Doctor of Business Administration graduate Dr Moses Nyathi says in retrospect his decision to use his savings to fund his doctoral studies while unemployed was a good one.
Nyathi’s determination to not let a lack of finances deter him paid off as he secured a full-time job at the end of his second year. ‘My doctoral research journey was full of challenges and sweet moments. The biggest challenge was financial constraints due to unemployment and relying on my savings for my upkeep and funding,’ he said.
‘My supervisor, Professor Cecile Gerwel Proches, intervened and assisted with travel funds for data collection. I will forever be grateful to her as it was difficult for me.’
‘I am passionate about sharing knowledge I acquire and knew that I can only do that by becoming a lecturer,’ he said. ‘My hope is that this qualification will open career opportunities in consultancy and management positions and for lecturing and supervising master’s and doctoral students.’
Nyathi’s study, co-supervised by Gerwel Proches and Dr Simon Taylor, was titled: Managing Stakeholder Complexities: A Model to Curb Project Cost Overruns in the Construction Industry in South Africa.
The study’s findings showed that scope changes and the number of projects is central to stakeholders-related complexities contributing to budget overruns. As well as that, factors such as incompetency, local community strikes or unrest, market conditions, South African regulatory frameworks, reworks and contract misunderstanding contribute significantly to project budget overruns.
‘Furthermore, the findings during data collection – in comparison to my initial assumption – contributed to my motivation as I was amused by what I thought I knew. My passion for research was fuelled by the fact that it was in project management and I was responsible for teaching project management at work. That overlap between what I do at work and in my research kept me motivated throughout,’ said Nyathi.
Words: Thandiwe Jumo
Photograph: Sethu Dlamini