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MODULE NAME: MODULE CODE:

CONTEMPORARY MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES COMP8411
CONTEMPORARY MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES COMP8411p

ASSESSMENT TYPE: EXAMINATION (PAPER ONLY)

TOTAL MARK ALLOCATION: 120 MARKS
TOTAL HOURS: 2 HOURS (+10 minutes reading time)
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Please adhere to all instructions in the assessment booklet.
2. Independent work is required.
3. Five minutes per hour of the assessment to a maximum of 15 minutes is dedicated to
reading time before the start of the assessment. You may make notes on your question
paper, but not in your answer sheet. Calculators may not be used during reading time.
4. You may not leave the assessment venue during reading time, or during the first hour or
during the last 15 minutes of the assessment.
5. Ensure that your name is on all pieces of paper or books that you will be submitting. Submit
all the pages of this assessment’s question paper as well as your answer script.
6. Answer all the questions on the answer sheets or in answer booklets provided. The phrase
‘END OF PAPER’ will appear after the final set question of this assessment.
7. Remember to work at a steady pace so that you are able to complete the assessment within
the allocated time. Use the mark allocation as a guideline as to how much time to spend on
each section.
Additional instructions:
1. This is a CLOSED book assessment.
2. Answer any two questions. If you answer all three questions, only the first two questions will
be marked. Indicate the numbers of the questions that you have answered by writing the
question numbers on the front of your first answer booklet.
3. Calculators are not allowed.

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Test Outcomes ____

Learning Unit/s Objectives covered in this test: LU1 to LU8

At the end of this assessment, students should be able to:

 Analyse the key management functions of an organisation.

 Evaluate decision‐making techniques used to manage information in an organisation.
 Recommend solutions to current contemporary issues in the business and economic
environments.
 Analyse the importance of management, motivational and leadership theories in an
organisation.
 Evaluate the impact of change in the business environment.
 Analyse the control systems of a business organisation.

Question 1 (Marks: 60)

Where SAA got its R10.5bn from

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni had, on several occasions, voiced his opposition to refinancing the
bankrupt South African Airways (SAA), urging cabinet ministers that Treasury would find it difficult
to find the R10.5 billion to restart the national airline.
Eventually he had to yield to the consensus opinion of government and was ordered to scrape the
funds together to restart the failed airline.
A list of figures contained in the supporting documents to the Medium‐Term Budget Policy
Statement shows that it was indeed difficult to find the R10.5 billion, with Mboweni eventually
having to shift even paltry amounts from other state departments to find the money.
The bulk of the cash now going to SAA, following the R3.53 billion set aside for SAA in the 2020
national budget, was taken from the police.
The department for higher education and training lost R1.13 billion, contributing just less than
11% of the funds. This cut comes at a time when universities and other tertiary education centres
are concerned about their financial viability, due to an increase in the numbers of (non‐paying)
students and rising costs due to a longer‐than‐normal academic year.
The health department will have to do with R694 million less, and transport with R681 million less.
Reprioritisation of the 2020 national budget for implementation of the SAA rescue plan

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Funds reprioritised from: Amount (Rm) % of total

Announced in the 2020 Budget speech 3 530 33.6%
Police 1 196 11.4%
Higher Education and Training 1 133 10.8%
Health 694 6.6%
Transport 681 6.5%
National Treasury 362 3.5%
Human Settlements 345 3.3%
Correctional Services 308 2.9%
Basic Education 276 2.6%
Cooperative Governance 255 2.4%
Public Works and Infrastructure 234 2.2%
Water and Sanitation 201 1.9%
Justice and Constitutional Development 195 1.9%
Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural
172 1.6%
Development
Trade, Industry and Competition 110 1.0%
Home Affairs 98 0.9%
Environment, Forestry and Fisheries 96 0.9%
Mineral Resources and Energy 91 0.9%
Science and Innovation 87 0.8%
Public Enterprises 57 0.5%
Sports, Arts and Culture 56 0.5%
Military Veterans 54 0.5%
Statistics South Africa 45 0.4%
Employment and Labour 40 0.4%
Communications and Digital Technologies 38 0.4%
International Relations and Cooperation 29 0.3%
Small Business Development 27 0.3%
Parliament 24 0.2%
Public Service and Administration 22 0.2%
Tourism 17 0.2%
Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities 7.5 0.1%

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The Presidency 6.6 0.1%

Government Communication and Information
5.9 0.1%
System
National School of Government 2.2 0.0%
Traditional Affairs 1.9 0.0%
Civilian Secretariat for the Police Service 1.7 0.0%
Total 10 500 100%
Source: National Treasury

The list is sure to elicit a lot of criticism, such as that by a Moneyweb reader on another article
about the SAA rescue plan, where he commented that school children using pit latrines at primary
schools must take pride in their national airline. The budget for basic education lost R267 million
to SAA.
Human settlements lost R345 million, equal to 2 952 houses for the homeless. This is based on the
cost of only the house (R116 867), excluding the cost of land (R6 000) and services (R45 000 per
house). But, then the budgets for public works and infrastructure, as well as that for agriculture,
land reform and rural development, was also cut.
Statistics SA, which recently complained about a shortage of funds while gearing up for a national
census next year, saw its budget reduced by R45 million. Meanwhile, military veterans are
probably rethinking their vocal support for SAA after seeing their budget cut by R54 million.
Mboweni also cut Parliament’s budget. The members’ enthusiastic demands that SAA must be
saved are costing them R24 million. The amounts shrink to paltry figures towards the bottom of
the list. The department looking after the interest of women, youth and people with disabilities
was forced to contribute R7.5 million, while the Office of President Cyril Ramaphosa was hit for
R6.6 million to make good on the president’s promises of saving SAA. But, at the end the day, all
the money comes from taxpayers.
The majority of taxpayers will never get within touching distance of an SAA aircraft, especially the
poor who contribute 15% in VAT to the state on nearly everything they buy. The kick in the groin
is that nobody really knows what SAA has done with all the billions it has received to date. SAA
has not published a financial report since 2017. Corruption and wasteful expenditure have not
been tallied, and there is no assurance that they will not eat into this R10.5 billion either.
Source: Kruger. A. 2020. This is where SAA got its R10,5 bn from. Moneyweb.

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Accessed online: https://www.moneyweb.co.za/in‐depth/budget/this‐is‐where‐saa‐got‐its‐r10‐

5bn‐from/ [Accessed 18 November 2020].

Q.1.1 Provide a detailed analysis of the current business environment in which SAA finds (40)
itself. You need to address the theoretical underpinning of each of the elements
and provide an application‐based analysis of each of the dimensions. Present your
answer in an essay format with paragraphs that deal with the topic in a logical and
coherent manner. In your analysis, please consider the following elements:

 Internal environment
‐ Culture
‐ Physical environment
 Task environment
‐ Regulators
‐ Competitors
‐ Customers
 External environment
‐ Political climate
‐ International situation
‐ Economic dimension

Q.1.2 Evaluate three organisational change techniques that would enable SAA to (15)
maintain its strategy and be sustainable.

Q.1.3 Discuss how the concept of substitutes to leadership can be applied to SAA to (5)
address future challenges.

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Question 2 (Marks: 60)

Carefully read the case study below:

Mojo Aja

Mojo Aja is a software development company that was established in 2000. The founders (both
electronic engineers) followed the typical route of a small garage‐start up business and landed
one large contract that kept the doors open for business for five years. The two founders and two
additional engineers made up the total staff component and the company was operated from a
house converted to working space. The company suddenly landed a big contract in 2006 and
everything changed ‐ they had to acquire new offices, additional people, additional support and
admin services, new rules and regulations plus organisational policies, auxiliary HR functions as
well as regulatory efforts such as BEE, OHA, skills development levy, tender developers and the
like.

While the expertise to deliver the goods was still in the core business, the company battled to get
the supporting services in place and became stuck in a small business mind‐set. One of the
problems was that the founding members disagreed on important elements and time‐sensitive
decisions were put on the back burner. One of the founders wanted to expand to a mega
company and the other wanted to hold on to the small business family‐type atmosphere. One
director did not want to appoint more people and grow the staff component because of long‐term
economic uncertainty; the other wanted to appoint permanent and contract staff to position the
company for new and exciting opportunities. The appointment of new employees from various
backgrounds could also lead to a diverse workforce in relation to age, gender, ethnicity etc.
Indecisiveness gave rise to uncertainty ‐ business opportunities were still available but the
company lost some of its former agility.

Employees became demotivated and uncertain and started looking for work outside the company.
Communication in the company was not adequate and employees developed assumptions that
were not necessarily taking all the facts into account and was bad for company morale. The
classical growth trap scenario played out. A decision had to be made and a plan set in place if the
company wanted to expand and become a bigger role player in the market or stay small and
possibly disappear off the map completely.

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Source: IIE (2021)

Q.2.1 Evidence‐based management provides a valuable roadmap that Mojo Aja could (15)
use to determine possible scenario outcomes. Evaluate the five principles of
evidence‐based management from an advisory perspective.

Note: support your evaluation with relevant examples from the case study.

Tip: You will be awarded three marks per principle.

Q.2.2 Explain in what ways modern organisations such as Mojo Aja are faced by (16)
contemporary management challenges by focussing on any four critical
challenges faced by managers in modern organisations.

Tip: You will be awarded four makes per critical challenge.

Q.2.3 Many scholars believe that Maslow’s hierarchy can still be applied in the modern (15)
organisational context with great success. Apply Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to
Mojo Aja.

Note: support your application with practical examples.

Tip: You will be awarded three marks per level.

Q.2.4 The leaders of Mojo Aja can rely on education and experience to deal with (8)
ongoing leadership and management challenges in the company. Distinguish
between the importance of quality education and the value of genuine
experience.

Q.2.5 Software developers normally develop software on a time‐based commercial (6)

model. Recommend guidelines, based on the characteristics of effective control,
that the managers of Mojo Aja can implement to effectively control and
supervise the time software developers spend at work.

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Question 3 (Marks: 60)

Carefully read the case study below:
Wannabee Scrapyard,

A typical family owned business, Wannabee Scrapyard, is a third generation family‐owned

business with a well‐established market share. They suffer from three main problems namely
‘’dead business’’, ‘’dead ideas’’ and ‘’dead people’’. The central office is based in Pretoria and
eight working branch sites are situated all over South Africa. Business has changed a lot over the
years by way of shifts in general economic activity, customer LSM numbers and the emergence of
a number of competing enterprises. Some of the eight branches situated over SA are not realising
a decent profit anymore and some of the people working in Wannabee are not actively engaging
or adding value to the business. Other employees cannot really address this because in most cases
these individuals are closely related to the owners. A number of staff appointments were made by
way of family favours that resulted in other employees becoming unhappy and demotivated to
perform their jobs well. The ideas around marketing and advertising, hiring people, sales
commission deals and internal management of theft and fraud in the business all need a fresh
look because it has not been revised in years.

Source: IIE (2021)

You are invited to clean up Wannabee and put forward some hands‐on practical suggestions on
how to get this company running like a well‐oiled engine again.

Q.3.1 Q.3.1.1 Important decisions must be made by the owner‐ managers of (15)
Wannabee with regards to the problem of unprofitable sites. Apply the
six‐step rational decision making process within the context of
Wannabee Scrapyard.
Q.3.1.2 Make practical recommendations on the best way in which Wannabee (5)
can resolve its problems related to low employee engagement and
favouritism. Motivate your answer.

Q.3.2 Overcoming resistance during a change process is important. Using examples, (14)
discuss ANY three techniques that can be applied to overcome resistance to
change in Wannabee.

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Note: support your evaluation with relevant examples from the case study.
Tip: You will be awarded four to five marks per technique applied.

Q.3.3 One could argue that without sound leadership, Wannabee has no chance to (10)
rectify the problems of the past.
Advise the Wannabee leadership team on the best strategical and ethical
leadership approach that they should apply within the organisation.

Q.3.4 In view of the centralised head office and the other geographically dispersed site (16)
locations of the business, discuss the different interdependent elements that
should be taken into consideration if an effective systems management approach
is implemented by the management team of Wannabee.

Criteria Poor Accomplished Excellent Total

 The student  The student  The student
presented a presented a presented a
poor analysis poor analysis poor analysis
and and and
Knowledge,
classification classification of classification /16
analysis and
of a systems a systems of a systems
application
management management management
perspective perspective in perspective in
in Wannabee. Wannabee. Wannabee.
0—5 marks 6—11 marks 12—16 marks
Total Marks /16

END OF PAPER

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