The ever increasing internationalization of company activities and the expanding use of mixed-nationality teams in organizations highlight the need for intercultural management competence. The task of this project is therefore to examine the impact of the international element within management teams: are teams made up of two or more nationalities different from corresponding nationally homogeneous teams in term of decision-making, co-operation, mutual exchange of information, work satisfaction in the company, skill utilization, conflicts and standardization (of products, tasks, goals, corporate identity and culture). The existing cross-national management literature cannot answer this question adequately and there is a need for research examining the face-to-face interaction of different national management styles. This project conducted an empirical examination of nationally heterogeneous teams made up of French, British and/or German managers and contrasted them with nationally homogeneous French, British and German teams. Firstly it presents significant differences between the French, British and German management styles and in this respect contributes to previous cross-national management literature. Secondly, it demonstrates how nationally heterogeneous management teams are different from nationally homogeneous ones, by exploring a route, which we called Social Cross-National Management. This approach was achieved by going to the operational interface of management teams and designing a questionnaire which required them to make two distinct judgments about two modes of action. A non-traditional principal component analysis was conducted, which individually scored teams along benchmarks like satisfaction with the work, team effectiveness, views about increased participation and the opportunities to use competence. The main results are that the mixed nationality element (significantly) decreases skill utilization, exchange of information and team effectiveness, that it significantly increases dysfunctional results, that it negatively affects satisfaction with participation, satisfaction with the work and satisfaction within the team and finally that conflicts do not result significantly more often from the mixed nationality element. Other results are indecisive or non-significant.

D. Tech. (Business, Department of Human Resource Management, Faculty of Management Sciences): Vaal University of Technology / Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the stronghold of economies and societies worldwide. In Zimbabwe, as in any other country, there is a realisation that SMEs are innovative, flexible and require low startup capital. There is an increased interest in pursuing SMEs as a poverty reduction strategy and as a roadmap to higher living standards. SMEs in Zimbabwe are divided into two sectors, namely the service and the manufacturing sector. SME manufacturers encompass almost every facet of the local economy, such as food processing, toiletry production, the garment, leather and rubber industry, metal fabrication, furniture manufacturing, construction and art. Most research that has been done on the influence of employee perception of equity (EPE), organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) on organisational commitment (OC) and turnover intention (ITS) has been on large organisations and little attention has been paid to SMEs. Studies on employee perception of equity and organisational citizenship behaviour has not filtered down to SMEs in developing countries. The primary objective of the study is to investigate the influence of OCB, EPE and OC on ITS in Zimbabwe’s SME sector. It also sought to ascertain the kind of relationships between OCB and OC, EPE with OC, OCB with ITS, EPE with ITS and finally OC with ITS. This study sought to determine whether there are any group differences with regard to SMEs employees perceptions on OCB, EPE, OC and ITS according to gender, age and industry type. A quantitative research method was used. Structured questionnaires were distributed to SMEs in five major cities. The data were collected from SME employees. The findings of this study show that there is a significantly positive influence of OCB on OC in the Zimbabwean SMEs. There is a significant strong positive influence of EPE on OC. There is also significant positive relationship between employees’ OCBs and their OC in Zimbabwe’s SME sector. There is a strong positive significant relationship of EPE with ITS and there is a strong positive relationship between employees OCBs and employees’ ITS in Zimbabwean SMEs. Finally, the results reveal that gender, marital status and industry type of the respondent influence OCBs, EPE, OC and their ITS in the Zimbabwean SMEs. Given that today’s business environments for SMEs are characterised by high levels of competition, lack of finance and uncertainty, it is recommended that SME managers should adopt good and proper management styles so that they can make good decisions. Scanning the environment is also necessary for competitive advantage not only for SMEs but also for large firms.

Les entreprises culturelles ont de tous temps développé des pratiques de gestion à l’écart du management standard (Chiapello, Benghozi). Notre recherche porte sur l'innovation managériale en matière d'outils de gestion de ces entreprises singulières. Dans un contexte de rupture (LOLF 2006), une situation extrême de gestion (Lièvre), certaines organisations culturelles ont su faire face en innovant : quels outils de gestion ont elles inventé et comment les ont-elles élaboré ? Notre cadre théorique articule quatre approches : les assemblages socio-matériels qui se construisent lors de la morphogenèse des outils de gestion (Orlikowski), les dimensions structurelles de ces outils (Hatchuel, Weil), leurs trajectoires d’appropriation (Grimand), la créativité à l’œuvre (Amabile) dans l’émergence de l’innovation managériale. Notre posture épistémologique est constructiviste. Nous observons ces innovations managériales à travers les cas de quatre entreprises du spectacle vivant que nous avons suivi et accompagné pendant trois ans dans une position d’expert impliqué. A partir d’une analyse comparative des quatre cas, nous mettons en évidence : l’efficience du concept de bissociation (Koestler) pour rendre compte des moments-clés de la morphogenèse des innovations managériales ; le rôle du système de valeurs des managers dans la trajectoire de constitution des outils et l’effet des caractéristiques créatives des managers culturels dans le développement de leur management indigène. / Cultural firms have developed at all times management practices that are apart from standard management (Chiapello, Benghozi). Our research focuses on managerial innovation in the management tools of these unique firms. In a context of disruption (LOLF 2006), an extreme management situation (Lievre), some cultural organizations have been able to cope by innovating: what management tools did they invent and how did they develop them? Our theoretical framework articulates four approaches: the socio-material assemblages that are constructed during the morphogenesis of management tools (Orlikowski); the structural dimensions of these tools (Hatchuel, Weil); their trajectories of appropriation (Grimand); the creativity in play (Amabile) in the emergence of managerial innovation. Our epistemological posture is constructivist. We observe these managerial innovations through the cases of four performing arts firms that we followed and accompanied for three years in an involved expert position. Relying on a comparative analysis of the four cases, we thus highlight: the efficiency of the concept of bisociation (Koestler) to account for key moments in the morphogenesis of managerial innovations; the role of the managers’ value system in the trajectory of constitution of the tools; the effect of the creative characteristics of cultural managers in the development of their indigenous management.

La gouvernance des universités françaises a été profondément transformée en quelques années par les évolutions qui ont touché l'ensemble du secteur public, conduisant à promouvoir et installer une véritable quête de la performance publique. Le développement d'une culture gestionnaire a conduit les universités françaises à développer des systèmes de contrôle pour répondre aux nouveaux enjeux découlant de ces évolutions. Les dispositifs existants permettent de satisfaire les demandes des autorités de tutelle, mais ne suffisent pas pour aider au pilotage et éclairer la stratégie, tant les objectifs à poursuivre sont ambigus au regard des nombreuses missions des universités et des parties prenantes toutes aussi nombreuses dont il faudrait tenir compte. Les systèmes de contrôle mis en place sont ainsi bien éloignés de la mesure et du pilotage d'une performance globale. Cette thèse montre que si la volonté politique est forte dans l'université, une démarche méthodologique découplant les dimensions de la performance et s'appuyant sur les attentes des parties prenantes rend possible la clarification des objectifs et la conception de systèmes de contrôle apportant aux universités les moyens de piloter leurs activités et évaluer leur performance globale. En prenant l'exemple de la mission développement durable de l'université, une démarche exploratoire utilisant l'étude de cas multiples puis la recherche-intervention, contribue à l'élaboration, dans une université, d'un système de contrôle et de pilotage finalisé par un tableau de bord du développement durable. / The governance of French universities has been profoundly transformed in recent years by developments that have affected the entire public sector, leading to a real drive to achieve an enhanced public performance. The development of a management culture has led French universities to develop control systems to meet the new challenges resulting from these changes. Existing systems can meet the demands of regulatory authorities, but they are not sufficient to help in the strategic piloting. This is due to ambiguous objectives, resulting from the numerous missions of the universities and the similarly numerous stakeholders which should be taken into account. Thus the control systems in place are insufficient for the measurement and control of overall performance. This research shows that if the political will is strong in university, a methodological approach decoupling performance dimensions and based on the expectations of stakeholders allows clarification of the objectives. The implementation of management control systems is also made possible providing universities with the means to control their activities and evaluate their overall performance. Taking the example of the mission of the university in terms of sustainable development, an exploratory approach using multiple case study and action research contributes to the development of a management control system finalized by a Sustainability Balanced Scorecard.