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.

The human resources department of a financial institution implemented a multi-component intervention to replace a paper-based hiring system. Organization-wide impacts included changes in the background check operations. To support changes, training was conducted and procedure manuals distributed. Turn time for background checks decreased, but a combination of factors may be responsible. Other metrics are either inconclusive or suggest a confounding variable, yet quality of work did not suffer was maintained. Desired system use was achieved, accompanied by improvements in time-to-fill, voluntary turnover, and quality of applicants. Considerations for analysis and challenges faced are discussed, along with suggestions for further clarification and improvements.

D.Com. (Marketing Management) / The size of South Africa's banking industry grew from R398 billion in 1995 to R471 billion in 1996 while banking transactions totalled R58 634 billion during 1996. Like most other service companies, the banking industry also experiences customer turnover. During the period March 1995 to February 1996 customer switch, which refers to the closing of an account at one institution and the opening of a new account at another institution, by clients of all banks amounted to 4,9 percent. Mutual interaction between a service provider and a client is a very important determinant of customer satisfaction with a service. It is therefore important for the company to focus on the retention of customers because it is more profitable to retain a customer rather than recruiting new customers. Customer switching can damage the future stream of income of a company. The loss of a customer therefore, is not only one transaction, the company looses a life long stream of income. Customer satisfaction therefore influences the primary source of future income of most companies directly. Quality service is of utmost importance for the success and survival of companies in today's competitive environment. To be successful it is necessary for each department within the company to operate effectively and to be client orientated. Companies believe that they will be more profitable if a marketing orientation is established within the company. Employees must therefore, understand their role in the total service chain. A client's perception of a service becomes reality when he/she experiences the service during a service encounter where interaction between the customer and the company takes place with the employee as intermediary.