Abraham Serote, a PhD graduand in Sociology, examines the lived experience of black medical registrars in a predominantly white academic milieu in his thesis, "Blackness in a predominantly white academe: the case of the University of Cape Town Faculty of Health Sciences (UCT FHS)". He demonstrates how their experience was circumscribed by notions of race and racism.
Deciphering that 'black experience' through the lens of Critical Race Theory, Serote shows the complexity of racism and how it is often sustained, at times relying on 'colour-blind' blacks for sustenance. The thesis concludes with a series of pointed recommendations including, among others, that active strategies for recruitment of blacks into the FHS should guard against locking black academics into a 'perpetual development track' and that a faculty ombudsperson should be appointed to adjudicate over disputes attributable to the frailties of the institutional climate and the spectre of race and racism.
It is the individual who becomes central to change in universities by facilitating ongoing change through conversations and actions, according to Kevin Johnston, a PhD graduand in Information Systems at UCT. His thesis, "Managing change in a university", analyses the current position at UCT using an interpretive epistemology and a grounded theory research methodology. He found that change takes place organically and is not defined by the outcomes of high-level strategies. Culture is influenced by and permeates the continuing change process, while information technology and business processes can potentially enable or inhibit change. Therefore individuals, processes, structures, technologies, and plans need to support proposed changes. To enable change, universities need to nurture, manage, and develop all individuals to manage change.
Maurice Mutowo, a PhD graduand in Business Administration, examines change at the University of Rhodesia (UR) from 1945 to 1980 in terms of path dependence; the tendency of a past practice to continue even if better alternatives are available. His findings are expected to help managers better distinguish, analyse and understand processes of institutional change, especially within complex organisations operating in business environments characterised by high unpredictability and complexity.
Mutowo's thesis uses a grounded theory approach to investigate the sources of sustainable competitive advantage of the University of Rhodesia (UR). His thesis defines and traces the origins of path dependency, empirically verifies its prevalence with respect to the evolution of UR, and shows its contribution to management theory and practice.
