Doctor of Business Leadership

Purpose

The qualification aims to contribute to a highly advanced scholarship in the field of business leadership. The qualification targets business leaders, and senior managers in private and public organisations who have the desire to contribute to advanced scholarship and knowledge production in the field of business leadership. Also, this qualification advances the levels of scholarly engagement with the subject matter and make a significant and original contribution to knowledge and understanding of the field.

Qualified learners will develop perspectives that will change how people view and respond and solve highly complex problem situations. Qualifying learners contribute to, and generate knowledge in respect of highly complex social and economic issues of the country and should, therefore, seek to advance the sustainability of society.

The qualification aims to empower senior executives to assume overall leadership responsibility within a substantial multi-business. Qualifying learners will manage unit organisation operating in intensely competitive national and global markets.

It involves a learning journey that has been identified and supported by stakeholders in various industries as vital preparation to deal with increasingly complex and dynamic workplace contexts. Many corporate leaders have gained their organisational positions as a consequence of their performance and meritorious achievements, complemented by general management qualifications such as the Master of Business Administration. However, the leaders may not have had opportunities to progress to Chief Executive Officer level leadership due to their developmental requirements. They might have surpassed that which their Master's level management qualifications prepared them.

The qualification equips learners to accelerate their leadership development by assisting them in making explicit their implicit personal contingent leadership paradigm, drawing on their leadership journey.

Rationale

The institution's stakeholders, including inter-alia, the financial services industry, the supply chain and freight forwarding industries, the risk-based integrated management industry and the project management fraternity, have expressed the need for advanced scholarship and learning in the field of Business Management and Business Leadership. The qualification allows learners to advance leadership as a discipline in dynamic and complex business environments. The latter should lead to immediate outcomes that not only impact specific contexts but which are also generalisable and transferable to broader contexts. Typical learners eligible to pursue this qualification are holders of a Master's Degree in the Economic and Management Sciences. It includes qualifications such as the Master of Business Administration, Master of Business Leadership or a cognate Master's Degree. Thus, this Doctorate qualification provides a vertical articulation pathway for the learners above who want to pursue further and advanced qualifications more relevant to their current careers.

Faculties of Economic and Management Sciences are recruiting academics who can inspire their students to become innovative and visionary leaders in their own right. Furthermore, the National Development Plan 2030 alludes to the increasing role of private Higher Education Institutions in addressing the shortage of qualified doctorates. Thus, the qualification will contribute to the development of learners who will not only provide transformational leadership in organisations but address the targets as laid out in the 2030 vision for the country. This qualification will thus meet the national need to build a cadre of leaders in almost every conceivable private and public organisation. Since all organisations, which are aspiring to be successful, need dynamic leaders with advanced skills and business acumen.

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)

The Institution is guided in its Recognition of Prior (RPL) practice by the South African Qualification Authority (SAQA), the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) and the Council on Higher Education's (CHE) policies. The institution may consider learners without a relevant master's qualification for admission through RPL. Learners must demonstrate relevant experiential knowledge and through inter-alia, having completed senior management and leadership training and having been in (or currently occupying) senior management and leadership positions. The Institute's RPL policy and procedure will guide the process for assessing and evaluating the applicant's suitability to undertake Doctorate level studies.

Entry Requirements

The minimum entry requirement for this qualification is

• Master of Philosophy: Economic and Management Science, NQF Level 9.

Or

• Master of Business Administration, NQF Level 9.

Or

• Master of Business Leadership, NQF Level 9.

This qualification comprises of a compulsory module at NQF Level 10 totalling 360 Credits.

Compulsory Module, 360 Credits

• Thesis, 360 Credits.

1. Demonstrate a high level of the specialised knowledge and skills required for advanced academic research within the scholarly discipline of Business Leadership (as a sub-category of the higher Business Management discipline).
2. Analyse, formulate and apply suitable business analysis techniques to solve original convergent and divergent research problems relating to Business Leadership innovatively and ethically.
3. Conduct research demonstrating the ability to:

• Collect, analyse, organise, collate and critically evaluate and interpret information.
• Communicate findings effectively and present evidence of new knowledge generated using visual/graphical, numerical, advanced statistical and advanced academic writing and argumentation skills.
• Work effectively with others as a member of a team, group, community, or organisation and be able to assume accountability for determining, achieving and evaluating research output within Business Leadership and its related fields.
• Manage and organise activities related to work and personal life responsibly and effectively, including learning and career development.
• Evaluate and apply relevant technologies and scientific methods.
• Approach the research process in an ethically sound manner.
• Demonstrate a sense of responsibility towards the environment, the health and well-being of others, being culturally and ethnically sensitive within both local and international context.

1. Demonstrate an understanding of systemic thinking in recognising business problems do not exist in isolation. To consider a variety of contexts (economy, market fluctuations, and technological developments.), and by implication, also variables that directly and indirectly impact on the world of business (availability of resources, people, legislation, governance policy).

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 1

• Review and critique prominent contemporary Business Leadership approaches and frameworks within a variety of workplace contexts to utilise for research purposes.
• Present evidence of an in-depth understanding and apply critical success factors in organisational development.
• Integrate ontological, epistemological and phenomenological constructs in premises and conclusions in original academic arguments.
• Demonstrate the competence to manipulate complex system models.
• Integrate Business Leadership concepts and theory during the development of innovative, sustainable, functional and strategic recommendations based on the area of research.
• Utilise professional language to analyse, evaluate and critique existing narratives.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 2

• Design and select appropriate and creative investigative methods, techniques, processes or technologies from a variety of Business Leadership and Business Management contexts, to investigate complex organisational problems.
• Analyse data about the financial status of organisations, the economic climate, its marketing initiatives and market penetration, and customer relations to develop innovative and ethically responsible solutions.
• Reflect on and utilise relevant prior knowledge and experience to investigate and analyse challenges that may exist within a workplace context.
• Apply ethics when conducting research.
• Develop evidence of an in-depth understanding, and subsequent application, of best practices, of Business Intelligence and Data Management within the context of a contemporary information technology-driven workplace environment.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 3

• Develop a comprehensive and systematic knowledge base of the relevant theories related to Business Leadership as a scholarly discipline.
• Review the theories of corporate sustainability to develop ethical and sustainable business solutions, decisions and recommendations.
• Demonstrate the ability to assess the ethical and sustainability implications of business decisions and related recommendations.
• Execute autonomous ethical decisions that will affect complex organisational and professional challenges.
• Analyse the channels and subsequent content for the sourcing of business information about the financial status of a business, capital costs, risk, and credit, the economic climate it operates in, its marketing initiatives and market penetration, as well as its customer relations.
• Develop and demonstrate evidence of application of best practices, Business Intelligence, and Data Management within the context of a contemporary information technology-driven workplace environment.
• Demonstrate a strategic understanding of the importance of human resource information systems, strategic human resource planning, and trends on human resource management practice.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 4

• Collect, analyse, organise, collate and critically evaluate and interpret information.
• Communicate findings effectively and present evidence of new knowledge generated using visual/graphical, numerical, advanced statistical and advanced academic writing and argumentation skills.
• Work effectively with others as a member of a team, group, community, or organisation and be able to assume accountability for determining, achieving and evaluating research output within Business Leadership and its related fields.
• Manage and organise activities related to work and personal life responsibly and effectively, including learning and career development.
• Critically evaluate and apply relevant technologies and scientific methods.
• Approach the research process in an ethically sound manner, demonstrating a sense of responsibility towards the environment, the health and well-being of others, being culturally and ethnically sensitive within both local and international contexts.

Integrated Assessment

Since this qualification does not include any modular coursework, a learner must submit a thesis of 40 000 to 100 000 words in the fulfilment of the qualification. The thesis represents an academic research output involving the application of management and leadership theory. The assessment determines the student's ability to integrate and apply appropriate theories to resolve complex business leadership challenges.