Carin Venter

This paper reviews electronic waste and its disposal methods. It also explores hazardous effects that e-waste have on human health, animals and the environment; it contains, for example, toxic metals. The ever-increasing growth of e-waste is one of the biggest threats of the 21st century; it is therefore a priority worldwide. There is no single best method to eradicate e-waste and related problems. Lack of suitable education, resulting in low levels of awareness, drives improper management of e-waste. This study therefore concludes that awareness and suitable education is the most important aspect that influences appropriate and proper management of e-waste, i.e. good (“green”) information technology practices.

Proper management of electronic waste is becoming a major challenge for many developing countries, particularly African countries. This paper reviews the movement of e-waste between nations, and primarily to African countries. It also focuses on the challenges and issues that these countries then face to manage the e-waste in a safe manner, i.e. so that it does not harm the environment and human health. The researchers argues that, in most African countries, e-waste is often improperly managed—this is due to lack of knowledge and awareness on how e-waste impacts upon the environment and people's health. They conclude that people must be educated on the harmful effects posed by e-waste on the environment and human health.

The proliferation of 21st-century learning environments tools has transformed education making it easier and accessible everywhere. Learners and educators of today no longer have to rely on the textbook as the ultimate source of information. They use equipment such as mobile phones, desktops and laptops to collect and find the information they need at the same time also use digital equipment such as video conferencing equipment, digital projectors and many more in their smart classrooms. These tools that support and make 21st-century learning environments a reality when they are outdated or obsolete they are toxic. Learners who have used 21st-century learning equipment have been found to have higher thinking skills relative to those who used traditional learning methods. These learning tools are here to stay. In this narrative review paper, the following databases were searched: Google Scholar, Elsevier, and grey literature. This paper reviews the impact of unwanted 21st-century lea...

Organizations require relevant and accurate information and systems for making strategic decisions. However, in practice, these business intelligence systems have a high failure rate, in part due to an overemphasis on technical implementation, and perhaps more importantly, the inability of prospective users to visualize the needs of the future system in the requirements phase. In this paper, critical systems practice is used to guide the selection of alternative requirements collection methodologies for the requirements phase, reviewing methodologies from the interpretive, critical and postmodern paradigms for their suitability for use in the described case study. In the resulting selection of critical systems heuristics for this intervention, this paper argues that although critical systems heuristics was developed in an era when the critical paradigm emerged, it can be applied from a postmodern perspective and that it may also be useful in guiding the creative process to identify requirements that improve business decision making that is sensitive to the local environment and enhance future decision making. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This paper makes recommendations for enrichment of a postgraduate data warehousing/ business intelligence (DW/ BI) course offered at a university. It aims to prepare students better for industry. DW/BI is an essential business skill-it improves decision making and competitiveness. Consequently, several organisations invest in DW/BI systems. Unfortunately these systems oft.en fail. To improve upon high failure rates, the researcher identifies causes of failures, and ways to overcome them; she proposes that success rates be improved by educating students to proactively circumvent identified causes of faihu•es when they become practitioners in the field. The study is guided by a critical systems thinking, reflective approach, i.e. critical social hetu-istics, to reflect on: sources of motivation, control, knowledge and legitimacy in terms of the actual versus ideal state. She explores sho1tcomings fr om the perspectives of: literature; alumni, ctm•ently employed in industry; and industry, as current/future employers of alumni and suppliers ofDW/ BI systems.

Business intelligence is becoming increasingly important in organisations. Business intelligence systems are very expensive to implement. Unfortunately these systems often fail to realise business benefits, even when they are technically very good. Traditional development approaches enable developers to develop technically good systems. However, a business intelligence system is a social artefact as well as a technical artefact; it should aim to improve the organisational context of its users rather than merely automate existing business processes. Yet, traditional development approaches do not enable developers to incorporate these social and organisational dimensions into their artefacts. Methodologies in the critical systems thinking paradigm aim to also explore the relevant social dimensions of a problem context in order to provide richer and more meaningful solutions. This paper describes an action research study whereby critical systems thinking principles (operationalised by ...

This paper describes an empirical study that analysed and improved project governance, in terms of health monitoring and reporting, and ultimately decision making capabilities relating to large capital (mega) projects. The researcher applied boundary critique to analyse monitoring, reporting and decision making mechanisms embedded in the governance process and system—she applied Werner Ulrich’s critical systems heuristics to confirm that the process/system is flawed, and identify shortcomings. These were improved upon, and the process as well as associated system were improved upon and streamlined.

Efficacious decision-making requires relevant, intelligible information. Organisations implement data warehousing/business intelligence systems to provide required information timeously for improved decision-making capabilities. Unfortunately, more than half of these systems fail. Data warehousing/business intelligence systems are multi-faceted and have a technical as well as social dimension. Failure to incorporate these systems’ social dimensions lead to low adoption rates and, ultimately, failure of these systems. The critical systems thinking paradigm is founded on the idea of emancipation through methodological pluralism and critical awareness. The total systems intervention strand of critical systems thinking embraces pluralism, i.e. the idea that different methodologies, from different paradigms, can be applied during different phases of interventions, to enrich the ultimate solution. This study applies an action research approach to incorporate critical systems thinking prin...

Academic research is often regarded as less than helpful for practice, while knowledge practitioners are accused of failing to apply relevant research in their industries. This study successfully bridged the theory‑practice gap in that it resolved a real‑world problem and added to the body of knowledge, i.e. it aided to: identify underlying social root causes of a flawed project governance process and associated decision support software; define actions for improvement; and realise generalisable theoretical and applied knowledge to improve both theory and practice. It illustrates that collaborative academic research adds value to both academia and industry. This paper discusses an empirical study where soft systems methodology (SSM) was applied as an interventionist action research (AR) method, positioned in the critical systems thinking (CST) and critical social research (CSR) paradigm. SSM is defined as a learning system that facilitates the identification of actions for improveme...

This paper describes an action research study where the researcher developed and tested an alternative business requirements elicitation approach that enables reflection on business intelligence business requirements from a social/organisational perspective and, accordingly, surfaces user-centric requirements that support development of systems that are technically good and effectuate organisational improvement. It is based on critical systems heuristics, a framework that facilitates participative discourse to surface contributing and consequential factors of a planned social system, i.e. relevant sources of motivation; expertise; inflicting and controlling boundaries; and sources of moral and political justification acting as guardians for all that will be impacted upon by the adjusted social reality caused by the new system. Such an approach is valuable to developers of business intelligence systems; it complements traditional requirements gathering approaches. Presentday organisations require efficacious decision-making capabilities to succeed-business intelligence systems enable efficacious decisions. However, business intelligence systems often fail, at great expenses to organisations. They fail due to social/ organisational infeasibility, rather than technical insufficiency; they fail when developers lack adequate understanding of users' business requirements. Appropriate business requirement specifications entail more than definitions of functional, nonfunctional and technical attributes of new systems. Business requirements must also capture the social/organisational context of a system, i.e. the impact that it will inevitably have on users and the organisational environment, so as to ensure that it ultimately bring about improvement. The approach developed in this study enables elicitation of user-centric business requirements.

This paper describes an action research study where the business requirements analysis approach of a business intelligence development project was enriched. Critical systems heuristics, a critical systems methodology that is positioned in the critical systems thinking paradigm, was applied to surface the inherently conflicting views and visions (however unknown to them) that the various stakeholders had regarding a new business intelligence system and its underlying business process. It therefore enabled surfacing of human/cultural and organisational issues that would have negatively affected the adoption of the new system; these were successfully resolved. Accordingly, the various stakeholders reflected on their real requirements that constituted improvement, rather than mere automation, of a business process; it ultimately resulted in a successful new business intelligence system that realised business benefits.

This study correlates the readiness survey scores of bona fide first year university students with their success in a mathematically based first year module. It follows on the need for skilled individuals in the fields of Science and Technology that exists across the globe and is continually becoming the focus of educational institutions worldwide. Similarly, in South Africa, universities were instructed to increase their intake of students in the fields of Science and Technology so as to provide for the technology orientated needs of the country, as well as to increase participation of previously disadvantaged race groups in these fields. In response to this instruction, universities increased the number of students enrolled in Science and Technology fields by 23% in recent years. The challenge is now to ensure that these students exit the university with a suitable degree in the shortest possible time. Statistics published by the South African Council of Higher Education affirms the extent of this challenge faced by universities-only 51% of students enrolled in the fields of Science and Technology complete their 3-year undergraduate degrees, and some of them took as long as 6 years to complete the 3-year degrees. This still leaves 49% of students that either took more than 6 years to complete their degrees, or did not complete their degrees at all. The underlying cause(s) for these failures must be identified and addressed. As a starting point in this discussion, the questions that this study aim to answer are whether first year students are in fact as prepared for the challenges at university as they perceive themselves to be; and whether student readiness (or lack thereof) can be a root cause for the low throughput rates. This study determines how prepared first year students, at a leading South African university, perceive themselves to be for the demands of university and, specifically, how their perceptions of their readiness in different areas correlate with their academic success in a mathematically based module. The correlation is determined by analysing data gathered through a readiness survey that is completed by first year students at the beginning of the academic year, and their final mark in the mathematics based first year module. The survey is a standardised, self-evaluation tool originally developed by the University of Pretoria. It is also applied at the university where this study is conducted. The survey measures the preparedness of students in different areas and the empirical study shows that there is a statistically significant correlation between the perception of the students regarding their planning ability and the final mark obtained in the mathematics based module.

Information technology (IT) professionals, such as software developers, require more than technical skills, e.g. software design and programming, to excel at their profession. Software developers work in diverse and cross-functional teams; they must, for example, elicit appropriate business requirements; design and develop suitable software artefacts, and provide training to end-users. A delicate balance between technical and non-technical (professional) skills are key to software success (or failure). IT students must thus acquire necessary professional skills, in addition to technical skills, to be wellrounded and productive employees upon entering workplaces. This study reflects on a BSc/BCom IT degree offered at a leading South African university; it aims to determine whether IT students acquired the mandatory non-technical skills that they needed. So, the researcher interviewed recent IT graduates to reflect on the professional skills they felt they lacked, and incorporation thereof into the curriculum. Actions were then taken, based on the responses of the participants, and teaching of professional skills was successfully incorporated into the curriculum.

This paper describes an action research study where the business requirements analysis approach of a business intelligence development project was enriched. Critical systems heuristics, a critical systems methodology that is positioned in the critical systems thinking paradigm, was applied to surface the inherently conflicting views and visions (however unknown to them) that the various stakeholders had regarding a new business intelligence system and its underlying business process. It therefore enabled surfacing of human/cultural and organisational issues that would have negatively affected the adoption of the new system; these were successfully resolved. Accordingly, the various stakeholders reflected on their real requirements that constituted improvement, rather than mere automation, of a business process; it ultimately resulted in a successful new business intelligence system that realised business benefits.

This paper describes an action research study where the researcher developed and tested an alternative business requirements elicitation approach that enables reflection on business intelligence business requirements from a social/organisational perspective and, accordingly, surfaces user-centric requirements that support development of systems that are technically good and effectuate organisational improvement. It is based on critical systems heuristics, a framework that facilitates participative discourse to surface contributing and consequential factors of a planned social system, i.e. relevant sources of motivation; expertise; inflicting and controlling boundaries; and sources of moral and political justification acting as guardians for all that will be impacted upon by the adjusted social reality caused by the new system. Such an approach is valuable to developers of business intelligence systems; it complements traditional requirements gathering approaches. Presentday organisations require efficacious decision-making capabilities to succeed-business intelligence systems enable efficacious decisions. However, business intelligence systems often fail, at great expenses to organisations. They fail due to social/ organisational infeasibility, rather than technical insufficiency; they fail when developers lack adequate understanding of users' business requirements. Appropriate business requirement specifications entail more than definitions of functional, nonfunctional and technical attributes of new systems. Business requirements must also capture the social/organisational context of a system, i.e. the impact that it will inevitably have on users and the organisational environment, so as to ensure that it ultimately bring about improvement. The approach developed in this study enables elicitation of user-centric business requirements.

Organizations require relevant and accurate information and systems for making strategic decisions. However, in practice, these business intelligence systems have a high failure rate, in part due to an overemphasis on technical implementation, and perhaps more importantly, the inability of prospective users to visualize the needs of the future system in the requirements phase. In this paper, critical systems practice is used to guide the selection of alternative requirements collection methodologies for the requirements phase, reviewing methodologies from the interpretive, critical and postmodern paradigms for their suitability for use in the described case study. In the resulting selection of critical systems heuristics for this intervention, this paper argues that although critical systems heuristics was developed in an era when the critical paradigm emerged, it can be applied from a postmodern perspective and that it may also be useful in guiding the creative process to identify requirements that improve business decision making that is sensitive to the local environment and enhance future decision making.

Academic research is often regarded as less than helpful for practice, while knowledge practitioners are accused of failing to apply relevant research in their industries. This study successfully bridged the theory-practice gap in that it resolved a real-world problem and added to the body of knowledge, i.e. it aided to: identify underlying social root causes of a flawed project governance process and associated decision support software; define actions for improvement; and realise generalisable theoretical and applied knowledge to improve both theory and practice. It illustrates that collaborative academic research adds value to both academia and industry. This paper discusses an empirical study where soft systems methodology (SSM) was applied as an interventionist action research (AR) method, positioned in the critical systems thinking (CST) and critical social research (CSR) paradigm. SSM is defined as a learning system that facilitates the identification of actions for improvement of problematical social contexts-it gives epistemological guidance to systematically explore perspectives of individuals involved in and affected by social (e.g. organisational) settings, to identify actions for improvement. However, SSM is found to be most often applied interpretively by academia, i.e., to understand a problem context, rather than to improve it, and by practitioners as a consulting tool. SSM successfully facilitates exploring of problematical social contexts, but, according to users of it, fail to effect real and lasting change. It is also quite difficult to extract generalisable learning from its output. In this study, the researcher argues that SSM have the potential to live up to its original intent. So, she positioned SSM in the CST/CSR paradigm by applying an enriched version of it. She guided participants to reflect on inherent flaws in the scrutinised project governance business process and associated decision support software. Hence, by applying methodological pluralism, she also guided them to reflect on actions for change in light of the organisation's socially constructed structures and their effects on involved and affected stakeholders of the process. SSM was enriched by also reflecting on the output of facilitated workshops, which aimed to identify required transformation to improve upon deficient project governance, from the perspectives of: the role of the participant(s) in the organisation; the effects that identified organisational decisions and changes may have on them; and by asking probing questions about the crux of statements made, e.g. if it is presumed to be true, what would the effect be, or vice versa. The outcome was emancipation, as key underlying social and structural causes for the organisational deficiencies surfaced.

This paper makes recommendations for enrichment of a postgraduate data warehousing/ business intelligence (DW/ BI) course offered at a university. It aims to prepare students better for industry. DW/BI is an essential business skill-it improves decision making and competitiveness. Consequently, several organisations invest in DW/BI systems. Unfortunately these systems oft.en fail. To improve upon high failure rates, the researcher identifies causes of failures, and ways to overcome them; she proposes that success rates be improved by educating students to proactively circumvent identified causes of faihu•es when they become practitioners in the field. The study is guided by a critical systems thinking, reflective approach, i.e. critical social hetu-istics, to reflect on: sources of motivation, control, knowledge and legitimacy in terms of the actual versus ideal state. She explores sho1tcomings fr om the perspectives of: literature; alumni, ctm•ently employed in industry; and industry, as current/future employers of alumni and suppliers ofDW/ BI systems.

Efficacious decision-making requires relevant, intelligible information. Organisations implement data warehousing/business intelligence systems to provide required information timeously for improved decision-making capabilities. Unfortunately, more than half of these systems fail. Data warehousing/business intelligence systems are multi-faceted and have a technical as well as social dimension. Failure to incorporate these systems' social dimensions lead to low adoption rates and, ultimately, failure of these systems. The critical systems thinking paradigm is founded on the idea of emancipation through methodological pluralism and critical awareness. The total systems intervention strand of critical systems thinking embraces pluralism, i.e. the idea that different methodologies, from different paradigms, can be applied during different phases of interventions, to enrich the ultimate solution. This study applies an action research approach to incorporate critical systems thinking principles, operationalised by total systems intervention, to critically reflect and choose a suitable methodology whereby to elicit a richer set of business requirements. This paper starts by introducing and motivating the study. It then discusses the theoretical concepts of the study, i.e. action research, business requirements elicitation and the critical systems thinking strand that is total systems intervention. The remainder of the paper is structured according to the action research phases, i.e. diagnosis, action planning, action taking, evaluation and specification of learning.

Higher education in South Africa must be transformed. An important dimension that can be addressed in the short term, yet will still have a signifi cant positive impact, is the enrichment of courses with relevant content that resonates with students, i.e. to contextualise the study material. This paper focuses on enrichment of a specifi c introduc tory information technology (IT) programming course that is taught to fi rst year students at a South African university. This course is problem atic as the students fail to grasp the abstract programming concepts that are crucial for higher-order learning. They can then not apply these con cepts practically; this is crucial for them so that they can become good programmers. We applied the soft systems methodology, as a reflective practice, to explore the perspectives of the students, so as to enable incorporation thereof in the teaching material and as such contextualise the material. The outcome of this study is contextualised examples and metaphors relating to the key abstract concepts that will be applied in class.