M.Com. (Business Management) / Talent commitment, efficiency and retention issues are emerging as the most important corporate challenges of the present and immediate future, driven by talent loyalty concerns, corporate reorganization efforts and stiff competition for key talent. For most organizations, “surprise” talent departures can be devastating on the execution of business strategy and the achievement of business goals and objectives. This phenomenon is most prevalent now in light of current economic uncertainty and following corporate downsizings when the risk of losing critical talent increases exponentially. Talent retention is one of the greatest challenges confronting many business organizations today. For most organizations talent recruitment and retention is a major concern as the ability to keep talent is crucial for the organization’s performance and future survival. It is recognized that talent turnover, is a critical challenge to most organizations that cost money, effort and energy. This challenge poses major problems to HR professionals in their efforts to formulate talent retention policies. South Africa has for the past few decades seen an influx of foreign investment, ideas and practices, facilitated by the development of the Internet and associated technologies. As with many organizations worldwide including organizations in South Africa, staff retention problems affect organizational productivity and performance. The global war for talent has increased the challenge to most organizations in attempting to address the issue of talent retention in the context of increasing competition in the global marketplace. It is against this background that this research will look into talent retention problems within the socio‐economic context of South Africa and in particular factors impacting on talent retention at Alexander Forbes as an organization. This study brings into focus the extent to which factors impacting on talent retention such as pay and compensation, career development, leadership, working environment and organizational commitment as discussed in the literature review impacts talent retention within Alexander Forbes.

M. Tech. Business Administration / The focus of this study is to understand and examine the challenges of knowledge retention as it relates to knowledge management, types of knowledge, present labour market, workforce crisis, behavioural factors, personality traits and culture. The purpose of this dissertation is to understand the challenges of knowledge retention in start-up, small or medium enterprises, using Machite Engineering Pty Ltd as a case study. The difficulties of retaining knowledge are faced by organizations of all sizes. Hence, this dissertation examines the knowledge retention factors in relation to employees' decisions to stay in an organization; the types of knowledge; the meaning of knowledge worker; the labour market most organizations operate in; work force crises; behavioural factors that influence knowledge retention; organizational structure; personality traits and lifestyle; culture; career development; labour turnover; and other variables that impact knowledge retention as identified in the literature review.

Rapid changes in the business environment as a result of globalisation, mergers and acquisitions, skills shortages and demographic changes in the workplace have led to a greater realisation of the importance of talent management and its role in ensuring a sustainable and successful organisation. Attracting and retaining talent has become one of the most important activities for organisations in order to ensure their competitive advantage. Companies must now differentiate themselves from competitors by offering current and potential employees an employment offering that they value. The employee value proposition (EVP) communicates to the internal and external workforce why they should work for and remain with a particular organisation. Identifying the attributes that employees' value is important in attracting and retaining the best talent. The aim of the study was therefore to identify the EVP drivers that a) attract and b) retain employees as well as those attributes that drive both attraction and retention. The influence of demographic variables, such as age and gender, on attracting and retaining employees was also explored. A structured questionnaire, based on the Corporate Leadership Council‟s EVP model, was developed and respondents were asked to indicate the importance they attach to each EVP attribute. A total of 204 respondents from 13 medium-sized to large-sized organisations in South Africa, participated in the study. The results showed that the quality of senior leadership, quality of managers and the organisation's reputation for managing people were the most important EVP drivers of both attraction and retention. The size of the organisation's workforce was the least important attribute for both attraction and retention. In addition, the results revealed there were no significant differences between EVP attributes that attract and retain males and those that attract and retain females. Furthermore, age plays a significant role in attracting and retaining talent. These results have significant implications for companies as they should design their EVP‟s based on what employees' value and deem to be the most important to them. Organisations need to start focusing on the generational differences that are present in today's business and adapt their EVP‟s accordingly.

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.

In the competitive knowledge economy of today it is talented employees who ensure a competitive advantage for their company above their competitors. Voluntary employee turnover is said to have a number of negative consequences for employers, such as recruitment, selection and training costs, as well as lowered morale in the case of employees who stay behind. Companies and countries such as South Africa have to become globally competitive through talented and dedicated employees. Companies should therefore place more focus on the retention and grooming of their internal talent since a “war on talent” is being waged between companies for the best talent. With the looming shortage of talent globally it becomes more important for organisations in general and the petrochemical sector in particular to understand why talented and dedicated employees voluntarily leave their organisations. With such insight at their disposal, people managers are able to devise appropriate strategies to retain talent for the competitive benefit of their own organisations. The principal objective of this research study was to improve employee retention by investigating the influence of career-pathing (career development practices) and other selected critical success factors on employee retention. The study considered how employee retention (the dependent variable) is influenced by affective organisational commitment, career-pathing, growth need satisfaction, job commitment, affective professional commitment, continuance professional commitment and normative professional commitment (the independent variables). The sample who participated in this study consisted of one hundred and one (101) out of a possible total of two hundred and eleven (211) respondents from the selected South African petrochemical organisation. The empirical results reveal that affective organisational commitment and career-pathing are significantly related to employee retention, while all the other variables tested are not significantly related to employee retention.

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the Degree of Doctor of Technology: Business Administration, Durban University of Technology, 2011. / The purpose of the research is to identify key factors influencing employee retention in the South African national government departments as a guide towards developing effective employee retention strategies. The research was conducted in three phases. For the determination of employee turnover rates and benchmarks, 33 national departments were classified into three homogenous subgroups with respect to their number of employees (Phase one). Thereafter the employee turnover rates for each department and benchmarks for each subgroup were determined (Phase two). These employee turnover statistics were analysed for all 33 national departments in the three subgroups and used as guidelines for the selection of cases for the multiple case (Phase three). Four departments were selected from each subgroup for the case study where selection was based on a department‟s turnover rate relative to the benchmark rate. These departments participated in a cross sectional survey. The data from the survey was analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The analysis confirmed a significant relationship between employee turnover rates and responses for the combined subgroups of selected small, medium and large departments. Significant relationships were also observed for the subgroups of small and large departments. Employee turnover has a significant impact on business performance primarily due to the fact that it takes too long to fill vacant posts together with uncompetitive salary scales and the lack of skilled candidates. Further, the lack of human resourcing strategies, recruitment difficulties, problems related to monitoring and measuring of employee turnover and employee retention difficulties were important issues that influence employee retention. Future research on knowledge and systems for managing employee turnover is recommended.

M. Tech. Business Administration / The aim of this research is to explore ways of retaining academic staff at a distance learning university in South Africa. It also looks at how the Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998 can be used to retain talent in our distance learning universities.

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Health Sciences in Radiography, Department of Radiography, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa. 2016. / Introduction The staffing crisis in the healthcare profession is an issue of global concern and South Africa is amongst the countries affected. Radiography is one of the professions in allied healthcare, that is affected. The statistics from the Department of Health (DoH) in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), as at August 2013, indicate a marked decrease in the number of radiographers between 2008 and 2012. Private practice statistics were unavailable as these are confidential. Purpose of the study This study aimed to investigate the factors impacting on the retention of radiographers in KZN, in order to obtain information that may assist the DoH to improve their retention policies. The objectives of the study were to investigate: the reasons why KZN radiographers resign from their places of employment; the reasons why KZN radiographers choose to remain in their place of employment; and the factors that impact on job satisfaction. It was also the intention of this study to identify possible input that may contribute to the retention of KZN radiographers. Methodology This research was conducted in 11 districts of KZN, South Africa. Radiographers in all categories of radiography who had worked in KZN and then left the profession, those who had emigrated, as well as those who were working in KZN were targeted in an attempt to obtain a wide range of data related to the objectives. A quantitative, descriptive survey, using a cross-sectional design, was used. A stratified non-random sampling method was used to select the public and private hospitals from which data was collected. The target sample size was estimated at 300 radiographers from all four categories in both public and private hospitals, however the researcher obtained only 191 participants. The population size of KZN radiographers was 859; a sample size of 266 was required at the 95% confidence level. However, with the high attrition rate, the sample of 191 was more than adequate for the available number of respondents and was considered to be statistically acceptable by the statistician. The response rate was 191, of which 20 responses were received from the 29 emigrants contacted, and 16 responses from the 19 participants who had left the profession. Three questionnaires were used to target the three categories of the respondents. Results of the study The results of this research indicate that radiographers emigrated within ten years of graduating, which is a highly productive age. The workload was the main cause of resignation for four (66,7 percent) emigrants as well as five (31,3 percent) radiographers who had left the profession. Private hospitals were reported as having lower workloads, better facilities and greater financial rewards than public hospitals. Increased remuneration influenced the migration of radiographers from public to private practices. It was also noted that six (37,5 percent) participants reported the crime rate as being one of the three main factors contributing to emigration, while two (12,5 percent) highlighted poor financial reward in KZN. The third main factor was stated to be better prospects for professional advancement abroad. A lack of professional recognition and progression in radiography in KZN was identified by two (12,5 percent) participants as factors that impacted on job satisfaction. Conclusion and Recommendation This research study is of significance to the DoH and Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) as the results may be used to assist them in improving the level of retention of radiographers in KZN. The creation of opportunities for professional development, advancement and diversification of the scope of practice for radiographers, as well as role extension and expansion, were factors identified as being important in the retention of radiographers. The working conditions were found to be generally unsatisfactory and needing improvement. It is suggested that retention could be improved through the development of strategies such as introduction of flexible schedules, creation of opportunities for further training and education. It is further suggested that a similar type of study be conducted in other provinces so as to compare the retention challenges facing other provinces in South Africa and thereby gain a national overview. / M

M.Ing. / The purpose of the research was to determine the relationship, between the innovative culture and employee retention within the organisation. High labour turnover impacts on organisational performance and survival. Despite an organisation’s level of development, many organisations face employee retention challenges. Therefore devising strategies to improve employee retention has become a priority for most organisations. The problem of high labour turnover was also observed during a pilot study conducted at the initial stage of this research study. From the pilot study it appeared as though a relationship existed between an organisation’s innovative culture and employee job satisfaction. A review of literature revealed that there were no extensive studies which had been conducted to establish the relationship between innovative culture an employee retention especially in South Africa. The need to develop strategies to improve employee retention and the lack of extensive studies in South Africa about whether innovative culture could influence employee retention motivated the current research study. High labour turnover has the potential to affect an organisation negatively with regards to employee morale, productivity, etc. Therefore, there was a need for a study to be carried out to determine the relationship between an organisation’s culture on innovation and labour turnover within the organisation. The research involved conducting a desk and pilot study to establish the problem of labour turnover; an extensive literature review to inform the researcher about labour turnover, employee retention, organisational culture, innovation and employee conditions of service. Finally a questionnaire survey and interview was used to establish the existing conditions among the selected sample. A relationship between innovative culture, employee satisfaction and employee retention was inferred from the data obtained from the questionnaire and interview survey. The empirical data obtained from the questionnaire survey and interviews was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences software (SPSS) providing descriptive and inferential statistics. Recommendations on employee retention were informed by the findings from the survey. The respondents to the questionnaire survey and interviews were professionals and employees in the selected organisations from all departments (Marketing, Finance, Human Resources and Trade Marketing). The participants to the study were drawn from the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sector, Manufacturing and Construction Industry Sector and from the Services (Banking and Utilities) sector.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Commerce. Johannesburg, South Africa, May 2016 / Since McKinsey and Company (1998) coined the term “the war for talent” (Axelrod, Handfield-Jones, & Welsh, 2001; Michaels, Handfield-Jones & Axelrod, 2001) in response to a lack of highly skilled and talented employees in the labour market and the need for organisations to compete for this limited talent pool, the topic of talent management has received a remarkable degree of practitioner and academic interest (Bhatnagar, 2007; Collings & Mellahi, 2009; Vaiman, Scullion & Collings, 2012). The scarcity of highly skilled and talented employees has resulted in a paradigm shift, with the “old reality” (people need companies) replaced by new business realities (companies need talented and highly skilled people). This has forced organisations to institute aggressive talent management policies, practices and strategies to attract, develop, and optimise the available talent in both the broader market place and specific industries. The effective management of highly skilled and talented employees has also emerged as a major source of competitive advantage for organisations, resulting in desirable consequences such as organisational commitment, employee engagement, job satisfaction, and lower turnover intentions. Based on this premise, this study sought to investigate the direct and indirect (mediated) relationship between employees’ perception of the organisation’s current talent management practices, organisational commitment, employee engagement, job satisfaction and their intention to quit the organisation. The mediating characteristics of organisational commitment, employee engagement, and job satisfaction on the relationship between the perceived talent management practices and employees’ intention to quit are also investigated. A cross-sectional, survey-based descriptive research design utilising quantitative research methods was adopted to acquire information and primary data needed for analysis. The study was carried out on highly skilled and talented employees (supervisors, line managers, senior managers and directors) of a multinational fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) food manufacturing company in South Africa. The target population of the research comprised of (N = 267) 267 employees of the surveyed organisation with a sample size of (N = 151) 151 respondents. A standardised questionnaire adapted from five instruments ̶ talent management practices (Human Capital Institute, 2008), organisational commitment (Allen & Meyer, 1990), employee engagement (Schaufeli & Bakker, 2003), job satisfaction (Weiss, Dawis, England, & Lofquist, 1967), and intention to quit (Arnold & Feldman, 1982) measured on a Likert type of scale was utilised to collect primary data. A non-probability sampling technique (convenience sampling) was used to collect primary data. The scales used in the study reported Cronbach Coefficient Alphas above the minimum recommended 0.70 margin (Field, 2009) suggesting that the measuring instrument is reliable. The study utilised multiple linear regression analysis to test the proposed hypotheses. The results showed direct significant relationships between the variables under study, suggesting that investing in effective talent management practices relating to talent acquisition, workforce planning, talent development, performance management, talent retention, and other practices may result in desirable outcomes for the organisation. These include enhanced organisational commitment, high levels of employee engagement, increased employee job satisfaction, and reduced turnover intentions. It is recommended that organisations in South Africa and the organisation under study, in particular, develop talent management practices and strategies that can be implemented and applied in the organisation in order to attract and retain highly skilled and talented employees. It is further recommended that organisations develop effective, practical and holistic talent management practices and strategies that will not only attract talent, but also address organisational commitment, employee engagement, job satisfaction, and the retention of highly skilled and talented employees, thus boosting organisational performance and productivity. / MT2017