<p>Using a social exchange perspective I develop a relationship typology based upon an organizational member’s psychological investments, or “side bets,” in his or her organization. This study thus examines, for the first time in the employee-organization exchange relationship (EOR) literature, the combined impact of perceptions that organizational members have with respect to their perceived social and economic investments in their organization. Specifically, outcomes of four unique EOR profiles are examined: “loyalist” (high social, high economic); “altruist” (high social, low economic); “captive” (low social, high economic); “mercenary” (low social, low economic). In a matched sample of 334 working professionals (167 employees matched with their corresponding supervisors), the hypotheses of this study are largely supported. Altruists are highest in their perceptions of organizational support, followed in descending order by the loyalists, mercenaries, and captives. Also as predicted, altruists are highest in affective commitment, followed in descending order by the loyalists, captives, and mercenaries. In terms of continuance commitment, contrary to prediction, loyalists have the highest levels of continuance commitment; however, as predicted, captives have higher levels than altruists and mercenaries. Altruists, as predicted, have the highest level of OCB, followed in descending order by loyalists, mercenaries, and captives. Finally, as predicted, mercenaries have the highest level of task performance followed in descending order by altruists, loyalists, and captives. Theoretical and practical considerations of these findings are discussed.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>The processes that link High Performance Work System (HPWS) practices and organizational performance are not fully understood. Using resource-based theory, this research focuses on training, by separating it from other HPWS practices, and human capital development as a source of sustained competitive advantage. The first purpose of my research is to examine the relationships between the HPWS practice of training, innovation, and organizational performance, and look at the mediating effect of innovation over time at the workplace level. The results indicate that the temporal pathway from training to innovation to organizational performance is positive and significant even after controlling for reverse-causality. Strategic activity is also explored and is found to be a significant moderator. This study contributes to knowledge by identifying the importance of aligning business strategy with training, as well as other HPWS practices and innovation to achieve improved organizational performance outcomes. The second purpose of this research is to explore the factors that act to expand or limit the HPWS practice of training, with a focus on the outcomes of employers' decisions to offer training, employees' decisions to accept or decline training, and the job-related training received by employees. The results indicate that the employee-level factors: participating in HPWS practices, use of technology, and using new technology are significant contributors to employers' decisions to offer and employees' receipt of training. Further, employees' perception of the existence of a gap between the skills required for the job and their current skills contributes to employees accepting employer offers of training.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has been used frequently in the Human Resources industry in order to streamline recruitment processes and exclude human biases about candidates. The shift from human recruitment to recruitment using digital tools is affecting how workplaces are shaped and which candidates are hired. The purpose of this study is to investigate how artificial intelligence affects the recruitment process in Human Resources and what advantages and disadvantages can be generated by the increased use of AI technology in HR. By studying this, it is also possible to visualize how individuals and societal structures may be affected by AI recruitment. The study’s theoretical frame of reference is based on Anthony Giddens' (1991) theory of modern society followed by Pierre Bourdieu's (1986) theories of capital and social space. This study is a literature review which is a study that summarizes several scientific studies. The results of the study show, among other things, that the use of artificial intelligence in recruitment processes can have a negative impact on individuals and social structures in workplaces, it can contribute to homogeneous workplaces and the reproduction of society’s power structures. Furthermore, the study shows that there is a gap in knowledge regarding research on individuals' subjective experiences of AI recruitment. / Den artificiella intelligensen (AI) har under de senaste åren använts inom Human Resources branschen i syfte att effektivisera rekryteringsprocesser och exkludera mänskliga fördomar om kandidater. Skiftet från mänsklig rekrytering till rekrytering med hjälp av digitala verktyg påverkar hur arbetsplatser formas och vilka kandidater som anställs. Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur den artificiella intelligensen påverkar rekryteringsprocessen inom Human Resources och vilka för- och nackdelar som kan genereras av AI-teknologins ökade användning inom HR. Genom att studera detta synliggörs även hur individer och samhälleliga strukturer kan tänkas påverkas av AI-rekrytering. Studiens teoretiska ramverk utgår från Anthony Giddens (1991) teori om det moderna samhället följt av Pierre Bourdieus (1986) teorier om kapital och det sociala rummet. Denna studie är en litteraturstudie vilket är en studie som sammanfattar flera vetenskapliga studier. Studiens resultat visar bland annat att användandet av artificiell intelligens i rekryteringsprocesser kan ha en negativ inverkan på individer och strukturer på arbetsplatser, det kan bidra till homogena arbetsplatser och reproducering av samhälleliga maktstrukturer. Vidare visar studien att det finns ett kunskapsglapp vad gäller forskning kring individers subjektiva upplevelser av AI-rekrytering.

This study investigates the role of managers, especially senior managers, with respect to the alignment of individual and institutional performance indicators in the Overstrand Local Municipality. Service delivery is an important issue for South African municipalities and is directly linked to performance management. In order to achieve institutional goals and improve service delivery, the alignment of individual and institutional performance indicators is vital. The managers’ role with respect to alignment is important because they are the driving force behind the institutional performance management system (PMS) in the municipality. A qualitative research methodology is used in this study and includes a literature study and unstructured interviews. The main objective of this research is to determine the role of management in the alignment of individual and institutional performance indicators in the Overstrand Local Municipality using a municipal scorecard model. The secondary objectives include the formulation of descriptions of the theoretical models and principles of performance management, and the principles and legislative requirements for a comprehensive PMS; determining challenges that managers experience in aligning institutional and individual performance indicators using a municipal scorecard model; and proposing recommendations based on best practice examples towards a management framework that will facilitate the effective alignment of individual and institutional performance indicators. The findings of the study were that the alignment of performance indicators in the Overstrand Local Municipality is unsuccessful, especially at the lower levels. Theoretically, alignment is possible, but the practical implementation thereof remains a challenge. The negative perceptions, attitudes and behaviours that employees exhibit in relation to performance management, both institutional and individual, also came to the fore. Furthermore, employees do not understand the concept and importance of institutional performance. This clearly shows a lack of alignment in the municipality and managers have a very important role to fulfil in order to ensure alignment. Additionally, the challenge that managers experience in inculcating a performance culture in the municipality is particularly evident in the manner in which performance planning, communication, leading and monitoring are done. Various recommendations were made to the Overstrand Local Municipality regarding the alignment of performance indicators through the management functions of planning, organising, leading and control. The implementation of these recommendations will enable the municipality’s senior managers to create a positive performance culture, which should be reflected in the manner in which individual performance is managed. Moreover, the recommendations will assist the managers to align individual and institutional performance, positively influence service delivery and ensure organisational responsiveness to community needs. / MA (Public Management and Governance), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Skilled labour retention continues to receive attention from researchers as a critical challenge faced by organisations globally. The loss of skilled labour in an organisation contributes to the high labour replacement costs, which may result in an organisation‟s failure to achieve its mandate since it is deprived of its high performance, experienced and knowledgeable labour. Organisations must, therefore, be able to diagnose the factors that contribute to the loss of skilled labour and implement strategies that could assist in the mitigation of such losses. Consequently, an integrated model for skilled labour retention in the Botswana Police Service was developed. The literature study which explored the phenomenon of skilled labour retention, revealed a deficiency of a universal implementation strategy that guides organisations in managing skilled labour retention. However, human resources management literature unanimously concur that in order to implement an effective skilled labour retention strategy, it is necessary for organisations to devise a unique human resources management strategy aimed at addressing their individual causes of skilled labour turnover. This study utilised human resource management best practices, theories and frameworks to develop an integrated skilled labour retention model for the Botswana Police Service. The study followed both the qualitative and quantitative research design. Skilled labour retention factors that should be included in a skilled labour retention model were identified through an analysis of a scholarly literature review, a closed-ended questionnaire and an analysis of official documentation. The identified skilled labour retention factors were included in the proposed retention model. The study also proposed an implementation strategy that should be followed when implementing the proposed skilled labour retention model. The empirical study investigated the validity of the identified retention factors that should be included in the integrated skilled labour retention model for the Botswana Police Service. The retention factors entail: job satisfaction, organisational commitment, work-life balance, remuneration, career development, development opportunities (learning, training and development), work environment, decisionmaking and management style. Before the retention factors could be included in the new retention model, the researcher determined the current arrangements in the organisation to establish the status quo. Interviews were held with senior management in the Botswana Police Service to ascertain the aforementioned. It was established that the current retention arrangements impeded the retention of skilled labour in the organisation, which contextualised the significance to develop the new skilled labour retention model. / PhD (Development and Management), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

This study investigates the role of managers, especially senior managers, with respect to the alignment of individual and institutional performance indicators in the Overstrand Local Municipality. Service delivery is an important issue for South African municipalities and is directly linked to performance management. In order to achieve institutional goals and improve service delivery, the alignment of individual and institutional performance indicators is vital. The managers’ role with respect to alignment is important because they are the driving force behind the institutional performance management system (PMS) in the municipality. A qualitative research methodology is used in this study and includes a literature study and unstructured interviews. The main objective of this research is to determine the role of management in the alignment of individual and institutional performance indicators in the Overstrand Local Municipality using a municipal scorecard model. The secondary objectives include the formulation of descriptions of the theoretical models and principles of performance management, and the principles and legislative requirements for a comprehensive PMS; determining challenges that managers experience in aligning institutional and individual performance indicators using a municipal scorecard model; and proposing recommendations based on best practice examples towards a management framework that will facilitate the effective alignment of individual and institutional performance indicators. The findings of the study were that the alignment of performance indicators in the Overstrand Local Municipality is unsuccessful, especially at the lower levels. Theoretically, alignment is possible, but the practical implementation thereof remains a challenge. The negative perceptions, attitudes and behaviours that employees exhibit in relation to performance management, both institutional and individual, also came to the fore. Furthermore, employees do not understand the concept and importance of institutional performance. This clearly shows a lack of alignment in the municipality and managers have a very important role to fulfil in order to ensure alignment. Additionally, the challenge that managers experience in inculcating a performance culture in the municipality is particularly evident in the manner in which performance planning, communication, leading and monitoring are done. Various recommendations were made to the Overstrand Local Municipality regarding the alignment of performance indicators through the management functions of planning, organising, leading and control. The implementation of these recommendations will enable the municipality’s senior managers to create a positive performance culture, which should be reflected in the manner in which individual performance is managed. Moreover, the recommendations will assist the managers to align individual and institutional performance, positively influence service delivery and ensure organisational responsiveness to community needs. / MA (Public Management and Governance), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Skilled labour retention continues to receive attention from researchers as a critical challenge faced by organisations globally. The loss of skilled labour in an organisation contributes to the high labour replacement costs, which may result in an organisation‟s failure to achieve its mandate since it is deprived of its high performance, experienced and knowledgeable labour. Organisations must, therefore, be able to diagnose the factors that contribute to the loss of skilled labour and implement strategies that could assist in the mitigation of such losses. Consequently, an integrated model for skilled labour retention in the Botswana Police Service was developed. The literature study which explored the phenomenon of skilled labour retention, revealed a deficiency of a universal implementation strategy that guides organisations in managing skilled labour retention. However, human resources management literature unanimously concur that in order to implement an effective skilled labour retention strategy, it is necessary for organisations to devise a unique human resources management strategy aimed at addressing their individual causes of skilled labour turnover. This study utilised human resource management best practices, theories and frameworks to develop an integrated skilled labour retention model for the Botswana Police Service. The study followed both the qualitative and quantitative research design. Skilled labour retention factors that should be included in a skilled labour retention model were identified through an analysis of a scholarly literature review, a closed-ended questionnaire and an analysis of official documentation. The identified skilled labour retention factors were included in the proposed retention model. The study also proposed an implementation strategy that should be followed when implementing the proposed skilled labour retention model. The empirical study investigated the validity of the identified retention factors that should be included in the integrated skilled labour retention model for the Botswana Police Service. The retention factors entail: job satisfaction, organisational commitment, work-life balance, remuneration, career development, development opportunities (learning, training and development), work environment, decisionmaking and management style. Before the retention factors could be included in the new retention model, the researcher determined the current arrangements in the organisation to establish the status quo. Interviews were held with senior management in the Botswana Police Service to ascertain the aforementioned. It was established that the current retention arrangements impeded the retention of skilled labour in the organisation, which contextualised the significance to develop the new skilled labour retention model. / PhD (Development and Management), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

The humanitarian sector is in need to prioritize its human resources. Inadequate recruitment processes, aid workers that enter the field unprepared, failed interrelationships and team dissatisfaction leads to poorer work quality, poorer health, and a high employee turnover that are costly for the field, and negative on the side of accountability to the beneficiaries of aid. In order to address these problems the study is investigating the use of a personality type system tool developed by the researcher, the 4mpt-system (4 major personality types-system),that tentatively is constructed as a tool to be applied within human resources in the humanitarian sector to access individual preferences and character traits that would facilitate in addressing the issues mentioned above. The data is gathered via in-depth semi-structured interviews of 7 informants working in the international humanitarian sector. The first objective is to study the reliability and validity of the 4mpt-system. The second objective is to study what information that could be accessed via the 4mpt-system tool from the 7 informants participating in the study. The result of the study would demonstrate that all of the informants could be assigned to a specific temperament type via a qualitative data analyze method designed from the 4mpt-system and that the temperaments affected the informants to a large extent (from motivations and skills to organisational preferences and personal belief systems). Further, the answers of the informants matched the theoretical definitions of the traits assigned to the temperament types by Keirsey (1998) and Fisher (2009), which was a positive indication for a good validity of the 4mpt-system. By verifying the similarity between the answers of informants assigned to the same temperament type, validity was further confirmed. The results of the study supported the reliability and validity of the 4mpt -system. The type of information that could be accessed via the 4mpt-system in the study was among other the motivation for beginning in the humanitarian field, work task preferences, professional skills, problem-solving approaches, decision making processes, likes and dislikes with work and work tasks, organisational structure preference, preference for working directly in the field or working from the office, and general outlooks and personal belief systems.

Research report presented to the Unisa School of Business Leadership / The dynamic nature of the university environment is described from a strategic and operational perspective. Council, Senate and Executive Management had a direct role in maintaining corporate governance while the HR department is mandated to manage compliance. This brought about certain challenges since the achievement of HR objectives through innovation allowed a greater degree of freedom in comparison to the degree of control prescribed by compliance management.

This thesis uses an abductive research strategy to discover how individuals in a UK contact centre became first-line managers. Managers play a significant role in organisations as supervisors of staff, yet there is no general agreement as to what they do or how. Adopting an idealist ontology and a constructionist epistemology, this ethnographic project uncovered stories of becoming by using questionnaires, observations and interviews with twelve participants. The context was a private / public sector partnership to provide advice and guidance to a local community. The use by organisations of contact centres is maturing in the private sector and growing in the public sector. It is an especially important arena to explore in the UK economy as currently many contact centres that were outsourced to cheaper, high quality labour markets are returning to the UK. Analysis of data showed clearly that learning to become a first-line manager occurred throughout the life course in three distinct stages; formative development, and reflecting the values and behaviours of parents and teachers; pre-management occupational development, and the experience of being managed; and development actually in the role of a first-line manager. The thesis makes four contributions to the extant literature. Firstly, these three stages were shown to be the route in the transition from legitimate peripheral participation to mastery. Situated learning theory provides no such clarification. Secondly, learning to become a first-line manager did not necessarily change identity as many writers claim. Identities of first-line manager evolved by building on personal and occupational identities that had been developed earlier. Thirdly, teachers made a vital contribution to developing future first-line managers by affirming and strengthening family values. They also encouraged their pupils to recognise the connection between effort and gaining reward for achievement. Finally, the messy terrain of learning theory has been clarified, not as grand theory, but as mid-range theorising through a new conceptual framework. This schema synthesizes learning orientations with learning metaphors and learning viewed as a noun or a verb, and the various influences on learning from structure and agency. The four learning modes are adapt, assimilation, accommodation and aspire.