Latest News Archive
Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
13 August 2024
|
Story Anthony Mthembu
|
Photo Sibahle Dayimani and Amandla Kulu
Prof Peter Roseel, Managing Director of Management Consulting and Research – a spin-off of the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium; and Prof Nicolene Barkhuizen, Director of the UFS Business School.
The Business School at the University of the Free State (UFS) hosted Prof Peter Rosseel, Managing Director of Management Consulting and Research – a spin-off of the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium – for a guest lecture during his visit to the UFS Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences (EMS).
The guest lecture took place on 19 July 2024 in the Business School Auditorium and was attended by academics from the UFS.
Reflecting on the lecture
The lecture presented by Prof Rosseel focused on how combining strategy, strategy implementation, culture transformation, leadership, and learning successfully leads to sustainable growth, creates engagement, and delivers tangible results. Throughout the lecture, Prof Rosseel spoke about how experts tend to make bad leaders and therefore stop change from happening within an organisation. In fact, he highlighted that, “Experts stop change from happening within the workplace because experts, by definition, look through the eyes of their expertise, but you cannot reduce the world to different forms of expertise, as it is holistic.” As such, he argued that to change an organisation, one must see things from the point of view of others.
Furthermore, Prof Rosseel delved deeper into the hierarchical operating model within organisations. He indicated that the above model should be one community within organisations; however, unfortunately it is not. This is because organisations are made up of several departments such as finance and human resources. As such, he regards these departments to be silos that could prove to be detrimental to organisations, as each silo can create its own culture as opposed to an organisational culture. These are some of the points he discussed throughout the lecture.
After the lecture concluded, the audience had the opportunity to engage with Prof Rosseel on his viewpoints. In fact, Lyle Markham, Academic Head of Department and Lecturer in Industrial Psychology at the UFS, was one of the audience members and described the lecture as insightful.
UFS lays criminal charges against students
2008-02-28
Statement by Mr Anton Fisher, Director: Strategic Communication at the University of the Free State (UFS)
The management of the University of the Free State (UFS) has today instructed its attorneys to formulate criminal charges against four students who were involved in the production of an extremely offensive and racist video.
This follows other action taken late yesterday to prohibit two of the four students from the Reitz men’s residence from the campus. The other two students who can be seen in the video have since completed their studies and are no longer on campus.
Further steps are in the pipeline as the internal disciplinary procedure of the university must also take its course.
The Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS, Prof. Frederick Fourie, has condemned the video and the gross violation of human rights that it portrays and has promised to deal swiftly and firmly with this matter.
This morning Prof. Fourie met personally with the workers who were tricked into taking part in the video and apologised to them face to face. Counselling is being arranged for the workers.
The management has also suspended lectures today in a proactive step to allow the emotions of staff and students to calm down. Lectures will resume tomorrow (Thursday 28 February 2008).
This follows a protest march earlier today against the extremely offensive and racist video which shows white students staging a mock “integration” of black workers in the residence.
After the march the management received memoranda from student organisations and two trade unions, NEHAWU and UVPERSU, about the video.
The students and the unions have made certain demands that the management will consider and respond to as soon as possible.
While the march proceeded peacefully, there have been sporadic incidents of intimidation and damage to property. Five students were arrested.
Prof. Fourie has appealed to students to act in solidarity with the management against the scourge of racism and to support the UFS in its policy to integrate student residences.
Media Release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@ufs.ac.za
27 February 2008