Control Patterns in a Health Care Network

In this paper we present control patterns for the analysis and design of administrative control mechanisms in a network organization. A control pattern is a description of a generic and reusable control mechanism that solves a specific control problem, to be selected on the basis of the context. To represent the context and solution, we analyze a network organization as a set of actors who transfer objects of economic value. The usefulness and adequacy of the control patterns is demonstrated by a case study of the governance and control mechanisms of the Dutch public health insurance network for exceptional medical expenses (AWBZ)

Strategies for maintenance management of railway track assets

M.Ing. (Engineering Management)Abstract: Population growth and environmental issues are revitalizing the railway sector in a tremendous way. An increase in frequency of passenger traffic and rising loads of freight trains has an impact on dynamic railway track properties and components thereof. The challenge from the railway fraternity is to rise to the challenge by ensuring a safe, reliable and affordable mode of transport. The purpose of this research is to investigate the capacity needed to meet demand by maintaining the track components of the railway infrastructure cost effectively. The railway track is the most critical in terms of safety, influence on maintenance costs, availability and reliability of the train service. Profillidis (2012) highlights the fact that track maintenance expenses represent a significant percentage of total railway infrastructure expenses. In literature, different maintenance strategies, approaches and concepts are discussed in light with arguments raised by different scholars and researchers. The main research methodology utilised was the case study on maintenance strategies from different countries where data was mostly available. The reason for the chosen method was to standardise the research method across different countries as this made it easy to obtain the findings and arrive at recommendations of the research. The broader findings from different maintenance strategies were that the track maintenance approach still has to evolve from working in silos to working in a system that acknowledges that decisions taken from other departments can affect the quality of maintenance in future. The deterioration of the track system is mostly affected by the initial quality of the railway track after commissioning due to workmanship and track design, maintenance approach, type of rolling stock tonnages, speed of rolling stock, and environmental related issues. Design phase of the track acknowledges the systems thinking approach for quality and structural integrity. However, more can still be done to adopt approaches that foster inter-departmental coordination in the maintenance phase of the railway track asset lifecycle. Transnet faces a challenge of fulfilling its obligation by providing quality and cost effective maintenance to increase the reliability, affordability, availability and safety of its infrastructure with the ever-increasing freight volumes. The traditional approach of maintaining railway track assets does not bring in required outcomes that ensure high quality and cost effective maintenance as required by high intensity asset utilisation. Data collected from the..

A strategic theoretical framework to safeguard business value for information systems

The phenomenon of business value dissipation in mature organisations as an unintended by-product of the adoption and use of information systems has been a highly debated topic in the corporate boardroom awakening the interest of practitioners and academics alike. Much of the discourse tends to focus on the inability of organisations to unlock and realise the intended benefits to be harvested through large information systems investments. While the business case for investing in large technology programmes has been thoroughly investigated, the human agent that causes value erosion through his interaction with information systems (IS), has not received the studied attention it deserves. This study examines the use of technology in organisations by considering the dichotomy inherent in IS where its introduction for the purposes of creating new or sustaining existing business value subsequently also inadvertently dissipates value. The study proceeds to investigate the root people-induced causes resulting in the unintentional dissipation of value and presents an empirically validated model suggesting that human agents do not only create value for organisations through their use of IS, but at the same time, deliberately or inadvertently, dissipate value. The root people-induced causes resulting in the unintentional dissipation of value is delineated within a Theoretical Technology Value Framework that is constructed from a review of the extant literature, and delineates the overall unintentional value destroying causes and effects of IS on organisations. The Theoretical Technology Value Framework is forthwith applied as a basis for the development of a set of questions to support both qualitative and quantitative investigations from which an Archetypical Technology Value Model was derived. Finally, an Archetypical Technology Value Model is presented as a benchmark and basis to identify, investigate, mitigate and minimise or eliminate the unintentional value destroying effects of IS on Information Technology driven organisations. The study concludes with implications for both theory and practice and suggestions on how value erosion through the activities of the human agent may be identified, modeled and mitigated. Ultimately, recommendations are offered towards the crafting of more effective IS.School of ComputingPh. D. (Information Systems

Nature-inspired survivability: Prey-inspired survivability countermeasures for cloud computing security challenges

As cloud computing environments become complex, adversaries have become highly sophisticated and unpredictable. Moreover, they can easily increase attack power and persist longer before detection. Uncertain malicious actions, latent risks, Unobserved or Unobservable risks (UUURs) characterise this new threat domain. This thesis proposes prey-inspired survivability to address unpredictable security challenges borne out of UUURs. While survivability is a well-addressed phenomenon in non-extinct prey animals, applying prey survivability to cloud computing directly is challenging due to contradicting end goals. How to manage evolving survivability goals and requirements under contradicting environmental conditions adds to the challenges. To address these challenges, this thesis proposes a holistic taxonomy which integrate multiple and disparate perspectives of cloud security challenges. In addition, it proposes the TRIZ (Teorija Rezbenija Izobretatelskib Zadach) to derive prey-inspired solutions through resolving contradiction. First, it develops a 3-step process to facilitate interdomain transfer of concepts from nature to cloud. Moreover, TRIZ’s generic approach suggests specific solutions for cloud computing survivability. Then, the thesis presents the conceptual prey-inspired cloud computing survivability framework (Pi-CCSF), built upon TRIZ derived solutions. The framework run-time is pushed to the user-space to support evolving survivability design goals. Furthermore, a target-based decision-making technique (TBDM) is proposed to manage survivability decisions. To evaluate the prey-inspired survivability concept, Pi-CCSF simulator is developed and implemented. Evaluation results shows that escalating survivability actions improve the vitality of vulnerable and compromised virtual machines (VMs) by 5% and dramatically improve their overall survivability. Hypothesis testing conclusively supports the hypothesis that the escalation mechanisms can be applied to enhance the survivability of cloud computing systems. Numeric analysis of TBDM shows that by considering survivability preferences and attitudes (these directly impacts survivability actions), the TBDM method brings unpredictable survivability information closer to decision processes. This enables efficient execution of variable escalating survivability actions, which enables the Pi-CCSF’s decision system (DS) to focus upon decisions that achieve survivability outcomes under unpredictability imposed by UUUR

The influence of internal controls on small business sustainability in the Harare central business district, Zimbabwe

Thesis (MTech (Business Administration))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2018.The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of internal controls on sustainability of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Harare’s Central Business District (CBD), Zimbabwe. The question at the core of this research is: to what extent do internal controls influence the sustainability of SMEs in Harare’s Central Business District, Zimbabwe. SMEs are perceived to be of paramount importance for the economic affluence of countries the world over, mainly because of their pronounced benefaction and contribution to livelihoods of the dwellers of a country and the gross domestic product (GDP). SMEs have been credited for playing a leading role when it comes to innovation, significant export revenue, custom-suited goods, services provision to society, employment opportunities, and social contribution. This can also be attributed to SMEs operating in Zimbabwe despite the volatility of the Zimbabwean economy. The Zimbabwean business environment, in general, is constantly changing. The changes can be attributed to an eruptive economic environment and unstable political atmosphere. The resultant effect is the departure of larger businesses and investors from the country. Generally, this leaves a great opportunity for SMEs not to be subjected to stiff competition from larger businesses. SMEs are indeed enjoying this space, braving the conditions to start up; however, their operations are short-lived. For SMEs to brave the fortuity of such an unpredictable environment, a system of internal controls must be in place. Research has placed emphasis on internal controls and sustainability of large organisations, while little to no attention has been given to SMEs. The little research on internal controls and sustainability in the context of SMEs has mostly been done in developed countries. Despite this, internal controls and sustainability have not been extensively implemented in the context of developing countries. The need to determine the influence of internal controls on sustainability of SMEs underlines this research. This report adopted a positivist philosophy that entailed utilizing a survey questionnaire to collect data from 150 SMEs operating in Harare’s CBD, Zimbabwe. The sample was further split into Active SMEs and Dormant SMEs (the control group). Data were analysed through Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 25 to spawn statistical and descriptive results. To determine reliability of data, Cronbach’s alpha value was employed. The results indicate SMEs are not implementing controls as they ought to and those SMEs that have controls in place do not ensure that they are adhered to effectively and efficiently in order for them to achieve their desired objectives

The Prolific and other Priority Offender programme: in search of collaborative public management

The purpose of the research was to assess the implementation and management of the Prolific and Priority Offender (PPO) programme, examining the barriers to and enabling factors for managing in partnership, whilst evaluating the settlement between three management models. The research provides evidence for a newer model of management, better suited to deliver on the shared outcomes government requires from its public programmes. Research has shown that although crime is multi-causal, a range of agencies separately intervene into service users’ lives. Collaborative Public Management joins up these interventions to improve crime reduction

The perception of police officers towards corruption in South African police services: a case study of Polokwane cluster policing area in Limpopo Province

The 1996 National Crime Prevention Strategy identified corruption within the criminal justice sector as the greatest threat to the governance of security. Police corruption has been a huge obstacle within the South African Police Service’s endeavours to tackle improper activities of police officers. A general definition of corruption is “use of public office for private gain”; this includes bribery and extortion, which involves at least two parties, and other types of malfeasance that a public official can carry out alone, including fraud and embezzlement. The corruption of police officers impinges on the capacity and ability of the entire force in ensuring that all citizens abide by the law. This study explored the perceptions of police officers towards corruption activities in South African Police Services (SAPS) within the Polokwane Cluster (Capricorn District) Policing Area in Limpopo province. In this study, a qualitative research design was used. The researcher used purposive sampling to select participants. For collection of data, semi-structured interviews were used where the researcher interviewed police officers within the Polokwane Cluster Capricorn District Policing Area. The researcher conducted fifty 50 interviews with five police officers from 10 police stations within the Polokwane Cluster Capricorn District Policing Area, namely: Botlokwa, Lebowakgomo, Polokwane,Westernburg, Seshego, Mankweng, Mashashane, Matlala, Mogwadi and Zebediela police stations. In addition, secondary sources were used where the researcher relied on documents from the Independent Police Investigations IPID on statistics on police corruption, among other scales of measurements. For the analysis of data, thematic content analysis was used to analyse the data collected through interviews whilst document analysis was used for analysing data collected from secondary sources. The findings gathered in this study revealed that police corruption is widespread within the Polokwane Cluster Capricorn District Policing Area in Limpopo province due some police officers’ fear of victimisation of their families or loved ones if they expose corrupt acts by other police officers. Furthermore, corruption of the South African Police Services personnel has been reported where potential police recruits are required to pay bribes for them to be placed for the job. Weak leadership within the South African police service and poor policy formulation and implementation have been identified by participants to be some of the main determinants of corruption within the South African Police Services. As a recommendation to counter the adverse effects of police corruption, a number of strategies have been formulated in this study such as the establishment of vibrant anticorruption mechanisms. It is essential for the government to recall passionate former police officials to investigate all the corrupt officials. The South African government should establish a very sophisticated anti-corruption body independent from the SAPS to spearhead the strategy to combat corruption. The recruitment of police personnel should culminate into hiring individuals who would see the police job as a calling and do it passionately. They should firstly target people who choose police related courses are already studying courses in crime investigation from grassroots level.Thesis (MSoc) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 202

Developing a theory of total quality management - using the delphi technique

Quality has become an important determinant of competitiveness, to the point that it is now widely considered to be the foundation upon which other factors that contribute to competitive advantage, such as cost, speed of delivery, reliability of delivery and flexibility, must be built. Total Quality Management (TQM) has emerged as a prominent tool for organisations in pursuit of lasting improvements in quality, business performance and, for introducing change. A large and increasing number of organisations are starting to adopt TQM in recognition of its strategic importance. The importance of quality is also recognised by governments and industrialists throughout the developed world. The increasing number of awards expounding the value of TQM is a manifestation of the importance placed on the concept. All the signs indicate that the adoption of TQM is unlikely to diminish. Despite the interest, and the attention of many researchers and writers, TQM remains an imprecise subject. Examination of the large volume ofTQM related publications revealed that the literature is dominated by prescription and anecdote and highlights a lack of empirical work. A number of broad areas can be identified where it would appear that the literature has remained irreconcilable or under-developed. Moreover, it appears that the domination of TQM's development by practitioners has resulted in the absence of a theoretical grounding for TQM. These findings pointed to the need for substantive research to extend the current knowledge and understanding of TQM and to support its future development. The aim of this study was to address these broad areas and to fill an important gap in the existing knowledge and understanding ofTQM. More specifically, the aim was to develop an inductive theory o/TQM based on the expert opinion o/practitioners in the leading organisations. For the purpose of this study "theory" is defined as comprising three components: concepts, relationships and underlying logic. The study achieves this aim through the explication of the views of a sample of best practice TQM organisations representing a wide range of industry sectors. The design of the research was motivated by the distinctive shortfalls in the domain and strategy of previous TQM research. After evaluating the methodological options available, the Delphi method was identified as the most relevant and practical research technique. A modified Delphi survey comprising four planned rounds of postal questionnaires was used to collect the study's primary data. Conversion of this primary data into the proposed theory involved a profound process of interpretation and refinement which centred around explaining the logic underlying the salient TQM variables that were identified. Exploratory factor analysis was used to aid the interpretive processes. The salient variables were heuristically organised into a set ofTQM concepts and the interrelationship digraph technique was used to facilitate the extraction of the salient relationships between the concepts from the core body of underlying logic. The study identifies nine key concepts of the TQM approach and puts forward seven key propositions that explain the important relationships between them. The three core concepts are Customer Focus, Internal Collaboration and DynamiclEnergetic Leadership. The study corroborates the belief evident in the more recent TQM literature that TQM is a management philosophy. The idea that TQM is a "management fad" is refuted. The study provides strong evidence that TQM is universally applicable to 'for profit' organisations. It is also shown that the impact of TQM goes beyond management practice. TQM is undeniably concerned with the attitude, the values and the behaviour of all of the members of an organisation. The primary data in this study came from a sample that comprised 'for profit' organisations only. The proposed theory has therefore been derived in this context. This represents the main boundary to which generalisation can be taken. An objective of the study was to test the proposed concepts in order to refine the proposed theory. This objective was only partially met due to unexpected diversity in some of the qualitative primary data. This study has expanded understanding by contributing an inductively developed theory of TQM to the present knowledge. This interpretation of TQM, which identifies the logic underlying the relevance of the important TQM variables, transcends a description of TQM which is specified purely in terms of the relevant variables. The study also contributes an understanding ofTQM that explicitly distinguishes its purpose from its mechanics. The core practical contribution of the study is that it can act as a conduit to improve practitioner understanding. Practitioners seeking to improve the performance of their organisation to a position of sustainable competitive advantage through the introduction of a TQM approach can have an understanding of TQM that is based on proven practice. The study also contributes a set ofTQM concepts and an interrelationship digraph that can act as a base-line from which existing TQM approaches may be critically examined. Furthermore, the study contributes a theory of TQM to the development of a sound theoretical framework that can systematically and appropriately guide future research