The South African government is currently targeting 6 per cent economic growth for the country (Mail & Guardian, 2006). The construction industry is one of the growing forces contributing to the current economic growth of South Africa. However, in the speech made by the president Thabo Mbeki, he highlighted the labour market as one of the key constraints to achieving higher and sustainable growth. It is believed that there is a skills shortage or a mismatch in the labour market (Mail & Guardian, 2006). The construction industry has seen a steady growth over the past number of years. When South Africa won the bid to host the 2010 world cup, this required more building work to be done, such as construction of stadia, hotels, etc. This has put further strain in the construction industry. As the work load increases, the companies in the industry require more resources, with the human resources being the most affected. This has seen a high rate of talented staff turnover in the industry as companies seek to increase their capacity to allow them cope with the current work load. The consulting engineering industry plays a critical role of the construction industry. The selected company is part of the electrical and mechanical consulting engineering industry which has also been affected by the high talented staff turnover. The main purpose for this research was to identify retention strategies that can be used by the selected company to reduce the turnover of their talented staff. The research also investigated methods to retain the knowledge within the company that was possibly lost due to a high talented staff turnover rate. The first step used to resolve the issues discussed above was to complete a full literature study. The literature study sought to reveal what characteristics were required in the company that ensured staff would be happy in that company and remain there for a long time. The literature study also covered what knowledge iv management methods can be used by the company to retain its valuable knowledge. Secondly, the views of current staff, ex-staff and management of the selected company on staff and knowledge management strategies were asked in an empirical study, which involved completing questionnaires and conducting structured interviews. Based on the findings of the literature study and the empirical study, the last step was to make recommendations on what strategies should be implemented to retain staff and knowledge for the selected company.

Collective bargaining was impacted by the confrontation at Marakina and the role players, employers and unions were left looking for new creative alternatives to reward operational employees (blue collar workers).Then, finding a well-designed pay system is crucial for the success of the organisation, since collective bargaining is under pressure. The following determinants, job based pay, performance based pay, skills based pay, education and training, and tenure based pay were constructed from literature to formulate the conceptual model for the pay of operators in the manufacturing sector of Port Elizabeth. There are a number of factors that are at play in the determination and design of pay systems, which need to be considered. Two major pay systems are at the centre of this study and they are those based on the worth of the job and those that are based on employees’ skills, productivity, education and training, and tenure. Pay equity is at the heart of employment relationship and is the reference point with regard to the distribution of resources when economic productivity and profitability are achieved. The findings presented indicated that all the determinants, job based pay, performance based pay, skills based pay and education and training, with the exception of tenure based pay, were significant to the pay of operational employees. However, the multivariable regression model found that job based pay is more significant and should be modelled as the foundation of the pay system for operational employees. Other pay determinants, such as performance and skills based pay are best modelled as additional increments that accelerate employees’ pay.

The aim of this study was to explore the role of job satisfaction and organizational justice in determining employee motivation among nurses at Frontier Hospital, Queenstown. For this purpose data was collected from the nurses at Frontier Hospital in Queenstown, in the Eastern Cape. A sample of 75 nurses was drawn from the population. Results of the study indicated that the study variables are significantly and positively correlated with one another. Job satisfaction was found to be significantly and positively correlated with employee motivation. Organizational justice was also found to be significantly positively correlated with employee motivation. Moreover, a positive and significant relationship between job satisfaction and organizational justice was found. The findings of this study are helpful in the health industry in order to design human resources policies, which will reduce the turnover of nurses by increasing their motivation through increasing job satisfaction and organizational justice.

M.Phil. / In an interview with Harvard Business review Gary Hamel (Allio, 2009) noted: “Management is the single largest constraint on business performance.” Current management models and practices need to be reviewed because managers do not seem to be able to add significant value to their organisations anymore. In 2007 the Hay group conducted a study and showed that middle managers in the United Kingdom cost the economy approximately £220 billion per annum (Paton, 2007). According to a Towers Perrin Global Workforce study (2007) it showed overall employee engagement in organisations across the world was 21% whilst disengaged employees was 38%. The Towers study further showed that managers are playing an enormous role in the statistics above. The present study focuses on the concept of creating a management value chain for management, to ensure consistent application of enabling management practices in order to contribute to the improvement of employee engagement and ultimately organisational performance.

M.Inf.

The globalisation of businesses and the advancement of information technologies have brought changes that are reshaping the world of work. They alter the way business is done, the way employees behave and the way managers manage their employees. Motivating and to retaining employees have become an important and complex task for the managers. The key to performing this task well is to find out more about the factors that motivate employees. The study aims to establish the correlation between management and motivation of employees. To have a sound human resource management strategy that attracts, retains and motivates the valuable employees, it is important that the managers find out what the employees are looking for from their jobs. The company should constantly assess the employees’ motivation levels and also what they need, want or expect from their work. This study used a questionnaire comprising motivation questions based on Lindner's ten motivational factors and Nelson's ten things to do to motivate today's employees, in order to test the motivational level of the employees at Sasol's Poplypropolene Business. After being validated by appropriate statistical methods, the results show that there is a correlation between management and employee motivation. The results are critically discussed in terms of each motivational factors. Every manager differs in the way he or she manages. The key to motivating employees and manage them in ways that lead to profits, productivity, innovation, and organisational effectiveness is to understand how to motivate them. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Business Management / unrestricted

Employee engagement is trending as major concern among business globally as business look for innovative ways to be sustainable and remain competitive. Identifying and investigating the various work contexts that influence employee commitment and retention is a priority that directly impacts business bottom line. In the context of employee engagement, the exploratory research study investigates the barriers to employee engagement and in what way performance management systems can be leveraged to motivate enhance employee engagement. The study was conducted in Gauteng with senior management and Human Resource experts from the largest four banks in South Africa. Data for the study was gathered through eighteen semi-structured interviews conducted by the researcher and all interviews were recorded on audio disc. The subjects of the study were selected using a non-probability purposive sampling technique. The results suggest that business acknowledge employee engagement as a key component of business strategy and performance management systems is a critical organisational process, which may be used tap into the discretionary efforts of employees. The results reveal that the barriers to performance management are shared with employee engagement, and when these are conquered, employee engagement improves. The results recommend that to improve employee engagement the right leaders must be selected and trained and the environment must be one of trust, accountability and transparency. The results reveal that leaders must set out clear expectations to drive performance management and employee engagement to actively influence employees to participate and engage. / Dissertation(MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / zkgibs2015 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

Employee engagement and training & development, as a human resources management practice, has been extensively studied across the world. These studies tested employee engagement and training & developments’ effect on various measures of performance. The bulk of these studies were conducted in North America over the past three decades with more studies emanating from other parts of the world for the better part of the past decade. Studies largely found a positive correlation between these two variables and the specific measure of performance being tracked. This research seeks to determine whether the effect on perceived performance would be similar when testing employee engagement and training & development within the South African context. A quantitative approach was adopted and proved that both training & development and employee engagement has a positive result on perceived performance. The relationship between training & development and employee engagement was ambivalent. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / zkgibs2015 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / Unrestricted

Orientation: The ubiquitous challenging economic climate in South Africa and globally makes it incumbent on South African companies to reconsider their current reward policy and practices if they are to maintain and foster global economic competitiveness. This coupled with the fact that motivation in the workplace has always been a conundrum for managers and human resource practitioners alike. This dilemma becomes an obstacle to organisational effectiveness and hinders competitive advantage when employee morale is low and performance levels decrease. Research purpose: The primary aim of this study was to investigate the influencing factors of employee demographics and motivation type on rewards mix preferences. Motivation for the study: The war for talent is accelerating and the globalization of economies and world markets places pressure on companies to perform well and to maintain optimal performance levels. The workplace in South Africa is not exempt from these pressures and the nature of the workplace is changing every day. Employee engagement dynamics are changing and require deeper insight into what appeals to employees, what motivates them to perform and what will retain good resources. This knowledge would further assist organisations to create reward mix programs that appeal to both extrinsic and intrinsically motivated persons as different motivation types are triggered and stimulated by different types of rewards and adds value by examining the effects of demographical factors (such as age, race/ethnicity and gender) on employees’ perspective of reward mix giving depth to existing insights into what drives whom and at what price. Research design, approach and method: This research followed a quantitative, empirical and descriptive study of reward preferences through the administration of an online questionnaire survey via email. The data was analysed using non-parametric test for variance between dependent and independent variables, factor analysis, ANOVA and MANOVA testing. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / pagibs2015 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / Unrestricted

Succession planning is the creation of a pool of high potential employees that receive specific training and developmental opportunities with the intention of promotion. There is a definite need to deepen our understanding of what implications there are from a psychological point of view for employees when a major process like succession planning is implemented. Employee engagement is the experienced commitment, which leads to discretionary effort. The purpose of this research is to explore an underlying factor structure for engagement drivers and understand how a major organizational initiative, succession planning, impacts employee engagement. This research was conducted at a petroleum organization in the Southwest United States (N = 2023) and compares engagement based on group membership in a succession planning process (Informed-High Status, Uninformed-High Status, and Uninformed-Low Status). The underlying factor structure of drivers was found to have one factor of engagement. There was a significant difference in the engagement levels based on membership within the succession plan (high status versus low status). However, communicating to an employee their involvement in the succession plan did not differentiate between engagement levels.