Obstacles to good IT governance in the University environment in South Africa
Date
2019
Authors
Mathinya, Lonia Pudikabekwa
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Abstract
There has been global emphasis on improving corporate governance including ability of universities to cope with the challenges of the next industrial revolution. Most organisations including universities are found to be flouting the rules of governance. This report focuses on the obstacles to good ITG (Information Technology Governance) in the university environment in South Africa. The report will be based on a case study that is focused on university of Witwatersrand (Wits) as an institution of higher learning to study the obstacles to good ITG in a university environment.
Various literatures were used as the basis of finding out what were the obstacles to good ITG. Common obstacles from these literatures emerged with top ten obstacles identified. Interviews were conducted on 11 participants representing a sample from a population of 150 at Wits University‟s ICT department.
A qualitative research methodology was used with thematic content analysis of interviews conducted on the responses. The thematic content analysis identified top five themes. The common themes identified from all respondents led to a better understanding of the obstacles and the impact thereof. Some common obstacles from literature review and the themes emerged from the interview process.
The researcher chose to be part of this research project as it met the needs and aspirations of conducting a study in the ICT economic sector. Some of the key findings and obstacles to good IT in this research were, lack of measurement of value of IT services, lack of proper skills within ICT to execute Governance mandate, bureaucracy in approval of ITG policies and enforcement, resistance to change in adopting new governance controls and proper governance approval. Contrary to one‟s belief based on the key findings, it was found that the university has well-established policy approval committees. Conclusion and recommendations were sought and form part of this report
Description
A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Administration
Johannesburg, 2019