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Research is undertaken into the correlation between shared values and organisational performance. The issue of commitment continuity as a pre-requisite for improved financial and operational performance is investigated in detail. Emphasis is placed on the theories and nature of growth and sustainability; sustainable change within the organisation; and employee commitment emphasising aligned commitment as well as elements constituting the aligned commitment equation. The role of management has been identified as a determining factor that underlies the commitment of employees in an organisation. It is found that organisations should change their definition of “growth” from actual profits to the management of talent within the organisation in order to realise the benefits of sustained commitment. Literature studies into concepts such as shared values and shared vision and how these concepts can be inculcated into organisations through the implementation of effective change management processes is done. Should these concepts be universally accepted throughout the organisation, it will lead to organisational commitment which will eventually evolve into a commitment continuum. The presence of a commitment continuum will inevitably lead to the achievement of sustainable growth and a high performance culture within the organisation. To ensure the process is credible it should at all times adhere to both the spirit and letter of prevailing legislation and regulation as well as accepted norms of good practice. The impact that the concepts such as Knowledge, Information, Empowerment, Performance Strengthening and Shared Values have on the attainment of aligned commitment was examined. Also discussed were the comparisons between the South African and Namibian operations of the financial organisation. This research study was approached from a human perspective and should contribute towards the attainment of a commitment continuum within the organisation, through the aforementioned concept, with specific focus on Shared Values. The study includes both literature and empirical research. The study covers a numbers of disciplines that, when seen together, provides better understanding as how these constructs interact with one another in the attainment of sustained commitment and the presence of a commitment continuum. This, in turn, will lead to improved financial performance on the part of the organisation. The study has practical value in the sense that the newly adapted questionnaire and equation framework should enable organisations to measure the degree to which the influential constructs contributing to aligned commitment, already exist. The results show that a commitment continuum can be established in the financial services sector through aligned organisational commitment, the introduction and development of a shared values system and the establishment and acceptance of a shared vision. Coupled with organisational commitment, this will furthermore lead to growth and sustainability and a high performance culture being attained within the organisation. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Research is undertaken into the correlation between shared values and organisational performance. The issue of commitment continuity as a pre-requisite for improved financial and operational performance is investigated in detail. Emphasis is placed on the theories and nature of growth and sustainability; sustainable change within the organisation; and employee commitment emphasising aligned commitment as well as elements constituting the aligned commitment equation. The role of management has been identified as a determining factor that underlies the commitment of employees in an organisation. It is found that organisations should change their definition of “growth” from actual profits to the management of talent within the organisation in order to realise the benefits of sustained commitment. Literature studies into concepts such as shared values and shared vision and how these concepts can be inculcated into organisations through the implementation of effective change management processes is done. Should these concepts be universally accepted throughout the organisation, it will lead to organisational commitment which will eventually evolve into a commitment continuum. The presence of a commitment continuum will inevitably lead to the achievement of sustainable growth and a high performance culture within the organisation. To ensure the process is credible it should at all times adhere to both the spirit and letter of prevailing legislation and regulation as well as accepted norms of good practice. The impact that the concepts such as Knowledge, Information, Empowerment, Performance Strengthening and Shared Values have on the attainment of aligned commitment was examined. Also discussed were the comparisons between the South African and Namibian operations of the financial organisation. This research study was approached from a human perspective and should contribute towards the attainment of a commitment continuum within the organisation, through the aforementioned concept, with specific focus on Shared Values. The study includes both literature and empirical research. The study covers a numbers of disciplines that, when seen together, provides better understanding as how these constructs interact with one another in the attainment of sustained commitment and the presence of a commitment continuum. This, in turn, will lead to improved financial performance on the part of the organisation. The study has practical value in the sense that the newly adapted questionnaire and equation framework should enable organisations to measure the degree to which the influential constructs contributing to aligned commitment, already exist. The results show that a commitment continuum can be established in the financial services sector through aligned organisational commitment, the introduction and development of a shared values system and the establishment and acceptance of a shared vision. Coupled with organisational commitment, this will furthermore lead to growth and sustainability and a high performance culture being attained within the organisation. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Originality/Value Our research provides insights to an important field within quality management – how is the value of management commitment transmitted into methodologies?BackgroundCommon statements in quality management presentations are: - Leadership is necessary - It’s important for quality management to have engaged leaders and employees. One way of describing a quality management system is to see it as a combination of values, methodologies and tools. A question to study is which the methodologies and tools are that translate the leadership and employee commitment into action. The value of: “Committed leadership” is a core value in quality management. Another important value is: “Let everybody be committed”. These values could be seen as the values relating to human behaviour as in contrast to other values focusing on quality technology issues. The value of: “Let everybody be committed” tells us that it is important for employees to feel needed, to be able to take responsibility and to be informed – but how do these methodologies and tools look like? Purpose The purpose of this research is to carry out a critical analysis of the methodologies and tools that quality management proposes as support to the values of “Committed leadership” and “Let everybody be committed”. Methodology/Approach We have carried out a literature study of books commonly used in university courses in quality management. Focus has been on identifying methodologies that support the values “Committed leadership” and “Let everybody be committed”. We have also looked at other values and supporting methodologies and tools as defined in the “Corner stone model”, Bergman & Klefsjö (2003). Findings It seems that quality literature is not very clear on how to engage employees and how to motivate them. Preliminary findings indicate that quality management still is relying heavily on quality methodologies and tools supporting the value of decisions based on facts and the value on continuous improvement. Quality gurus like W.E. Deming and J.Juran have claimed that only 10-15% of the operational problems can be solved at the operational level with the rest being system and management problems. This could indicate that more focus should be on how employees can affect their work situation rather than teaching them quality tools. Quality methodologies and tools are only of help when management leads in such a way that employees are empowered and encouraged to do the right things willingly. When the literature for quality management is analysed we find that leadership issues are not taken up very much. Not more than about 2 – 5% of the pages in the literature deal with leadership. Also, focus of the parts dedicated to leadership is mostly on check lists for important things to do and to know as a leader – like motivation. But there is very little to read about in what way you can motivate your employees or how you can acquire the required leadership capability. Limitations The study is limited to the theories found in the most frequently used quality management literature in Sweden. Value The topic takes up important success factors for quality management – how to make practise out of the guiding values of management and employee commitment.

While the introduction of the Internet facilitated the communication channels at the workplace to improve employees’ productivity, it also raised new challenges, such as Internet use for personal activities. Organizations face productivity losses due to employees’ involvement in counterproductive behaviors, such as cyberslacking. The frequency of mobile device cyberslacking is anticipated to increase due to continuous developments in online connectivity, applications, and the significant growth of mobile device usage worldwide. In addition, research has shown that employees’ commitment to their organization can encourage behaviors that positively influence productivity. Employee’s commitment is a crucial factor because it can benefit an organization in different ways, such as enhancing performance, decreasing absenteeism, and reducing turnover, thus, resulting in sustained productivity. Hence, limited studies have been conducted on the impact of employee cyberslacking using mobile devices and employee’s commitment to the organization on productivity. The research problem that this research study addressed is mobile device cyberslacking at the workplace as it relates to productivity. The main goal of this research study was to develop and validate, using Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), a Mobile Cyberslacking- Commitment Taxonomy using the measures of mobile device cyberslacking based on the self-reported frequency of cyberslacking (FCyS) and employee’s commitment to the organization (EC2O) to provide indirect indication for employee productivity. This research study implemented three phases. Phase One of this study, using the Delphi method, collected data via anonymous online surveys from 19 SMEs to evaluate and validate a set of items relevant to the measures of mobile device FCyS and EC2O, the survey scale, instructions to participants, and the Mobile Cyberslacking-Commitment Taxonomy. In Phase two, using a pilot study, a group of 35 participants were recruited to verify the validity of the survey instrument that was revised by SMEs. In Phase three, the validated survey was sent via email to assess six research questions. The final survey was sent to 1,063 employees who work at organizations in Saudi Arabia and use mobile device on a daily basis. The response rate was 24.93% with 265 usable records. The results of the study showed that employees were dispersed across the Mobile Cyberslacking-Commitment Taxonomy with 4.5% of the employees were positioned in the more problematic quadrant indicating that this portion of employees will not use their mobile devices at the workplace to improve their productivity. The overall results showed that the population had a low frequency of mobile cyberslacking and a high commitment to the organization, thus, have a better potential for productivity. Significant differences in the two constructs were also found across several demographics including age, gender, education level, industry type. Recommendations for practice and research are provided. Moreover, several areas for future research are also presented. The results of this research study contributed to information systems’ body of knowledge by providing researchers and practitioners a novel benchmarking tool of Mobile Cyberslacking-Commitment Taxonomy to enable the measure of employees’ FCyS and EC2O to classify employees’ potential for productivity in the context of the workplace.

Yes / This article explores the use of `company culture¿ as a means of management control. It reports on research conducted in a consultancy that aimed to secure loyalty from its employees through a conscious policy of organised `play¿ at company socials. Employees were given a certain amount of freedom over their working lives in exchange for accepting company regulation of their social time. Here it is argued that this normative control differs from historical attempts to ensure that employees were of good moral character. In earlier interventions social and community obligations were emphasised, now every `virtue¿ encouraged is designed to be exercised in the workplace, often at the expense of the individual or the community. Further, that while control through organisational culture does have some of the advantages claimed for it in the prescriptive literature, it also extends the employment contract to areas previously outside the managerial prerogative.

Research report presented to the Unisa School of Business Leadership / This study looks at five cases of organisational change and considers how the respondents have perceived the implementation of change within their organisations. / Graduate School of Business Leadership / MBA

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2005. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Today's economy demands that organisations' continually change the way they do business. The agility and efficiency with which organisations can implement change are vital in ensuring their continued competitiveness. Unfortunately, people's fear of the unknown results in a natural propensity to resist change. This presents significant challenges that management must overcome in order to implement desired changes to improve organisational efficiencies and overall stakeholder value. This study investigates the importance of employee commitment in implementing workplace change through a review of related literature and the analyses of primary data collected. The data was collected by means of a questionnaire that was sent to all employees within Media24 IT. The findings indicate a strong relationship between commitment and change. Especially one type of commitment displays significant importance with respect to workplace change, i.e. commitment that deals with an employee's emotional attachment to, identification with and involvement in the organisation. Additionally, certain drivers of commitment are investigated and conclusions presented. However, it is recommended that further research might be necessary. This is mainly due to the fact that the primary data collected could be seen as merely a reflection of the situation within a single organisation at a certain period in time. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Vandag se ekonomie vereis dat organisasies vooortdurend die wyse waarop hulle besigheid doen, moet verander. Die tempo en doeltreffendheid waarmee organisasies verandering kan implementeer, is van deurslaggewende belang vir hul voortgesette kompeterendheid. Ongelukkig veroorsaak mense se vrees vir die onbekende 'n natuurlike geneigdheid om verandering teen te staan. Dit bied aan bestuur aansienlike uitdagings wanneer gewenste veranderings om organisatoriese doeltreffendheid en belanghebberwaarde te verbeter, geimplemenleer moet word. Hierdie werkstuk ondersoek die belangrikheid van werknemers se toegewydheid ten opsigte van die implementering van verandering by die werkplek deur middel van 'n literatuurstudie en die analise van primere data wat ingesamel is. Die data is deur middel van 'n vraelys wat aan al Media24 IT se personeellede gestuur is, ingesamel. Die bevindings dui 'n sterk verwantskap tussen toegewydheid en verandering aan. Veral een tipe toegewydheid wat handel oor 'n werknemer se emosionele verbintenis tot die organisasie, asook identifikasie met en betrokkenheid by die organisasie, toon 'n sterk invloed op verandering in die werkplek. Addisioneel word sekere drywers van toegewydheid ondersoek en afleidings gemaak. Daar word egter aanbeveel dat verdere navorsing moontlik nodig mag wees. Dit is hoofsaaklik weens die feit dat die primere data wat ingesamel is, gesien kan word as 'n blote weerspieeling van die situasie binne 'n enkele organisasie op 'n gegewe tydstip.

Research report presented to the Unisa School of Business Leadership / This study looks at five cases of organisational change and considers how the respondents have perceived the implementation of change within their organisations. / Graduate School of Business Leadership / MBA

Industry leaders in the United States have spent $11 billion annually in advertising, hiring, and training expenditures associated with voluntary employee turnover. Using employee turnover theory as the conceptual framework, the purpose of this multicase study was to explore strategies leaders of marketing and consulting firms used to reduce voluntary employee turnover. Participants were purposefully selected based on evidence of their successful experiences in reducing voluntary employee turnover in their organizations. Data were collected by conducting semistructured interviews with 6 leaders in 3 marketing and consulting firms located in the southeastern United States and by reviewing organizational documents related to strategies to reduce employee turnover, including annual reports, newsletters, policy handbooks, and financial statements. Data were analyzed using Yin's 5-phase elements of data analysis: (a) compile, (b) disassemble, (c) reassemble, (d) clarify, and (e) conclude. Three themes emerged from this study: leaders' comprehension of reducing voluntary employee turnover, essential strategies for leaders to reduce voluntary employee turnover, and that employee commitment and performance management to reduce voluntary employee turnover. Leaders of marketing and consulting firms and other business organizations could create positive social change through effective strategies to reduce employee turnover and unemployment. Reducing unemployment is important because unemployed individuals experience detrimental changes in family relationships, higher mortality rates, and increased physical health problems.