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- ItemOpen AccessCan the wide range of resource behaviours evident across the ABFT MSE interim grid of OMS be “tamed” by the feedback control provided by a CMP?(ICCAT, 2020) Butterworth, Doug; Rademeyer, RebeccaThe interim grid of OMs is used to explore the 30-year projection behaviour for catches and the status of the eastern and western ABFT stocks (expressed in terms of their abundance relative to dynamic Bmsy by the Br30 statistic) for both constant future catches and some simple “Fixed Proportion” CMPs. If current TACs continue unchanged, both stocks are rendered extinct for about 20% of the 96 OMs of the interim grid. Fortunately, however, this undesirable feature can be “tamed” through the feedback control mechanism of the CMPs, which can prevent occurrences of extinction. The trade-off between catches and final abundance across the OMs, as the control parameters of the CMPs are varied from lower to higher harvesting intensities, are illustrated. The need to focus on CMP refinement to reduce the spread of the Br30 distributions across the OMs is stressed. Priorities for future work are listed; these include the use of these CMP results to indicate which of the uncertainty axes in the current grid have the greater impacts on MP performance. The interim grid provides a useful framework to continue this work, even though (together with advice on final management objectives and desired trade-offs) it still awaits finalisation.
- ItemOpen AccessA Work Systems View of Unplanned Business Process Change: The Case of #feesmustfall at a South African University(2019) Joubert, Trevor; Seymour, LisaAim/Purpose Improving or changing business processes is one of the most important roles for Information technologies functions. Yet, most organizations struggle with planned process change and even more with unplanned change. There is little support from research as the dynamics of planned process change is understud-ied and unplanned process change is seldom researched. Background This paper describes the impact of unplanned business process change from a systems perspective. The #feesmustfall student protest movement, which be-gan in 2015, and affected Universities throughout South Africa provides the context. Methodology An interpretive abductive case study at a South African university used Steven Alter’s Work System framework to describe the unplanned business process change that occurred due to the #feesmustfall student protest movement. Contribution Theoretically, this paper demonstrates the practical use of Alter’s work system framework to analyze unplanned business process change. Practically, it de-scribes and explains the impacts of the change which may be useful to execu-tives or administrators responsible for operational systems within organizations. Findings During unplanned business process change, change management, staff training, customizable technology and strategic fluidity and focus were found to be im-portant. Unplanned business process change results in all elements of the work systems and its environment changing, even resulting in changed products and customer behavior. Impact on Society If organizations are more aware of the impacts of unplanned process change they will be better equipped to control them. Future Research Future action research studies on unplanned business process change could suggest actions for manager’s dealing with them. Keywords business process management, work system theory, systems thinking, un-planned change, #feesmustfall
- ItemOpen AccessPredatory publishing from the Global South perspective(Radical Open Access Conference, 2018-06-29) Raju, Reggie; Nyahodza, Lena; Claassen, JillThe publication of research outputs, in the main, has a social justice aim that is enacted by the desire of researchers to share their research findings for the betterment of society. There is a strong belief in the necessity of a symbiotic relationship between reader and researcher. This relationship is supported by the view that access to published knowledge is essential for the production of new knowledge, and new research builds on previous knowledge, establishing its validity through collective scrutiny. Traditionally, research has been made public through journals, meeting proceedings, and books produced largely by commercial publishers, and access to this research has had to be bought.
- ItemRestrictedThe Single Public Service: The Recentralisation of South African Local Government?(University of Cape Town, 2018-02-28) Cameron, RobertThe South African Constitution of 1996 vested local government with substantial decentralised powers. The intergovernmental framework moved from a hierarchical system towards a three-sphere system of government where the spheres are distinctive, interdependent and interrelated. The powers and functions of local government are entrenched in the Constitution. Local government has the ability to govern to govern the local government affairs of the community with limited ability of national and provincial government to intervene. However the results of this local government experiment have been mixed. A number of studies have pointed this out. Atkinson (2007) points out that local government is characterised by poor service delivery, poor responsiveness of municipalities to citizens’ grievances, a culture of self-enrichment amongst councillors and staff along with poor support from higher tiers of government. Cameron (2007) points out that that while there are pockets of excellence, local government is characterised by lack of capacity, clientelism and patronage. This has also been acknowledged by the government. A Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) report (2006A) stated that local government was characterised by ineffective and inefficient use of resources, poor revenue collection and poor operation and maintenance of existing infrastructure. The state is gradually beginning to recentralise local government powers. Centralisation is seen as a way of improving service standards. A number of measures have been taken which have begun to erode local government’s autonomy. This paper looks at the pending Single Public Service legislation which aims to transfer local government staff into the national and provincial public service. It is argued that this is not merely a technical Public Administration measure. It will be shown that the introduction of this legislation will lead to local government employees’ accountability being directed upwards and the erosion of local democracy. Furthermore, while local government has problems of capacity and corruption, its problems are no worse than the other spheres of government.
- ItemOpen AccessSchool-leaving and university entrance assessments in explaining performance in Engineering studies(South African Society for Engineering Education, 2018-02-16) Prince, RobertOnly about 40% of South African first-time entering Engineering cohorts graduate within five years. An argument has been made that selection mechanisms will be needed to identify students who have the prior knowledge and ability needed to succeed in regular programmes and that selection tools such as Grade 12 results and other nationally or locally designed placement tests, such as the National Benchmark Tests (NBTs), be used for this purpose. The NBTs are a set of optional standardised tests that assess whether first-time applicants to South African universities are ready for the academic demands of tertiary education. The contribution of the NBTs to admission and placement has been investigated by a number of authors who have examined their effectiveness at forecasting success and for determining the need for additional academic support. None of these studies have focussed on Engineering or used dominance analysis as a method. This study focusses on cohorts from the Engineering and the Built Environment Faculty at a South African University. It uses linear regression and dominance analysis as well as categorical methods to investigate the contributions made by the national assessments in explaining higher education performance to inform Engineering admission, especially placement, policies as well as curriculum practices. The value of this information has significant potential to enhance retention and graduation if used appropriately. If South African universities are to continue to provide access, redress and success, particularly to students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds, they should consider not only students’ school-leaving performance but also their strengths and weaknesses as diagnosed through the NBTs.