The role of best practice in delivering Company Strategy-Brand Promise delivering "Escape through Glamour," has become an issue for the management of Ster-Kinekor as the competitive set in the entertainment arena, increases and becomes aggressive. This has compounded by the digital explosion which has made home entertainment sexy and raised the benchmark of picture and sound quality. Prices are extremely competitive and this practice is supported by the criminal element, i.e. Piracy. The increase in live and televised sports entertainment, television entertainment in general and outdoor activities has contributed to the pressure in growing revenue. Ster-Kinekor has identified the new middle income segment as an opportunity for growth and has identified perceived value of the entertainment format as a key barrier. This is true for the Living Standard Measures (hereafter, LSM) 8, 9 and 10 segment of the market as well. The need to increase the perceived value of the brand and the entertainment it offers has been identified as a key issue by senior management. This study will highlight the concepts of branding and best practice within a review of Ster-Kinekor operational (best practice) interventions. This will be followed by a detailed analysis and interpretation of 800 intercept interviews which will inform the study concerning the market impact of the interventions. In addition, informal interviews were held with various members of management. Ster-Kinekor has introduced a number of initiatives, including a number of best practice interventions under a project entitled "Good to Great." This interventions are aimed at installing best practice within the business with the overall intention of improving customer experience and thereby driving the bottom line. The study therefore will analyse the impact of this these initiatives as intended by Ster-Kinekor management. In conclusion, the study will provide recommendations for consideration in order to enhance the perceived value. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2006.

Starting from the standpoint of antiracist feminists in Southern Ontario, Canada, I examine the everyday social organization of antiracist feminist activism. Using key concepts from institutional ethnography and other critical research methods, I explore how women of colour activists engage, contest and modify existing social relations within women’s organizations to craft antiracist feminist organizational change. I describe how women of colour negotiate their antiracist, feminist and social justice commitments in ways which both respond to, and are constitutive of, contradictory social relations within women’s organizations. An analysis of in-depth interviews with women of colour activists reveals dialectic processes of accountability in their everyday antiracist feminist practice. Activists are accountable, on the one hand, to hierarchical relations within the daily practices of women’s organizations, and, on the other hand, to other feminist, antiracist and social justice activists. I describe how relations of accountability, named respectively, organizational accountability and activist responsibility, socially organize women of colour’s everyday experience of antiracist feminist activism. In particular, I argue that organizational accountability must be understood as relations of hierarchical answerability within the organization that extend outside the organization, while activist responsibility needs to be seen as the relations by which activists become accountable to other activists in the enactment of an explicitly antiracist feminist praxis. I describe further how women of colour creatively and consciously do antiracist feminist activism by mobilizing and negotiating both sets of relations of accountability to develop antiracist feminist social and organizational change. I highlight the importance of everyday activist work by revealing the ways women of colour seize the potential for crafting antiracist feminist change through relations of accountability. Significantly, this study offers a conceptualization of everyday antiracist feminist activist practice as a negotiation of relations of accountability.

Starting from the standpoint of antiracist feminists in Southern Ontario, Canada, I examine the everyday social organization of antiracist feminist activism. Using key concepts from institutional ethnography and other critical research methods, I explore how women of colour activists engage, contest and modify existing social relations within women’s organizations to craft antiracist feminist organizational change. I describe how women of colour negotiate their antiracist, feminist and social justice commitments in ways which both respond to, and are constitutive of, contradictory social relations within women’s organizations. An analysis of in-depth interviews with women of colour activists reveals dialectic processes of accountability in their everyday antiracist feminist practice. Activists are accountable, on the one hand, to hierarchical relations within the daily practices of women’s organizations, and, on the other hand, to other feminist, antiracist and social justice activists. I describe how relations of accountability, named respectively, organizational accountability and activist responsibility, socially organize women of colour’s everyday experience of antiracist feminist activism. In particular, I argue that organizational accountability must be understood as relations of hierarchical answerability within the organization that extend outside the organization, while activist responsibility needs to be seen as the relations by which activists become accountable to other activists in the enactment of an explicitly antiracist feminist praxis. I describe further how women of colour creatively and consciously do antiracist feminist activism by mobilizing and negotiating both sets of relations of accountability to develop antiracist feminist social and organizational change. I highlight the importance of everyday activist work by revealing the ways women of colour seize the potential for crafting antiracist feminist change through relations of accountability. Significantly, this study offers a conceptualization of everyday antiracist feminist activist practice as a negotiation of relations of accountability.

A democratic workplace is one where workers as a body have the right to determine the internal organization and future direction of the firm. Worker co-operatives are a type of democratic firm. In a worker co-operative employees are joint-owners of the firm and participate democratically in workplace governance. Much has been written about the supposed benefits of worker co-operatives for workers and for society. One thread of this research, originating with Carole Pateman’s theoretical work (Pateman 1970), argues that worker co-operatives act as sites of political learning for workers. By participating democratically in workplace decisions, individuals are thought to learn the skills and psychological dispositions needed to participate in political democracy. A second thread argues that co-operatives will improve worker well-being. Democratic governance will give workers control over work organization, increasing autonomy in their daily lives, and leading to an increase in non-material work rewards such as job satisfaction. Worker ownership will equalize the material rewards from work and improve job security. These arguments are premised on the idea that democratic governance structures and worker ownership will lead to widespread, effective worker participation in decision-making and the equalization of power at work. However, insufficient attention is given to the contextual factors beyond formal governance and ownership structures that shape the internal dynamics of workplace democracy. I conduct an in-depth, mixed-methods case study of a worker co-operative with 158 employees in the UK cycling retail industry. Using survey research, social network analysis, in-depth interviews and direct observation, I show how individual differences, firm-level contextual factors such as the social composition of the organization, and macro-level factors such as economic and cultural context, lead to unequal participation opportunities and different outcomes for different groups of workers within the firm. My research leads to three conclusions. First, the outcomes of workplace democracy for workers are highly context-dependent. They will differ across groups of workers within co-operatives, across different democratic firms, and across cultures. Second, the relationship between workplace democracy and political participation is more complex than the Pateman thesis suggests. It is contingent on the political identities of workers, which are themselves shaped by wider political economic context. Political identity affects both participation behaviour at work, and how workplace experience shapes political views. Third, the subjective well-being outcomes of workplace democracy depend on workers’ expectations about work. Expectations are shaped by the same forces that mould political identity. Workplace democracy raises expectations for certain groups of workers, leading to well-being harms when expectations are not met. Overall, the benefits of workplace democracy for workers and for society are overstated. In the UK context, co-ops are unlikely to realize the benefits attributed to them without large-scale public policy interventions.

M.A. / This study aims to determine the role of technology-enhanced learning within the South African Police Service as a medium to bring about effective communication, training and education, and subsequently transformation and realignment of corporate culture. Accordingly, it explores the influence of technology in the modern organisation as well indications of how organisations can conform to the information age. The relation of technology to the South African Police Service is consequently examined with due consideration of the communication and training methods in use. The functioning and compilation of technology-enhanced learning present an understanding of how it relates to the study. Furthermore, based on the evidence of persisting cultures and behaviours, and a perception of ineffectiveness and insufficient training of police personnel, the study determines how such a medium would facilitate transformation in the South African Police Service. The transformation process concentrates mainly on the technical, political and cultural systems of transformation in organisations. The process of awakening, present and future states in the South African Police Service and the setting and attainment of a vision through re-architecturing are discussed. The study argues that related technology-enhanced learning abilities, such as boundarylessness, feedback, participation and networking are essential aspects for transformation. The study also provides the basis for determining the use of technology-enhanced learning as an effective medium in promoting a learning organisation in terms of learning cycles. Related barriers to organisation learning included the aspect of attitudes. The relevance of collectivity as a building block to organisation learning is emphasised. In order to support the effective implementation of such a medium an exposition is given of the management of technology-enhanced learning, including aspects such as innovative-decision processes, implementation, risk assessment and theoretical and technical applications. Mass media theories are studied as part of the teacher/communicator applications for the effective and efficient utilisation of such a medium by both the sender and receiver. Among the concepts covered in the study are needs gratification and the formulation of the content of messages. No communications medium can continue to exist in an organisation without the viewer, client or personnel having a need for it. This led the researcher to undertake a quantitative study of the internal environment of the organisation regarding the use of the current television network POL TV, which serves as a measuring instrument to the adoption and application of technologyenhanced learning, and the levels of training. The conclusion to the study is that the amalgamation and transition processes of the South African Police Service has not yet managed to transform the inherent behaviours of groups of individuals in the organisation. In addition, there is a dire need for the development of personnel skills. The study finds technology-enhanced learning to be a dynamic communications, training and education technology that would facilitate the resolution of many uncertainties amongst personnel and redefine attitudes, beliefs and behaviour. Most importantly, the study concludes that, by means of its interactive, integrated, collective, connective, and boundaryless capability, technology-enhanced learning would bring all structures and people of the organisation together in the collective attainment of organisational vision, mission, goals and objectives. Ultimately, it is argued, the resulting impact of technology-enhanced learning would facilitate the transformation of the South African Police Service and its inherent corporate culture, and enhance service delivery to the community through democratic policing.

An immense degree of linguistic diversity exists in the work force where it is possible for speakers of twenty-three home languages to come into contact on the work floor. The language of management in industry is predominantly English; while supervisors are primarily English- or Afrikaans-speaking. Misinterpretation of speaker intent plays a significant role in communication breakdown that occurs when management or foremen/supervisors communicate directly with workers who do not understand the two erstwhile official languages sufficiently or not at all. Reagan ( 1 986) hypothesized that the greatest number of problems are caused by what might be termed mutual ignorance, rather than by language difficulties. The aim of the thesis was therefore to establish what constitutes the mutual ignorance that leads to misinterpretation of speaker intent. The Hymesian model, the ethnography of speaking, was used as a model for an analysis of sociolinguistic features in factories in the Pretoria-WitwatersrandVereeniging area. For data collection a process of triangulation was used and qualitative and quantitative methods used. The Free Attitude Interview technique was used for unstructured interviews. Other methods include observation, and elicitation procedures such as the Discourse Completion Test, which were used in structured interviews. Language preference, forms of address and politeness markers were examined. Findings revealed that the major differences were found to be in the area of non-verbal behaviour. Speakers of Afrikaans and English are, on the whole, unaware of politeness markers used by speakers of African languages. Afrikaans and English speakers are unaware of offensive non-verbal behaviour used by them. It is revealing that speakers of the official languages believe this to be the very area that makes communication possible, but it is the area in which they may cause offence. It was also found that speakers of African languages have adopted many of the features of the power dominant group at work. The findings of the research are important for the development of strategies for overcoming misinterpretation of speaker intent and negative stereotyping. This research was undertaken as part of the Human Sciences Research Council's programme entitled Language in the labour situation. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / D.Litt. et Phil. (Linguistics)

A un moment de l’histoire où l’émotion se veut l’adjuvant moteur de l’exercice et de l’action publique, ce travail de recherche s’inscrit à rebours d’une conception faisant de l’instantané et de l’événement les modes d’appréhension et d’expression de « sociétés liquides ». Fondé sur une approche critique, interdisciplinaire et humaniste, il étudie le comportement organisationnel dans un monde social lourdement impacté par un « managérialisme » mutilant l’histoire, la culture, et l’identité de cadres dirigeants publics dans les collectivités territoriales. Réhabilitant l’approche biographique comme stratégie d’accès au réel, la recherche met en évidence un « contrat psychologique » fondé sur un « équilibre stable » fruit d’une « double transaction biographique et relationnelle » autour de « l’éthique du bien commun », entre éthique de conviction et éthique de responsabilité. Elle étudie par la suite les logiques d’action qui se construisent aujourd’hui dans les administrations territoriales, où « l’image de l’organisation » comme « prison psychique » fait émerger des comportements allant de la défection à la résistance. / At a time in history when emotion wants to be an auxiliary driver in running local government, this research reverses the concept where snapshots and events are seen as ways of expressing and dealing with "fluid societies." Based on a critical, interdisciplinary and humanistic approach, it studies organisational behaviour in a social world seriously affected by a "managerialism" that is mutilating the history, culture, and identity of managers in local authorities. Reinstating the biographical approach as a strategy for getting to the core of reality, the research highlights a "psychological contract" based on a "stable equilibrium", the result of a "double biographical and relational transaction" which focusses on "the ethics of the common good", the midpoint between the ethics of conviction and responsibility. It then examines the working principles that are surfacing in local government today, where "the organisation's image" as a "mental prison" leads to behaviour ranging from defection to resistance.

An immense degree of linguistic diversity exists in the work force where it is possible for speakers of twenty-three home languages to come into contact on the work floor. The language of management in industry is predominantly English; while supervisors are primarily English- or Afrikaans-speaking. Misinterpretation of speaker intent plays a significant role in communication breakdown that occurs when management or foremen/supervisors communicate directly with workers who do not understand the two erstwhile official languages sufficiently or not at all. Reagan ( 1 986) hypothesized that the greatest number of problems are caused by what might be termed mutual ignorance, rather than by language difficulties. The aim of the thesis was therefore to establish what constitutes the mutual ignorance that leads to misinterpretation of speaker intent. The Hymesian model, the ethnography of speaking, was used as a model for an analysis of sociolinguistic features in factories in the Pretoria-WitwatersrandVereeniging area. For data collection a process of triangulation was used and qualitative and quantitative methods used. The Free Attitude Interview technique was used for unstructured interviews. Other methods include observation, and elicitation procedures such as the Discourse Completion Test, which were used in structured interviews. Language preference, forms of address and politeness markers were examined. Findings revealed that the major differences were found to be in the area of non-verbal behaviour. Speakers of Afrikaans and English are, on the whole, unaware of politeness markers used by speakers of African languages. Afrikaans and English speakers are unaware of offensive non-verbal behaviour used by them. It is revealing that speakers of the official languages believe this to be the very area that makes communication possible, but it is the area in which they may cause offence. It was also found that speakers of African languages have adopted many of the features of the power dominant group at work. The findings of the research are important for the development of strategies for overcoming misinterpretation of speaker intent and negative stereotyping. This research was undertaken as part of the Human Sciences Research Council's programme entitled Language in the labour situation. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / D.Litt. et Phil. (Linguistics)

Este trabalho examina Qualidade de Vida no Trabalho nas manufaturas, de médio porte que obtiveram certificação ISO 9000. Nosso principal objetivo foi investigar as prováveis relações entre esforço da empresa e satisfação dos empregados através de indicadores empresariais selecionados com critérios da abordagem biopsicossocial. O método de pesquisa foi estudo de campo, com o modelo de variáveis dependentes e independentes. Os dados foram coletados em 26 empresas e 446 questionários, na Região de São Paulo. Os resultados demonstram inicialmente comparações através de análise exploratória entre gerência de recursos humanos e empregados. A seguir, levantaram-se fatores de satisfação dos empregados, quais sejam: atuação organizacional, necessidades biológicas, inclusão social, prestação de serviços; e fatores de esforço das empresas: imagem, desenvolvimento profissional, administração de recursos humanos, saúde e ética, demandas legais e reposição de energias. Através de análise de conglomerados foram obtidos perfis de atitudes dos empregados. Os perfis são diferenciados entre realização, desconfiança ou crítica à empresa. Finalmente, obtivemos resultados sobre tipos de gestão. Os tipos identificados foram estruturado, reativo e aleatório. Relacionando-se esses tipos de gestão e perfis dos empregados, constatou-se que a satisfação dos empregados localiza-se mais na imagem da empresa e em programas de atendimento a saúde e benefícios, que no tipo de gestão. / This work deals with Life Quality at Work at medium-sized manufacturers that had been awarded ISO 9000 certificate. We targeted investigating the potential relationship between companys effort and employees satisfaction through the selected companys indicators based on criteria of the bio-psycho-social approach. Research method was the field study with the model of dependent and independent variables. Data were collected at 26 companies by 446 questionnaires in the São Paulo Region. Results show first comparisons through exploratory analysis of human resources management and employees. Following, employees satisfaction factors were identified as follows: organizational acting, biological needs, social integration, service rendering; so were the companys effort factors: image, professional development, human resources management, health and ethics, legal actions and energy recovery. By means of a cluster analysis, the employees attitude profile was obtained. They were made distinct among accomplishment, discredit or criticism about the company. Finally, we have obtained results related to kinds of management. Identified kinds were structured, reactive and random. After relating these kinds of management and employees profiles, we could find out that employees satisfaction is based more on the companys image and on medical services and benefits than on the kind of management.

Este trabalho examina Qualidade de Vida no Trabalho nas manufaturas, de médio porte que obtiveram certificação ISO 9000. Nosso principal objetivo foi investigar as prováveis relações entre esforço da empresa e satisfação dos empregados através de indicadores empresariais selecionados com critérios da abordagem biopsicossocial. O método de pesquisa foi estudo de campo, com o modelo de variáveis dependentes e independentes. Os dados foram coletados em 26 empresas e 446 questionários, na Região de São Paulo. Os resultados demonstram inicialmente comparações através de análise exploratória entre gerência de recursos humanos e empregados. A seguir, levantaram-se fatores de satisfação dos empregados, quais sejam: atuação organizacional, necessidades biológicas, inclusão social, prestação de serviços; e fatores de esforço das empresas: imagem, desenvolvimento profissional, administração de recursos humanos, saúde e ética, demandas legais e reposição de energias. Através de análise de conglomerados foram obtidos perfis de atitudes dos empregados. Os perfis são diferenciados entre realização, desconfiança ou crítica à empresa. Finalmente, obtivemos resultados sobre tipos de gestão. Os tipos identificados foram estruturado, reativo e aleatório. Relacionando-se esses tipos de gestão e perfis dos empregados, constatou-se que a satisfação dos empregados localiza-se mais na imagem da empresa e em programas de atendimento a saúde e benefícios, que no tipo de gestão. / This work deals with Life Quality at Work at medium-sized manufacturers that had been awarded ISO 9000 certificate. We targeted investigating the potential relationship between companys effort and employees satisfaction through the selected companys indicators based on criteria of the bio-psycho-social approach. Research method was the field study with the model of dependent and independent variables. Data were collected at 26 companies by 446 questionnaires in the São Paulo Region. Results show first comparisons through exploratory analysis of human resources management and employees. Following, employees satisfaction factors were identified as follows: organizational acting, biological needs, social integration, service rendering; so were the companys effort factors: image, professional development, human resources management, health and ethics, legal actions and energy recovery. By means of a cluster analysis, the employees attitude profile was obtained. They were made distinct among accomplishment, discredit or criticism about the company. Finally, we have obtained results related to kinds of management. Identified kinds were structured, reactive and random. After relating these kinds of management and employees profiles, we could find out that employees satisfaction is based more on the companys image and on medical services and benefits than on the kind of management.