O objetivo dessa dissertação foi avaliar se a gestão da comunicação e da cultura organizacional influencia as determinantes da cultura de inovação em multinacionais brasileiras. Considera-se o estudo relevante uma vez que a inovação tornou-se elemento estratégico para empresas que buscam competitividade em tempos de globalização, em especial para as de países emergentes como o Brasil. Foi realizada a revisão da literatura de três campos: a internacionalização das empresas, a cultura nacional e organizacional que influencia a inovação e a comunicação e relações públicas. A metodologia de pesquisa foi qualitativa, de caráter exploratório, aplicada junto a quatro respondentes de cada uma das seis multinacionais brasileiras consideradas inovadoras em seus segmentos pelo ranking Anuário Inovação Brasil, publicado pelo jornal Valor Econômico, em 2015. Por meio de um framework baseado em nove categorias, buscou-se identificar como as determinantes da cultura organizacional e comunicação influenciam a cultura de inovação e, também, verificar se a cultura de inovação é influenciada pelas dimensões culturais de Hofstede de distância de poder e o controle das incertezas. Utilizando as determinantes que influenciam a cultura de inovação encontradas em Martins e Terblanche e os princípios da Comunicação Excelente em Grunig, Ferrari e França, foi elaborada uma matriz de análise para verificar e analisar as premissas do estudo. As principais conclusões levaram a considerar que a gestão da comunicação e da cultura organizacional tem influência na cultura de inovação, principalmente no estabelecimento de estratégias na forma de declarar, reconhecer e envolver os públicos no propósito de inovação, assim como no estímulo a comportamentos favoráveis à inovação ou à inibição de barreiras culturais, como o medo de errar. Evidenciou-se que a comunicação aberta e simétrica, que fundamenta os princípios da Comunicação Excelente de Grunig, influencia a cultura de inovação e que o modelo de gestão mais participativo que proporciona uma abertura para o processo de comunicação estratégica indicado por Ferrari foi identificado como mais adequado para envolver os públicos com o propósito de inovação. / The purpose of this dissertation is to evaluate if communication management and organizational culture influence the determining factors of the culture of innovation in Brazilian multinationals. The study is considered relevant insofar as innovation has become a strategic element for companies seeking a competitive edge in the era of globalization, particularly for emerging countries such as Brazil. Three fields in the literature were reviewed: internationalization of companies, national and organizational culture that influences innovation and communication, as well as public relations. The research methodology was qualitative and exploratory, applied to four respondents from each of the six Brazilian multinationals considered to be innovators in their business sector by the Inovação Brasil yearbook published by the Valor Econômico in 2015. Based on a nine-category framework, this study aims to identify how the determining factors of organizational culture and communication influence the culture of innovation and also to verify if the culture of innovation is influenced by Hosftede\'s cultural dimensions of degree of power distance and uncertainty avoidance. An analysis matrix underpinned by the determining factors that influence the culture of innovation found in Martins & Terblanche and in the principles of the Excellence Theory in Communication found in Grunig, Ferrari & França was created to verify and analyze the assumptions of this study. The main conclusions led us to believe that communication management and organizational culture have an influence on the culture of innovation, mainly in the development of format strategies to declare, recognize and involve the public with the purpose of innovation, as well as in the motivation of behaviors that are favorable to innovation or the inhibition of cultural barriers, such as the fear to make a mistake. The study posits that the open and symmetric communication that underpins the principles of Grunig\'s Excellence in Communication influences the culture of innovation and a more hands-on management model, that creates an opening for the strategic communication process referred by Ferrari, was identified as the most suitable to involve the public with the purpose of innovation.

<p>There have been calls both from the government and private sector for Higher Education institutions to introduce programmes that produce employable graduates whilst at the same time contributing to the growing economy of the country by addressing the skills shortage. Transformation and intervention committees have since been introduced to follow the extent to which the challenges are being addressed (DOE, 1996 / 1997 / Luescher and Symes, 2003 / Forbes, 2007). Amongst the list of issues that needed urgent address were the skills shortage and underperformance of students particularly university entering students (Daniels, 2007 / De Klerk, 2006 / Cooper, 2001). Research particularly in the South African context, has revealed that contributing to the underperformance of university entering students and shortage of skills are: the legacy of apartheid (forcing certain racial groups to focus on selected areas such as teaching and nursing), the schooling system (resulting in university entering students to struggle), the home language and academic language. Barrell (1998), places stress on language as a contributing factor towards the performance of students. Although not much research has been done on skills shortage, most of the areas with skills shortage require Mathematics, either on a minimum or comprehensive scale. Students who have a strong Mathematics background have proved to perform better compared to students who have a limited or no Mathematics background at all in Grade 12 (Hahn, 1988 / Conners, McCown &amp / Roskos-Ewoldsen, 1998 / Nolan, 2002).The department of Statistics offers an Introductory Statistics (IS) course at first year level. Resources available to enhance student learning include: a problem-solving component with web-based tutorials and students attending lectures three hours per week. The course material and all the necessary information regarding the course including teach yourself problems, useful web-sites and links students can make use of, are all stored under the Knowledge- Environment for Web-based learning (KEWL). Despite all the available information, the students were not performing well and they were not interested in the course. The department regards statistical numeracy as a life skill. The desire of the department is to break down the fear of Statistics and to bring about a perspective change in students&rsquo / mindsets. The study was part of a contribution to ensuring that the department has the best first year students in Statistics in the Western Cape achieving a success rate comparable to the national norm.</p>

<p>There have been calls both from the government and private sector for Higher Education institutions to introduce programmes that produce employable graduates whilst at the same time contributing to the growing economy of the country by addressing the skills shortage. Transformation and intervention committees have since been introduced to follow the extent to which the challenges are being addressed (DOE, 1996 / 1997 / Luescher and Symes, 2003 / Forbes, 2007). Amongst the list of issues that needed urgent address were the skills shortage and underperformance of students particularly university entering students (Daniels, 2007 / De Klerk, 2006 / Cooper, 2001). Research particularly in the South African context, has revealed that contributing to the underperformance of university entering students and shortage of skills are: the legacy of apartheid (forcing certain racial groups to focus on selected areas such as teaching and nursing), the schooling system (resulting in university entering students to struggle), the home language and academic language. Barrell (1998), places stress on language as a contributing factor towards the performance of students. Although not much research has been done on skills shortage, most of the areas with skills shortage require Mathematics, either on a minimum or comprehensive scale. Students who have a strong Mathematics background have proved to perform better compared to students who have a limited or no Mathematics background at all in Grade 12 (Hahn, 1988 / Conners, McCown &amp / Roskos-Ewoldsen, 1998 / Nolan, 2002).The department of Statistics offers an Introductory Statistics (IS) course at first year level. Resources available to enhance student learning include: a problem-solving component with web-based tutorials and students attending lectures three hours per week. The course material and all the necessary information regarding the course including teach yourself problems, useful web-sites and links students can make use of, are all stored under the Knowledge- Environment for Web-based learning (KEWL). Despite all the available information, the students were not performing well and they were not interested in the course. The department regards statistical numeracy as a life skill. The desire of the department is to break down the fear of Statistics and to bring about a perspective change in students&rsquo / mindsets. The study was part of a contribution to ensuring that the department has the best first year students in Statistics in the Western Cape achieving a success rate comparable to the national norm.</p>

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / There have been calls both from the government and private sector for Higher Education institutions to introduce programmes that produce employable graduates whilst at the same time contributing to the growing economy of the country by addressing the skills shortage. Transformation and intervention committees have since been introduced to follow the extent to which the challenges are being addressed (DOE, 1996; 1997; Luescher and Symes, 2003; Forbes, 2007). Amongst the list of issues that needed urgent address were the skills shortage and underperformance of students particularly university entering students (Daniels, 2007; De Klerk, 2006; Cooper, 2001). Research particularly in the South African context, has revealed that contributing to the underperformance of university entering students and shortage of skills are: the legacy of apartheid (forcing certain racial groups to focus on selected areas such as teaching and nursing), the schooling system (resulting in university entering students to struggle), the home language and academic language. Barrell (1998), places stress on language as a contributing factor towards the performance of students. Although not much research has been done on skills shortage, most of the areas with skills shortage require Mathematics, either on a minimum or comprehensive scale. Students who have a strong Mathematics background have proved to perform better compared to students who have a limited or no Mathematics background at all in Grade 12 (Hahn, 1988; Conners, McCown & Roskos-Ewoldsen, 1998; Nolan, 2002).The department of Statistics offers an Introductory Statistics (IS) course at first year level. Resources available to enhance student learning include: a problem-solving component with web-based tutorials and students attending lectures three hours per week. The course material and all the necessary information regarding the course including teach yourself problems, useful web-sites and links students can make use of, are all stored under the Knowledge- Environment for Web-based learning (KEWL). Despite all the available information, the students were not performing well and they were not interested in the course. The department regards statistical numeracy as a life skill. The desire of the department is to break down the fear of Statistics and to bring about a perspective change in students' mindsets. The study was part of a contribution to ensuring that the department has the best first year students in Statistics in the Western Cape achieving a success rate comparable to the national norm. / South Africa