Institution-building issues in South Africa

This article discusses structural and labour-market factors associated with institution building in South Africa. It pays particular attention to the role of management development in institution building in the public sector. Two case studies that address the question of organizational restructuring following moves towards commercialization of some public sector organizations are discussed.     

PROBLEMS OF CONTROLLING THE EFFICIENCY OF BUREAUCRATIC BEHAVIOR

The purpose of this paper is to discuss problems of controlling the efficiency of bureaucratic behavior. There are two broad approaches to the topic: One is a general discussion of systemic complications that mitigate against efficiency; the second centers around the study of productivity and efforts a t instituting program changes which result in more efficient operations. The former, constituting the first part of the paper, is, by nature, a more theoretical and, unfortunately, less positive statement. The latter portion of the paper is a more practical and more optimistic discussion. Taken together, it is hoped that the two approaches will provide a balanced overview of efficiency as it relates to bureaucratic behavior.     

Network building conferences in support of industry-wide innovations

Promoting industry-wide innovation is a particularly difficult problem of technology transfer because of issues of proprietary information and competition. A promising approach to this problem is network-building through mission-oriented conferences that facilitate communication among those involved in the transfer of technology. This paper defines basic concepts of networking and views mission-oriented conferences as temporary systems. It describes how one mission-oriented conference, the Footwear Technology Symposium, was designed to promote networking. The paper also provides examples of other mission-oriented conferences (including a number of what have been called “research utilization conferences”). The article concludes with a set of recommendations for planners of mission-oriented conferences.