M.Comm. (Human Resources Management) / The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of knowledge sharing as an intervention geared toward improving employee engagement. In the process of pursuing this purpose, literature on employee engagement and knowledge sharing was reviewed. The literature reviews culminated in the development of operational models for both employee engagement and knowledge sharing and an illustration of the link between these two multi-dimensional constructs. The employee engagement research instrument consisting of a 12-item questionnaire and a 5-point Likert scale was developed in line with theoretical requirements. The research was located within an undisclosed provincial government department in Gauteng, South Africa. This was done to ensure the confidentiality of the participants and the specific government department concerned as disclosure could possibly compromise the political sensitivity of the activities of the department. A sample of one-hundred 100 employees was selected from an available population of 189. The research consisted of three phases; a baseline survey, which sought to establish the existing level of employee engagement, an intervention phase, conducted over a three day period consisting of eight knowledge sharing interventions, and a post-assessment phase, which endeavoured to establish if any differences to the level of engagement would be evident, when compared to the pre-assessment state of engagement. The study found no significant difference between the pre and post test scores of the experimental group and concluded that knowledge sharing does not have a significant impact on increasing the level of employee engagement. It further concluded that despite not being significant that the greatest impact was evident in the cognitive dimension of employee engagement. This study goes on to recommend that further longitudinal intervention research studies are needed to establish the impact of the different motivators that drive fluctuations in the level of employee engagement. The study also recommended that a theoretically reliable instrument be developed, which targets all dimensions of employee engagement (the physical, emotional and cognitive components). The instrument will allow for the establishment of existing levels of employee engagement and an indication of areas of improvement to ensure targeted interventions are conceived.

The Balanced Scorecard (BSC), developed by Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton in the early 1990s, is a powerful management tool for assisting an organization to focus on its strategy and establish and track performance against objectives in pursuit of that strategy. There have been many examples of successful implementations of the BSC. However, the literature indicates that the vast majority of BSC implementations fail. It is proposed that organizational culture is a mediating factor which contributes to success or failure in BSC implementations. Further, organizational learning, a driving force behind successful BSC implementations, is mediated by organizational culture as well. This dissertation reports on an empirical study to investigate the relationship between organizational culture and Balanced Scorecard effectiveness. This study involved collecting survey data from employees working in the various departments of a large County government organization. The survey instrument employed included a self-assessment for BSC effectiveness as well as an organizational culture assessment based on the Denison Organizational Culture Survey Instrument (OCSI). Organizational Learning was measured by the Organizational Learning index included in the OSCSI. The survey results show that each of the four organizational traits - Involvement, Consistency, Adaptability, and Mission - as measured by the Denison OCSI are significantly related to BSC effectiveness. Similarly, organizational learning, as measured by the Organizational Learning index, is significantly related to BSC effectiveness. Accordingly, it is concluded that an interrelationship among organizational culture, organizational learning, and BSC effectiveness exists.

This research aimed to investigate how GE developed an organisational ambidexterity capability to significantly accelerate its growth in emerging markets. Dissatisfied with its growth in emerging markets, GE launched the Global Growth & Operations organisation (GGO) in November 2010. The internationalisation process had been led by its P&Ls with an exploitation focus and needed a shift towards an exploration focus that would develop disruptive capabilities required to promote growth. The research was undertaken as a case study of GGO in Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) to gain an in-depth understanding of how the OA capability was developed and managed at GE. A qualitative research approach was adopted that consisted of a literature survey and 14 semi-structured interviews with senior leaders of the P&Ls and GGO for SSA. The study found that a top brass leadership, supported unequivocally and well-resourced were key to GGO’s ability to shift GE’s centre of gravity to the emerging markets. A paradox mindset at ease with tension was characteristic of the leaders allowing them to engage constructively. GGO, ambidextrous itself, developed exploration and exploitation capabilities enabling the P&Ls to do business as usual in the emerging markets. A model to develop OA for market expansion was developed. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / lmgibs2015 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

Mergers and acquisitions remain a popular means of corporate growth but the role played by organizational culture remains poorly understood. Badly executed cultural integration is a leading cause of post-merger performance not meeting stakeholder expectations (Cartwright&Schoenberg, 2006). This paper reviews the literature on cultural integration in the context of mergers and acquisitions and provides insight into cultural assessment and integration.The study takes the form of exploratory research with findings from twelve semi-structured interviews collated and tested against five propositions that together build a reference point for cultural integration. Five cultural assessment tools are incorporated into a single view to provide the reader with a clear framework against which to assess organizational culture.The study validates the proposition that cultural integration plays a key role in post-merger performance and provides key elements towards a successful integration. The study goes on to find that cultural integration is necessary for post-merger performance, an integration plan should be built early in the pre-merger process, top management has an integral role to play in the post-merger integration of culture, large cultural differences can be an opportunity and that the level of learning and knowledge application in mergers and acquisitions is poor. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

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Many public administration scholars and administrators look to the concept of organizational learning as a means of coping with shrinking resources and increasing responsibilities and accountability. At the theoretical level, the notion of organizational learning is appealing, since it emphasizes achieving organizational goals through optimization of internal resources, i.e., assimilation of staff members' fullest potential and organizational visions through the synergistic effects of knowledge creation and continuous learning. There has been a fascination without foundation about organizational learning among scholars of public sector organizations because the validity and utility of organizational learning theory has not been tested in public sector organizations. From the perspective of organizational learning, this dissertation evaluates an intervention program–the penetration rate enhancement project (PREP)–to determine whether and to what extent organization learning has taken place in selected localities. The penetration rate is a foster care funding ratio of federal to state and local dollars. The Commonwealth of Virginia's Department of Social Services through collaborative relationships sought to impart policy knowledge (cooptation) in the local departments of social services (LDSS). This study measured the presence (or absence) of a learning environment that was hypothesized to influence the degree of organizational learning and tested whether it correlates with learning variations as approximated by the penetration rate in LDSSs over a period of more than four years. The main research focus is whether an effective learning environment was related to the extent of learning and thereby may help explain learning variation in public sector organizations. This study uses mixed methods to examine the research questions. The study found evidence of some differential, dispersed, and intermittent learning in various localities. The localities are classified as exhibiting conscious learning, facade learning, unaware learning, and absent learning. Those localities that learned and exhibited evidence of a learning environment are referred to as conscious learners; those localities that saw the presence of learning environment but had not been able to learn are referred to as having experienced facade learning; those localities that have learned but did not see a presence of a leaning environment are referred as to being marked by unaware learning; and those localities that did not learn and did not have a presence of a learning environment are referred to as exhibiting absent learning. The anecdotes of special difficulties experienced by public sector organizations to learn have been reaffirmed by the differential perceptions about learning environments held by the senior and junior level staffers in LDSSs. It is also apparent that problematic organizational structures, an economic (dis)incentive system, and the omission of financial component all contributed to the constraints on organizational learning in LDSSs. Despite the constraints, however, the PREP was largely successful in cultivating organizational learning at the LDSSs, and the organizational learning lens for evaluating intervention programs in public sector organizations at the local level was valid. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this research was to explore professional learning communities (PLCs) and their impact on teacher practice. The focus of this single case study was on reviewing the process of the implementation of a PLC (DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, and Many, 2010) within MidAtlantic Elementary School, a Title I school. This school implemented the PLC (DuFour et al., 2010) process following the guiding principles set forth by Richard and Rebecca DuFour and the MidAtlantic School District. The guiding principles include a shared vision and mission, collective inquiry, collaborative teams, action research and experimentation, continuous improvement, and being results oriented. By following these guiding principles, the goal was to show how this process improved teacher practice enough to help students be successful in the first year of opening the school and each consecutive year since the school opened. Results of this research showed the PLC (DuFour et al., 2010) process leads to improvements in teacher practice that positively affect student learning. / Doctor of Education / The purpose of this research was to explore professional learning communities (PLCs) and their impact on teacher practice. A PLC can be defined as a group of professionals who come together to create a culture of collaboration, and then develop a way to share their reflections related to their work. The focus of this single case study was on reviewing the process of the implementation of a PLC within one elementary school. The guiding principles included a shared vision and mission, collective inquiry, collaborative teams, action research and experimentation, continuous improvement, and being results oriented. Results of this research showed the PLC process led to improvements in teacher practice that positively affected student learning at this school. This is important, because it shows how the PLC (DuFour et al., 2010) process affects teachers’ practice in a positive way. Implications for how this research might be used include (a) implementing the PLC (DuFour et al., 2010) process in middle and high schools to improve teacher practice, and (b) the importance of making sure teachers have buy-in for the PLC (DuFour et al., 2010) process throughout its implementation.

Diversity in the workplace remains a priority for leaders and managers as the dynamic nature of the global marketplace necessitates that organizations develop and maintain a competitive advantage in their field. Learning has long been touted as the key to leveraging limited resources to gain a corner in the market. However, organizations continue to struggle with the management of diversity, as well as systems and processes that promote learning at an organizational level. This study sought to explore a theorized relationship between individual problem-solving style, an aspect of cognitive diversity, and organizational learning capability. Two Midwestern companies participated in this sequential explanatory mixed methods study that aimed to: (a) examine the influence of cognitive style on organizational learning; (b) explore the differences between more adaptive and more innovative individuals, with respect to their organization's cognitive climate, in terms of their development and modification of learning frameworks and shared mental models; (c) determine what role more adaptive and more innovative individuals play in catalyzing organizational learning, namely double-loop and deutero-learning; and (d) identify inhibitors of double-loop and deutero-learning, distinguishing differences for more adaptive and more innovative problem solvers. Findings indicate that there was no relationship between problem-solving style, measured by KAI total scores, and organizational learning capability total scores in one organization and a small correlation between the scales of a second organization. This finding supports Kirton's (2011) assertions that problem-solving style is independent of learning, but some organizations may have small relationships between individual's problem-solving style and organizational learning based on various organizational dynamics. Five themes emerged as cultural mediators of cognitive diversity in the context of catalyzing organizational learning: 1) corporate expectations that create a clear, concise shared mental model for employee behavior and decision making (produced and promoted via an organizational guidebook); 2) the use of agreed-upon structures and methodologies for solving problems; 3) the employment of former military officers (due to the specific skills and experiences needed to successfully fulfill specific roles); 4) the development and nurturing of healthy teams; and, 5) an expectation of boundary-less collaboration. These themes, collectively, assert the importance of a culture that puts culture first. In practice, leaders and managers may find that a clearly defined culture that supports and promotes the use of systems and procedures to collaboratively solve problems and extend learning from individual to organizational is essential to mitigating the challenges that may result from exploiting cognitive diversity in the workplace. / Ph. D. / Change is a constant for organizations as they strive to compete for resources in a global marketplace. In order to gain and maintain a competitive advantage, organizations are challenged to manage change, as well as diversity and differences among employees, effectively. An understanding of how these differences, namely cognitive diversity, impact problem solving and learning is central to this study, as diversity in the workplace continues to increase and the need to problem solve and learn together necessitates management of this particular aspect of diversity. Furthermore, the relationship between these two processes, specifically at the individual level, has not been clearly explicated. This study sought to explore a central question: Does the manner and style by which an individual prefers to engage in the problem-solving process catalyze organizational learning in the form of revised policies and procedures (single-loop), amended norms, values, or core focus (double-loop), or changes to the frameworks and mental models that produce learning outcomes (deutero-learning)? Two Midwestern companies participated in this study and provided the first empirical data to suggest that problem-solving style is unrelated to one’s organizational learning capability. Through a series of interviews, five practices appear to mediate aspects of an organization’s culture and reduce the challenges associated with the management of cognitive diversity that often limit the success of problem solving and learning efforts. These mediating cultural factors are: 1) corporate expectations that create a clear, concise shared mental model for employee behavior and decision making (produced and promoted via an organizational guidebook); 2) the use of agreed-upon structures and methodologies for solving problems; 3) the employment of former military officers (due to the specific skills and experiences needed to successfully fulfill specific roles); 4) the development and nurturing of healthy teams; and, 5) an expectation of boundary-less collaboration. While these findings are not novel, they do underscore the importance of culture in developing the systems and structures that promote effective problem solving and learning at an organizational level. These results suggest that leaders and managers must continue to advocate for and manage cognitive diversity as the problems faced by organizations today are more complex and intractable. By employing mediating cultural factors and investing resources in a “culture first” environment, the benefits of cognitive diversity can be exploited for organizational gain and managed to minimize coping. Championing a strategic learning environment provides a context in which individual learning and social structures permit powerful higher-order learning that engages, challenges, clarifies, and optimizes the shared resources available for problem solving and organizational success.

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