M.A. (Business Management) / With the raise of competition in the Gabonese health industry and increased costs, most health service providers in Gabon have become under pressure to deliver good service quality. This also relates to the military hospital in Libreville in Gabon striving to provide adequate health services to its patients. The cost for hospitals to attract patients through several means such as providing good service quality has become crucial. Patient loyalty and retention can have an important financial advantage for a hospital, thus it has become essential for hospitals to create a sustaining relationship with their patients. The question of assessing service quality presents itself. This study investigated service quality at a military hospital in Libreville in Gabon. It was the objective of this study to establish if there is a difference in how patients rate doctors and nurses on the service quality dimensions. This research was quantitative and descriptive in nature. Theory relating to service quality and patient satisfaction was provided. The population for the study consisted of patients who were at least 18 years old, males and females, who have experienced medical services and stayed over at the military hospital for at least one night. A self administered questionnaire was designed based on the theoretical literature illustrated in the study. The questionnaire assessed various elements that were identified through the literature review. The questionnaire was based on a set of statements linked to the literature theory, and a 7-point Likert scale which enabled respondents to choose from seven different alternatives ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. A number of statistical analysis techniques were undertaken to achieve the objectives of the study, such as factor analysis. The conclusion and findings of the research assisted in explaining the objectives of the study and the results of the statistical analysis were found to reject the hypotheses that there is no significant difference in how patients rate the reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy of doctors and nurses and to reject the hypothesis that patients do not have a positive perception of the tangible aspects of a military hospital in Libreville, Gabon. In terms of the doctors’ services, patients felt a need for more privacy in terms of the confidentiality of their treatment, a need for more individual attention, a need to be heard, and to trust doctors. Therefore such needs could be addressed through improved compassion, communication and understanding of doctors during the diagnosis of the problem. The feeling expressed was that doctors should pay more attention to patients’ problems and share with them their experience. Doctors at the military hospital should develop more work ethic where patients’ records and cases should never be discussed with anyone without patients’ permission. The military hospital should employ highly trained and qualified doctors to address the trust issue with patients. Lastly, consultation time may need to be reviewed to add some extra time to better address patients’ needs during their consultation with doctors. In terms of the services delivered by nurses towards patients, the latter were of the opinion that there was a need for more individual attention from nurses. Such individual attention could include greater information sharing when a patient is treated, friendlier communication to install greater trust and respect. Such needs could be addressed through improved patience, compassion and understanding by nurses during their dealings with patients. Nurses should also develop more work ethic regarding patients’ records, and cases should never be discussed with anyone without their permission. Officials in the hospital should hire highly trained and qualified nurses to address the issue of trust in patients and consultation time may need to be reviewed to add some extra time to better address patients’ needs during their dealings with nurses.

published_or_final_version / Politics and Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

published_or_final_version / Politics and Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

Doctorat en sciences psychologiques / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

This research sought to establish whether skills training in employee voice encourages employee voice utilisation in a one-on-one performance discussion and whether such utilisation has an effect on the employee‘s relationship with their line-manager. Organisations need to understand how to encourage the utilisation of employee voice, to ensure their employees remain engaged in the organisation and as such, the organisation remains competitive. Ninety seven participants were divided into control and experimental groups, with the experimental group receiving skills training in employee voice. A pre-test and post-test experiment research design was used and the results were statistically analysed. Qualitative analysis supported these quantitative results. Qualitative analysis entailed collating comments received by the employees from their completed pre-test and post-test questionnaires as well as feedback from semi-structured, line-manager interviews. Skills training was found not to be significantly related to employee voice utilisation, the line- manager relationship or satisfaction with the performance discussion, but as one composite measure were significant. A model was developed to accommodate the business environment and employees‘ personal attributes in addition to skills training to explain employee voice utilisation. The forum for which employee voice would be most effective may not be the one-on-one performance discussion. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / zkgibs2014 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1979 O433 / Master of Science

The purpose of the research was to investigate the relationship between organisational commitment and work performance in an Agricultural company. Allen and Meyer's Organisational Commitment Questionnaire was used as well as the organisation's verbal performance rating tool. The Organisational Commitment Questionnaire was completed by a sample from the organisation and the performance ratings of the employees in the sample were used as comparison. A positive relationship between the two constructs was established while no statistically significant relationship could be established. Further research in this field is suggested in the South African context. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.A.(Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

This is a conceptual dissertation which addresses itself to the criticism that the social systems framework is highly abstract and theoretical, and as such relevant only to academics and specialists. The primary purpose of this paper is to operationalise the social system framework, to illustrate its application and to highlight its unique potential. It represents an attempt to enlarge, even redefine, the frameworks used for studying and transforming organisations. In order to best highlight the differences between the social systems framework and other models implicit in traditional approaches, a specific component of organisation reality is focused on, namely the performance appraisal. After discussing and illustrating the models behind most research on the topic, an alternative holistic framework for performance appraisal is sketched. Following this, an actual performance improvement intervention is described in a case study. This provides a practical illustration of the points made in the paper. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M. Com. (Industrial Psychology)

published_or_final_version / Business / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration