. The dissertation argues further for coherent use of constructs such as leadership, IC, capstone military knowledge categories, types of SA DOD knowledge, KM leadership philosophy, and a knowledge continuum (amongst others). Recognition is required for the time-value of the knowledge continuum artefacts, discrepancies in SA DOD policy, doctrine and existing military capability expressions and knowledge security (amongst several others). This should illustrate the importance of knowledge and KM and to recommend possible solutions to a future SA DOD KMC and KM implementation.