Thesis (Ph.D.)--Virginia Commonwealth University, 2010. / Prepared for: Dept. of Educational Studies. Title from title-page of electronic thesis. Bibliography: leaves 100-111.

Thesis, PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S. in Management)--Naval Postgraduate School, March 2006. / Thesis Advisor(s): Stephen L. Mehay, William Bowman. "March 2006." Includes bibliographical references (p. 101-102). Also available online.

Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

M.Ing. / The loss of skills and knowledge of technical professionals experienced by many organizations in South Africa has serious implications on the competitiveness of these organizations in the local and international markets. Organizations should come to realize that they should find creative ways to retain critical skills and knowledge and ensure continuity in terms of succession management. Technical professionals play a crucial role in society. They are responsible for maintaining the technologies that they developed — technologies that are used extensively everyday. The extent of society's reliance on technical professionals is staggering. They ensure that people have clean water, transportation, communication, and countless other necessities. Organizations cannot afford to lose their technical professionals and must find ways to retain them. Research was done on the retention of technical professionals and the research indicated that there are fundamental differences between technical professionals and the other staff in organizations. The characteristics of technical professionals require that they be treated differently from other employees. Separate reward systems should be designed for technical professionals because they have different motives for joining and staying with organizations than other employees. Rewarding and compensating technical professionals, with retention as the objective, require that more attention be given to non-financial rewards. Technical professionals require opportunities to develop themselves and to keep abreast of the latest developments in their fields. Very importantly, they have to be assured proper career development. Performance management of technical professionals is a contentious issue because many of the outputs of technical professionals are intangible and difficult to measure. Performance appraisal systems have to be very well designed and alternatives to conventional performance appraisals should be considered. Some alternatives are peer control, selfevaluation, and evaluation by subordinates. Structural accommodations should be made to accommodate technical professionals because of the cultural differences between professionals and non-professionals. Various accommodations could be effective depending on the nature of the business and the level of dependence the organization has on technical professionals. Some options are dual ladders, triple hierarchies, and broadbanding amongst others. These structural accommodations can ensure that technical professionals do not have to make the transition to management in order to obtain more responsibility, recognition and status in an organization. The transition to management, of a technical professional, might in some cases have detrimental effects on the organization and the individual. For example, the best engineer in a project team is promoted to manage the team. The consequence may be that the team loses their best engineer and the organization gains a manager with little or no management skills. The success of retention strategies are organization-dependant, however, the strategies discussed in this dissertation can help ensure that organizations retain their competitive advantage by effectively managing and retaining their technical professionals.

Literature has also shown that how long an employee stays in an organisation is determined by their relationship with their manager. By identifying the key managerial behaviours that are considered by knowledge workers to be important for retention, organisations will stand a greater chance of retaining these individuals. This research investigated what impact the knowledge worker’s perception of his manager’s behaviour has on his intention to stay with the organisation. The research also aimed to establish whether perceived managerial behaviour affected retention differently for the different race groups. A quantitative study was done which was based on a previous study by Rhule (2004). The current study focuses on knowledge workers in a leading Pulp and Paper company in South Africa. The study found that there is a strong relationship between the knowledge workers perception of the manager’s behaviour and intention to stay. Another key finding is that there is no significant difference between black and white respondents in how competent they perceive their managers to be on managerial behaviours they consider important for retention. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Gold-collar employees are defined as key employees who have a discernible influence on the realisation of an organisation’s strategic goals and vision. These employees’ competitive advantage lies in their conceptual skills and specifically in their knowledge and creativity. However, because of their unique competencies, they are high in demand and it is more difficult for organisations to attract and retain them. The main research problem in this study was to investigate the concept of a gold-collar employee, the needs and expectations of these employees, as well as retention strategies that can be used to retain them, with specific focus on academics in an institution of higher education. To address the main and identified sub-problems, a literature study was conducted on gold-collar employees, the dilemma of retaining these employees, their needs and expectations and retention strategies. Interviews were conducted with selected senior level employees from various disciplines that had extensive experience in research, teaching and academic management, to establish how they perceived a gold-collar employee in the context of the university and what in their experience they considered as factors that enhanced the retention of these employees. An HTML survey questionnaire was administered to a target group of academics ranging from associate lecturer, lecturer, senior lecturer and associate professor to professor, including academic managers. The survey focused on their level of teaching and research experience, needs and expectations and their perceptions of the retention strategies used at the university. The results from the empirical study revealed that respondents were experienced in teaching development and practices, but not recognised on an internal, national and international level. Flexible working conditions were regarded as most important along with opportunities for self-fulfilment. Employees with more experience in teaching had a greater need and expectation for empowerment while those with more research experience needed and expected more remuneration, rewards and recognition. The respondents also deemed being located in a city or town that allowed for a high quality of living as important. Retention of highly skilled employees is important especially in a knowledge environment as they contribute strategically to the vision and competitive advantage of the organisation. Their skills and knowledge are costly and not easy to replace. Therefore it is important to put strategies in place to retain these gold-collar employees.

Thirty-four percent of people in the United States of America work for businesses that employ fewer than 100 people. However, many small business owners lack the strategies necessary to retain their valuable employees. Businesses that fail to retain valuable employees are as much as 28% less efficient. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies small construction business owners use to retain their valuable employees. Contingency theory provided the conceptual framework. The participants were three owners of three small businesses in the construction industry located in Mississippi which implemented successful policies and procedures to retain their employees. The data sources for this study were semistructured interviews, financial statements, newspaper articles, websites, and social media. A thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. Three themes morphed to include challenging employees and reward them accordingly, mitigating unplanned turnover, and treating employees and others fairly. Potential implications for positive social change are that increased profits among small business owners may enable them to provide better benefits and pay and incentive increases to their employees. Small business owners with increased profits may also be better equipped to participate in community-based charitable organizations.

Most research in terms of reward focuses on the financial aspects. Little has been done to understand the value of non-financial rewards. The objective of this study is to determine if South African organisations are utilising nonfinancial rewards as a competitive advantage in attracting and retaining employees. A survey was developed and distributed to gather data regarding the preferences of organisations and individuals for financial versus non-financial rewards. The data was statistically analysed to determine the organisational value of both – with special attention on how organisations use non-financial rewards. As expected, organisations indicated a preference for financial rewards, but this preference was also strongly indicated by individuals. Given the cost effectiveness of non-financial rewards, and its long-term value, the study determines that there is still a place for such rewards within the broader context of the total reward approach. The cost and legislative implications associated with financial rewards makes non-financial rewards, if well positioned, an attractive option as a distinctive competitive advantage in attracting and retaining employees. In addition, it presents organisations with a certain level of fluidity in offering alternatives to employees and in dealing with profitability challenges. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted