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- Purpose: This study examined the measuring of service quality delivered to undergraduate students in the Department of Business Management at the University of Zululand. The purpose was to conceptualise and have critical thinking of the services rendered to undergraduate students at the Business Management Department, and whether it is commensurate to the provision of modern facilities, and other resources used by lecturers on daily basis in the institution. Approach: A quantitative research design grounded on survey method was employed for the study. The census research approach was used to select 106 third-year undergraduate students at the Business Management Department. The survey used questionnaire as instrument to collect data from third-year business management undergraduate students. The targeted population was 106 third-year undergraduate students, and 106 questionnaires were administered to them. Of the 106 questionnaires administered, only 87 were received back, which was also used in analysis of the results for the students. Descriptive and inferential statistics was used for analysis of this study. Results: Findings from the study revealed that modern facilities were used to deliver quality services of teaching, research, and supervision of students. Many of the respondents attested to availability of physical facilities used by lecturers at the Department of Business Management, which are appealing to the undergraduate students. It revealed that the institution provides the students with adequate support in terms of bursary and reading materials in the library. Provision of adequate and qualified academic staff was observed to have helped and to have strengthened the services of teaching, learning and supervision offered to students at the Department of Business Management. Office space of lecturers was not big and adequate to facilitate discussion classes and group presentations when the need arises. The majority of respondents attested to adequate study guide materials at the Department of Business Management. Most of the lecturers are always willing, sympathetic and reassuring to assist students whenever they have challenges with their studies. The student population of the Business Management Department does not give the lecturers much opportunity and the time required for adequate and quality time for teaching, learning and supervision. The majority indicated consultation hours offered by lecturers and tutors as another factor. Many respondents emphasised that they did not have challenges with frequent communication in written and spoken standard English language. Some of the students have issues with local languages such as isiZulu, isiXhosa and isiNdebele used as substitute, while attending to their studies as well as group work with fellow students. The results also indicated that respondents find it difficult to adapt considering the large numbers of students in classes, as this has some implications on their academic performance. There was no counselling guidance, which could help them if their lecturers, tutors and colleagues were unable to help with their academic performance or pursuit. Based on the findings, several recommendations were made which include: the need to have efficient, effective and quality services delivered on a regular basis. The need to have more recent and diverse materials that could meet the broad needs of the students. The need to have wide or adequate offices space by lecturers in order to facilitate the discussion classes and group presentations whenever they chose to do so. The willingness, sympathy and reassurance given to students whenever there is need, arises from strengthened and re-awakened effort of lecturers. Originality/value: Students were satisfied with the services rendered to them through available modern facilities used by lecturers. The credence made on effective and efficient services rendered by lecturers at different intervals in teaching, learning and supervisory roles. Improved consultation hours of lecturers and tutors could assist students’ inadequacy in study and materials required. The willingness and re-assurance by lecturers and Department of Business Management to the students could strengthen and re-awaken their morals.
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- Entrepreneurship education is broadly considered an important factor in promoting an entrepreneurial culture among higher education students. Considering the importance of entrepreneurship to economic growth, job creation and poverty alleviation, there is a need to train entrepreneurs and to equip them with an entrepreneurial culture that promotes entrepreneurship. However, the South African education system is lacking when it comes to entrepreneurship education. The education system seems to promote the white-collar jobs rather than self-employment and the methodology that is used to teach entrepreneurship studies focuses more on the theory of entrepreneurship than on its practice. Against this background, this study sought to identify the role of education in promoting an entrepreneurship culture among the youth, focusing on the University of Zululand as a case study. The researcher used primary data for this study. The study adopted a mixed methods approach where data was collected using questionnaires and interview schedules from 374 University of Zululand students and 11 heads of departments from the university’s faculties. The results from the study show that there was no consistent promotion of entrepreneurship across the university’s faculties and departments. There was a need to improve the entrepreneurship curriculum, as it was found that it did not equip students with an entrepreneurship culture. Entrepreneurship studies were done in business-related departments and were not readily promoted in non-business departments. A policy implication arose from these findings is that there is a need for the development of entrepreneurship-based curriculum as a way of promoting entrepreneurship. The policymakers were also encouraged to develop incubation centres for grooming entrepreneurs at higher learning institutions.
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- For organizations to improve performance, teamwork is often cited as important across all departments. However, according to Cheruvelil, Sorrono, Weathers, Hanson, Goring, Filstrup and Read (2014), many organizations struggle to enhance teamwork amongst employees in their operation because employees do not feel as though their colleagues contribute equally which leads to promoting competitiveness instead of mutual support .The main objective of this study was to investigate the influences of teamwork on organizational development using one of the governments department, that is the Department of Employment and Labour in the Southern KwaZulu-Natal Provinces as a case study because of the benefits of teamwork such as improving employee relations, interpersonal skills, organizational effectiveness growth, flexibility and quality of work life. The specific objectives of this study were to assess the influence of teamwork on the success of department development, to explore the influence of teamwork structure, productivity in the department, to determine the main factors contributing to team performance and department development with specific reference to factors such as, goals setting, roles, processes, trust and interpersonal relationships and finally to assess the role played by management in team development. In this study, different theories were applied throughout, such as GRPI, the T7 Model of team Effectiveness, Team Basics, the Hackman Model of Team Effectiveness, and Understanding Team Dysfunction because they assisted in help businesses and leaders understand how well their teams function and improve team building, management, and training to ultimately boost performance and accomplish shared goals. Each theory informed the study as follows, the efficient collaboration of high-performing teams to thrive. The GRPI model inform the study by helps leaders guide their teams toward success, identify operational issues, and work with team members to rectify them. The T7 Model of Team Effectiveness inform the study by assessing team members on their behavior and skills and measures the team itself against cohesion and performance goals. The Team Basics inform the study how the team works together and what work the team accomplishes. The Hackman model, inform the study by effective processes that enable information sharing, feedback, problem solving, and learning by team members. The Understanding dysfunctions of teamwork inform the study through absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment and avoidance of team accountability. The study adopted the mixed methods philosophy approach where by using qualitative and quantitative approaches were followed. The design of the study was sequential exploratory design because is used when there is a need to further explain a set of quantitative data with additional qualitative information, for example if employees are questioned about their satisfaction with their job and then conducted interviews to gain more information about why they responded the way they did. The sample of the study was four labour centres out of 16 from KwaZulu- Natal in which the employees at management level and non-management level (junior and senior management) were targeted because that will lead to large sampling and will be time-consuming, and it will be able to provide adequate information for generalization. A total of 143 team members participated in the study. The sampling method adopted was convenience sampling technique because it was implementable, definitely easy and accessible to collecting data from participants and low cost. Data collection in the quantitative phase was the questionnaires because they are convenient to collect demographic information, personal opinions, facts, or attitudes from respondents and it also making the analysis process more efficient and less time-consuming to collect primary data. Data collection in qualitative phase was interviews because to explore the research subject and provide a more in-depth understanding of the phenomenon at hand and more broad and actionable insights. In the quantitative phase, data was analysed using descriptive statistical methods like mean, averages and percentages. In the qualitative phase, data was analysed using thematic coding and Qualitative Data Analysis (QDA) Miner software. Data were presented using tables and figures. The results indicated that the outstanding and common challenges in teamwork are poor communication, leadership and conflicts arising from team members. Communication and trust were critical to teamwork efforts. Ultimately, there was a strong relationship between leadership and communication toward organizational performance of the Employment and Labour Department. This study also revealed that employees’ performance depended much on the presence of job assistance at the organization. In other words, given the required support, the employees would perform their duty and would also plan for the development of the Department of government organization. The study found that for improvement in teamwork, roles and responsibilities should be clearly defined for every team member. It was recommended that the Department of Employment and Labour should build trust and respect within among team members and encourage clear, frequent communication, while giving teams autonomy in decision-making. Building a strong team, setting clear goals and showing appreciation are among the main actions necessary for improvement along with keeping employees informed of impending changes to their workplace.
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- Information asymmetry is regarded as factors that affect SMMEs and issues hindering SMMEs growth which include management skills, market access and lack of training. This is supported by Rogerson (2008) that several challenges facing SMMEs development in South Africa have been unapproachable. Number of factors have been identified which relate to markets access and marketing, business management skills, training, finance and inadequate institutional support. The SMME sector is regarded as a potential employment creator and contributes significantly to the economic growth of South Africa. SMMEs have the major share of the development and almost half of the total employment in the economy. While argument still exists about the comparative contribution of SMMEs to the economy, this sector contributes a massive share of employment which contributes significantly in the economy. However, SMMEs are facing challenges that prevent them from growing, and causing a large percentage of SMMEs to shut down in their first two years of operation. This study aims to discover the information asymmetry and obstacles on SMMEs growth in uThungulu district municipality. An investigation was conducted among owners in all local SMMEs in the district to identify obstacles perceived as central to SMMEs growth. Structured questionnaires were used to collect data. The research findings indicate that lack of training and management skills are one of the challenges faced by SMMEs since the majority of entrepreneurs have only matric qualifications. The use of technology was also identified as an obstacle on SMMEs growth.
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- Electronic learning, is used to refer to computer based learning or learning online either via the internet or intranet. According to Brockbank (2002) e-learning is essentially the e-commerce of knowledge. This research focused on the e-learning programme that was introduced at the University of Zululand (Unizul) and the impact it had on lecturing staff and students of the Faculty of Commerce, Administration and Law. Literature generally states that the benefits of such a programme outweigh the disadvantages involved. To collect data survey questionnaires and a focus group were used. These were analysed using parametric and non-parametric statistics. Results revealed that the programme was poorly implemented and advertised at the institution as a proportion of the sample of lecturing staff and students did not know what e-learning was or that it was being implemented at Unizul.
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- The significance of informal entrepreneurship and the value of informal entrepreneurs have been widely acknowledged considering South Africa’s socio-economic challenges and the country’s economy’s incapacity to generate formal employment opportunities. These challenges emanates from several factors, which includes the legacy of apartheid, poor education system, Covid-19 regulations, and corruption on economic system. South Africa's extreme poverty and high unemployment rates have made it more necessary than ever for unemployed people to engage in informal entrepreneurship to support themselves and provide for their households. The South African government recognises the significance of small businesses in the economy and has set up both financial and non-financial support measures to support them become self-sustaining. However, research seems to indicate that there is still room for improvement, particularly regarding informal enterprises. This study argues that they is little scholarly attention that has been given to support mechanism for rural informal entrepreneurship. This constitutes a research gap, which this study seeks to address. It is against this background that the aim of the study is to develop a support framework for informal entrepreneurship in KwaZulu-Natal focusing on uMhlathuze Local Municipality. To achieve this purpose, a sequential explanatory mixed methods approach was adopted. The study administered 256 questionnaires to informal entrepreneurs at uMhlathuze local municipality and 4 officials from financial development institutions (FDIs) were sampled and interviewed using in-depth format. The findings indicate that most informal enterprises in uMhlathuze local municipality are owned by black females who are motivated by the high unemployment rate to engage in informal entrepreneurship. The study further discovered that lack of government support is the main challenge facing informal entrepreneurs in uMhlathuze local municipality. The study recommends a support framework for informal entrepreneurship in uMhlathuze local municipality whose goal is to help informal enterprises become sustainable and generate employment opportunities
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