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Contact centre operations are essential for providing customer support and managing client enquiries. A contact centre, akin to any other business, necessitates numerous essential components. A significant number of these components directly influence the business. Recognising and improving these elements can assist a contact centre in achieving its overarching objectives. The report seeks to analyse the essential elements that improve the efficiency and effectiveness of contact centre operations. The emphasis is on technology, personnel, and processes as the essential elements that enhance the efficient and effective operation of contact centres. The efficacy and efficiency of a contact centre environment encompass personnel, procedures, and technology across all organisational levels. These components must not be considered in isolation, as they influence the success or failure of a contact centre environment. Consequently, comprehending the interaction between these components is of paramount importance.Quantitative data were evaluated with the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The convenience sample approach was deemed suitable for sampling contact centre agents, team leaders, and managers at the Department of Home Affairs. The study's principal findings indicate that both the literature research and the results highlighted the significance of components in facilitating the functioning and performance of contact centre operations. The data corroborate the idea that numerous contact centre failures stem from the absence of essential components necessary for its operation. The inclusion of suitable components in the contact centre has revolutionised management's oversight of these facilities. The analysis indicates that an effective team inside the company facilitates the management of contact centres. The report advocates for the implementation of integrated technological solutions to expedite customer interactions and improve operational efficiency in contact centres. It is advisable to invest in frequent employee training to ensure that staff are equipped to handle complex enquiries and effectively utilise advanced systems. Optimised process enhancement initiatives, including workflow simplification and decrease of call handling duration, are deemed essential for augmenting functionality.

The aim of this article was to explore the role of Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC) in promoting good governance, with the contextual setting being Blouberg Local Municipality. There is general consensus among academics, practitioners and policy makers alike in South Africa that the allocation of functions and responsibilities of municipal council and that of executives are often not clear, thus creating confusion in the officialdom and weakening oversight structures including MPAC. Hence the qualified audit reports in four consecutive years in Blouberg Municipality (see Auditor General, 2016-2021), signals internal failure not only to improve the municipal financial health status but to promote good governance generally. Methodologically, the study adopted qualitative designs and used interviews as instrument to collect data from key members of the committee. Consequently, the study revealed many underlying weaknesses, but the critical one was the demonstrable poor capacity within the committee which is twofold; (1) lack of expertise to facilitate oversight and (2) insufficient budget to enable performance of the Committee. Essentially, these challenges affect the proper functioning of MPAC which is constitutionally bestowed the responsibility of holding the executive accountable and guard against any misappropriation of municipal funds. The study recommended a number of solutions to improve the state of MPAC in the municipality, amongst them were that, council should develop an integrated reporting mechanism framework to conduct an oversight role which can be done with the assistance from experts in governance. The committee’s programme of action must also be funded, sufficiently. 

Even with the urgent need for public universities to transform into entrepreneurial universities in Botswana, very little is known especially in developing countries such as Botswana on what it takes to transform. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the critical success factors for the creation of entrepreneurial universities in Botswana. Our core research question asks: What are the critical success factors for the transformation of public universities into entrepreneurial universities? The study used a descriptive literature review methodology to collect secondary data. A data set of 150 articles were reviewed which dated from 1987 to 2024. Data sources identified were books, academic journals, academic papers, technical reports, theses, articles, and working papers from reputable academic databases such as Scopus, EBSCOhost, Google Scholar, Web of Science, ProQuest, Research Gate, Scientific Research Publishing and Wiley. The study revealed four main success factors in creating entrepreneurial universities - strategic, internal, environmental and external. The study underscored the need for resources, entrepreneurial education, entrepreneurial leadership and entrepreneurial culture in the creation of an entrepreneurial university. Moreover, flexible governance structure, enterprise support policies, role model and reward system, entrepreneurial architecture and collaborations with stakeholders were also highlighted as crucial for a successful transformation of public universities into entrepreneurial universities. The study further revealed that the transformation requires external support mechanisms from government, industry, and regional interventions. Consequently, creating an entrepreneurial university requires a collective effort between the university itself, government, industry and regional interventions. The implication is that public universities should forge partnerships and synergies with external stakeholders to transform into entrepreneurial universities. In light of the above, the study recommends the adoption of a quadruple helix model in creating entrepreneurial universities. Future research is recommended to fully evaluate the efficacy of the quadruple helix model in the development of an entrepreneurial university. The study contributes to the body of knowledge and global debates surrounding the creation of entrepreneurial universities.

The study under discussion aims to map the outlook for female business owners in South Africa by investigating nine stories shared by interviewees operating across industries, age groups, and holding different levels of education. Through a qualitative exploration grounded in the intersectionality theory, the research unveils a nuanced tapestry of challenges and opportunities shaping the experiences of these resilient entrepreneurs. The findings echo the transformative potential inherent in women-led businesses, vividly portraying them as dynamic agents fostering growth, attracting investments, and contributing positively to economic expansion, poverty alleviation, and community development.  The narrative portrays the leading women-run businesses as agents of change, instigating economic growth, attracting investments, and contributing positively to the realisation of social justice, poverty eradication, and improved livelihoods. The theme of patriarchy surfaces as a challenge in the entrepreneurial field, but with more pronounced adverse structures in opposition to free-playing entrepreneurship. The study that has exhausted all the topics ends with an emphasis on targeted interventions, acknowledging the obstacle of domestic constraints, improving cooperation, and dismantling patriarchal power structures. Its principles are establishing a supportive environment that considers the distinctive factors of women's entrepreneurship, resulting in economic empowerment and sometimes overall social development. Due to its active contribution to women's direction in business and in the implementation of pertinent targeted interventions, South Africa can employ women's potential fully, which can lead to economic growth and be socially beneficial in the meantime. The study also suggests that future inquiries to clear the sight about different actors within the entrepreneurship ecosystem and eventually form a comprehensive outlook of all factors that underline the complex business generation process.

The post-secondary vocational education system in South Africa encounters many challenges, including a lack of professionalism among certain teaching people, an unresponsive curriculum, and inadequate management of day-to-day operations, leading to fragmentation within the system. This is corroborated by a 2014 Training Needs Assessment Study (TNAS) that uncovered a dearth of effective college leadership management abilities and the utilisation of insufficient instructional approaches in certain vocational schools. This study aimed to investigate the possible factors influencing the quality of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in certain colleges located in the Gauteng area of South Africa. The study employed a quantitative research methodology, collecting data using a survey. Subsequently, the data was subjected to analysis using SPSS. This study hypothesised that the current state of affairs may be attributed to inadequate and fragmented leadership and management techniques. The researchers expressed uncertainty regarding the implementation of a more integrated and focused leadership approach that would disperse responsibility for student accomplishment in order to enhance outcomes. This study aimed to examine the main obstacles to enhancing students' performance in TVET colleges and explore how a dispersed instructional leadership approach may be conceptualised to tackle these challenges at the institutional level. The study highlights the significance of collaboration and a fair allocation of power and competence to promote a collective leadership vision in the pursuit of enhanced institutional performance in a sector in need of positive results.

The quantitative change management measurement for effective use, which consists of operationalized change drivers, dimensions and sub-dimensions for effective use of Examination Administration System (EAS) in the South African context, has been scarcely discussed in the literature. This paper intends to develop and validate a change management measurement instrument (CHAMI) to measure the effective use of EAS in South Africa’s (SA) Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges. The CHAMI was developed drawing on the survey measurement instruments literature for change management and effective use and assessed quantitatively using data collected from 215 EAS users across all 318 TVET colleges from nine provinces of SA. The empirical results found the existence of construct validity of the CHAMI with 11 dimensions (i.e. user involvement and change recognition, user satisfaction, performance measurement, technology use, EAS adaptive use, EAS verification, user learning, transparent interaction, representational fidelity, informed action, and effective use) and 63 questions. Another contribution this study stems from the way the research constructs in a measurement model are operationalized as they incorporate measurement class (i.e. reflective or formative). This paper presents a CHAMI for effective use of EAS. In the future, management, researchers and practitioners can use the CHAMI to measure effective use, espouse or adapt instrument as an additional use measurement dimension on United Nations digital transformation programmes index or test it in different settings to advance its generalizability.

This qualitative study investigated the forte of load-shedding on the gains of digital technology integration in a selected South African university in Gauteng province. This case study made use of interviews which were conducted using MS Teams among 8 lecturers and 8 students that were selected purposefully. The interpretive paradigm was used to understand the participants’ plight in the reversal of gains that load-shedding continues to bring in their university post-COVID-19 outbreak. The complexity theory was used to underpin the study and the main findings revealed through themes that both the students and lecturers struggle with the learning and teaching activities that need digital tools because of the persistence of load-shedding that affect innovation and skill impartation. It was also revealed that modems that are used as internet sources fail to function during load-shedding because the network is often affected when lights are off. The study recommends that South African universities should invest in renewable energy and resort to an uninterruptible power supply to keep the lights on. All the role-players of ESKOM need to pull in one direction to have a lasting solution that should keep the lights on for digital tools to keep working.

The study analyzes the development of business incubation literature in South Africa. The VOSviewer software was used to perform the bibliometric analysis of 44 articles on business incubation in South Africa conducted between 1996 and 2023 that were obtained from the Scopus database. The study has also revealed literature on business incubation started to appear in 1996 in South Africa. The study’s keyword co-occurrence analysis also revealed that the following words had the most occurrences and were clustered into the following: entrepreneurship and business incubation, business incubators and effectiveness, entrepreneurial education and informal Business, SMEs and start-up, business and sustainability, and business development and competitiveness. The study sorts the articles based on the following indicators: number of documents published in a year, eminent authors and keyword co-occurrence, which identified six categories of the most prominent research themes being covered by articles reviewed. The study only used articles that were written in English language only. Therefore, future research should consider articles written in other languages and expand the study to other regions, continents, and even global scale.

Designing tailored services is critical to enhancing client satisfaction for private and public services such as road traffic. Among the factors associated with car accidents are traffic violations of established rules and regulations. Indeed, driving skills and practice have become crucial in a complex and dynamic road environment. The study’s objective was to advise traffic department managers on how to customize their service for drivers regarding their experience. A questionnaire assessing their expectations and perceived performance with regard to six traffic service quality dimensions, namely tangibility, reliability, promptitude, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy, was self-administered to 886 motorists chosen using a simple random sampling technique in the Philippines and South Africa. Data collected were analyzed using ANOVA and Post Hoc Tuckey HSD. Results indicate that less experienced drivers had a better appreciation of traffic service quality provided by traffic departments and officers. Therefore, more focus should be placed on experienced drivers to raise their level of satisfaction.

This paper systematically reviews literature with the aim of conceptualizing a change management framework for the effective use of the Examination Administration System (EAS). Information systems (IS) change management factors in the implementation and the post-implementation phases are systematically reviewed to identify 37 reports between 2015 and 2023 and content was analyzed. Post-acceptance phase poses many challenges that often result in resistance from the user community thus relinquishing the expected gains. This paper explains change management factors in the post-implementation phase of information systems as they are not adequately addressed in existing literature. The conceptualization of the change management framework draws on the integration of the Unified Theory of Acceptance, Use of Technology and Effective Use Theory and nine change management factors as facilitating conditions. The paper concludes that effective use of EAS is realized through change management factors (i.e., user training, top management support activities, information flow, planning EAS as a change, change shared vision, performance measurement, user involvement and change recognition, user satisfaction and effective communication). This study further adds the indirect mechanisms (i.e., technology use and IS adaptive use) through which the change management factors can impact effective use. The study provides a useful guide to the practitioners and researchers to explain the change management strategies for the effective use of information systems and improve it. This paper also proposes that future studies adapt and/or empirically test conceptual change management apparatus for effective use to ascertain its validity within various contexts.