A Master of Business Administration (MBA) graduate, Ms Mamphela Cleopatra Matlawe was bestowed with the Top Research Dissertation Award at the Management College of Southern Africa’s (MANCOSA’s) May 2014 graduation for her research that analysed the compliance levels of management competency policies at a State owned enterprise.
Ms Matlawe’s research dissertation titled: Investigating the Level of Compliance with the Management Competency Policy at Telkom South Africa Limited was aimed at ascertaining the extent to which the company had complied with its management policy and identified barriers that challenged compliance. The study also suggests management competencies that could benefit State owned enterprises.
Comments were sought from two hundred managers from Telkom branches in the Gauteng region. Research findings indicated that while certain managerial competencies had been achieved there were managers who lacked skills to manage processes and were limited in their strategic management competencies. Findings also pointed out that managers lacked leadership competencies.
Ms Matlawe, a Data Centre Infrastructure and Facility Manager at Telkom, who joined the company in 1999, indicated that research of this nature proved beneficial because it contributed to a top performing workforce with a high degree of management competency.
Speaking of her academic accolade, Ms Matlawe said: “It means so much to me to have received this recognition, it is really a great achievement and I am extremely proud. I would like to thank everybody that contributed to the achievement. Special thanks go out to my supervisor Mr Stephen Moyo, my children and my parents.”
Pursuing the MBA was a challenging task for Ms Matlawe who said it entailed long hours of studying and a mammoth workload that took her away from her family.
Ms Matlawe expressed her gratitude to MANCOSA for the business skills she has gained having pursued her MBA through the institution. “I would like to say thank you to MANCOSA for all the knowledge that I gained when I was studying there. They made the MBA programme to be so interesting. The one thing I miss the most is the interactive discussions/debates that we had in our classes,” she added.