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Conduct an exploratory study on operationally focussed managers within a South African company, using both quantitative and qualitative analysis, to determine the correlation between the required and actual levels of complexity and time-span of control at specific hierarchical levels / Organisational design needs to be in line with capabilities of the individual-inrole. The structure of an organization directly impacts the overall effectiveness and ultimately the success of such an organization and the number of layers required in any given hierarchy is a product of the organization’s mission (Jaques, 1989). Stratified Systems Theory (Jaques, 1989) defines work in seven strata based on a basis of decision-making complexity. The research presented here identifies a specific organisation’s current level of work based on complexity and the time-span of decision-making. Research was done in one specific geographical region of a company operating in the Supply Chain and Logistics industry in South Africa. Qualitative data collection was done by means of interviews with a defined sample group that provided an adequate cross-section of the main functions of the business, however, the sampling technique used may not provide results representative of the entire population. ii The Brunel Institute for Organisation and Social Studies’ (BIOSS) Matrix of Working Relationships was used as main basis for reporting results. The research indicates that the organisation is presently, according to Jaques Stratified Systems Theory (Jaques, 1989), operating at one level below their intended level that will allow them to effectively meet their longterm strategic objectives. The report identifies shortcomings in terms of the current capabilities of the individual-in-role and the actual work requirements, setting a foundation for further analysis of individual capabilities for effective organisational design. / Graduate School of Business Leadership / MBL

Conduct an exploratory study on operationally focussed managers within a South African company, using both quantitative and qualitative analysis, to determine the correlation between the required and actual levels of complexity and time-span of control at specific hierarchical levels / Organisational design needs to be in line with capabilities of the individual-inrole. The structure of an organization directly impacts the overall effectiveness and ultimately the success of such an organization and the number of layers required in any given hierarchy is a product of the organization’s mission (Jaques, 1989). Stratified Systems Theory (Jaques, 1989) defines work in seven strata based on a basis of decision-making complexity. The research presented here identifies a specific organisation’s current level of work based on complexity and the time-span of decision-making. Research was done in one specific geographical region of a company operating in the Supply Chain and Logistics industry in South Africa. Qualitative data collection was done by means of interviews with a defined sample group that provided an adequate cross-section of the main functions of the business, however, the sampling technique used may not provide results representative of the entire population. ii The Brunel Institute for Organisation and Social Studies’ (BIOSS) Matrix of Working Relationships was used as main basis for reporting results. The research indicates that the organisation is presently, according to Jaques Stratified Systems Theory (Jaques, 1989), operating at one level below their intended level that will allow them to effectively meet their longterm strategic objectives. The report identifies shortcomings in terms of the current capabilities of the individual-in-role and the actual work requirements, setting a foundation for further analysis of individual capabilities for effective organisational design. / Graduate School of Business Leadership / MBL

Thesis (M.A.)--Baylor University, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 101-109).

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management specialising in Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation Johannesburg, 2016 / Very little information seems to exist on the role of women in South African family owned businesses. Women in family businesses need to be recognized in order to highlight the constraints they may be facing and their contributions to the economy. The purpose of the study is to determine how human and social capital variables can empower women in family businesses to enhance their success or address their challenges. This research study follows a positivistic paradigm and a questionnaire was developed to assess the research objectives. The questionnaire was sent out to a sample of 200 females involved in family owned businesses from South Africa and 150 responses were received. The findings revealed that at lower levels of education, females were the key decision makers for business expenditure, borrowing and investment decisions. With regards to experience inside and outside of the family business, decision making was shared between males and females with the exception of business expenditure decision making at 0-5 years experience inside the family business. Furthermore, decision making was generally shared between males and females for most of the social capital variables, with the exception of using or relying on partnerships where females did not play apparent decision making roles. Practical recommendations from the findings for women in family owned businesses include shifting from operational to more strategic decision making; gaining experience outside of family owned business to strengthen decision making capabilities; which in turn, would empower them to tackle riskier elements of social capital, like relying on partnerships and conducting business on trust. / MT2017

Acknowledging the difficulties of achieving effective strategic management in practice, this thesis investigates how formal strategies quite often succeed in conditioning organisational actions even in firms such as professional service firms, which may lack effective measures for coercing action and which often depend on distributed decision-making. The fundamental question posed in this investigation is: what are the social processes that make strategies work? This thesis addresses that question by contributing to our understanding of strategy realisation as a continuing process of translating formal strategies into ‘strategies-in-practice’, i.e. the situated performance of strategies through choices, actions, and practices pertaining to the selection and accomplishment of concrete assignments. The thesis investigates this translation process in three small professional service firms, in which the responsibility for enacting the strategies lies with autonomous practitioners, making centralised strategy realisation difficult. Searching for integration rather than further fragmentation of different strands of strategy research, the thesis make use of Porterian activity systems theory, Giddens’ structuration theory, Wittgensteinian theory of rule-following, Searlean theory of intentionality, and the strategy-as-practice approach, in order to understand the translation process as the intentional structuration of practice. The thesis reports two main contributions, the first addressing a gap in strategy re-search, the second contradicting prevailing theories. The first contribution is an outline of a theory of strategy translation: how formal strategies are translated into strategies-in-practice, coping with insoluble strategic dilemmas, and achieving maintenance of strategic position and strategies-in-practice under pressure for unwanted change. Good strategies-in-practice are as much about managing dilemmas as about eliminating them. Second, in contrast to prevailing strategic positioning theory and generic strategies, this study documents the potential benefits of straddling strategically distinct services within a single activity system, in terms of: learning opportunities; work variation; better opportunities for attracting, developing, and retaining talented people; the possibilities of capitalising on client relationships; and the dynamics of routinisation of once-novel services.

The purpose of this research was to conduct an exploratory study of the information processing utilized by incubator-housed manufacturers during channel member selection. The study included the evaluation of the decision models used by the manufacturers as well as criteria used in the selection process. The study was specifically designed to achieve the following objectives. First, the research was to identify the evaluation modes used by the manufacturers as either compensatory or noncompensatory. Second, the study was to evaluate the effect of the task on the selection of the evaluation model(s) used during the channel member selection process. Third, the study was to evaluate the effect of the selected decision strategy on the amount of information used during the decision process. Finally, the study was to identify and examine the importance of the criteria used by the manufacturers in the selection process. The methodology in this study consisted of primary research using protocol analysis as the main data gathering technique. A ranking instrument was also mailed to the respondents prior to the protocol session. The population for the study was identified as all manufacturers located in publicly-sponsored business incubators. A total of 235 incubators were in existence with approximately 47 percent of them being publicly-sponsored. Approximately 42 percent of the incubators house at least one manufacturing firm. It was estimated that there were approximately 46 manufacturing firms located in public incubators. A sample of six was used in this study. The statistical analysis included frequencies, cross tabulations, correlations, paired comparisons, and measures of association. The findings of this study suggest that the incubator-housed manufacturers' choice of evaluation models was not affected by the task nor did the selected strategy influence the amount of information used by the manufacturers. The findings indicate a need for further research to evaluate the relationships brought forth in this study. Based on the conclusions and findings of this study, recommendations for further research were given.