Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 1998. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: For the first time in South Africa's labour relations history, a comprehensive legislative tool (The Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995), which has the potential and aim to serve the interests of employers and employees in a different way than traditional collective bargaining has been designed. Leadership by the captains of industry and labour will be necessary in breaking new ground and in making the perceived new framework of relationships work. The change process, the principles of participation, and the development and implementation of new values. will not be easy. cheap or comfortable. Management can respond to the Act by complying to the letter of the law, that is, going technically through the motions required by the Act. In years to come, it would perhaps be more beneficial if they responded to the spirit of the law: a genuine and real involvement of all stakeholders taking co-responsibility for the success of their organisations. "Successful workplace relationships are made by all people inside the workplace and not by the laws created outside the workplace" (lsrae1stam and Marais, 1997). 1bis will require a true transformation of their organisations using employee involvement as a key to organisational transformation. Participative management is a very broad concept and its meaning could range from informing employees in advance before implementing management decisions to giving employees majority control on the organisation's governing body. What then would be legitimate reasons for an organisation to implement participative management? International experience makes it clear that, in order to be effective, prosperous organisation. The need to move beyond adversarialisrn 15 based on the need to escape the selfperpetuating cycle of confrontation and dissatisfaction and lack of co-operation. Participative management is part of the effort to reverse the confrontational trend and achieve a positive spiral of co-operation through joint problem solving and strengthening of organisational resources, shared benefits, mutual understanding. caring, goal creation, keeping of promises and success in goal achievement. Due to the fact that each South African organisation is at a different stage of industrial relations and management culture development, participative management cannott be rushed into practice. South Africa needs to learn from the good and the bad of international experience and adapt these lessons to its own unique labour circumstances. While South African employees have been instumental in achieving democratic rights politically, their long-standing and intense struggle for labour rights and democracy has left a powerful and intense legacy of need for satisfaction of workplace demands!' A Workplace Forum is therefore a participative management mechanism in the form of an employee representative committee which interacts closely with the employer. As is evident in Figure 1, management and trade unions may decide to solve their differences through collective bargaining or through some form of joint problem solving, such as workplace forums. The new structure at workplace level gives workers a voice in managerial decisions. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die Wet op Arbeidsverhoudinge 66 van 1995 is in werking gestel met die spesifieke doel om vir die eerste keer in die Suid-Afrikaanse geskiedenis na die belange van die werknemer, werkgewer en georganiseerde arbeid op 'n gebalanseerde wyse om te sien. Die daarstelling van werkplekforums in organisasies is daarop gemik om deelnemende strukture in plek te kry. Die vestiging van deelnemende bestuur in organisasies, sal ongetwyfeld met konflik gepaard gaan, omdat werknemers en werkgewers se behoeftes verskil. Hierdie konflik behoort ten minste nou op 'n geordende wyse deur wetgewing aangespreek te word. "Suksesvolle arbeidsverhoudinge word geskep en handhaaf deur alle belanghebbendes binne die werkplek en beslis nie deur wetgewing buite die organisasie nie" (lsraelstam en Marais, 1997). Dit bly dus ongetwyfeld die verantwoordelikheid van bestuur om deelnemende besluitnemingsmeganisme daar te stel ten einde die transformasieproses in organisasies te bespoedig. Konflik word verder verminder deur groter betrokkenheid in plaas daarvan dat besluite op 'n tipiese burokraties-outoritere wyse geneem word. Deelnemende besluitneming kan lei tot beter funksionering van die organisasie omdat besluite deur 'n groep beter is as enkelbesluite. 'n Werkplekforum kan alleenlik doeltreffend funksioneer mits opregte deelnemende bestuur dien as vertrekpunte. Werkplek forums moet as platvorms gebruik word waar toepaslike inligting, sienswyse, probleme en oplossings oop en eerlik met almal gedeel word, sodat stabiele doeltreffende verhoudings in die organisasie sal ontstaan. Die sentrale tema van hierdie projek gaan oor die verhouding tussen werkgewer, werknemer en georganiseerde arbeid waar werkplekforums as 'n deelnemende besluitnemingsmeganisme geimplementeer kan word, met die gevolg dat werknemers werklik deur middel van verteenwoordiging met werkgewers kan skakel. Groter verantwoordelikheid en toegewydheid aan die kant van arbeid en bestuur sal verseker dat produktiwiteit en kwaliteit verbeter, ten einde met gemak op die intemasionale markte mee te kan ding.

M. Tech. Human Resources Development / The aim of this research is to establish whether there is a significant relationship between employee engagement and discretionary effort at a hospital in KwaZulu-Natal. It also investigates the factors that relate to employee engagement and discretionary efforts and also to determine how different demographic groups perceive employee engagement and discretionary effort at a hospital in KwaZulu-Natal.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2000. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Individuals in South Africa are constantly confronted with career related challenges. As a result of high unemployment, affirmative action, the outsourcing of work and other changes in the economy, only the very best employees with relevant skills and qualifications can survive in the contemporary work place. Career self-management therefore cannot be neglected or left to the employer, but should be undertaken by each individual on a continuous basis. An unavoidable question, with which any individual will be confronted at some stage during the process of career management, is: 'Will career management necessarily have a positive effect on job performance?" The essential question of this study is whether there is a statistically significant relation between career self-management and job performance. In an effort to investigate and understand this relation more efficiently, a literature study was first undertaken concerning both the independent variable, namely career self-management, and the dependent variable, namely job performance. This was followed by an empirical investigation. Career self-management may be defined as the process by which individuals take well considered, informed, suitable decisions about their working lives. The process of career self-management consists of different components, namely career exploration, career goal setting, the development of career strategies and career evaluation. Career exploration includes self-exploration as well as exploration of the environment. Self-knowledge focuses on the acquisition of knowledge regarding internal aspects such as values, personality, aptitude, interests, weak points and strong points. Environment exploration, on the other hand, includes the acquisition of knowledge and information about the working environment. Career goal setting is the second component in the career self-management process, and involves the setting of challenging but realistic career goals by the individual for the short, medium and long term. The individual develops career strategies in order to realise career goals. Various types of career strategies may be distinguished, such as competence in the current position, extended involvement at work, development of skills, participation in organisational politics and the utilisation of opportunities by, for example, the creation of networks, self-nomination and visibility. After sufficient time has elapsed for the implementation of the strategies, the individual has to compare the identified goals with achieved goals and adjust the original career plan accordingly. These adjustments will in turn require further career exploration and the process will be repeated. The dependent variable, namely individual job performance, may be defined as the way in which a job or task is executed by an individual, group or organisation. An individual's job performance mainly depends on two aspects, namely ability and motivation (attempt). Ability refers to the individual's potential to successfully complete a task or job. Motivation is an internal driving force which moves an individual and which directs his/her behaviour in such a way that goals may be achieved. The empirical part of the study investigated the statistical relationship between the two constructs on a test sample, consisting of 307 individuals from 5 different sectors (mining sector, real estate sector, health care sector, bank sector, and production sector). The career self-management of these individuals was tested by means of two questionnaires, namely the Career Exploration Survey and the Career Strategies Inventory. Their job performance was measured by the Job Performance Questionnaire, which were handed to their managers/supervisors to complete. Statistical analyses showed that no statistically significant relationship exists between career self-management and job performance. Further statistical analyses also showed that there is no relation between any of the components of career self-management (career exploration, career goal setting, and development of career strategies) and job performance. The research results suggest that career self-management does not necessarily lead to improved job performance, even though an individual may manage his/her career constructively. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Individue in Suid-Afrika word gereeld gekonfronteer met loopbaanverwante uitdagings. Die hoë werkloosheidssyfer, regstellende aksie, uitkontraktering en ander veranderinge in die ekonomie veroorsaak dat slegs die heel beste werknemers met relevante vaardighede en kwalifikasies in vandag se werkplek kan oorleef. Loopbaan-selfbestuur kan dus nie agterweë gelaat word of oorgelaat word aan die organisasie nie, maar behoort deur elke individu op 'n deurlopende basis gedoen te word. 'n Onvermydelike vraag waarmee enige individu op een of ander stadium tydens die loopbaanbestuursproses gekonfronteer sal word, is: "Sal loopbaanbestuur noodwendig 'n positiewe effek op werksprestasie hê?" Hierdie vraag het die essensie van die studie gevorm, naamlik of daar 'n statisties beduidende verband bestaan tussen loopbaan-selfbestuur en werksprestasie. Ten einde hierdie verband beter te kon ondersoek en verstaan, is 'n literatuurstudie eerstens oor beide die onafhanklike veranderlike, loopbaan-selfbestuur, en die afhanklike veranderlike, werksprestasie, gedoen, waarna die empiriese gedeelte van die navorsing gevolg het. Loopbaan-selfbestuur kan gedefinieer word as die proses waartydens individue weldeurdagte, ingeligte, geskikte besluite neem aangaande hulle werksiewens. Die proses van loopbaan-selfbestuur bestaan uit verskeie komponente, naamlik loopbaanverkenning, loopbaandoelwitstelling, die ontwikkeling van loopbaanstrategieë en loopbaanbeoordeling. Loopbaanverkenning sluit self-verkenning sowel as verkenning van die omgewing in. Selfkennis fokus op die verkryging van kennis met betrekking tot interne aspekte soos waardes, persoonlikheid, aanleg, belangstellings, swakpunte en sterkpunte, terwylomgewingsverkenning die verkryging van kennis en informasie oor die werksomgewing insluit. Loopbaandoelwitstelling is die tweede komponent in die loopbaan-selfbestuursproses en behels dat die individu uitdagende, dog realistiese loopbaandoelwitte stel - vir die korttermyn, mediumtermyn sowel as die langtermyn. Ten einde loopbaandoelwitte te laat realiseer, ontwikkel die individu loopbaanstrategieë. Verskeie tipes loopbaanstrategieë kan onderskei word, soos byvoorbeeld bevoegdheid in die huidige pos, uitgebreide werksbetrokkenheid, vaardigheidsontwikkeling, deelname aan organisasiepolitiek en die benutting van geleenthede deur onder andere die vorming van netwerke, selfnominering en sigbaarheid. Nadat voldoende tyd verloop het waartydens die strategieë geïmplementeer kon word, moet die individu die gestelde doelwitte met behaalde doelwitte vergelyk en op grond daarvan aanpassings maak ten opsigte van die aanvanklike loopbaanplan. Hierdie aanpassings sal weer verdere loopbaanverkenning verg en die proses word herhaal. Die afhanklike veranderlike, naamlik individuele werksprestasie, kan gedefinieer word as die wyse waarop In werk of taak gedoen word deur In individu, groep of organisasie. In Individu se werksprestasie is hoofsaaklik afhanklik van twee aspekte, naamlik vermoë en motivering (poging). Vermoë verwys na die individu se potensiaal om In taak of werk suksesvol af te handel. Motivering is In interne dryfkrag wat In individu beweeg en sy/haar gedrag rig sodat doelwitte behaal kan word. Die empiriese gedeelte van die studie het die statistiese verband tussen die twee konstrukte op In steekproef, bestaande uit 307 individue afkomstig van vyf verskillende sektore (mynsektor, eiendomsektor, gesondheidsorgsektor, banksektor, vervaardigingsektor), ondersoek. Hierdie individue se loopbaanselfbestuur is bepaal deur middel van twee vraelyste, naamlik die "Career Exploration Survey" en die "Career Strategies Inventory". Hul werksprestasie is gemeet deur middel van die "Job Performance Questionnaire", wat aan hul bestuurders / toesighouers gegee is om te voltooi. Statistiese analises het getoon dat daar geen statisties beduidende verband bestaan tussen loopbaan-selfbestuur en werksprestasie nie. Verdere statistiese ontledings het ook getoon dat daar geen verband tussen enige van die komponente van loopbaan-selfbestuur (loopbaanverkenning, loopbaandoelwitstelling en ontwikkeling van loopbaanstrategieë) en werksprestasie bestaan nie. Die gevolgtrekking wat op grond van die navorsingsresultate gemaak kan word, is dat, alhoewel 'n individu sy/haar loopbaan konstruktief mag bestuur, dit nie noodwendig tot verbeterde werksprestasie sal lei nie.

Managers spend 75-80% of their time communicating interpersonally. Ironically, communication skills are consistently listed as a major weakness of today's managers. Furthermore, management theorists contend that management students have been mis-educated for the job of managing. This study focuses on the relationship between attitudes toward communication and managerial success. Communication attitude was measured by Hart, Carlson and Eadie's RHETSEN Scale. Success was measured as promotions in relation to years worked and salary in relation to age. The hypothesis was that the Rhetorically Sensitive manager will be most successful. Two three-way analyses of variance were performed to assess this relationship. The results indicated no significant difference in success level for the Rhetorically Sensitive manager. The exploratory research suggested several directions for future research. Implications of these findings and recommendations for future research are noted.

The purpose of this study was to test for a relationship between locus of control and participation in strategic decision making. The research model included the variables of gender, locus of control, job-work involvement and preference for participative environment as possible influences on team member participation in strategic decision making. Another feature of the model was the proposed three-way interaction effect on member participation. This interaction included member job-work involvement, member preference for participation and leader locus of control.

M.Tech. (Operations Management) / This study entails and discusses Employee Involvement in Total Quality Management initiatives in a South African Bank. Total Quality Management programs are required within business to ensure that organisations seek continuous improvement in their operational capabilities. Total quality management refers to three foremost components, which has to be part of the organisational strategy namely; customer satisfaction, continuous improvement and employee involvement. This study pertains to Total Quality Management, and the link between Total Quality and Employee Involvement as the critical component based on the premise that operational efficiency must start internally, meaning that employee involvement should be the point of departure. In many instances employees find it difficult to adapt to the changes, people naturally find reasons as to why changes will not be successful, more especially if there is no employee involvement at their level and, hence their reluctance to see the benefits objectively will result in the failure of any Total Quality Management initiative. The objective of this study was to determine if TQM principles as prescribed by many authors are currently adopted by the organisation with the focus being Employee Involvement and also to ascertain if the organisational culture lends itself to the implementation of TQM initiatives. Survey questionnaires were used to obtain primary data, and interviews and document reviews were conducted subsequently to validate the results obtained from primary data collection. The literature review indicated the importance of Employee Involvement in the pursuit TQM and the results indicated that employees believed that the principles of TQM and Employee Involvement are relatively well established. With any organisation there is always improvement required and as a fundamental requirement of TQM continuous improvement is a must. Collaboration between employees and management, Empowerment of employees and Education and Training that is job specific are some key areas that were discussed.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management (Public and Development Management) 2016 / The purpose - The study is to examine and understand the employee engagement approaches used in implementing change in CIPC, and how they engagement strategies could be improved to make the change implementation more effective and sustainable. Design, methodology and approach - The study used a qualitative research method, and institutional research case study design was used to gather individual experiences of employees about employee engagement practice pre, during and after the implementation of the merger. The findings – The paper identified that employee engagement approaches supporting fidelity goal orientation have been used in the case study. The change process has been hailed as not successful by the employees. However, proposal for improvement have been identified for consideration for future research. Research implication – the results of the study would add value to the case study organization by improving revitalizing the change management function and processes. It would serve as an empowering value as a source for employees and managers alike to understand the dual responsibility to communicate honesty. The practical implications- change can be owned and made sustainable by all those involved in the decision making and execution processes. This model of change appreciates people as sources of knowledge that contribute to the success of the organization. The model advocates for management to adopt a transparent and open approach to engagement, and disband the authoritative perspective to decision making. / MT 2018

A budget is an action plan that is utilized by organisations, private or public, in order to attain their objectives. Budgets are used to ensure better financial performance for organizations. They are also used to identify financial problems and take appropriate corrective measures. Public secondary schools also prepare their budgets to plan for their income and expenditure. It is through developing their budgets that public secondary schools are able to achieve their visions and missions. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the extent to which the budgeting process is effectively implemented in public secondary schools in the Gauteng South Region. To achieve this objective a questionnaire was developed to elicit responses from the participants in the research. The questionnaire was a closed-ended one with two sections, A and B. Section A of the questionnaire was developed to gather biographical information about the units of analysis, whereas Section B dealt with key issues pertaining to the budgeting process. The reliability of the questionnaire was tested through Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. The feedback from the questionnaire was analysed by means of Exploratory Factor Analysis where five factors were extracted and their reliability also tested. The factor loading matrix was computed to identify appropriate items for each factor. The items were analysed using frequencies in respect of each factor. Correlations analysis for the factors was conducted to determine the relationship between them. The findings from the study indicate that: budget planning assists school managers in comparing income and expenditure; coordination of budgeting activities is a problem at schools; lack of communication stifles effective implementation of the budget; there is no effective training and development for those involved in the budgeting process; the financial targets are not set and communicated to key stakeholders; there is lack of budget control and monitoring measures of variances of the planned and actual budget is non-existent; educators are not offered the opportunity to participate in the budgeting process let alone have the authority to make decisions on budgetary issues for those who are involved. The value of this research lies in setting appropriate guidelines for effective implementation of the budgeting process. Effective implementation of the budgeting process will facilitate efficient delivery of quality education to learners. The importance of the study is that it offers various types of budgets that public secondary schools can use to remain financially viable and sustainable.

Abstract Title: A democratic organisation - one click away? A quantitative content analysis which studies the potential of democratic communication through intranet use. Authors: Stina Gabrielsson and Jill Johansson Vennelin Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether there is potential for democratic communication within the NGOs through intranet use. Key questions to be answered were: To what extent is authority versus members represented on the intranet Klick’s discussion forum? What/which communication-related functions out of social function, knowledge transferring and debate are featured in the posts published on the intranet Klick’s discussion forum? Are deliberative discussions being practiced in the discussion forumthreads on the intranet Klick? The thesis is based on the theory of deliberative democracy. In order to substantiate the theory has theoretical perspectives concerning participation and involvement also been applied. These perspectives are derived from organizational theory and internal communication. Method/Material: This study consists of a quantitative content analysis of the 477 posts and the 129 discussion threads available on the NGO RFSU’s intranet Klick the 29th of november 2012. Main results: The results show that 63, 4 percent of those who were active in the discussionforum represented the category authority, while the category members were formed by 36, 6 percent. The result of the communicational functions of the forum’s posts were 75, 7 percent knowledge transferring, 33, 3 percent debate and 23, 3 percent social function. 86, 6 percent of the discussion threads were considered neutral, 13, 2 percent deliberative and no, 0 percent, were considered non-deliberative. The study has found many examples of the presence of democratic communication within Klick, showing that this is possible through intranet use. However, the low participation in terms of members as a whole and the over-representation of authorities can be argued to not form democratic communication with reference to the chosen definition of democracy, the model of participatory democracy with deliberative qualities. Course: Media and Communication studies C University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science, Uppsala University Period: Fall 2012 Tutor: Josef Pallas Keywords: Employee empowerment, Employee participation, Intranet, NGO, Deliberative democracy / Sammanfattning Ansatsen med denna uppsats var att undersöka huruvida det finns potential för demokratisk kommunikation inom frivilligorganisationer via intranät. Detta undersöktes genom en kvantitativ innehållsanalys av intranätet Klicks diskussionsforum, vilket tillhör frivilligorganisationen RFSU, med frågeställningen: I vilken utsträckning representeras auktoriteter respektive medlemmar på intranätet Klicks diskussionsforum? Vilken/vilka kommunikationsmässiga funktioner av social funktion, kunskapsöverföring och debatt har inläggen publicerade i intranätet Klicks diskussionsforum? Praktiseras deliberativa diskussioner i diskussionsforumets trådar på intranätet Klick? Uppsatsen utgår från teori om deliberativ demokrati. För att underbygga teorin har teoretiska perspektiv som berör medbestämmande och deltagande tillämpats, vilka härstammar från ämnesområdena organisationsteori samt internkommunikation. Resultatet visar att 63,4 procent av de aktiva på diskussionsforumet utgjordes av kategorin auktoriteter medan kategorin medlemmar utgjordes av 36, 6 procent. Resultatet för de kommunikationsmässiga funktionerna var att den kunskapsöverförande funktionen återfanns i 75, 7 procent av inläggen, funktionen debatt i 33, 3 procent och den sociala funktionen i 23, 3 procent av inläggen. För deliberativ diskussion studerades, istället för enskilda inlägg, hela diskussionstrådar. Den största delen av diskussionstrådarna bedömdes vara neutrala vilka utgjorde 86, 6 procent medan deliberativa diskussioner utgjorde 13,2 procent. 0 procent av diskussionstrådarna ansågs vara icke-deliberativa. Undersökningen har funnit många exempel på förekomst av demokratisk kommunikation på Klick vilket visar att denna är möjlig via intranät. Dock kan det låga deltagandet sett till medlemmar som helhet samt överrepresentationen av auktoriteter argumenteras för att inte tolkas som demokratisk kommunikation med hänvisning till den valda definitionen av demokrati, modellen deltagardemokrati med deliberativa kvaliteter. Nyckelord: Employee empowerment, Employee participation, Intranät, Frivilligorganisation, Deliberativ demokrati

M. Tech. Business Administration / Within the procurement department in Standard Bank a low level of employee engagement is experienced. The aim of this research study is to better understand where to enhance engagement through the application of the social exchange theory model from Saks (2006)