PROF ZIDE'S ABSTRACT FOR HIS INAUGURATION

ABSTRACT

"Structures and Strictures of Excellence in Governance: Transformation Conundrums and Paradigms for Management in Higher Education”

For a long time now but certainly since the dawn of our democracy, there has been a perception from certain sectors of our society that “Governance” – be it in the Public or Private Sector as driven by the Transformation processes is all about lawlessness, chaos, ungovernability, corruption, poor service-delivery, flouting of procedures, promotion of unethical behaviour, poor-performance, un-accountability, finger-pointing, sloppiness and indecisiveness.

This presentation on “Structures and Strictures of Excellence in Governance: Transformation Conundrums and Paradigms for Management in Higher Education” will attempt to prove that there is a profound fallacy in linking and/or equating “Excellence in Governance through Transformation” to negativism, including lawlessness, chaos, ungovernability, etc. Within the context of “Excellence in Governance”, an attempt will be made in highlighting the profound as well as significant role that every stakeholder can play in enhancing “Excellence in Governance” through the use of Technology in the advancement of Knowledge Management, Performance and Human Capital Management, Higher Education Transformation, Risk Management, Ethics and Values of Management as the fundamental pillars of Excellence in Governance.

The centrality of the topic “Structures and Strictures of Excellence in Governance: Transformation Conundrums and Paradigms for Management in Higher Education” is well articulated and summarised in the ANC’s Election Manifesto “Working Together, we can do more” and even Barack Obama caught the electorate of the United States of America by storm with his now famous electioneering campaign when he said:

“Yes, We Can”

It will therefore not be out of context to argue in this presentation that “Structures and Strictures of Excellence in Governance: Transformation Conundrums and Paradigms for Management in Higher Education” is about “working together” for positive organizational results as well as putting our focus on the common achievable organizational goals and targets and say “Yes We Can”.

Anything less to this, would only be a fulfillment of the prophetic words of Charles Dickens (1967 : 7), who, when, describing the atrocities and the negative effects of Industrial Revolution in England, explained the same in the manner rephrased herebelow:

“It was the best of times;

It is the worst of times;

It was the age of wisdom;

It is the age of foolishness;

It was the epoch of belief;

It is the epoch of incredulity;

It was the season of hope;

It is the winter of despair”


Through this presentation I will argue that excellence as well as effectiveness in governance can only be achieved if we stop looking further but look at our own collective performance and say:
“Working Together We Can do More”

It will be a travesty of justice for the institution to entertain Charles Dickens’ thinking that the past was better than the present. Through this paper I hope to prove that the present can be better than the past if only we put our skills and expertise to better use, and therefore promoting “Excellence in Governance”.


IMAGES               PROF ZIDE'S INAUGURATION