Most companies are competing in the diverse global markets, and competitive advantage through human capital is becoming very important. Employee development for high productivity and the use of effective tools to measure their performance are therefore paramount. One such tool is the 360-degree performance appraisal system. The study on the effectiveness of the 360-degree performance appraisal was conducted on a selected steel organisation. The primary objective of the research study was to determine whether the current 360-degree performance evaluation system the organisation uses is effective or whether there is a need to explore other employee evaluation and feedback systems across the industry to identify the best practice. Constructs that were measured are the impact of 360-degree appraisal on the employee motivation and performance, job satisfaction, the organisation‟s performance, succession planning as well as training and development. The findings showed that the 360-degree appraisal system is effective in most of these areas. The findings will also assist management with a better understanding of where the process has failed and what gaps need to be filled. The results concluded that there is no need to explore other performance appraisal systems; however, as recommended, the identified deficiencies in the current evaluation process need to be addressed. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Most companies are competing in the diverse global markets, and competitive advantage through human capital is becoming very important. Employee development for high productivity and the use of effective tools to measure their performance are therefore paramount. One such tool is the 360-degree performance appraisal system. The study on the effectiveness of the 360-degree performance appraisal was conducted on a selected steel organisation. The primary objective of the research study was to determine whether the current 360-degree performance evaluation system the organisation uses is effective or whether there is a need to explore other employee evaluation and feedback systems across the industry to identify the best practice. Constructs that were measured are the impact of 360-degree appraisal on the employee motivation and performance, job satisfaction, the organisation‟s performance, succession planning as well as training and development. The findings showed that the 360-degree appraisal system is effective in most of these areas. The findings will also assist management with a better understanding of where the process has failed and what gaps need to be filled. The results concluded that there is no need to explore other performance appraisal systems; however, as recommended, the identified deficiencies in the current evaluation process need to be addressed. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

本研究之目的在於探討：（1）「360度回饋」與「傳統上司評鑑」對於自評效標與學習成效解釋預測力的比較；（2）「360度回饋」與「管理才能心理測驗」對於自評效標與學習成效解釋預測力的比較；（3）針對「連級輔導長」，以「管理才能心理測驗」與「360度回饋」，進行多元迴歸與多重切點的「甄選策略」，以及其「入選」學員在自評效標與學習成效上的差異比較。 本研究樣本為義務役預官，共358人，包括實習幹部41人。研究結果顯示：（1）管理才能心理測驗各向度之內部一致性係數介於.52-.81，中位數為.68，且測驗結果能有效地預測自評效標上的表現（多元相關係數介於.39~.67），但對學習成效則預測較低（多元相關係數介於 .11~.20）；（2）360度回饋不同評分來源彼此之間，上司與部屬、上司與同儕之間的得分達顯著相關，且360度回饋的總分與多數效標皆達顯著相關（相關係數介於.33~.51）；（3）360度回饋僅在預測實習幹部「受訓表現」上的表現，比傳統上司評鑑可以解釋更多的效標變異量；（4）360度回饋總分在預測實習幹部「學習成效」上的表現，較管理才能心理測驗為佳；而管理才能心理測驗總分則在預測實習幹部「自評效標」上的表現，較360度回饋為佳；（5）運用管理才能心理測驗的評量結果，進行多元迴歸與多重切點的甄選策略之分析，結果均能區辨受訓學員在「自評效標」上的表現，但兩種不同甄選策略所選取出來的受測者，其在效標上的表現並未達顯著差異；然而，運用360度回饋的評量結果，進行多重切點甄選策略之分析，其結果只能區辨實習幹部在部份「學習成效」效標上的表現。最後，研究者並進一步提出本研究之限制、後續研究之方向，以及具體之實務建議。

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Application of multisource feedback (MSF) increased dramatically and became widespread globally in the past two decades, but there was little conceptual work regarding self-other agreement and few empirical studies investigated self-other agreement in other cultural settings. This study developed a new conceptual framework of self-other agreement and used three samples to illustrate how national culture affected self-other agreement. These three samples included 428 participants from China, 818 participants from the US, and 871 participants from globally dispersed teams (GDTs). An EQS procedure and a polynomial regression procedure were used to examine whether the covariance matrices were equal across samples and whether the relationships between self-other agreement and performance would be different across cultures, respectively. The results indicated MSF could be applied to China and GDTs, but the pattern of relationships between self-other agreement and performance was different across samples, suggesting that the results found in the U.S. sample were the exception rather than rule. Demographics also affected self-other agreement disparately across perspectives and cultures, indicating self-concept was susceptible to cultural influences. The proposed framework only received partial support but showed great promise to guide future studies. This study contributed to the literature by: (a) developing a new framework of self-other agreement that could be used to study various contextual factors; (b) examining the relationship between self-other agreement and performance in three vastly different samples; (c) providing some important insights about consensus between raters and self-other agreement; (d) offering some practical guidelines regarding how to apply MSF to other cultures more effectively.

Leadership theories have evolved since their inception and leadership development should also evolve in response to the changing needs of their organizations. There is a gap in the literature on the functionality of the various 360-feedback platforms that are mentioned in literature which makes it difficult to understand what reporting functionality is available in existing systems. The goal of this study was to examine participants' views of a newly developed Adaptive Learning 360-feedback (AL360) treatment platform for leadership development with a focus on self-directed learning for improved accountability. Participants were asked to share their learning development experience in the areas of person, process, and context with suggestions for improvement and how did this development compare to any other leadership development that they had experienced in the past. The AL360 platform was built by applying the research findings of scholars in the areas of leadership, 360-feedback leadership development and educational technologies. The treatment was applied in a business setting for all levels of leadership development. The case study identified creation of leadership of self-awareness and accountability for development without significant intervention of an executive coach. The research findings also list improvement opportunities, limitations, and future considerations.

Nowadays / design, fabrication and erection of steel structures can be taken place at different locations as a result of rapid globalization / owners may require the use of widely accepted steel design codes. Therefore, engineers are faced with the challenge of being competent with several design specifications for a particular material type. AISC-360 and EC3 are widely accepted steel structure design specifications that utilize limit state principles with some similarities and differences in application. Hereby a study has been undertaken to put together the nominal strength expressions presented in both AISC-360 and EC3 codes in a single document, to identify the similarities and the differences in calculated strengths and to facilitate rapid learning of either of the specifications with prior knowledge of the other. Because of the wide scope of specifications, only fundamental failure modes are considered in this thesis. Resistance equations are directly compared with each other wherever possible. For cases where the treatment of specifications is entirely different, representative members were considered for comparison purposes.

Moderne Softwaresysteme sind komplexe Gebilde, welche häufig im Verbund mit anderen technischen und betriebswirtschaftlichen Systemen eingesetzt werden. Für die Hersteller solcher Systeme stellt es oft eine große Herausforderung dar, den oft weit reichenden Anforderungen bezüglich der Anpassbarkeit solcher Systeme gerecht zu werden. Zur Erfüllung dieser Anforderungen hat es sich vielfach bewährt, eine virtuelle Maschine in das betreffende System zu integrieren. <br><br> Die Dissertation richtet sich insbesondere an Personen, die vor der Aufgabe der Integration virtueller Maschinen in bestehende Systeme stehen und zielt darauf ab, solche für die Entscheidung über Integrationsfragen wichtigen Zusammenhänge klar darzustellen. <br><br> Typischerweise treten bei der Integration einer virtuellen Maschine in ein System eine Reihe unterschiedlicher Problemstellungen auf. Da diese Problemstellungen oft eng miteinander verzahnt sind, ist eine isolierte Betrachtung meist nicht sinnvoll. Daher werden die Problemstellungen anhand eines zentral gewählten, sehr umfangreichen Beispiels aus der industriellen Praxis eingeführt. Dieses Beispiel hat die Integration der "Java Virtual Machine" in den SAP R/3 Application Server zum Gegenstand. Im Anschluss an dieses Praxisbeispiel wird die Diskussion der Integrationsproblematik unter Bezug auf eine Auswahl weiterer, in der Literatur beschriebener Integrationsbeispiele vertieft. <br><br> Das Hauptproblem bei der Behandlung der Integrationsproblematik bestand darin, dass die vorgefundenen Beschreibungen, der als Beispiel herangezogenen Systeme, nur bedingt als Basis für die Auseinandersetzung mit der Integrationsproblematik geeignet waren. Zur Schaffung einer verwertbaren Diskussionsgrundlage war es daher erforderlich, eine homogene, durchgängige Modellierung dieser Systeme vorzunehmen. Die Modellierung der Systeme erfolgte dabei unter Verwendung der "Fundamental Modeling Concepts (FMC)". Die erstellten Modelle sowie die auf Basis dieser Modelle durchgeführte Gegenüberstellung der unterschiedlichen Ansätze zur LÖsung typischer Integrationsprobleme bilden den Hauptbeitrag der Dissertation. <br><br> Im Zusammenhang mit der Integration virtueller Maschinen in bestehende Systeme besteht häufig der Bedarf, zeitgleich mehrere "Programme" durch die integrierte virtuelle Maschine ausführen zu lassen. Angesichts der Konstruktionsmerkmale vieler heute verbreiteter virtueller Maschinen stellt die Realisierung eines "betriebsmittelschonenden Mehrprogrammbetriebs" eine große Herausforderung dar. Die Darstellung des Spektrums an Maßnahmen zur Realisierung eines "betriebsmittelschonenden Mehrprogrammbetriebs" bildet einen zweiten wesentlichen Beitrag der Dissertation. / Modern software systems are complex entities which are frequently linked to other technical and economic systems. For the manufacturers of such systems it often represents a big challenge to fulfill the demanding requirements concerning the adaptability of such systems. One possible way to meet the demands is to integrate a virtual machine into the system concerned. <br><br> This thesis is primarily intended to be used by persons who intend to integrate a virtual machine into an existing system. The primary goal is to pinpoint those dependencies which are important for decisions about integration questions. <br><br> The integration of a virtual machine into an existing system is typically accompanied by many different problems. Since these problems are often closely interconnected, it often makes no sense to treat them individually. Therefore, the problems are introduced along with an adequately chosen, complex real life example. This example deals with the integration of the "Java Virtual Machine" into the "SAP R/3" application server. Following this practical example, the discussion of integration problems is deepened by presenting an assortment of additional examples taken from the literature. <br><br> The main problem encountered during the treatment of the integration process was caused by inadequate and incomparable descriptions of the samples used. The existing descriptions were therefore unsuitable as a basis of discussion for the integration topic. For a useful discussion, it was necessary to prepare a uniform and sound modeling of these systems. This was done by adopting the "Fundamental Modeling Concepts (FMC)" technique. The created models as well as the comparison of the different approaches that can be used to solve typical integration problems form the main contribution of the thesis. <br><br> The integration of virtual machines into existing systems is frequently accompanied by the requirement to have the integrated virtual machine process several "programs" simultaneously. In view of the design features of many common virtual machines, the realization of a virtual machine integration that allows the integrated virtual machine to be operated in "multiprogram" mode is still challenging. The most challenging task in this context is the problem of keeping the resource usage of the system at a tolerable level. A comparison of measures that can be taken to reduce the resource usage of an integrated virtual machine that can be operated in "multiprogram" mode forms a second essential contribution of the thesis.