Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1973. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1937 B51

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The aim of this study is to investigate the feasibility of implementing an MBA Oath in a South African context for Business Professionals to utilise in their Professional careers, across industries within the economy. The idea of formulating and implementing an MBA Oath to shape the ethical outlook of Business Professionals graduating with MBA degrees was brought into existence at Harvard in 2009. This movement quickly spread throughout internationally acclaimed Universities garnering both widespread support and criticism. This paper will examine the topics relating to Business Ethics, the implementation of Codes of Ethics and other Professional Codes of Ethics in a detailed literature review in order to better understand the context and relevance of the study in the South African setting. Through abstraction of what the Top 40 listed entities on the JSE by market capitalising prescribe to be the most fundamental values and core guiding principles, combined with insight assembled from numerous interviews with subject matter experts in the field, a survey will be tabulated. The survey will look broadly at ethics within the South African economy and industry context to frame the current issues. It will then navigate down to a company compliance level to discover how people perceive the ethical structures within their organisations. It will look to explore the possibility of implementing an MBA Oath through Business Schools within South Africa and investigate the associated challenges. Finally, it will seek to identify a road forward; promoting ethical behaviour in local companies for generations to come. The final phase will look to analyse and synthesise all of the data that has been collected to form meaningful conclusions. The research paper provides a solid starting point for further investigation into initiating and implementing meaningful ethical frameworks aimed at increasing awareness, influencing people’s decision making processes and for promoting more ethically sound organisations in the South African economy.

Magister Commercii (Information Management) - MCom(IM) / Knowledge, skills and competences (KSC) are regarded as the new global currency of the 21st century, without which a country’s investments in other resources will collapse. These strategic skills and competences, which are related to specific requirements of the knowledge-driven economy and information society, are referred to as electronic skills (e-skills) and electronic competences (e-competences). Possessing e-skills and e-competencies allows for a more effective and inclusive participation within a global knowledge-driven economy and broader society. However, with a history of inequity, South Africa has been adversely impacted by globalisation and rapidly progressing Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), resulting in the country lagging behind in global competitiveness and e-readiness. Since e-skills and e-competencies are considered a pre-requisite for securing professional employment in most of the world, there is a need for Higher Education Institutions to determine firstly, which e-competencies are required in today’s society and then to ensure that these e-competencies are sufficiently provided to their students. This statement is premised on the understanding that quality, relevant and adequate e-skills and e-competences are required for a more effective and inclusive participation within a global knowledge-driven economy and broader society. In the context of a regressing youth unemployment crisis in South Africa and with the backdrop of the global mismatch between demand and supply of e-skills and e-competences, this study investigated the alignment between demand and supply of e-competences in South Africa. Thus, the overarching aim of this study was to determine how well the Information Systems curriculum at a South African university (supply) matched the e-competence requirements of potential employers of Information Systems graduates in South Africa, specifically in the Western Cape Province (demand). This was achieved through two specific objectives which were firstly, to develop a conceptual framework that could be used to assess if there was a mismatch between demand and supply and then 2) to use the conceptual framework to make recommendations towards alignment of demand and supply. By achieving these objectives, this study makes a significant contribution to the current e-skills dialogue and existing body of knowledge by positing a conceptual framework ofe-Competences for Information Systems graduates in the South African context, which was developed after an extensive examination of the literature related to the demand and supply of e-competences; and eleven existing e-skills and e-competence frameworks. A holistic perspective of e-competences is illustrated in this e-Competence framework, which suggests a vertical and horizontal view of the knowledge, skill and attitude (KSA) components in the e-competence definition. By using three vertical layers, the framework categorises the combination of fifty specific e-competencies expected of undergraduate and postgraduate Information Systems graduates. The first layer indicates the core competence categories, which are Cognitive Competence, Functional Competence, ICT Competence, Personal Competence (which includes Career Management, Ethical and Emotional Intelligence Competences), Global Competence (which includes Behavioural, Intercultural and Social Intelligence Competences) and lastly Meta-competences, which underscore all the other competences. The second and third layers of the framework allocated fifty specific e-competencies to these core competence categories. The study was positioned within a qualitative, interpretive research paradigm and used a case study design. The research sites were twenty two IS graduate employers in the Western Cape Province who participate in the annual internship programme at the IS department of University X. Convenient sampling was used to collect data over a period of five years, from 2010 until 2014. The study used two data collection instruments, which were performance evaluation forms and follow up interviews. These two instruments provided rich data in both qualitative and quantitative forms and the variety of data allowed for the reliability and validity to be ensured with the qualitative data being triangulated with the quantitative data. Content analysis was used to analyse the data through a three-stage open coding process. Nine findings were identified, which indicate that there was a mismatch between the demand and supply of e-competences in the selected case study. The mismatches were found to be either in the knowledge, skill or attitude component of e-competence. It was noted that twenty one of the fifty e-competencies in the conceptual framework were taught at University X, eleven were assumed to be embedded within the IS curriculum and eighteen e-competencies are not taught at University X. Significantly, most employers regarded attitudes as a more important requirement for e-competence than knowledge and skills.

This research explores a range of academic and socio-cultural challenges faced by seven Chinese post-graduate students at the University of the Witwatersrand. The main aims of this study are to identify and understand any academic discourse challenges these students have been experiencing, together with any challenges in their new socio-cultural environment, such as financial or social challenges, and then to investigate the impact of these challenges on their studies and their identities as students. The study is based on data gathered from in-depth, semi-structured interviews with seven Chinese post-graduate students, from location ‘maps’ completed by each student and from some examples of the writing of three of the students. The findings suggest that these Chinese students are encountering great challenges in relation to English language proficiency and adjustments to new Discourses (Gee, 1996) – both academic and social. The data provide evidence that although these students feel socially disempowered in many respects, their attitudes toward academic study remain positive and each is making steady progress in his or her progamme of study and research. This finding indicates that there seems to be no explicit connection between positive social experiences and academic achievement and contrasts with findings from other research studies in which there is a correlation iii between positive or negative socio-cultural experiences and success or failure in the academy.

Thesis presented in partial fulfilment for the degree of Master of Management (in the field of Public Sector Monitoring and Evaluation) to the Faculty of Commerce, Law, and Management, University of the Witwatersrand March 2016 / Employment is a critical factor in development, general, and specifically social development. All else constant, education is an important precursor to employment. Besides university or academic learning that feeds into the white collar or office jobs; technical, entrepreneurial, and vocational training and education although feeding mostly into the pink collar or artisan jobs is an important aspect of education and, therefore, employability. Further, entrepreneurial and related training and education has the potential to create employment. However, little has been written on factors that positively influence employability of technical education graduates. Obviously, one would like to know if there is match between industrial needs and the specialisation of the graduates. The purpose of this research was to evaluate factors influencing employability of technical education graduates in Malawi. The study attempted four research questions, three targeting employees (who are technical education graduates) and these had hypothesis. The fourth research question targeted employers and had a proposition on needs of companies. We reviewed literature to understand the research problem, develop theoretical framework and conceptualise our research. Two theories, theory of demand and supply of labour, and capability approach were employed. Of the three strategies; qualitative, quantitative and mixed, a quantitative strategy using a cross sectional design from a sample of 81 technical education graduates and 30 companies was employed. The results show no significant relationship between employability and the explanatory variables of age, gender, education attainment and skills. A significant relationship (p=0.018) was found between first job of graduates in relation to the field of study, meaning with the right education and the right job match, graduates were more employable. In addition, descriptive statistics indicate a strong relationship for all variables as per the research questions. Technical skills and education attainment seem to affect the duration taken to gain employment. The majority of the graduates were employed in professions that matched their training. Companies have preferences in recruiting graduates. The findings further show that, curriculum, funding and multiple qualifications need harmonisation for effective TVET provision. / MT2016

This thesis investigates the diversity in job quality of university graduates in 17 European countries using multilevel regression modelling, based on combined REFLEX and HEGESCO graduate survey data. The focus of the research is on aspects of graduate jobs that affect quality, especially the analytically neglected aspects of skill utilisation and work autonomy, as well as income, job security and work life balance First, for the purposes of measuring job quality, the thesis proposes an international multidimensional Graduate Job Quality Index (GJQI) with potential applications for further research and policy evaluation. Second, the thesis analyses variance in graduate job quality across 258 sectors of economic activity in the 17 countries studied, and identifies a number of factors that are correlated with overall job quality and its dimensions. The main research focus, however, is on contextual factors in the wider society and economy that help explain both diversity in job quality and differences between different sectors of the economy and different occupational groups. In particular: 1) the adoption of new computer technologies; 2) exposure to globalisation, and 3) high educational attainment in the labour force. The study tests two broadly contrasting theoretical approaches to differences in graduate job quality: skill-biased technological change theory (Acemoglu, 2002) and the new institutionalism (Baker, 2014) on the one hand, and the conflict theory of global knowledge capitalism (Brown et al., 2012) on the other, and in empirical terms finds more support for the latter of two theoretical accounts.

No description available.

by Kenneth, Kai-cheong, Luk. / Quenstionnaire in Chinese. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 78-84). / ABSTRACT --- p.i / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.iii / LIST OF TABLES --- p.v / ACKNOWLEDGMENT --- p.vii / Chapter / Chapter I. --- Introduction --- p.1 / Background of the Study --- p.1 / Theoretical Framework --- p.2 / Research Questions and its Significant --- p.5 / Chapter II. --- Literature Review --- p.9 / Pay Level and Gender --- p.10 / Pay Level and Academic Achievement --- p.13 / Pay focus and Achievement Motivation --- p.14 / Pay Base and Locus of Control --- p.18 / Pay Structure and Machiavellianism --- p.20 / Chapter III --- Hypotheses of the Study --- p.22 / Chapter IV --- Methodology --- p.25 / Sample --- p.25 / Measurement --- p.25 / Independent Variables --- p.25 / Dependent Variables --- p.28 / Controlling Variables --- p.29 / Dummy Variables --- p.31 / Questionnaire Design --- p.31 / Pilot Testing --- p.32 / Statistical Power --- p.33 / Statistical Analysis --- p.34 / Chapter V --- Result of the Study --- p.38 / Hypotheses Testing --- p.55 / Chapter VI --- Discussion and Conclusion --- p.58 / Limitation --- p.65 / Implication --- p.67 / Further Research Suggestion --- p.69 / Conclusion --- p.71 / Chapter Appendix 1 --- The Questionnaire --- p.73 / Bibliography --- p.78

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio University, June, 2007. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references.