NWU School of Business and Governance hosts African Universities Research Collaboration workshop

The North-West University School of Business and Governance (NWU SBG) hosted a workshop on research collaboration for African universities as part of the Organisation Research Culture in African Universities (ORCA) project from 20 to 22 April 2017, in Mahikeng.

The ORCA project is a research collaboration project of universities in Africa, with the aim to research the culture in African universities. This research focuses on the role of leadership in facilitating a research culture in universities, faculty members' perceptions and opinions of a research culture and universities' organisational cultures in general.

This workshop formed part of the first phase of the ORCA project and was attended by, among others, Prof Bill Buenar Puplampu, a professor in organisational behaviour and pro vice-chancellor for academic affairs at the Central University of Ghana, Prof Stella Nkomo, president of the Academy of Management (AFAM), as well as other delegates from Ghana, Nigeria and Zimbabwe.

The project comprises four phases and is to be completed at the end of 2019. Prof Puplampu and Prof Nkomo are the principal researchers. Prof Yvonne du Plessis of the NWU SBG site of delivery in Mahikeng is the South African project team leader, and Prof Jan Meyer, Prof Ravinder Rena, Dr Joseph Lekunze and Dr Tonja Blom are current team members.

The team, representing the African continent, is currently working on the case study preparation per country and plan to present a symposium at the AFAM Conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in January 2018. The next ORCA project meeting and workshop is planned for April 2018 in Ghana, starting phase two.

Further collaboration is also planned between the NWU School of Business and Governance (Mahikeng) and the Central University of Ghana, to contexualise African research for PhDs in business management and to look into the decolonisation of teaching material and African business case studies for inclusion in the MBA programme.