The purpose of the present dissertation was to shed light on the neurophysiological effect of regular consumption of low amounts of alcohol on two important aspects of executive functions, cognitive interference and response inhibition, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in a sample of young adults. Participants were recruited from the Ottawa Prenatal Prospective Study (OPPS), a longitudinal study that has collected data from participants from infancy to young adulthood, which permitted control of a number of potentially confounding drug and lifestyle variables. This allowed for investigation of the unique effect of alcohol use on executive functions. The dissertation itself is comprised of two original manuscripts: the first study compared low-level alcohol users to controls on performance of the Counting Stroop, a task of cognitive interference; and the second study compared users to controls on performance of the Go/No-Go, a task of response inhibition.Although the results of both studies found no performance differences between groups, low-level alcohol users had significantly more brain activation in several regions, including areas not typically associated with task processing, compared to irregular or non-drinker controls. This difference in neurophysiology may be reflective of compensatory strategies within the brain, whereby the recruitment of additional regions may be attempting to compensate for potential underlying deficits that occur with increasing cognitive demand. While further research is needed to validate this hypothesis, the present findings highlight the vulnerability of the developing brain.

M.B.A. / Employees are young! 42% of the best company employees are under the age of 35 and only 5% are over 55, while 39% have been on the job for less than 2 years (Sunday Times, 2001: 45). Eli Lilly (Pty) (Ltd) is an international pharmaceutical company which has a strong Sales, Marketing and Research & Development focus. Recently the South African Affiliate has undergone a dramatic change to a performance-based culture, in order to stay on the competitive edge. It has recognised the need to recruit talented individuals and to move them quickly through the organisational divisions and into a position where they can be most productive (effective and efficient) to the company. Lilly's stated objectives are to grow the skills of its employees by maximising their participation in development programmes, to grow new products, to strengthen the company focus on customers and to maximise the growth of its leading products. The Lilly values and its hiring, developing and retaining the best people, will make this a reality. The local Lilly affiliate underwent radical changes under the dynamic and aggressive leadership style of Ralph Hofman. A young American graduate followed in his footsteps. Jack Bailey had a leadership style that encouraged accountability, ownership and individual performance. Being the driver that he was, he took the company to be rated the third top South African company to work for in 2000/1 (Afrikaanse Handelsinstituut, 2000: 87). Jack Bailey, General Manager of the South African Affiliate (1998-2000), joined Lilly in 1993 as a sales representative and then underwent a number of assignments until he arrived in South Africa in November 1998 as General Manager. In December 2000 he left the affiliate for yet another assignment. He is an example of fast-tracking of top talent in the organisation.

The shortage of blacks in senior management and executive positions is a South African phenomena. Following decades of academic and economic segregation by the apartheid regime, many black individuals find themselves lacking the necessary technical and soft skills to operate effectively in organisations. This study explores whether executive coaching can be used to bridge the soft skill gap. The study further explores the characteristics of the coachee, the coach and the coaching relationship required for a successful intervention. A qualitative exploratory research was undertaken with fifteen one-on-one interviews conducted with qualifying black managers to capture their perceptions about the use of executive coaching as a developmental tool. This research has shown that executive coaching can be used as a viable developmental tool to prepare black managers for senior positions. A profile of an ideal candidate, an ideal coach, and an ideal coaching environment has been put together in a proposed framework that will hopefully facilitate the achievement of the goal. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Abstract I compare compensation arrangements of firms with private equity and public debt and firms with arrangements public equity and public debt. In a sample of 77 firms, I find that privately held firms offer less bonus compensation in levels, but more as a percentage of total income, less equity compensation, in levels and as a percentage of total income, and less total compensation. I propose and test three possible explanations for these differences. The first explanation is that managers of private firms own more of the company they manage, and thus less annual equity-based compensation is required to align incentives. The tests I employ do not support this hypothesis. Tests of the second explanation, that difficulties associated with the valuation/liquidity of private equity shares drive differences, were significant. The third explanation is that superior monitoring among firms with private debt drives compensation differences. I find no support for this hypothesis. Taken together, these results are consistent with the explanation that privately held firms compensate their managers differently due to the inherent difficulty in valuing and/or liquidating equity shares.

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A conceptual model was originally proposed that linked the vestibular modality with executive domains by means of a functional cerebral systems framework. The claim was that frontal regions exert regulatory control over posterior systems for sensation and autonomic functions in a dense, interconnected network with right hemisphere specialization. As a preponderance of evidence demonstrates that a design fluency task is often associated with right frontal functioning, it was hypothesized that proficiency on a design fluency task would yield differences in QEEG and skin conductance after vestibular activation. Fifty-eight total (29 high- and 29 low-fluent performers on the Ruff Figural Fluency Test were subjected to 20 whole-body passive rotations about the neuroaxis at a constant rate of approximately 120 degrees per second. EEG and skin conductance levels were recorded prior to and post-rotation. Analyses were conducted on delta (1-4 Hz.) and beta (13-21 Hz.) frequencies. Overall, delta activity increased from baseline to post-rotation with higher levels at frontal sites, however no group differences were found across conditions. Regarding beta activation, high design fluency was associated with increased beta activation at the right temporal site (T6). In contrast to expectations, beta activity diminished from baseline to post-stress over both groups. Skin conductance levels increased from baseline to post-stress. Methodological considerations are discussed regarding gender issues and procedures of the experiment. The results indicate that vestibular disorientation yields systematic delta changes in the frontal regions, but that future refinements to the vestibular stressor may elicit QEEG and skin conductance differences in fluency groups. / Ph. D.