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- ItemThe effects of government funding agencies’ support on the success of SMMEs within the King Cetshwayo District: a study of uMhlathuze Municipality(University of Zululand, 2023) Mabika, Lwandlekazi Nangamso; Ayandibu, AyansolaThis study investigated the effects of government funding agencies’ support on the success of small, micro, and medium enterprises (SMMEs) within the uMhlathuze Municipality in the King Cetshwayo District of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Despite the critical role SMMEs play in economic growth and job creation, South Africa faces a high business failure rate, exacerbated by inadequate support from numerous government funding agencies. This study employed a mixed-methods approach to comprehensively assess the impact of government funding agencies’ support on the success of SMMEs in the uMhlathuze Municipality. The research combines quantitative and qualitative methods to gather a holistic understanding of the influences at play. The quantitative component was a structured survey administered to a representative sample of SMMEs in the region. The survey collected data on various metrics of success. Additionally, key local economic development indicators, such as employment creation and poverty alleviation, were measured. The data were analysed using the descriptive statistical analysis and independent tests on IBM SPSS version 30 to analyse and present data and to identify correlations and trends between government support and SMME success. The qualitative component comprised in-depth interviews and focus group discussions conducted with SMME owners, government officials, and representatives from funding agencies. The qualitative data provide insights into the experiences and perceptions of stakeholders regarding the effectiveness of government support programmes. Thematic analysis was employed to distil key themes and patterns from the qualitative data, allowing for a deeper exploration of the challenges and opportunities faced by SMMEs. ATLAS.ti version 23 software was used to conduct the analysis. The findings highlight a complex relationship between government support and SMME success, revealing significant barriers that hinder effective assistance, including limited market linkages and inadequate access to resources. The study emphasises the necessity for custom capacity-building initiatives and innovative financing mechanisms to enhance SMME growth. By providing empirical insights into the effectiveness of government support programmes, this research aimed to inform policy decisions and improve the entrepreneurial ecosystem in uMhlathuze, ultimately contributing to sustainable economic development in the region.
- ItemInfluences of teamwork on development of Employment and Labour Department in a Provincial Government: A case study, KwaZulu-Natal.(University of Zululand, 2024) Nqojane, VuyelwaFor 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 whereby 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.
- ItemThe development of a support framework for informal entrepreneurship in uMhlathuze Local Municipality, KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa(University of Zululand, 2022) Nkonde, Sipho DavidThe 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.
- ItemIdentifying risk management strategies of small, medium and micro enterprises in retail and manufacturing industries in Umhlathuze Municipality(University of Zululand, 2021) Khambule Thandiwe LungileSmall, Medium and Micro Enterprises are usually seen as an important tool for improving living standard. Considering the importance of SMMEs to economic growth, job creation and poverty alleviation, there is a need to train small business owners and managers and to expose them to risk management strategies that will promote businesses and reduce high failure rate. SMMEs are lacking when it comes to risk management knowledge and skills, which contributes to their high failure rate. In addition, South African education system is lacking when it comes to educating and training SMMEs on how to run their businesses successfully, especially exposing small business to risk management strategies for them to be able to respond to different kinds of risks. Given this background, this study sought to identify risks management strategies for SMMEs in retail and manufacturing industry focusing on uMhlathuze Municipality. The researcher used primary data for this study. The study adopted a qualitative method approach where data was collected through semi-structured interviews. Purposive sampling was used to select 12 SMMEs of uMhlathuze Municipality: 6 from the manufacturing and 6 from the retail industry. Data collected from the participants was coded and analysed using themes and content analyses. The results from the study showed that the risks faced by SMMEs negatively impact daily activities of small businesses and it also results in poor performance on SMMEs. Such risks include financial risk, resource risk, credit risk, reputation risk, inflation risk, and corona virus. Therefore, there is a need to assist SMMEs and improve their growth, as it was found that the strategies, they used to be inadequate in mitigating the identified risks. Whilst all SMMEs involved in this study reported to be faced with risks, not all of them had specific risk management strategies in place to deal with such. However, it was found that among the risk’s management strategies used by some SMMEs to fight risks are publicity and re-organizing. Use of private security, alerting customers about the price increase to ensure that they don’t get a shock or prices when purchases, insisting on deposit payments and sticking to cash transactions were some of the strategies used. Fewer SMMEs have insurance for their assets. Additionally, some of the selected SMMEs attribute their survival to getting sponsorship from government and private sector, and access to credit markets through short term loans. Sequel to the findings of the study, it is recommended that SMMEs should be given more assistance in education and training in terms of the different kinds of risks they are facing. lso, they need to be assisted with proper and quality strategies capable of keeping businesses protected and secured from risks, that will reduce risks.
- ItemInvestigating the role of performance incentives in driving performance in a faculty from a comprehensive university in KwaZulu-Natal(University of Zululand, 2023) Mbukwana, Vincent LindisiphoRewarding employees for meeting the organisation targets is crucial in order to motivate staff members to improve their performance. This is supported by Landry, Schweyer, Whillans (2017) that rewards such as monetary and non - monetary rewards are omnipresent and essential in today's workforce. The aim of the study was to investigate if the incentive plans and recognition plans given to the employees at the University drive performance. This study intends to recommend practical incentive and recognition plans that can be used to drive performance. The study followed a qualitative approach where data was collected through interviews. An investigation was conducted with Academics in the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Administration on the role of Performance Incentives in driving Performance at a Faculty from a Comprehensive University in KwaZulu-Natal. The collected data was analysed using NVIVO. The overall findings of the study showed a strong link between performance incentives and employees' performance. It was found that financial incentives in the form of performance bonuses influenced the employees to work harder to meet the performance targets. Moreover, the study revealed that the possibility of promotion has made staff in the University to work harder because it leads to an increase in salar