No abstract available. / Thesis (M.Dev.Studies)-University of Natal, Durban, 2002.

A review of the literature on strategy implementation reveals that there is limited knowledge on how strategies should be implemented. This thesis focuses on a case study of strategy implementation at a major Eastern Cape component supplier company in the automotive industry, for purposes of establishing how the company implemented its strategies to become one of the best cost leaders in the manufacture of automotive pressed metal body components in South Africa. Data collated from the company is analysed and discussed with a resultant description of how the research participants understood the process of strategy implementation within the research company during the period January 2006 to December 2007. Interviews were undertaken within the levels of top management, middle management and the operational employees. Interpretations were made of the constructs made by the research participants in their understanding of how the research company implemented its strategy to become one of the best cost leaders in the manufacture of automotive pressed metal body components. It transpired from the findings of the research that the research company manufactured 70% of its products for one major client. During the manufacture of its products, the research company had to conform to the quality standards required by the main client. The main client was therefore offered the desired service at the best price. The strategy of the research company was to strive to be one of the best cost leaders in the manufacture of its products. It sought to do this by producing high quality products. Analysis is made of the strategic content, strategic context, operational processes and outcomes for the research company after the implementation of its strategy. It emerges in the case study that the strategy implementation factors cannot be considered separately in linear models but holistically, since one implementation factor may influence the others, resulting in a context and process based approach.

Over the past fifty years, interest in the field of conflict management and peacekeeping has developed worldwide. During the same time, the potential for trans-ultural) conflict has escalated. This can mainly be attributed to the trend towards globalisation, as well as the growing complexity of societies increasingly experiencing more intercultural encounters or cultural transition situations and work-related or organisational conflicts. Cultural transition situations occur in the South African international automotive industry where the emergence of international co-operation, such as joint ventures (driven by globalisation) and new diversity management trends, have changed the way business is conducted. Due to these changes, employees of diverse origins with different cultures, values and identities work together, experiencing work-related conflicts. The purpose of this study was to assess managerial perspectives on conflict, identity and values, as well as on how (trans-cultural) conflict is managed in a selected international organisation in the South African automotive industry. The contribution of this study is twofold, namely to increase the understanding of the complexities of conflict in organisations; and to provide recommendations for conflict resolution strategies to manage (trans-cultural) conflict constructively by considering the values and identity aspects of those individuals involved. This study comprises a single explanatory case study which made use of qualitative data collection and analysis to investigate managerial perspectives on conflict, identity and values, as well as the management thereof, in the selected international organisation in the South African automotive context. Based on the main findings from this case study, it could be concluded that managers with diverse backgrounds experience work-related conflicts which are related to value and identity concepts in the selected organisation. The conflicts experienced fell into the categories of Communication and Treatment, Position and Competition, Organisation and Race and Gender.An overview of the occurrence frequency of value statements revealed that equality, communication and respect were the most commonly indicated values in conflicts. These value concepts include sub-concepts such as: · for equality: race, gender and human equality; · for communication: open, personal, free, decent, calm and proactive communication; and · for respect: mutual respect for self and others. With regard to value concepts and according to value domains of Schwartz (1994) and Schwartz and Bilsky (1987), the value dimensions of selftranscendence comprised the highest number of value statements. This dimension included the value domains of universalism and benevolence. Conflict in the data material was interlinked with identity. The extracts, based on the key words of the identity factors, demonstrated that the identity factors were related to either a weakening or strengthening effect on identities. Social and identity multiplicity in managers provides creativity spaces and flexibility in cases of strong identity patterns. Particularly with weak identities, the existence of conflict potentials could lead to complex conflicts and challenges in conflict management. Communication was most often mentioned as important to successful conflict resolution management and included examples such as round-table talks, smooth communication, face-to-face communication and room meetings. Communication was followed in frequency by strategies of internal intervention, which included the use of the formal structure of the organisation to resolve conflicts.

The aim of the dissertation was to investigate the demographical differences on Work-SoC, and the relationship between work-related sense of coherence (Work-SoC) and work engagement in a motor retail organisation in Gauteng. The Work-related sense of coherence (Work-SoC) scale, Utrecht work engagement (UWES-9) scale and a biographical questionnaire were applied in the data collection from 326 employees in a motor retail organisation in Gauteng. The results indicated a strong relationship between Work-SoC and work engagement and that Work-SoC does predict work engagement. Except for tenure and gender, all demographical variables showed statistically significant mean differences on Work-SoC. The study has added valuable knowledge to the existing literature as it was the first to investigate mean differences on Work-SoC for different demographical groups and also investigate the relationship between Work-SoC and work engagement in the South African environment. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M. Com. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

Orientador: Ricardo Luiz Coltro Antunes / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciencias Humanas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-10T10:32:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Pinto_GeraldoAugusto_D.pdf: 3740087 bytes, checksum: 69a9eaea78524b43a0163c2b3f00a928 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007 / Resumo: A década de 90 trouxe grandes mudanças nas relações entre o Estado, as empresas e os trabalhadores no Brasil. Na indústria automotiva, a abertura comercial permitiu às montadoras aplicar estratégias globais no suprimento de autopeças, configurando uma cadeia de fornecimento hierarquizada, onde, nos primeiros níveis, estão as fabricantes de sistemas completos dos veículos (sistemistas), as quais também reproduzem estas relações com suas fornecedoras. Acompanhando este processo, mudanças na gestão do trabalho têm reformulado as estruturas de cargos nas plantas, exigindo novas competências aos assalariados e alterando o relacionamento que mantêm entre si nas esferas gerenciais e operacionais, fatos que se refletiram na própria organização do movimento sindical. Focando tais transformações no setor de autopeças da região de Campinas, os objetivos desta tese são compreender: (1) os principais aspectos das relações estabelecidas entre plantas filiais de grupos transnacionais com suas matrizes, bem como com suas clientes e fornecedoras, nos processos de hierarquização e redução da cadeia automotiva, cujo deslanchar no Brasil ocorreu em meio à desnacionalização deste setor; (2) como estes aspectos se relacionam com a implantação da gestão flexível do trabalho nestas plantas filiais, inclusive no tocante à conjugação de métodos dos sistemas taylorista/fordista e toyotista; (3) como tais mudanças têm afetado os trabalhadores, seja quanto aos perfis profissionais e educacionais exigidos e o montante de empregos ofertados, seja quanto às formas de mobilização e negociação sindicais construídas neste contexto. Para a consecução destes objetivos, revisamos a literatura sobre a reestruturação produtiva e sua difusão no Brasil após os anos 90, e realizamos um estudo de caso empírico numa empresa transnacional, situada na região de Campinas e fornecedora tanto de grandes sistemistas de autopeças quanto de montadoras. O Sindicato dos Metalúrgicos de Campinas também foi pesquisado, mediante entrevistas junto à sua direção e presidência, nas quais se abordaram as ações desta entidade em face da reestruturação produtiva nas empresas e das políticas neoliberais, suas concepções acerca das conseqüências destes processos sobre os trabalhadores, bem como o relacionamento que o sindicato vem tendo com a CUT. Os resultados mostram que a desnacionalização do setor de autopeças brasileiro teve profunda relação com as estratégias globais dos grupos transnacionais desta indústria, refletindo um embate entre corporações dos EUA e da Europa frente ao avanço da concorrência nipônica, liderada pela Toyota, embate no qual têm contado com a atuação dos Estados e das classes trabalhadoras. A implantação da gestão flexível nas plantas filiais de países periféricos, por sua vez, não apenas é parte desta luta mundial pela acumulação de capital, como a reproduz no próprio relacionamento cotidiano entre os assalariados, das gerências ao chão de fábrica, onde a hibridez do taylorismo/fordismo com o toyotismo tem configurado perfis de qualificação que fragmentam social, econômica e politicamente os trabalhadores. Por fim, a terceirização e o desemprego que emergiram destes processos têm imposto obstáculos à ação sindical, levando tensões e rupturas entre instâncias locais, estaduais e federais nos setores mais combativos, como ilustra o rompimento do Sindicato dos Metalúrgicos de Campinas com a CUT / Abstract: The Nineties brought significant changes to the relations among the state, the companies and the working class in Brazil. In the automotive industry, the commercial opening allowed car assembly companies to utilize global strategies on its parts supply, forming a hierarchized supply chain where, in the first levels are the manufacturers of complete vehicle systems (systemists), which also reproduce these relations with their suppliers. Following this process, changes in work management have remodeled the position structures in plants, demanding new competences to working class and altering the relationship that is maintained among them on the operational and managerial aspects, facts that reflected in the own union movement organization. Focusing on such transformations in the automotive components sector in the region of Campinas, this study is aimed at: (1) the main aspects of the relations established among branch plants belonging to transnational groups towards their headquarters, clients and suppliers, in the hierarquization and reduction of automotive chain whose boom occurred during this sector¿s denationalization; (2) how these aspects are related to the implantation of flexible work management in these branch plants, including when it comes to the taylorist/fordist and toyotist systems; (3) how these changes have affected working class, whether to their required personal and educational skills, whether to their union mobilization and negotiations build in this context. In order to achieve these goals, we went over the literature about productive restructuration and its spread across Brazil after the nineties, and we carried out an empirical study case in a transnational company, located in the region of Campinas and both supplier of big automotive components and assembly companies. The Sindicato dos Metalúrgicos de Campinas was also surveyed, through interviews along with its management running, in which actions of this institution were approached in the face of companies productive restructuration and neo-liberal policies, their conceptions about the consequences of these processes to the working class, as well as the good relationship the union has had with CUT. Results have shown that the automotive components sector denationalization had a deep relation with the global strategies of transnational groups of this industry, reflecting a struggle between American¿s and European¿s corporations against the Nipponese competition, led by Toyota, struggle which has counted on States and the working class. The flexible management implantation in the branch plants of peripheral countries, on the other hand, is not only part of this world struggle for capital accumulation, as well as the reproduction on the daily relations among in shop floor managers, where the taylorism/fordism hybridity along with toyotism systems have formed profiles of qualification that fragment socially, economically and politically the working class. Lastly, outsourcing and unemployment which rose from these processes have build big roadblocks to union actions, conducting strains and ruptures among local, state and federal institutions in the most combative sectors, as it has shown the disruption between Sindicato dos Metalúrgicos de Campinas and CUT / Doutorado / Sociologia / Doutor em Sociologia

Orientador: Michael McDonald Hall / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciencias Humanas / O exemplar do AEL pertence a Coleção CPDS / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-04T03:26:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Chaves_MarceloAntonio_M.pdf: 6305404 bytes, checksum: e3f6fa0bc74689f8cb5eaf07e7e5c282 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005 / Resumo: A primeira grande fábrica de cimento do país, inaugurada em 1926, no bairro de Perus, em São Paulo, determina o recorte temático desta dissertação. As circunstâncias de sua instalação, a articulação com outros empreendimentos ¿ indústria de cal e transporte ferroviário -, a produção de uma mercadoria fundamental para a expansão urbana ¿ o cimento - e o singular processo de produção/trabalho da fábrica, introduzem a escrita. Entretanto, o enfoque privilegiado e articulador deste trabalho é a reflexão sobre os diversos aspectos da vida dos trabalhadores da fábrica e das pedreiras, onde o momento da produção e da reprodução da força de trabalho se confundem. Meu trabalho é fundamentado, principalmente, em fontes documentais primárias, destacando-se a exposição, cruzamento e análise de dados extraídos de 1500 fichas de trabalhadores. Assim, procuro identificar as condições de vida e de trabalho das primeiras gerações de trabalhadores da fábrica de cimento, entre os anos de 1925 e 1947: migração e imigração, nacionais e estrangeiros, negros e brancos, grau de instrução, salários, estabilidade no emprego, acidentes de trabalho, entre outros. Além de expor inúmeros dados empíricos que revelam mais detalhes daquele rico período da história do Brasil, nesta pesquisa, tem destaque também a conflituosa e ambígua trajetória de criação do primeiro sindicato dos trabalhadores, em 1933, buscando, através dela, problematizar e ilustrar a não menos ambígua e complexa história dos primeiros momentos de instalação do sindicalismo oficial no Brasil / Abstract: The first great cement factory of Brazil, inaugurated in 1926 in the neighbourhood of Perus, in São Paulo, determines the thematic focus of this dissertation. The circumstances of its construction, its articulation with other enterprises ¿ limestone industry and railroad transport -, the production of a basic element for the urban expansion - cement - and the singular production/work process of the factory open the writing. However, the main focus of this work is a reflection on the diverse aspects of the life of workers from the factory and from the quarries, where the moments of production and of reproduction of the work force blend in with one another. My work is based mainly in primary documentary sources, emphasizing the exposition, comparing and analysis of data extracted from 1500 worker¿s profile records. Thus, I try to identify the life and work conditions of the first generations of workers from the cement factory between the years of 1925 and 1947: migration and immigration; natives and foreigners; black and white; degree of instruction; wages; stability in the job; industrial accidents, among others. Besides displaying innumerable empirical data which disclose more details about that rich period of Brazil¿s history, this research also highlights the conflicting and ambiguous trajectory of the creation of the first workers trade union, in 1933, attempting through that to discuss and illustrate the not less ambiguous and complex history of the first moments of the institution of the official unionism in Brazil / Mestrado / Historia Social do Trabalho / Mestre em História Social do Trabalho

Orientador: Paulo Celso Miceli / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas. Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-04T03:49:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Lima_MarcosAlbertoHorta_D.pdf: 680824 bytes, checksum: f8d8e65d3d717f26f5223d2613369886 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005 / Resumo: A tese deste estudo é que, ao longo do período de 1919 a 1930, ao criticarem as leis do trabalho preconizadas pelo Estado brasileiro, os industriais reclamaram para os patrões a responsabilidade pela integração do trabalhador à ordem do capital, concebendo um projeto político. Esta tese é relacionada aos trabalhos acadêmicos cujas interpretações se impuseram como referência, compreendendo uma reflexão sobre a construção das respectivas diferenças entre os estudos / Abstract: The thesis of this work is that, during the years of 1919 to 1930, the industrials criticized the laws of work established by the State, and complained to them about the responsibility for the integration of the worker towards the capital, forming a political project. This thesis is related to academic works, who's interpretation have been imposed as a reference, making a reflection about construction of respective differences between the studies / Doutorado / Historia Social / Doutor em História

The focus of this investigation was an analysis of the work demands being placed on South African automotive industry workers as there is a recognised problem with regard to the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). Preliminary work was conducted to highlight the dominant risks and areas which elicited higher numbers of MSDs within the chosen automotive plant. An area of concern was highlighted through medical record analysis and the use of risk assessment tools, thereby prioritising the need for ergonomic intervention. In particular, the effects of varying restricted and overhead work heights on the biomechanical, physiological and psychophysical responses of an individual were investigated. Twenty-eight subjects were required to complete sixteen conditions. The conditions consisted of the adoption of restricted and upright overhead static postures, with half requiring the holding of four kilograms of weight in the hands and the remaining eight conditions having no weight. Testing was carried out using an electromyography unit, ergospirometer and a perceptual Body Discomfort Map and Scale. This involved a habituation and testing session. The results of the testing revealed the biomechanical and physiological responses were dependant on the change in height. Body discomfort was also shown to be variable over the changing height conditions. This indicates that there is a significant effect of height on an individual’s responses during overhead work. The extreme restricted (-200mm and -100mm) and upright (+300mm and +400mm) overhead conditions within this study were limiting, as they elicited the highest muscle activation, physiological responses and body discomfort ratings. Positions that are preferable to adopt, which were identified from the results in this study, indicate conditions closer to head height (0mm and +100mm) were favourable. The results therefore illustrate how awkward working postures during work are likely to elicit higher demands from an individual, which could lead to an increased risk for the development of a musculoskeletal disorder. The added factor of weight elicited significant results over all variables, excluding a respiratory The focus of this investigation was an analysis of the work demands being placed on South African automotive industry workers as there is a recognised problem with regard to the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). Preliminary work was conducted to highlight the dominant risks and areas which elicited higher numbers of MSDs within the chosen automotive plant. An area of concern was highlighted through medical record analysis and the use of risk assessment tools, thereby prioritising the need for ergonomic intervention. In particular, the effects of varying restricted and overhead work heights on the biomechanical, physiological and psychophysical responses of an individual were investigated. Twenty-eight subjects were required to complete sixteen conditions. The conditions consisted of the adoption of restricted and upright overhead static postures, with half requiring the holding of four kilograms of weight in the hands and the remaining eight conditions having no weight. Testing was carried out using an electromyography unit, ergospirometer and a perceptual Body Discomfort Map and Scale. This involved a habituation and testing session. The results of the testing revealed the biomechanical and physiological responses were dependant on the change in height. Body discomfort was also shown to be variable over the changing height conditions. This indicates that there is a significant effect of height on an individual’s responses during overhead work. The extreme restricted (-200mm and -100mm) and upright (+300mm and +400mm) overhead conditions within this study were limiting, as they elicited the highest muscle activation, physiological responses and body discomfort ratings. Positions that are preferable to adopt, which were identified from the results in this study, indicate conditions closer to head height (0mm and +100mm) were favourable. The results therefore illustrate how awkward working postures during work are likely to elicit higher demands from an individual, which could lead to an increased risk for the development of a musculoskeletal disorder. The added factor of weight elicited significant results over all variables, excluding a respiratory individual.

This investigation was undertaken to explore an incentive system to maximize performance in an automotive manufacturing environment. The unit under study was a motor manufacturing company in the Eastern Cape in South Africa. The approach to this investigation was to start with a quantitative analysis to identify if there was a relationship between the incentive reward and employee satisfaction. This was to be done by correlation analysis between the Job Descriptive Index (JDI) and the performance related incentive reward (PBR) of the abovementioned company. The data was then used to develop an interview guide, which was used in a focus group study, to evaluate the current incentive system as a motivator of performance. The analysis of the qualitative interview data was to be done through the use of thematic analysis. Using a percentage based estimation per production line, 150 workers were selected from the 2100 shop floor workers. The Job Descriptive Index (JDI) questionnaires were used to measure the satisfaction index of the workers. The performance data was gathered from the company's incentive statistics over the past year, 2004. All other related data was obtained though thematic analysis by the researcher, who was interested to get the insiders' view. From the emic perspective, more data could be obtained by the researcher by probing with follow-up questions. After both the quantitative and qualitative procedures were completed, the results of the study were found to be much the same as those described in the reviewed literature. The quantitative analysis did not prove a significant correlation between incentive reward and satisfaction; and employees were most satisfied with work, supervision and co-workers and less satisfied with pay and promotion. The qualitative procedure (thematic analysis) highlighted that the current reward system was not motivating performance, but rather demoralised employees, as it was used as a punitive measure to encourage work attendance. The current system also confirmed the error made by many organisations, where the organization purely concentrates on motivating employees with extrinsic rewards and little thought is given to intrinsic recognition.

Orientador: Michael McDonald Hall / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciencias Humanas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-05T14:24:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Konrad_GlauciaVieiraRamos_D.pdf: 2102026 bytes, checksum: e525447ec7234d2e894018182bff0bdc (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006 / Resumo: O período da história do Brasil, conhecido como Estado Novo teve início em 10 de novembro de 1937, através de um golpe de Estado e estendeu-se até 1945. A Constituição de 1937, outorgada, preceituava a retirada das liberdades sociais e a busca do consenso dos trabalhadores e dos seus órgãos representativos. Grande parte da historiografia, que trata deste período, considera que o Estado Novo conseguiu desenvolver o controle absoluto, não tendo ocorrido contestações, reações e questionamentos da sociedade, em geral, e dos trabalhadores, em particular. Enfim, teria existido o completo controle do mundo do trabalho. Neste caso, os trabalhadores ficaram sob total condição heteronômica diante do Estado, seja pela propaganda política e ideológica, seja pela repressão da polícia política. A intenção do governo de Getúlio Vargas, através da implantação de uma legislação trabalhista e social, buscando o controle dos trabalhadores, procurava resolver o conflito entre capital e trabalho pela harmonia social, criando um aparato jurídico-corporativo que submetia a vida sindical ao Ministério do Trabalho. Porém, antes de ser uma doação do Estado, a conquista dos direitos resultou da resistência e da luta dos trabalhadores pela garantia das mínimas condições de vida e trabalho. A tese tem por objetivo demonstrar, através do estudo do Estado Novo no Rio Grande do Sul, que não existiu, neste período, um hiato na história de lutas dos trabalhadores, estabelecendo que as relações entre os sindicatos e o Estado, entre os não-sindicalizados e a sociedade, apresentaram momentos de menor ou maior reação, porém, nunca de conformismo. Seja reivindicando direitos, seja realizando mobilizações individuais ou coletivas, como as greves, houve resistência e acúmulo de forças para as lutas daquele momento histórico, auxiliando na derrota da ditadura do Estado Novo, bem como para outras que marcaram a trajetória e a experiência posterior dos trabalhadores gaúchos / Abstract: The Brazilian history period known as ¿Estado Novo¿ began on November 10th, 1937, through a coup d¿etat and lasted up to 1945. The 1937 Constitution, approved, established the deprivation of social freedom and the search for the workers¿ and their representative organs¿ agreement. Great part of the historiography, that deals with this period, considers that the ¿Estado Novo¿ was able to developed the absolute control, without the event of any contestation, reaction or questioning from society in general, and the from workers more specifically. After all there would have been the complete control of the working world. In this case workers stayed under total heteronomic condition in the face of the State, because of the political or ideological advertisement or because of the repression of the political police. Getúlio Vargas¿ govern purpose, through the implantation of a working and social legislation, aiming at the workers¿ control, tried to solve the conflict between capital and work by social harmony, creating a juridical-corporative display that submitted syndical life to the Ministry of Work. Nevertheless, before being a Station donation, the conquest of the worker¿s rights resulted from their resistance and fight for the warranty for minimum conditions of life and work. This thesis aims at shouting, through the study of the ¿Estado Novo¿ in Rio Grande do Sul, that during this period, there was not a gap in the history of workers¿ fights, establishing that the relations between the unions and the State, between the nonmembers of unions and society, presented moments of weaker and stronger reactions, but there was never conformism. Claiming their rights, or going through individual or group mobilizations, such as the strikes, there was resistance and strength gathering for the fights of that historical moment, helping defeat the dictatorships of ¿Estado Novo¿, as well as for other fights which marked ¿gaúcho¿ workers way and later experience / Doutorado / Historia Social / Doutor em História