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MANAGING ORGANISATIONS THROUGH PROJECTS AND PROGRAMMES – THE MODERN GENERAL MANAGEMENT APPROACH

An article by Professor Pieter Steyn, published in “Management Today” and “ProjectPro”, April 2001. Introduction Globalisation and the information age have impacted heavily on the way organisations are organised and managed. Superior strategic leadership has become an important competitive tool and is the basis on which leading organisations provide services or goods better than their…

The Importance of Employing the Correct Leadership Approach

What is your leadership style and do your employees respond to it? There are countless leadership approaches that can be used to define your particular style of leading a team. If you are a still looking for a leadership approach that suits you and your team, this article can help you arrive at that decision…

What is Systems Thinking and how does it affect me?

The benefits of Systems Thinking are often overlooked. Looking at the bigger picture instead of agonising of the details can be the solution your company needs. Systems Thinking is a branch away from more traditional forms of organisational analysis and involves looking at the “bigger picture” and organisational dynamics, instead of focusing on singular issues.…

How to write a business plan to align your business model

Are you an entrepreneur who needs to learn how to write a business plan? Maybe you have a product that you believe will “go big” but you are not sure how to properly get it “out there” or “to market”. A key element when writing a business plan is to begin with the need and…

8 Skills Every Entrepreneur Definitely Needs

When it comes to starting a small business, an entrepreneur may worry about how to successfully run an organisation from the ground up. It is not simply a matter of walking into an office space, pitching out a few ideas and expecting them to work. It is far more than that, as you will…

Do you know how to manage your business strategy?

When managing your business strategy, a good place to start is to assess what you are not doing and what you would like to do with the company going forward. The essence of any strategy development should be about coping with the competition. “Sound strategy starts with having the right goal,” says Michael Porter,…

Why is organisational culture so important?

Organisational culture refers to a system of shared meaning amongst an organisation’s members. More simply, with employees spending 40 hours or more at their workplace, certain practices and environments can be observed. How does the organisational culture affect an employee? An organisational culture refers to ideologies, values and norms that become the…

Why Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMMEs) Fail

An entrepreneur is defined as: “a person who undertakes a wealth-creating and value-adding process through developing ideas, assembling resources and making things happen”. It is a well-established fact that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMMEs) are engines of economic growth since they create between 65% and 70% of new jobs in the economy annually. The…

2017 Cranefield College Graduation address by Mr Bonisile Makubalo

Principal of Cranefield College, Prof P. Steyn; Chairperson and members of our Governing Council; Cranefield management, all lecturers and staff Graduands; Proud parents, partners and relatives of the graduands; Ladies and gentlemen, Welcome to the 2017 graduation of Cranefield College, it is an honour and a privilege for me to address you today on…

Collaboratism: A Solution to Declining Globalisation and Rising Protectionism

Authors: Prof Dr Pieter Steyn and Prof Dr Brane Semolic This article in PM World Journal Volume VI, Issue 3 March 2017 - http://pmworldjournal.net/article/collaboratism/ Globalisation has dominated economics and trade for decades. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines globalisation as: “the development of an increasingly integrated global economy marked especially by free trade, free flow of capital, and…