Transformation Imperatives Research Articles

“Going beyond the call of duty”: academic agency and promoting transformation for sustainability in higher education

Purpose In the past decade, against increasing global inequality, higher education has grappled with increased demands for social justice, transformation and decolonisation. While a lot of research in South Africa has focused on the (im)possibilities of fostering racial, gendered, socio-economic and cultural change, the connection of such change to questions of sustainability has been less explored. The purpose of this paper is to specifically explore the agency of academics to foster transformative initiatives for sustainability within the context of institutions historically serving under-represented populations. Design/methodology/approach Using a qualitative methodology, this paper highlights the importance of considering sustainability in processes of transformation. This paper is specifically interested in how academic faculty and those in assigned leadership positions view their agency in relation to promoting transformation for sustainability at the institutional level. Drawing on data generated from semi-structured interviews with 13 participants at an historically Black university in South Africa, this paper details academics' and leaders’ experiences and perceptions of their agency. Findings This study reveals the adverse interactional dynamics within higher education institutions, which negatively impact academics’ participation as key agents in change processes. Positional and identity challenges faced reveal the persistence of colonial and apartheid legacies of racism, sexism, Afrophobia and xenophobia – which casts a shadow on possible trajectories of transformation and sustainability. This has serious implications for the common good, given South Africa's regional import for knowledge production and decolonisation within universities; its key role in the African 2063 Agenda; and the wider global Sustainable Development agenda. Originality/value This study highlights insufficient engagement with the sustainability of transformation efforts within the context of South Africa. This study also emphasises the relation between transformation imperatives and racial, socio-economic, gender and epistemic justice imperatives of sustainable development.

Securing Tomorrow: Synergizing Change Management and Cybersecurity in the Digital Era

Abstract In the rapidly evolving business environment of 2024, organizational change management (OCM) leaders face unprecedented challenges driven by technological advancements, digital transformation, the integration of remote work, and a heightened focus on sustainability. This study examines the efficacy of traditional OCM models in addressing these modern complexities. Through a qualitative methodology employing an extensive literature review, the research identifies vital issues such as resistance to change, digital transformation imperatives, the shift to remote and hybrid work models, and the imperative for sustainable and ethical business practices. The study posits that while classical OCM frameworks offer foundational insights, there is a pressing need for more adaptive, inclusive, and flexible approaches to navigate the nuanced demands of the contemporary and future business landscape. Expected findings suggest the integration of agile methodologies, technology adoption, and a shift towards a culture of continuous change and employee empowerment as critical strategies for effective change management. These insights aim to guide OCM leaders in developing strategies that address the current challenges but also anticipate the dynamics of future organizational change, thus contributing to the broader discourse on evolving OCM practices in a digital and globally interconnected era.

Towards transforming teaching and learning in higher education: interrogating poverty through a decolonial perspective

This paper aims to address three questions relating to the imperatives of knowledge transformation, the impact of poverty broadly and material poverty in particular, and questions of pedagogy or approaches to delivering knowledge in higher education institutions. Transformation of teaching and learning in higher education is at a crossroads in South Africa. A major driver of this is the recently emerged student-led protests on decolonisation. At these crossroads are a number of factors with the potential to facilitate or inhibit the decolonisation process. First is a conceptual paralysis regarding understanding of the idea in the country’s higher education. Second are competing ideological imperatives which confound universities’ strategic choices. Third is the fact that the academy has a high proportion of staff who themselves are products of the system they hope to transform. The paper utilises conceptual and theoretical arguments to explore the state of teaching and learning in South Africa and to learn how the protests have enhanced or/and diminished educational gains among students who are poverty stricken and facing deprivation. The paper argues for a theory of decoloniality to shape thinking and practices which enable higher education institutions to transform teaching and learning and specially to drive the type of transformation which enhances poor students’ epistemological access. The paper recommends investment in further research to explore the impact of material poverty in higher education and how the transformation of knowledge and pedagogy could be better understood for the majority of students who live with poverty in higher education.

Digital transformation strategies of project-based firms: case study of a large-scale construction company in China

Purpose This study aims to explore how project-based firms, which generally organize most of their work around temporary projects in discontinuous and fragmented types of business contexts, proactively formulate and implement digital transformation strategies under institutional pressures in a predigital era. Design/methodology/approach An exploratory case study was conducted in a large-scale construction company in China using multiple data collection methods, including semistructured interviews, documentation collection and observation. Findings An integrated framework is developed to conceptualize three key dimensions of digital transformation strategies of project-based firms: strategic adaptation for organization-environment fit through balancing the internal efficiency needs with the external legitimacy pressures; proactive business transformation through comprehensively managing the roles of digital technologies in optimizing defined business processes and fostering new business models; and delicate organizational transformation to integrate temporary project-level operation processes with ongoing firm-level business processes. Originality/value This study represents an exploratory effort to empirically investigate how project-based firms strategically organize complex digital transformation imperatives in their discontinuous and fragmented business contexts. The findings contribute to deepened understandings of how complex organizational and environmental contexts can be comprehensively managed for systemic business and organizational transformations to leverage the value of emerging digital technologies for project-based organizations.

University transformation and governance: An evaluation of King IV-fit

The notion of transformation and governance in universities inspired this study. The study’s aims were to evaluate the extent to which King IV serves the transformation agenda of universities and provide recommendations for future King Code instalments given transformation imperatives in South Africa. Considering specific university contexts, literature provides a suite of governance models. The country’s need to achieve transformation targets brings complexities to the purest forms of governance models. A literature search strategy and simplified meta-synthesis approach were applied to transformation and governance literature. Types of transformation (Colloff et al., 2017) and seven university governance models (Baldridge, 1971; Meyer, 2007; Trakman, 2008) were reviewed. Achieving a mix of positives from various codes was found to be possible, and an enabling transformed governance mechanism was proposed, King IV’s application has transformation limitations making it less suitable as universities’ governance framework designed to attain transformation objectives. The study recommends that future instalments of the King Code need to extensively address aspects of socio-economic transformation in similar magnitudes as the current instalment does principles and practices. Additionally, universities should not be tied to one code’s provisions, universities examine and implement governance systems grounded in African cultures, and future research should be conducted around indigenous governance knowledge and systems which should shape governance models for universities.

Changing the Visual Landscape

The national #RhodesMustFall and #FeesMustFall student protests of 2015–2016 at universities across South Africa foregrounded the need for the transformation, decolonisation, redress and Africanisation of the country’s higher education institutions. One of the ways that Stellenbosch University (SU) has endeavoured to address transformation-related challenges linked to symbols and names is with the Visual Redress Project, whose aim is to change the visual landscape of the university’s campuses. This paper explores the reactions of students and staff to initiatives carried out thus far by the Visual Redress project on SU’s Stellenbosch campus. It attempts to contribute to the discourse around the transformation of higher education in South Africa through a look at how social cohesion and the sharing of stories and identities could be achieved on SU’s campus through visual redress. It draws upon and expands on the existing research on visual redress conducted at the University (Fataar & Costandius, 2021; Costandius et al., 2020; Clarke & Costandius, 2019). The paper aims not only to provide insight into SU’s transformation efforts but to also use these responses and reactions to potentially inform future transformation imperatives and redress initiatives in particular on this and other campuses locally and globally.

Imperatives for Transformation of the International Monetary System in the Conditions of Multipolarity

The neoliberal model of globalization promoted the outstripping growth of financial assets over the development of the real sector. The functioning of the international monetary system (IMS), based on one key national currency — the US dollar, has led to the financialization of the world economy and the formation of global imbalances. The purpose of the article is to substantiate the need to replace US-centric financial institutions with new institutions at the regional level and to transform the IMS in the direction of monetary polycentrism and regionalization. The paper discusses the mutual responsibility of the core and periphery countries for the formation of global imbalances. The financial and economic indicators of sovereign states, transnational companies and transnational banks are compared according to the “scale” of globalization. The study shows chronic disproportions between the dynamics of global capital growth and economic growth rates, leading to the state’s loss of control over the reproduction process. It is substantiated that the current transformation of the IMS in the direction of monetary polycentrism and regionalization is a natural reaction to these imbalances. The article reveals a negative relationship between the implementation of procyclical and anti-crisis monetary policies by the central banks of developed countries and the competitive positions of developing countries in international financial and commodity markets. The factors of using the oligopoly of the Big Three credit rating agencies as a “soft power” to maintain the US global hegemony and the status of the US dollar as a key reserve currency are systematized. The author concludes that in order for developing countries to form their own international liquidity, it is necessary to stimulate the internationalization of their currencies by developing pan-Asian financial institutions and encouraging competition between them and the existing institutions of the IMS.

A Perspective on Digital Transformation Among Indian Exporting Firms

The objective of this prospective study is to demonstrate the challenges faced by business organizations while adapting to the new digital landscape. The idea is to assist in breaking down the complex process of digital transformation and strengthen the management perspective in the area. The study argues how manufacturing exporting firms could develop a digital transformation strategy that includes a different aspect of the strategy tailored to the nature of the Indian exporting firms. Dealing with different aspects of digital transformation, the study discusses different perspectives such as core competencies, internal drivers of digital transformation (IDDT) and external drivers of digital transformation (EDDT), enablers of digital transformation (EDT), new capabilities required and strategic imperatives of digital transformation. Synthesizing digitalization through these lenses can help in developing and implementing a successful digital transformation strategy.

Anthropocene

Measured in terms of its dissemination and the resonances it generates, the term Anthropocene has had and continues to have an extraordinarily successful career. This career can be attributed neither to its factual accuracy alone nor to non-scientific criteria. Instead, the history of ideas provides the clues for understanding its terminological success and its evolution. More precisely, the term Anthropocene congenially bundled previously prominent ideas – namely environmental styles of thought, planetary perspectives, and transformation imperatives. As a consequence the term Anthropocene evolved from a mere observational category to an encompassing categorical formula for perceiving the world with yet unknown ontoepistemological effects for Geography as a discipline.

Negotiating Different Worlds and Diverse Cultural Legacies Through Applied Creative Practice in a Situated Learning Project: Hlakanyana 2022

Prism-like, the 2022 Hlakanyana project at the University of Johannesburg’s (UJ) Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture (FADA) refracted both clear and shadowy issues embedded in arts, culture and pedagogy in a society grappling with decolonisation. Participation in the project indicated that transformation imperatives have been compounded by the socio-economic consequences of a two-year lockdown. On 8 March, some 300 masked second-year students, seated in Keorapetse William Kgositsile Theatre auditorium, were introduced to a project that has come to be known as Theatre 101. Daunted and uncertain, they, like similar groups before them, were confronting requirements of designing for an unfamiliar medium amplified by the logistical implications of group work at the start of returning to face-to-face learning. Initial responses at the briefing session indicated skepticism towards an undertaking in which multiplicities converged. My role throughout, as professional designer and academic, was that of participant–observer, and this reflexive report documents the spectrum of intertwined issues that emerged in the UJ initiative rather than pursing a single aspect for sustained interrogation.

A SYSTEM DYNAMICS APPROACH TO POSTAL DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION DYNAMICS: A CAUSAL LOOP DIAGRAM (CLD) PERSPECTIVE

Postal operators across the globe are faced with inescapable business model disruptions in the era of the digital economy, and Southern Africa is no exception. The advent of the digital age presents both opportunities and threats to business models of the industrial age, as digitalisation has led to the sustained decline of mail volumes as the core business of the postal service for the past 100 years. The replacement of traditional physical mail with electronic alternatives was a spectre that haunted the postal service for more than two decades; and the arrival of the digital age has accelerated the decline of mail volumes at an unprecedented speed as it spreads through almost every sector of society and as the digital economy becomes the preferred platform for conducting business. The digital economy requires postal operators to develop digital competitiveness, which entails investment in digital infrastructure and skills, and to transform their business model in the context of the digital age. The complex dynamics of the process of digital transformation necessitate a systems approach to understanding those dynamics. System dynamics can be a significant tool for comprehending behaviour, especially dynamic behaviour. This paper adopted a high-level modelling approach in which a dynamic hypothesis was developed through the articulation of a sub-system diagram that articulated the dynamic variables at play, a model boundary chart that articulated the nature of the variables (which are both exogenous and endogenous), and causal loop diagrams that explain the dynamic feedback relationship between the variables. This paper focused on the digital transformation imperatives to build the digital competitiveness of the postal sector in Southern Africa. The results point to the complex interaction of the variables that drive the digital competitiveness of the postal sector; and it is by comprehending these complexities that decision-makers and policymakers could steer the postal sector on to a digital-age path and into a sustainable future. Keywords : Digital transformation, dynamic hypothesis, model boundary chart, subsystem diagram, causal loop diagrams

CORRUPTION IN LAND ADMINISTRATION AND GOVERNANCE: A HURDLE TO TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE IN POST-APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA?

The persistence of corruption in post-apartheid South Africa and the failure to control it adequately pose a significant threat to the country’s transitional justice project and transformation imperatives. This article provides a detailed account of the depth and impact of corruption in land administration and governance in South Africa. It relies on the documented evidence of corruption scandals to establish the emerging trends, scope and impact of land-related corruption. The article is premised on the notion that corruption (which has become an intrinsic political norm in South Africa) not only impedes development and exacerbates rife inequalities in land ownership and access as a result of the apartheid regime, but also strangles the aims and objectives of transitional justice, which are to alleviate those inequalities. A further premise is that land-related corruption is a direct manifestation of untrammeled political power, patronage and impunity. The article problematises the latter premise and tackles the former by attempting to understand the complex interfaces between land, human rights, corruption and women in South Africa. Women are singled out from vulnerable groups because land ownership has traditionally been, and arguably still is, a male privilege. Of concern is the scale and pace of corruption, which boosts this anomaly, allowing it to thrive exponentially in post-apartheid South Africa. The article also presents a brief overview of operational and institutional challenges facing various initiatives aimed at combatting corruption generally. It concludes by proposing some realistic options to consider for the way forward.

Urban planning and degrowth: a missing dialogue

ABSTRACT The paper aims at discussing the reciprocity of developing a dialogue between urban planning and degrowth by arguing for two interactive processes: ‘spatialising degrowth’ and ‘degrowing planning’. Degrowth literature has not yet fully recognised the potentiality of urban/urban regional spatial development and planning in facilitating and driving the degrowth transformation for local and regional sustainability and justice. The possibility of urban planning to facilitate a downscaling of the economy, save the environment and secure distributive justice is predicated on the causal relationships between space and societal conditions. Therefore, planning has the potentiality of providing spatial instruments in a degrowth transformation. On the other hand, the mainstream growth-oriented planning paradigm is facing internal and external imperatives for transformation. Degrowth values and principles provide inspiration for urban planning to rethink its role and function in urban and societal development, specifically on three fronts: ideology, substantive values and utopianism. The paper further discusses the dilemmas and advantages of planners, being situated in the complex political and institutional landscape, in taking proactive transformative practices.

ЛОГІСТИКА ЯК КОМПОНЕНТ ТОВАРНОГО СЕКТОРУ ЕКОНОМІКИ: ПРОБЛЕМНІ АСПЕКТИ ТА ОСОБЛИВОСТІ РОЗВИТКУ

The article considers theoretical and practical aspects of the development and justification of the imperative of transformation of supply chains and logistics services of the consumer market commodity movement system adequate to the principles of organizing modern trade in a multi-channel sales model. Factors and problems of transformational development of trade and logistics infrastructure of the commodity market are considered. The directions of development and institutional changes in the structure of the logistics market are revealed. Identify the main imperatives of qualitative transformation of logistics outsourcing in the supply chains of the consumer market. Approaches to the formation of the foundations of the theory of market cooperation are studied and the current mechanics of transactions are researched, the nature and sources of its institutional defects are identified. Conceptual approaches to the formation of empirical features of the development of logistics of goods supply to the consumer market in the context of digitalization of supply chains are analyzed. The structural features of the transformation of the sales model as a factor of supply chain reorganization in the consumer market are substantiated, and comparative features of the functioning of single-channel and multi-channel supply chains in the consumer market are revealed. The evolutionary features of the development and transformation of logistics of traditional trade and online retail in the context of reconfiguration of multi-channel trade supply chains are identified. Perspective directions of development of supply chains of multichannel retail in the consumer market are substantiated. Strategic directions of development of the consumer market commodity movement system in the conditions of a multi-channel sales model are formed and revealed. Conceptualize the distinctive features of the development of the commodity movement system in stationary trade and e-commerce, as well as expand the subject areas of scientific research in the logistics of e-commerce, including through transdisciplinary ones. Strategic imperatives for adjusting growth paths in the economy are proposed, which should take into account a much larger number of processes and conditions that determine the present and future of domestic manufacturing business.

Are courts going out of their way to accommodate RACISTS? A critique of South African Revenue Service v Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration and Others

ABSTRACT The article critically examines the way in which the Constitutional Court dealt with the issue of racism in South African Revenue Service v Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration and others 2017 (1) SA 549 (CC). Invoking general legal principles blended with critical race theory, we show that the apex court erred in finding that an employee who had racially abused his superior by referring to him as a kaffir needed to be compensated for a dismissal that arose from such racial abuse. We show that even with a finding that the dismissal was procedurally unfair, existing legal principles, racial justice and social transformation imperatives negated the court making a finding that compensation was due to the employee. The racism involved was so vile and brazen that a compensation award was not only inappropriate in the circumstances but had the consequence of sending a wrong message to the general public, black people in particular, that the law and the courts are still tolerant of racists and racism. Ordinary black people are likely to read the judgment as the law rewarding racists for being racist. The article calls upon the courts to take racism and the racial oppression of black people seriously by acting firmly against those found guilty of racial abuse. Keywords: Racism; colour-blindness; workplace racial oppression; racial justice; judicial choice; social transformation; exceptions to procedural fairness.

Russian National-State Identity: Sociocultural Imperatives of Transformation

The article analyses the main socio-cultural imperatives of the formation of the Russian nationalstate identity, which identified during politico-psychological and applied sociological studies of 2010–2018. The national-state identity is an integrated image of “us”, “ours”, which is a complex political, psychological and socio-cultural construct, the dynamics of which is due to both the transformation of the political system of contemporary Russia and a wide set of factors related to national history and culture. The most remarkable socio-cultural imperatives of the Russian national-state identity include the important role of the image of space as a symbol of “greatness” and the resource “potential” of Russia; personalization and the “polar” emotional attitude towards state power, internal imbalance of “image of historical time”, which has retrospective and mythological character in contemporary Russia.

Imperatives of Business Models and Digital Transformation for Digital Services Providers

Despite the increasing pace of digital transformation initiatives across many industry verticals, lack of understanding among business leadership is cited as one of the major barriers for successful implementation of business transformation. This article explores the imperatives of business models and digital transformation from practical perspective and proposes an improvised business model framework with particular focus on digital services providers. Extant literature covering the trends of business models and digital transformation were reviewed qualitatively along with select reports pertaining to challenges faced by communications service providers. Key findings of this article suggest, a practical framework and business model representation to mitigate the challenges of business models and digital transformation. The authors believe, such an approach shall open up new and innovative opportunities for communication service providers to become true digital service providers which will help their business customers to plan and empirically progress with their business transformation efforts.

Marking Constitutional Transitions: The Law and Politics of Constitutional Implementation in South Africa

Marking Constitutional Transitions: The Law and Politics of Constitutional Implementation in South Africa

Social Work and Indigenisation: A South African Perspective

For relevance to societal reality and challenges, countries should structure their social work education to deal with specific conditions and cultures. From its global North (i.e. Western Europe and North America) origins, social work has contributed to the expansion of the discipline and profession to the developing world, including South Africa. During the three decades (from the mid-1980s until the present day) during which they have taught social work in South Africa, the authors have witnessed half-hearted efforts to really integrate indigenous knowledge into the curricula. In writings and professional gatherings, scant attention was paid to curricula transformation imperatives enriching practice. To its credit, the Association of South African Social Work Education Institutions (ASASWEI) advocates for decolonisation and indigenisation of social work education. Discussing decolonisation and indigenisation in social work curricula, the paper critiques assumptions of global North ideas, cloaked as if universally applicable. An example is about some principles of social casework – a method of choice in South Africa – which mostly disregards cultural nuances of clientele with a communal collective world view that relies on joint decision-making. A culturally sensitive approach is adopted as theoretical framework for this paper. The paper concludes with recommendations that should help ensure that social work curricula strive towards being indigenous, contextualised and culturally appropriate.

‘Alone’, ‘constant’ and ‘(in)visible’: Staging leadership in <i>Coriolanus</i>

Italo Calvino’s propositions frame my approach to discussing the reception and interpretation of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus today in the light of its inclusion in the Independent Examinations Board (IEB) school curriculum. I offer a dual-focus reading of Coriolanus that is informed by Gill Marcus’ notions of effective global leadership in the contemporary socio-economic climate intertwined with Brecht’s foregrounding of plebeian perspective and interests. The action of the play overtly confounds the ‘ideal leader’ described by Marcus through its dramatisation of a hero who is a model of volatility in expression, behaviour and allegiance. It nonetheless introduces complex considerations of relations between leader and collective inviting the twin focus of this paper. The agitating issues of radical socio-economic disparity and imperatives of economic and cultural transformation in South African suggest the importance of making theoretical formulations of dominance, authority and distinguishing between hero and leader. Drawing on Lucy Hughes-Hallett’s Heroes: Saviours, Traitors and Supermen (2004), I pursue three intertwined motifs that converge in the figure of the eponymous hero: mutability as an antithesis of the steadfastness and constancy which Coriolanus values; the tension generated between singularity and the state of being ‘alone’ in contrast to being situated within a collective (arguably a central motif of the play); and, finally, the degree to which visible presence as opposed to absence (or exile) impacts effective leadership. I conclude by arguing the merits of pursuing ‘lessons from Brecht’ to offer a template for reading the play (and its presentation) in a way that seeks out local correspondences.