Department/Unit: Human Resource Management
PhD Institution: University of Johannesburg
PhD dissertation title: An assessment framework for Human Resource Management in specific higher education institutions
Current research interests and projects: Human Resource Management Human Resource Development (Learning and Development)
Selected publication 1: Kumar, A., de Bruyn, A. & Bushney, M.J. (2020). The employee wellness and employee engagement relationship in a parastatal. Journal of Contemporary Management. https://doi.org/10.35683/jcm19094.53 (doi: 10.35683/jcm19094.53)
Selected publication 2: Buckley, S.; Jakovljevic, M.; Bushney, M.J. (2014). Well-designed communities of practice (COPs) in the ODeL environment: students’ perspectives. Independent Journal of Teaching and Learning, 9, 44-62. Peer reviewed.
Selected publication 3: Buckley, S.; Jakovljevic, M.; Bushney, M.J. & Majewski, G. (2013). Forming communities of practice in higher education: a comparative analysis. In M-Sphere International conference for multi-disciplinarity in Science and Business Conference book of proceedings, 10-12 October 2013, (pp. 61-72). Dubrovnik, Croatia. ISBN 978-953-7930-03-5. Peer reviewed.
Selected publication 4: Jakovljevic, M.; Buckley, S. & Bushney, M.J. (2013). Forming communities of practice in higher education: a theoretical perspective. In Active citizenship by Knowledge Management and Innovation Conference book of proceedings, 19-21 June 2013, (pp. 1107-1119). Zadar, Croatia. Peer reviewed.
Selected publication 5: Jakovljevic M; Radas I; Bushney, M. & Cicin-Sain, D. (2014). Rewarding and stimulating innovation in different cultural environments. In 4th International Conference on Design, Development and Research, September 8-10, 2014, (online). Cape Town, South Africa. ISBN: 978-0-620-62981-0. Peer reviewed.
Selected publication 6: Meyer, M.; Bushney, M.J. & Ukpere, W. (2011). The impact of globalisation on higher education: Achieving a balance between local and global needs and realities. African Journal of Business Management, 5(15), pp. 6569-6578, ISSN 1993-8233 ©2011 Academic Journals. Peer reviewed.
Selected publication 7: Rajaram, S. & Bushney, M.J. (2019). Exploring training and skills development in small and medium size enterprises (SMEs): A fresh South African manufacturing perspective. 10th Annual International Conference on Social Sciences. Riverside Sun, Vanderbijlpark, South Africa. Published in conference proceedings.
Selected publication 8: Meyer, M. & Bushney, M.J. (2008): Towards a multi-stakeholder-driven model for excellence in higher education curriculum development. SAJHE 22(6), 1229-1240. Peer reviewed.
Capstone assignment title: WALKING A TIGHTROPE: A REFLECTION ON THE DOCTORAL SUPERVISION OF A PROPOSAL IN AN OPEN AND DISTANCE E- LEARNING INSTITUTION
Capstone assignment abstract: There has been a sharp rise in the number of higher education students, including doctoral, which necessitates experienced doctoral supervisors (Mouton & Frick, 2019). To illustrate, according to Prof LL Lalendle (2019) in a presentation at a workshop, a mega open and distance e-learning (ODeL) university where I am employed, had 2,372 doctoral students, the highest number of any higher education institution in South Africa. In 2018 registered students in doctoral programmes at this university numbered 2071 and staff members with doctoral degrees counted 2044 (Unisa, 2018). Although this University deems the supervisory capacity as acceptable so that each academic (senior lecturer, associate professor and professor) can supervise five or six postgraduate students annually (Unisa, 2018) in my department some supervisors have 14, 16 and even 20 students to supervise. Furthermore, supervision in general in ODeL or any distance education institution poses more challenges than supervision at a fully residential institution (Maritz & Prinsloo, 2015; Manyike, 2017). Therefore, doctoral supervisory capacity must be developed so that supervisors are able to contribute to the doctoral research outputs, optimise support to students, build a conducive learning environment and deliver high quality doctoral students. The theoretical discussion is followed by a reflection (case study) and reflection summary on my doctoral supervision of a student in the development of her proposal (Module 5) at an ODeL university. The insights gained from the CREST supervision course will be shared with my colleagues to create more awareness about the challenges and opportunities in doctoral supervision and to improve supervision in my department and university. Moreover, this university shifted from an open distance learning institution (ODL) to an open distance e-learning institution in 2014 (Unisa, 2019) and the institution became a fully open and distance e-learning university during the pandemic in 2020. For convenience purposes the university will be referred to as an ODeL university throughout this assignment. Since I compare doctoral supervision to the image of supervisors walking on a tightrope, this image will be used throughout in the assignment.
