Library and Information Science (LIS) has gone through many changes over the past two decades. Th... more Library and Information Science (LIS) has gone through many changes over the past two decades. These changes have had an impact on the youth who want to study LIS. Lack of knowledge about LIS and its career opportunities makes it difficult for young people to consider studying towards a LIS qualification. Literature reveals that most LIS students end up in the program accidentally and without knowledge of the content. This study investigated students’ perceptions regarding LIS, the reasons for enrolling, and motivating factors that make students study LIS. The study was informed by the Circumscription and Compromise theory. To answer the research questions, a survey was conducted in three LIS schools in South Africa. A questionnaire was sent to first and final year students, and 165 responded. The findings indicate that before they enrolled, many students had a slight idea of what LIS programs were and prepared them to be. The students’ decision to study LIS was mainly influenced by...
Core competencies are major drivers behind the success of many Small and Medium sized organizatio... more Core competencies are major drivers behind the success of many Small and Medium sized organizations (SMEs). While Information Technology (IT) can be leveraged to enhance these competencies, changes in IT and poor planning may result in core rigidities. Many SMEs experience difficulties in planning and aligning IT applications with business objectives and core competencies and limited scientific studies have been conducted to assist SMEs in this regard. The present study examined the alignment of IT applications with non-technological competencies in South Africa and Uganda. It sought to identify those configurations of IT applications and non-technological competencies that result in IT-based competencies needed to ensure competitiveness in e-commerce in the SME sector. The perspective of alignment as a gestalt was adopted. 112 SMEs were surveyed and three alignment configurations consisting of SMEs with innovative IT competencies; Operational IT competencies and adaptive IT compete...
Knowledge management (KM) has gained popularity in recent times because knowledge is regarded as ... more Knowledge management (KM) has gained popularity in recent times because knowledge is regarded as a vital resource in today’s economy. The popularity of KM has led to the creation of the KM field. Organisations have adopted KM because of its association with competitive advantage. Over the years, theories, models and frameworks have been developed to inform KM research and practice. KM lifecycle frameworks seem to dominate the KM literature. Too many of them have been created over the years, thus causing confusion about which one to choose for research and practice. The study analyses 20 prominent KM lifecycle frameworks, and proposes a unified framework. The unified framework aims to eliminate the confusion created by having too many frameworks with many different processes. Quantitative and qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the 20 frameworks. Processes appearing in all frameworks were listed and counted to determine the most prominent. After eliminating synonyms used...
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to compare the cataloguing and classification curriculum off... more Purpose The purpose of this paper is to compare the cataloguing and classification curriculum offered in South African LIS schools and the job market requirement for cataloguers in South Africa (SA). It was instigated by the changes that have occurred in the LIS field over the past decade, especially in cataloguing and classification. Design/methodology/approach An interpretive, qualitative approach was used, and content analysis was used as a research and data analysis method. Data were obtained from 3 sources: cataloguing and classification course outlines obtained from 6 LIS schools, 18 interviews conducted with professional cataloguers and 10 job advertisements obtained through newspaper scanning and from the LIASA listserv. Findings The results indicate that LIS schools teach basic and advanced cataloguing and classification theory and practical topics. The main objective of the courses is to teach students knowledge organisation. The subjects are offered at bachelor’s degree and postgraduate diploma levels. Tools such as AACR2, RDA, MARC21, DDC and LCSH are mainly used to teach the courses. Professional cataloguers and job advertisements indicate that employers require the knowledge and skills to use the above-mentioned tools. Job advertisements also indicate that a national diploma and two years’ work experience are the minimum requirements for employing cataloguers. Practical implications This paper will inform academics whether they are teaching the relevant curriculum. If not, they will have to implement changes or improvements to the current curriculum. It will also help employers get a picture of what is offered in LIS schools and make judgements on whether it is relevant in the job market or not. Originality/value This paper has compared what is offered in LIS schools and what is required in the job market and found that there is match between what is offered and required, although there are areas to be improved. This is the first paper to establish that link in SA.
Background: Software organisations have been experiencing software development failures since the... more Background: Software organisations have been experiencing software development failures since the beginning of software development. Globally, latest Standish Group CHAOS reports indicate that only 29% of projects are successful. In South Africa (SA), the ITWeb report (2013) indicates that only 11% of all projects are successful. Intervention strategies such as software process improvement (SPI) frameworks and new software development methodologies such as agile methods have been introduced to address this issue. These intervention strategies do not seem to be effective because software development projects continue to fail. To address this issue, software organisations are turning to knowledge management (KM). This is because software development is a knowledge-intensive task.Objectives: The study aimed to investigate KM practices in small, medium and micro (SMMEs) software development organisations in SA and to determine if KM has benefited the organisations.Method: Fifteen softwa...
Background: Knowledge-creation is a field of study that has gained popularity in recent times.Kno... more Background: Knowledge-creation is a field of study that has gained popularity in recent times.Knowledge-creation is the creation of new ideas or new innovations. In computing, software development is regarded as knowledge-creation. This is because software-development involves the creation of a new innovation (software). Knowledge-creation studies in this field tend to focus mainly on knowledge-creation activities in business organisations. They use experienced, professional software-development teams as subjects, largely ignoring novice student development teams. This has denied the field of computing valuable knowledge about how novice teams create knowledge.Objectives: The study addressed this gap in the literature by investigating knowledge-creation in student software teams.Method: An ethnographic study was conducted on six student teams developing software in a management-information systems (MIS) course. They were conducting a systems development project at a university durin...
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 98-106).Knowledge transfer is the most important proc... more Includes bibliographical references (leaves 98-106).Knowledge transfer is the most important process in knowledge management. In order for knowledge to be used, it has to be transferred from one knowledge source to the other. Knowledge transfer is not a smooth process. There are a lot of impediments that prevent the transfer of knowledge. Four knowledge transfer impediments were identified: nature of knowledge, social ties, time and motivation. These four were selected because literature shows that they affect project teams in academic and non-academic organisations. However the development of mobile phones and mobile technologies is promising to address this issue. Students use mobile phones to communicate with each other thus sharing knowledge. This research investigated the role that mobile phones play in minimising knowledge transfer impediments in students' project teams. A quantitative approach was used to collect data from participants to test hypothesis drawn from literature. A total of 176 responses were obtained from three groups of students doing projects. The study provides several interesting findings. The study found that, mobile phones minimise three of the four knowledge transfer impediments identified. These are motivation, social ties and time impediments. It was discovered that, a mobile phone motivates team members to share knowledge during a project. Team members with strong social ties use their mobile phones more often to share knowledge on their project. It takes less time to acquire knowledge from previous team members when a mobile phone is used. A mobile phone does not help project teams to transfer tacit knowledge. The study did not find any evidence that suggest that gender and race play role in knowledge transfer using a mobile phone. It was found that project teams from different departments transfer different forms of explicit know ledge. The study also discovered that students do not only use their mobile phones to transfer knowledge, but also use their mobile phones to create knowledge. The study reveals that mobile phones promise to bring a new era of mobile learning. Higher education institutions should cease this opportunity and introduce new interactive ways of learning. Students on the other hand should use mobile phones more often for knowledge creation and transfer to improve their academic work
The study traced Library and Information Science (LIS) graduates who graduated from the Departmen... more The study traced Library and Information Science (LIS) graduates who graduated from the Department of Library and Information Science (now Information Studies) at the University of Zululand between 2000 and 2009. A survey method was used to access the large and scattered LIS ...
Group learning plays a key role in the transfer of knowledge. In institutions of learning, it enh... more Group learning plays a key role in the transfer of knowledge. In institutions of learning, it enhances students’ understanding, critical thinking, integration of knowledge and knowledge sharing. However, the transfer of knowledge in group projects is often impeded by factors such as time and budget constraints, individual and social barriers, and a lack of motivation.Institutions of learning are increasingly adopting information and communication technologies (e.g. mobile technologies) to provide solutions to the challenges facing them. Whilst the integration of the mobile context and technologies in learning environment has been encouraged over the years, and indeed many students today can use mobile phones, the effectiveness of these technologies in reducing impediments to knowledge transfer in group learning has not been investigated.This study investigated the extent to which mobile phones reduce the barriers to knowledge transfer in project groups. The impediments examined incl...
Library and Information Science (LIS) has gone through many changes over the past two decades. Th... more Library and Information Science (LIS) has gone through many changes over the past two decades. These changes have had an impact on the youth who want to study LIS. Lack of knowledge about LIS and its career opportunities makes it difficult for young people to consider studying towards a LIS qualification. Literature reveals that most LIS students end up in the program accidentally and without knowledge of the content. This study investigated students’ perceptions regarding LIS, the reasons for enrolling, and motivating factors that make students study LIS. The study was informed by the Circumscription and Compromise theory. To answer the research questions, a survey was conducted in three LIS schools in South Africa. A questionnaire was sent to first and final year students, and 165 responded. The findings indicate that before they enrolled, many students had a slight idea of what LIS programs were and prepared them to be. The students’ decision to study LIS was mainly influenced by...
Core competencies are major drivers behind the success of many Small and Medium sized organizatio... more Core competencies are major drivers behind the success of many Small and Medium sized organizations (SMEs). While Information Technology (IT) can be leveraged to enhance these competencies, changes in IT and poor planning may result in core rigidities. Many SMEs experience difficulties in planning and aligning IT applications with business objectives and core competencies and limited scientific studies have been conducted to assist SMEs in this regard. The present study examined the alignment of IT applications with non-technological competencies in South Africa and Uganda. It sought to identify those configurations of IT applications and non-technological competencies that result in IT-based competencies needed to ensure competitiveness in e-commerce in the SME sector. The perspective of alignment as a gestalt was adopted. 112 SMEs were surveyed and three alignment configurations consisting of SMEs with innovative IT competencies; Operational IT competencies and adaptive IT compete...
Knowledge management (KM) has gained popularity in recent times because knowledge is regarded as ... more Knowledge management (KM) has gained popularity in recent times because knowledge is regarded as a vital resource in today’s economy. The popularity of KM has led to the creation of the KM field. Organisations have adopted KM because of its association with competitive advantage. Over the years, theories, models and frameworks have been developed to inform KM research and practice. KM lifecycle frameworks seem to dominate the KM literature. Too many of them have been created over the years, thus causing confusion about which one to choose for research and practice. The study analyses 20 prominent KM lifecycle frameworks, and proposes a unified framework. The unified framework aims to eliminate the confusion created by having too many frameworks with many different processes. Quantitative and qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the 20 frameworks. Processes appearing in all frameworks were listed and counted to determine the most prominent. After eliminating synonyms used...
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to compare the cataloguing and classification curriculum off... more Purpose The purpose of this paper is to compare the cataloguing and classification curriculum offered in South African LIS schools and the job market requirement for cataloguers in South Africa (SA). It was instigated by the changes that have occurred in the LIS field over the past decade, especially in cataloguing and classification. Design/methodology/approach An interpretive, qualitative approach was used, and content analysis was used as a research and data analysis method. Data were obtained from 3 sources: cataloguing and classification course outlines obtained from 6 LIS schools, 18 interviews conducted with professional cataloguers and 10 job advertisements obtained through newspaper scanning and from the LIASA listserv. Findings The results indicate that LIS schools teach basic and advanced cataloguing and classification theory and practical topics. The main objective of the courses is to teach students knowledge organisation. The subjects are offered at bachelor’s degree and postgraduate diploma levels. Tools such as AACR2, RDA, MARC21, DDC and LCSH are mainly used to teach the courses. Professional cataloguers and job advertisements indicate that employers require the knowledge and skills to use the above-mentioned tools. Job advertisements also indicate that a national diploma and two years’ work experience are the minimum requirements for employing cataloguers. Practical implications This paper will inform academics whether they are teaching the relevant curriculum. If not, they will have to implement changes or improvements to the current curriculum. It will also help employers get a picture of what is offered in LIS schools and make judgements on whether it is relevant in the job market or not. Originality/value This paper has compared what is offered in LIS schools and what is required in the job market and found that there is match between what is offered and required, although there are areas to be improved. This is the first paper to establish that link in SA.
Background: Software organisations have been experiencing software development failures since the... more Background: Software organisations have been experiencing software development failures since the beginning of software development. Globally, latest Standish Group CHAOS reports indicate that only 29% of projects are successful. In South Africa (SA), the ITWeb report (2013) indicates that only 11% of all projects are successful. Intervention strategies such as software process improvement (SPI) frameworks and new software development methodologies such as agile methods have been introduced to address this issue. These intervention strategies do not seem to be effective because software development projects continue to fail. To address this issue, software organisations are turning to knowledge management (KM). This is because software development is a knowledge-intensive task.Objectives: The study aimed to investigate KM practices in small, medium and micro (SMMEs) software development organisations in SA and to determine if KM has benefited the organisations.Method: Fifteen softwa...
Background: Knowledge-creation is a field of study that has gained popularity in recent times.Kno... more Background: Knowledge-creation is a field of study that has gained popularity in recent times.Knowledge-creation is the creation of new ideas or new innovations. In computing, software development is regarded as knowledge-creation. This is because software-development involves the creation of a new innovation (software). Knowledge-creation studies in this field tend to focus mainly on knowledge-creation activities in business organisations. They use experienced, professional software-development teams as subjects, largely ignoring novice student development teams. This has denied the field of computing valuable knowledge about how novice teams create knowledge.Objectives: The study addressed this gap in the literature by investigating knowledge-creation in student software teams.Method: An ethnographic study was conducted on six student teams developing software in a management-information systems (MIS) course. They were conducting a systems development project at a university durin...
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 98-106).Knowledge transfer is the most important proc... more Includes bibliographical references (leaves 98-106).Knowledge transfer is the most important process in knowledge management. In order for knowledge to be used, it has to be transferred from one knowledge source to the other. Knowledge transfer is not a smooth process. There are a lot of impediments that prevent the transfer of knowledge. Four knowledge transfer impediments were identified: nature of knowledge, social ties, time and motivation. These four were selected because literature shows that they affect project teams in academic and non-academic organisations. However the development of mobile phones and mobile technologies is promising to address this issue. Students use mobile phones to communicate with each other thus sharing knowledge. This research investigated the role that mobile phones play in minimising knowledge transfer impediments in students' project teams. A quantitative approach was used to collect data from participants to test hypothesis drawn from literature. A total of 176 responses were obtained from three groups of students doing projects. The study provides several interesting findings. The study found that, mobile phones minimise three of the four knowledge transfer impediments identified. These are motivation, social ties and time impediments. It was discovered that, a mobile phone motivates team members to share knowledge during a project. Team members with strong social ties use their mobile phones more often to share knowledge on their project. It takes less time to acquire knowledge from previous team members when a mobile phone is used. A mobile phone does not help project teams to transfer tacit knowledge. The study did not find any evidence that suggest that gender and race play role in knowledge transfer using a mobile phone. It was found that project teams from different departments transfer different forms of explicit know ledge. The study also discovered that students do not only use their mobile phones to transfer knowledge, but also use their mobile phones to create knowledge. The study reveals that mobile phones promise to bring a new era of mobile learning. Higher education institutions should cease this opportunity and introduce new interactive ways of learning. Students on the other hand should use mobile phones more often for knowledge creation and transfer to improve their academic work
The study traced Library and Information Science (LIS) graduates who graduated from the Departmen... more The study traced Library and Information Science (LIS) graduates who graduated from the Department of Library and Information Science (now Information Studies) at the University of Zululand between 2000 and 2009. A survey method was used to access the large and scattered LIS ...
Group learning plays a key role in the transfer of knowledge. In institutions of learning, it enh... more Group learning plays a key role in the transfer of knowledge. In institutions of learning, it enhances students’ understanding, critical thinking, integration of knowledge and knowledge sharing. However, the transfer of knowledge in group projects is often impeded by factors such as time and budget constraints, individual and social barriers, and a lack of motivation.Institutions of learning are increasingly adopting information and communication technologies (e.g. mobile technologies) to provide solutions to the challenges facing them. Whilst the integration of the mobile context and technologies in learning environment has been encouraged over the years, and indeed many students today can use mobile phones, the effectiveness of these technologies in reducing impediments to knowledge transfer in group learning has not been investigated.This study investigated the extent to which mobile phones reduce the barriers to knowledge transfer in project groups. The impediments examined incl...
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