Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management (ETDs)

Permanent URI for this community

https://hdl.handle.net/10539/37778

Browse

Browsing Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management (ETDs) by School "With Business School"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Digital transformation in University schools: a case study of a South African Business School
    (2021) Cajee, Yasira
    The concepts of digitisation, digitalisation, digital transformation and digital maturity are both revolutionising and fundamentally evolving the way in which organisations operate. Digital technologies and automation are rapidly introducing changes into customers’ lifestyles, interactions, engagements and requirements with business and organisations globally. Digital transformation is a continuous journey and is impacting different industries in different ways. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the state of digital transformation at Wits Business School (WBS), a South African business school in the higher education sector. The study followed a triangulated qualitative research design, which included multiple data sources in the form of 15 digital semi-structured in-depth interviews with senior and non-senior stakeholders across Wits University currently involved in digital businessrelated initiatives; 160 online qualitative questionnaires from student respondents across WBS; 14 Wits University policy documents; and observational data linked to digitally related projects and initiatives. The data was analysed through a thematic network approach. The research findings pointed to a large gap between WBS’s current digital maturity state and the desired digitally transformed state. The findings indicated that WBS lacks stable leadership to create a digital vision and strategy for digital transformation, which are currently lacking. Cultural transformation is urgently required, coupled with incentives for adopting new digital skills and capabilities into the workforce. Positively, the findings revealed a high level of digital focus across all areas of the value chain both in WBS and Wits University. Six areas were identified as the main factors hindering digital transformation: Leadership, Governance, Strategy and Vision, Culture, Business Models and Platforms, and Technological Resources and Capabilities. The research recommends bold, agile and transformative leadership; a clearly articulated digital vision and strategy; improved digital skills with a digitally inculcated cultural mind-set; and a revised organisational structure that incorporates crossfunctional teams from different areas of the value chain coupled with integrated technological architecture and platforms, supported through digitalised governance policies and appropriate data analytics.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The influence of automation on employment in the South African manufacturing industry
    (2021) Mathebula, Nkhensani Nancy
    Orientation: There are emerging uncertainties that automation causes job losses, especially in the manufacturing industry because it is a labour-intensive industry. Motivation of the study: The beverage manufacturing sector is essential because it contributes to the GDP of developing countries, as it is one of contributors of job creation. Purpose of the study: This study aims to identify the influence of automation on the South African beverage manufacturing industry, the objective is to investigate whether automation creates jobs, or it causes job losses. Methodology: This was a qualitative study, where seven semi-structured virtual interviews were conducted to collect data. Purposive sampling was used, the population for this study were employees who are working in the beverage manufacturing industry in Gauteng and Mpumalanga provinces, South Africa. Thematic analysis was used to analyse and interpret collected data. The key findings of the study: The results of this study shows that automation creates new jobs for skilled workers, however, the study revealed that low-skilled workers who do repetitive work are vulnerable to losing their jobs when automation is introduced in the beverage manufacturing industry. The findings of the study also show that, employers upskill and train low skilled workers and old aged workers as a retention plan to reduce job losses workers whenever automation is introduced in the industry .The results of this study show that automation increases production and revenue for beverage manufacturers. Practical and theoretical contribution: Automation should be embraced in the beverage manufacturing industry because it creates jobs, and it increases production and revenue for beverage manufacturing firms. Conclusion: Adoption of automation can be a threat to low skilled workers, although it is able to create new jobs for skilled workers in the industry. Automation enables the beverage manufacturing industry to grow revenue as a result of an increase in production. Recommendations: In accordance with the literature reviewed and the findings of this study, it is recommended that automation be embraced by the beverage manufacturing industry in South Africa since automation would lead to an increase in production and returns in revenue for the manufacturers. It is further recommended that employees in the manufacturing sector be less anxious or less worried about the adoption of automation because automation presents new opportunities to learn new things and it creates new jobs. Based on the findings of this study it is recommended that employers should continue to train and up skill workers whenever automation is introduced in the beverage manufacturing industry in order to preserve jobs across their human resource spectra and affect positively the South African unemployment statistics