Electronic Theses and Dissertations (Masters/MBA)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10539/37942

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The implementation of digital transformation in the South African retail industry
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Nkosi, Mathandi; Magida, Ayanda
Many organisations across all industries are pressured to re-think and re-imagine theirorganisational structures, processes and business models in light of the digital era. Thisincrease has disrupted organisations, as technology is changing how organisationsoperate, and most are pressed to move from their original business models. Thistransformation of business models, processes and business outcomes enabled by anorganisation’s ability to apply new digital technologies to transform their current businessmodels and processes is referred to as Digital Transformation. Organisations withsuccessful DT implementation have recorded benefits in interacting with their customers.It also results in streamlined business processes and the creation of new business models.This study explored the current understanding, implementation drivers, and challenges ofDT implementation within the SA retail sector, focusing on those in leadership positionsand DT SMEs to gain insight into the current status quo and identify any misalignmentswithin the sector. This exploratory study examines the implementation of DigitalTransformation (DT) in the South African retail sector. Semi-structured interviews wereused to conduct this study to explore the participants’ experiences and knowledge; thestudy participants were individuals who were in leadership positions or were DT subjectmatter experts.Some of the key research findings from the study established the understating of DT inthe retail sector when participants defined DT as inclined towards process changes,process improvements, and transformation of the organisation. E-commerce emerged asa key DT trend within the retail sector
Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Legislation’s (B-BBEE) Role in Evincing Financial Inclusion in South Africa's Banking Industry
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Khomunala, Avhasei; Horne, Renee
The study aims to analyse the social and economic transformation brought about by the Broad- Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) Act 53 of 2003, as amended by Act 46 of 2013. This delves into the impacts of the Amended Financial Sector Code (FS Code) on the banking industry, particularly analysing the effects of the Empowerment Financing (FS600) and Access to Financial Services (FS700) elements. The first objective explores the intricacies of South Africa’s policy structures and historical backdrop of the country that could potentially impact the decision-making process of the financial industry when executing transformative initiatives. The second objective is to recognise the constraints impeding the achievement of financial inclusivity within the banking sector and evaluate the influence of the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B- BBEE) legislation in relation to the Amended FS Code with regards to the Banking industry . The research recommends a revision in the monitoring approach of the B-BBEE legislation in South Africa by drawing upon insights from international leaders and utilizing these discoveries to offer effective strategies for enhancing the involvement of marginalized communities. A quantitative research methodology was deployed by the extraction of secondary data for studying Bank’s financial inclusion initiatives and primary data through questionnaires disseminated to Beneficiaries of the two elements by means of targeting students of University of the Witwatersrand and professionals on LinkedIn. Through its quantitative assessment, descriptive statistics, Crosstabs, Chi-square analysis, and a summary of the results and explanation was provided. The comprehensive analysis of the South African Banking Industry as implementors of financial inclusion initiatives demonstrates significant advancements and positive trends. Furthermore, the dissertation normality tests, revealing significant departures from normal distribution assumptions for specific variables and residing area levels
Transformation from product-orientation to solution proposition – a case study within a health technology company in Africa
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2021) Mosese, Manthisana; Mosala, Thabo
The concept of selling integrated solutions, as opposed to selling individual products, has emerged as a method of understanding and addressing customers’ problems holistically. As such, this concept has become popular, particularly in business-to-business (B2B) companies that seek differentiation in highly commoditised markets. The purpose of this research was to explore key success factors for transforming from product-orientation to integrated solutions for a multi-national B2B Healthtech company. The study was supported by the theories of organisational design, service dominant logic and absorptive capacity. The research adopted an exploratory, qualitative single case study method. Data were collected from internal company documents and portals as well as from a sample of 11 participants from the case company – ranging from executive level to middle management– using semi-structured interviews. The resultant data from the interviews were analysed using a combination of methods including the NVivo tool. The findings indicate that a successful transformation program from product-orientation to solution-orientation for the Healthtech company requires structural changes in the company’s organisational design as well as its capabilities. The results further indicate that the adoption and utilisation of value co-creation is pertinent in addressing customer problems and can produce quantifiable value for both the company and its customers
Leadership in a strategy implementation project office in South Africa
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2021) Lepan, Quincy; Munkuli, Bongani
The Project Management Office plays a critical role in organizations in South Africa. It needs to ensure it has articulated all projects that entail an organization. The current paper’s essence is to examine Project Management Office leadership in South Africa with specific Project Management Office (PMO) and Project Management Office (PMO) leaders’ success. It also attempts to understand the impact that Project Management Office (PMO) maturity has on the success of projects. Finally, it considers the measurements used in understanding the success of a project. It uses a qualitative design approach with 27 respondents, and the responses undergo thematic analysis to understand the implications of the current study. The paper shows a strong correlation between Project Management Office maturity in South Africa with effective leadership with strong technical skills and high emotional intelligence (emotional quotient EQ) and interpersonal relationship skills. It also indicates a need to improve communication skills and flexibility in project management which is majorly lacking in failed projects despite the improvement depicted over the years. The paper shows that the success of the Project Management Offices is down to the leadership of the PMO and leads to a resultant increase in maturity and project performance
Implementation of digital transformation in a public entity
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Mokhabela, Kolwani Star; Magida, Ayanda
Public entities strive to have digital transformation in their organisations; they strategise and organise themselves; however, they face challenges with implementation. This study aims to investigate the progress that one South African public entity (PE) has made towards digital transformation, the processes followed in implementing, unpack the challenges and recommend strategies that any public entity can use for better future implementations. A qualitative methodology was followed using semi-structured interviews conducted on a sample of fifteen participants within the public entity who are role players or have participated in digital transformation processes from executives, management and project team members. A thematic analysis of the data was made. Conclusions and recommendations were made around the capabilities and challenges of the public entity, integration of processes, performance measurement, IT skills and overall motivation for employee engagement and adoption of digital transformation and how all these phenomena have a close interaction with each other to achieve a better chance of success on future DT implementations
Extent of Large-Scale Agile Transformation within Momentum Investments Software Delivery Teams
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022) Coutinho, Neil Karamagi; Lee, Greg
Large-scale Agile transformations expand on Agile principles of flexible, speedy, incremental and iterative development by applying these principles on an enterprise level framework. Momentum Investments has been on a multi-year Agile transformation process within its software delivery teams implemented with Scaled Agile Framework for Enterprise (SAFeÒ) as their large-scale Agile framework of choice. For Momentum Investments, it therefore becomes imperative to take stock as to what degree its multiple software delivery teams have benefited from this process. Specifically, from a software quality and software value standpoint to help define the company’s future strategies. A longitudinal quantitative study was performed on multiple years of team project data collected through Momentum Investments internal project management tool. Key metrics investigated were feature and defect density levels, task resolutions times and task priority. Key findings showed that Momentum Investments has realised benefits in terms of task resolution times as well as a marginal improvement in the overall levels of features and defects resolved. However, concerns regarding improvement and refinement of quality assurance processes, task prioritisation and task metrics completeness were revealed. The findings recommend that Momentums Investments should take a more wholistic refinement and improvement approach to quality assurance and testing practices based on the Agile testing matrix. Additionally, economic views and systems thinking should play a more pivotal role in task prioritisation activities. Furthermore, teams should be more accurate and diligent in better recording task metrics for future analysis
A comparative analysis of transformation between local and global media and advertising agencies in South Africa
(University of the Witswatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Ndinguri, Kevin
Poverty, unemployment and inequality among black people have been identified as key consequences of apartheid. To redress these, the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act was enacted. In the Media and Advertising industry in South Africa, the B-BBEE Act is translated through the Media and Communications Charter (MAC) which describes five elements, namely; management inclusion, skills development, responsible advertising, preferential procurement and socio-economic development. Most of the media industry studies on the compliance to the MAC charter focus on descriptions of how companies have applied the B-BBEE Act. This study’s specific objectives were to describe the nature of transformation in local media and advertising agencies, describe the nature of transformation in global media and advertising agencies and describe the effect of B-BBEE codes on local and global media and advertising agencies in South Africa. The study used a qualitative approach and an exploratory-descriptive design. The data collection tool was semi-structured interviews and data was collected through in-depth interviews. Data were analysed using thematic content analysis and presented in narrative format.The study found four themes that compare the transformation of local and global media and advertising agencies. The first theme is that transformation has taken place in local media agencies, the second is that few transformation initiatives have taken place in global media companies. The third theme is that B-BBEE codes have enabled local media companies to secure clients and the fourth theme is that B-BBEE codes have obligated global media agencies to transform the way they manage their businesses. In conclusion, global media and advertising agencies have been affected by transformation through increased diversity and change in the way they managed their businesses. Recommendations for future research should use a quantitative approach to enable the generalisation of findings
Leadership coaching and transformation in the South African mining sector
(2022) Sibindi, Mandlenkosi
Transformation in the South African mining sector is moving at a slow pace. This study was to determine how the sector used leadership coaching to resolve its reported transformation challenges. The data for this study was collected through semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis was used for the data analysis. The population consisted of human resources managers, coaches and coachees from the mining sector. The key findings from the research were that leadership coaching is used as a support structure for Historically Disadvantaged South Africans (HDSA) identified for transformation vacancies. However, leadership coaching was not the only intervention used and there are other success factors necessary for leadership coaching and transformation to thrive. There are also barriers that hinder transformation and coaching within the mining sector. While research has been conducted on transformation and coaching, it has mostly focused broadly on all industries and not specifically on the mining sector. It is envisioned that this research will contribute towards the body of knowledge in this regard. It is also envisaged that this study will provide a better understanding of the impact of coaching on sustainable transformation in the mining sector.
The influence of systemic team coaching on diversity and inclusion management in corporate South Africa
(2022) Segalo, Thuli Nokuphiwa
In the multicultural South African (SA) organisational context, effective diversity and inclusion (D&I) management is an organisational imperative. Organisations are challenged with finding effective and sustainable ways to manage D&I. Multicultural teams are at the centre of providing innovation and creativity value for organisations. The ineffective management of D&I has consequences for organisations, such as, increased grievance complaints, declining employee engagement, negative impacts on talent management, and ultimately, impacts the organisation’s competitive advantage and performance. This study explores the influence of systemic team coaching (STC) on D&I management in SA organisations. This was a mixed-methods study that used a sequential explanatory design and had two distinct phases: quantitative and qualitative. The quantitative data acquired via a survey questionnaire was analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Semi-structured interviews were conducted to acquire qualitative data, which were subsequently subjected to thematic analysis. The results and findings were integrated utilising joint display analysis. The study found that key diversity and inclusion enabling elements are inherent in the experience accounts of team coaching by managers and teams. Team coaching enabled the facilitation of increasing team awareness, building trust and psychological safety, creating space for team members to feel heard, and valued. The study contributes valuable insights for HR professionals and leaders in how STC contributes to the effective management of D&I. The study adds knowledge on team coaching, team effectiveness, D&I management. The study concludes that STC is a practical intervention which enables the support of organisational teams to effectively manage D&I complexities.
Artificial Intelligence-driven transformation of risk management function in the South African Telecommunications Industry
(2022) Ramatar, Nitesh
Current Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions focus on improving business operational processes and specific applications within the risk management fraternity. AI enables organisations to accelerate processes rapidly. However, this fast pace introduces new risk exposures that require proactive risk management. Therefore, this study explored whether AI should be utilised within the risk function of a telecommunications company, to make the function proactive. The research adopted an exploratory approach that involved conducting face-to-face interviews with risk management professionals within the telecommunications environment. The respondents’ feedback was consolidated to identify and analyse findings. Findings noted that risk functions should adopt AI to help them transition from a reactive to a proactive function. However, key challenges, such as budget constraints, poor stakeholder buy-in, and limited access to AI skills and appropriate use cases, prevent risk functions from adopting AI. Establishing change management initiatives is recommended to create a culture that can overcome these challenges.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations (Masters/MBA)

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