Abstract
M.Phil.
Within the South African context a government of national unity has been elected.
Before and after the election, mention was made of the corporatisation and/or the
privatisation of state owned assets and parastatals such as Eskom, Telkom and
Spoomet. The corporatisation and/or privatisation of these state assets would result in
an increase in funds for the government to spend on the Reconstruction and
Development Programme, as well as lead to the increase in efficiency of some of these
state owned assets. Every day more comment is being made on the possibility of
Eskom corporatising.
This research proposed to study certain current management philosophies and
methodologies being used within Eskom's Technology, Research and Investigations
(T-R-I) with a view to corporatisation. This was done by comparing current
management practices found in T-R-I, to both literature and prominent engineering
companies in South Africa.
Topics included the concept of engineering management, marketing, organisational
structures, project management and change management. A literature review on
strategic planning was also performed and this lay the foundation for personalised
interviews with managers in prominent South African engineering companies. The
interviews were conducted by means of a structured questionnaire and a statistical
analysis, and comparisons of the various methodologies in terms of strategic planning
within these engineering companies, were subsequently performed. A visit was also
undertaken to Australian utilities which have already been through the corporatisation
process. Here, first hand knowledge of the various experiences of corporatisation was
obtained.
T-R-I is a multi-disciplinary engineering consulting organisation which undertakes
investigations, studies, applied research and testing for Eskom and other companies. It
employs 308 technical people in modem laboratories. T-R-I operates in an engineering
environment and following from the literature search, it is believed that T-R-I should
apply the principles of engineering management. A comprehensive overview of
marketing and all the aspects associated therewith was performed. It is recommended
that T-R-I develop a marketing intelligence system and one comprehensive marketing
plan. T-R-I also needs to develop a decision support system that will assist in making
better analyses and decisions as far as product development and entry into the market
is concerned. Competitors also need to be studied in more detail.
Three organisational designs were investigated, i.e. the functional organisation, the
product organisation and the matrix organisation. Since all of T-R-I's work is based
on projects, it is recommended that T-R-I follow a matrix type structure for the
effective execution of its projects. Six key activities for successful change
implementation were highlighted in this study.
Strategic planning was analysed by means of what literature promotes as an effective
business plan. The purpose of the vision, mission, philosophy, environmental analysis
and goals was discussed and comparisons were made between the literature studies
and T-R-I's business plan. A structured questionnaire was developed in order to
facilitate interviews with managers of five prominent South African engineering
companies. A detailed statistical analysis of the resultant discussions is presented in
the thesis. The questionnaire extracted information on organisational nature,
organisational principles of operation, people development, management aspects and
strategic planning. By comparing T-R-I's current methodology and detailed contents
of the business plan to these five engineering companies, it was found that T-R-I
acknowledged and responded to all of the main issues and methodologies.
The Australian electricity industry has already been corporatised. A visit to five
utilities in Australia was undertaken to discuss how corporatisation has affected them.
What was very clear in the discussions, was that T-R-I will not survive as an "Eskom
only" service provider but that it needs to expand its market. T-R-I cannot take it for
granted that it has a captive market in Eskom. All of the Australian utilities visited,
however, indicated that they believed that corporatisation was well worth it.
It is, however, recommended that comparative studies be performed in order to
evaluate what companies did to transform from parastatals or military supporting
companies to successful companies in the private sector (eg. Denel, Sentech and the
Atomic Energy Corporation). In-depth studies focusing on these organisations will
add to the identification of those inefficiencies within T-R-I that would enhance its
capabilities, should they be positively addressed, in order to sustain itself in the future
and be a successfully corporatised entity.