Transformation as part of evolving organisational culture in the South African higher education institutions

CITATION

Mzangwa, S. (2019). Transformation as part of evolving organisational culture in the South African higher education institutions. Cogent Social Sciences, 5(1). 

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ABSTRACT
The practice of organisational culture plays a major role in enhancing
organisational and sustainable growth through innovative leadership and a sound
sense of community. In order to create the right culture, sustainability must be
embedded in the institution’s or organisation’s day-to-day decisions and processes.
This paper acknowledges the need to explore organisational culture and sustainability
in more general terms and across a more diverse range of contexts, but
owing to space restrictions and in a desire to focus and to be concise, the focus is
drawn to a particular selected group of higher education institutions (HEIs) in South
Africa. HEIs are generally managed according to a mission statement and objectives
that are shared commonly in order to build and sustain the organisational
culture of these institutions so that they remain relevant and focused. Indeed, it
could be claimed that organisational culture is the channel through which the vision
of the institution flows or is impeded since a vision is undergirded by the differing
values, norms and beliefs of various social groups which are intrinsic to HEIs.
Organisational culture in South Africa has been influenced by the historical background
of a divided society subject to apartheid laws such as the Natives Land Act (1913), the Group Areas Act (1950), the Population Registration Act (1950) and the
Extension of University Education Act (1959). The latter was meant to exclude nonwhites
from accessing HEIs as per legislations passed by the apartheid regime. In
light of this context, this paper examines organisational culture and sustainability in
certain (selected) South African HEIs, and analyses elements embedded in organisational
culture, which make it difficult for those HEIs to transform according to the
expectations of government and society in recent times. The ways in which higher
education institutions practise their organisational culture and how they tackle
sustainability as part of their transformation remain significant in governance and
the development of the HEIs in South Africa


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