Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on October 16, 2007) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

The important role played by tertiary institutions in South Africa with regard to the general development of the country, cannot be disputed. To ensure that tertiary institutions provide education of high quality, competent employees are needed. These employees however have to be paid competitive salary packages. Employee benefits, which form 40 percent of an employer's payroll costs, constitute an important cost component and need to be scrutinised more closely with the aim of managing it as efficiently and effectively as possible. To achieve this goal the primary purpose of this research is thus to determine to what extent the present employee benefits provided by tertiary institutions in South Africa, address the diverse needs of employees. From the empirical study it is clear that employees' awareness of benefits offered and their divergent preferences, necessitates a more flexible approach to the management of benefits. A flexible benefit system would thus be an option. / Human Resource Management / M. Comm. (Business Management)

Ph.D. (Finance) / The majority of private pension plans offered by employers are defined contribution plans where the risk is borne by the member. In a member-directed pension plan, the individual members need to make decisions regarding the investment of their contributions. The board of trustees usually provide them with a number of options to choose from. This research answers the question: which factors influence the investment decisions of members of member-directed defined contribution pension plans? The study makes a unique contribution to the field of retirement finance by determining the impact of financial risk tolerance, demographics, behavioural factors, and pension plan design and presentation factors on the investment decisions of members of a member-directed defined contribution pension plan. The results of the study inform a number of role players in the pension value chain to ultimately aid the pension plan member to effect a more optimal investment choice. A survey approach was followed to collect primary data to analyse together with secondary data within a quantitative research paradigm. A census was conducted on individuals who were members of the member-directed defined contribution pension plan of a South African higher education institution on 31 March 2008. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data on members’ demographics, financial risk tolerance, behavioural factors, and pension plan design and presentation factors. Secondary data consisted of additional demographic factors, which were available on the employers’ information system and data on member investment decisions obtained from the administrators of the pension plan. Of the 879 survey instruments distributed, 620 were returned at least partially completed and could be used in the study.

The meaning of the term “benefits” in the context of unfair labour practice jurisprudence, having previously been unsettled for more than a decade, has now been settled by the Labour Appeal Court in the Apollo.1 Prior to Apollo,2 our courts have struggled to adopt a stance to maintain the distinction between disputes of rights and disputes of interest as separate compartments. The prevalent view at that stage was that, in order for an employee to lodge a dispute at the CCMA or Bargaining Council the employee would have to show that he or she had a right to the benefit that arises by virtue of contract, statute or collective agreement, failing which the CCMA or a Bargaining Council would not have the jurisdiction to determine the dispute, in which case it may constitute a dispute of interest and the employee will have to embark on an industrial action to secure a benefit. Apollo3 endorsed a previous decision of the Labour Court,4 i.e. by placing “benefits” into the following two categories: (1) Where the dispute is about a demand by employees concerning their benefits, it can be settled by way of industrial action. (2) Where the dispute concerns the fairness of the employer's conduct, it must be settled by way of adjudication or arbitration. As a result of the above categorisation, the CCMA or Bargaining Council may adjudicate a dispute relating to benefits where there is a pre-existing benefit and the employer refuses to comply with its obligation towards the employer in that regard. It may also adjudicate disputes relating to the provision of a car allowance (i.e. where the employer retains the discretion to grant or withhold the allowance) and disputes relating to the provision of bonuses (i.e. where the employer retains the discretion to grant or withhold the bonus). In this treatise, I set out the history and development of the legislation in relation to the concept of “benefits” (in the context of unfair labour practice) so as to understand how our Labour Appeal Court has now come to settle the issues above.

At the outset of this treatise the development of the unfair labour practice is traced. The point is made that common law knows nothing about fairness and it is pointed out that the concept was introduced as a statutory concept in 1979. In 1995 the development of unfair labour practices since 1979 was relied upon to provide a list of unfair labour practices. The main thrust of the treatise concerns an evaluation of an unfair labour practice relating to benefits – listed presently in section 186(2) of the Labour Relations Act. Reference is made to Industrial Court cases and case law since 1996 is considered and commented upon. In particular, the issue of remuneration not being a benefit, and the fact that interest disputes are not justiciable as unfair labour practices for instance are canvassed.

In the last decade South Africa saw the introduction of s 8C into the Income Tax Act, no.58 of 1962, the introduction of IFRS 2 into the International Financial Reporting Standards and the promulgation of the 2008 Companies Act. Each of these changes is relevant to and impact on the consequences flowing from executive share incentive schemes, from the perspective of both the employer company offering the scheme and the employee participating in the scheme. The aim of this study was to analyse, from the employer company’s perspective, the implications of each discipline in isolation, as well as the interrelationship of the three disciplines. The further aims of this study were to utilise the findings from the analyses to identify where legislative amendment is required to close loopholes or ensure equitable results, to identify where the interrelationship of the three disciplines result in unintended consequences, and to provide recommendations on how to avoid these adverse consequences. The most significant findings of this study are summarised below. Due to the legal precedent created by the Supreme Court of Appeal in the Labat case, the mode of settlement – cash or equity – will be the determining factor as regards the availability of an income tax deduction in the hands of the employer company. It is submitted that legislative amendment is required to rectify this inequitable result. Where payment by the employer pursuant to a share appreciation rights scheme occurs in a year of assessment subsequent to the year of assessment in which vesting occurred, changes in the value of the underlying equity instrument from the vesting date to the payment date could result in adverse income tax consequences to the employer and/or the fiscus. To address this, it is recommended that the Income Tax Act should be amended to expressly bring cash-settled executive share incentive schemes within the scope of s 7B and to align the provisions of s 7B and 8C in order to avoid anomalies existing between these two sections in so far as the income tax consequences in the hands of the participating employees are concerned.

Occupational fitness programs have enjoyed enormous popularity over the course of the past decade. Their continuing penetration into all sectors of the business community coupled with the rapid growth of organizations serving professional fitness personnel, suggests that their presence may be permanent. A major reason for the popularity of occupational fitness programs, is the claim that fitness programs can reduce employee absenteeism. Two important issues at this time are: (1) the role of physical fitness in mediating sickness absence behavior, and, (2) the role of participation in occupational fitness programs as a way of enhancing worker attendance motivation. These issues fit in well with the Steers & Rhodes (1978) Process Model, a conceptual framework which deals with employee absenteeism from the standpoints of ability to attend (ie. high fitness) and motivation to attend (ie. high morale). The Steers & Rhodes theoretical model was chosen as an appropriate vehicle to guide this study. Part I reviewed the claim that physical fitness as a physiological state, is inversely related to sickness absence among employees. The literature review suggested that fit employees would miss fewer days from work than unfit employees. The prediction that physical fitness and sickness absence will be inversely related, formed the core of the hypotheses generated in Part I. In addition, hypotheses were also developed concerning the possible effects of gender, age, length of service and company affiliation. Correlational analyses were performed on several physiological and absence variables obtained from a sample of employees from the years 1979 through 1984. Modest but significant inverse correlations were found to exist between MVO₂ and a number of different absence measures. The magnitude of these correlations disappeared in some cases when the groups were controlled for gender. Significant correlations were also found between variables such as length of service and absence or age and absence. Absence patterns for males and females and management and classified employees also showed significant group differences. These results point to the need to consider these personal and socio cultural variables when attempting to describe any relationships between occupational fitness and absenteeism. Part II chose the Steers & Rhodes concept of motivation to attend. Based on the review of literature, it was expected that participants in the company fitness program would report positive changes in a number of attitudinal and personal variables. A simple questionnaire was developed to assess this change, and the entire population of a very large (n=1076) corporate fitness program was polled. Respondents in the main, indicated a significant improvement in their personal perception of a number of different attitudinal variables. The magnitude of this improvement was significantly related to the length of time they have been members of the program and their degree of participation in the program / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

The purpose of this thesis was to test the theory of wage incentives, as presented in the literature, to determine if the theory is sound when applied to work situations. Data were collected by means of a survey of manufacturing plants within the state of Virginia. Questionnaires were sent to a randomly selected sample of 294 plants from among the 20 manufacturing industry classifications. It was determined that in those manufacturing plants in which wage incentive plans are applicable, they result in increased earnings for hourly workers, increased productivity of these workers, and decreased unit labor costs. It was further determined that unionism has no apparent effect on the use of these plans. / M.S.

Accountants agree that nonqualified stock options are compensatory. However, only a limited amount of remuneration cost is recognized on the date that such options are granted; frequently, there is no recognition. Hence, the income numbers reported by grantor firms may be over-stated owing to such lack of recognition. In this regard, the objective of this study is to estimate the value of compensation implied in grants of stock options, and to present evidence pertaining to the materiality of the impact these estimates have on income from continuing operations of selected firms. The Black and Scholes option pricing model was selected to estimate the value of a stock option. This formula provides a probabilistic point estimate of the market value of a call option. A restrictive set of assumptions underlie the derivation of this formula, but empirical studies indicate that alterations of the model to accommodate violations of these assumptions fail to impart greater predictive ability. The standard Black and Scholes formula was used to estimate the compensation implied in grants of stock options during 1978 for a non-random sample of 171 firms. These estimates were adjusted for amounts related to such grants that had already been recorded. Since most firms granted options having exercise prices equal to the market prices of the optioned shares, such adjustments were infrequent. The resulting incremental compensation estimate was divided by income from continuing operations, giving an option compensation index for each enterprise in the sample. Assuming 10 percent, 5 percent, and 3 percent materiality thresholds, income from continuing operations is materially reduced for 16 percent, 31 percent, and 47 percent of the sampled firms, respectively. A statistical analysis suggests systematic association between the magnitude of the compensation index and the classification of the industry in which the enterprise operates. Other statistical tests indicate that estimates of compensation implied in grants of stock options are material for large firms in the manufacturing and retail sectors, and for small firms in the manufacturing, retail, and banking-finance sectors. These statistical results must be interpreted circumspectly owing to the non-random sample. Nevertheless, this evidence supports a re-examination of the accounting methods for stock options.

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration