Commitment to a single, inclusive education system has been the aspiration of reform in education in a democratic South Africa. The dilemma facing the democratically elected government was to write educational policy which, when translated into practice, would improve the educational standards offered to students in impoverished schools while at the same time allow the maintenance of the high standards achieved in schools which had been privileged under the apartheid system. There was, furthermore, the challenge of providing a curriculum that would be meaningful to students from diverse backgrounds bearing in mind the socio-historical moment within which education found itself.Research on inclusive education in the developed world has been extensive. There has been less research completed in developing world countries. Situated in the Pietermaritzburg area of KwaZulu‐Natal (KZN), South Africa, a developing world country, participants in the current study were parents of children with disabilities, aide workers, regular and special educators, managers who made decisions affecting the education of these children, and the children themselves. The research is positioned in the theory of interpretivism which provided the opportunity to give a voice to the participants, to interpret how they made sense of their world. The methodology used was qualitative description with an evaluation component. Qualitative description allowed the discovery and understanding of "a phenomenon, a process, or the perspectives and worldviews of the people involved" (Merriam, 1998, p. 11). Data are presented so that the participants' point of view could be understood and made explicit (Artinian, 1988). Using qualitative description, this current study explored the beliefs about disability and inclusive education specifically of stakeholders in the education of disabled children. The evaluation component provided the means of ascertaining the extent to which disabled students were having their educational needs met, and the extent to which the policy ideals of inclusive education, as articulated in White Paper 6 (Department of Education, 2001), were being achieved.Inclusive education in this present study is viewed as a multifaceted construct which shares a reciprocal relationship with various theoretical determinants. The determinants considered in the present study are (a) concept of other, (b) disability discourse, (c) equity, (d) reconceptualist/incrementalist approaches to inclusive education, and (e) prerequisites for regular and special educator buy-in.Findings revealed that there was evidence of inclusive education beginning to be implemented in KZN in that barriers to learning for many students were being addressed and removed. The specific provision in policy documents directed towards children with disabilities was behind schedule, however, and there was little evidence of full inclusion of students with disabilities in regular education. Reasons for this were multiple and were explored in relation to criteria at a macro- and micro-level, distilled from the literature, which seem to be necessary for the successful inclusion of students with disabilities.The most significant macro-level factors were (i) the legacy of apartheid and the democratic process, moving towards a liberal democracy, still being in progress; (ii) the discourse around disability espoused by the majority of the population resulting in high levels of ostracism of the disabled; and (iii) the disabled becoming lost in the wide definition of need in the barriers to learning approach to inclusive education.The most significant micro-level factors were (i) regular educators being reluctant to embrace the inclusive education initiative because of problems they had encountered with another recent initiative, the implementation of Outcomes Based Education; (ii) special educators fearing for their students if they were to be included without the requisite preparation and support; and (iii) some parents lacking the efficacy to access education of any sort for their disabled children.These macro- and micro-level findings exist within a multifaceted array of factors, an intricate web of nuances and complexity.

This thesis examines the risk and internationalisation practices of International New Ventures (INVs) in the environmental sector. The purpose of the research is to make observations regarding the manner in which environmental INVs manage risk when internationalising.The literature review focuses upon the published literature that relates to INVs, risk and risk management, mode of entry and the environmental sector. Section one of the literature review provides the characteristics of what constitutes an INV. Section 2 provides a review of the risk literature, this allows the differences between Multi National Enterprise (MNE) and INV risk and risk management to be reviewed. Section 3 takes the international business risks mentioned in section 2 and relates them to the mode of entry literature (i.e. the internationalisation of firms). The final section of the literature review is used to justify the investigation into the water pollution and control sector of the environmental industry. The research question is 'What strategies do environmental INVs use when entering new international markets?' The research question is broken into five specific research questions and addressed using the Repertory Grid process. The Repertory Grid process is used as it can turn the tacit knowledge held by the participants into explicit knowledge. The results show areas of convergence and divergence between practice and academia. The results also suggest new issues that need to be considered when firms internationalise. This culminates in the observations made in regard to the way environmental INVs manage risk when internationalising.

Commitment to a single, inclusive education system has been the aspiration of reform in education in a democratic South Africa. The dilemma facing the democratically elected government was to write educational policy which, when translated into practice, would improve the educational standards offered to students in impoverished schools while at the same time allow the maintenance of the high standards achieved in schools which had been privileged under the apartheid system. There was, furthermore, the challenge of providing a curriculum that would be meaningful to students from diverse backgrounds bearing in mind the socio-historical moment within which education found itself.Research on inclusive education in the developed world has been extensive. There has been less research completed in developing world countries. Situated in the Pietermaritzburg area of KwaZulu‐Natal (KZN), South Africa, a developing world country, participants in the current study were parents of children with disabilities, aide workers, regular and special educators, managers who made decisions affecting the education of these children, and the children themselves. The research is positioned in the theory of interpretivism which provided the opportunity to give a voice to the participants, to interpret how they made sense of their world. The methodology used was qualitative description with an evaluation component. Qualitative description allowed the discovery and understanding of "a phenomenon, a process, or the perspectives and worldviews of the people involved" (Merriam, 1998, p. 11). Data are presented so that the participants' point of view could be understood and made explicit (Artinian, 1988). Using qualitative description, this current study explored the beliefs about disability and inclusive education specifically of stakeholders in the education of disabled children. The evaluation component provided the means of ascertaining the extent to which disabled students were having their educational needs met, and the extent to which the policy ideals of inclusive education, as articulated in White Paper 6 (Department of Education, 2001), were being achieved.Inclusive education in this present study is viewed as a multifaceted construct which shares a reciprocal relationship with various theoretical determinants. The determinants considered in the present study are (a) concept of other, (b) disability discourse, (c) equity, (d) reconceptualist/incrementalist approaches to inclusive education, and (e) prerequisites for regular and special educator buy-in.Findings revealed that there was evidence of inclusive education beginning to be implemented in KZN in that barriers to learning for many students were being addressed and removed. The specific provision in policy documents directed towards children with disabilities was behind schedule, however, and there was little evidence of full inclusion of students with disabilities in regular education. Reasons for this were multiple and were explored in relation to criteria at a macro- and micro-level, distilled from the literature, which seem to be necessary for the successful inclusion of students with disabilities.The most significant macro-level factors were (i) the legacy of apartheid and the democratic process, moving towards a liberal democracy, still being in progress; (ii) the discourse around disability espoused by the majority of the population resulting in high levels of ostracism of the disabled; and (iii) the disabled becoming lost in the wide definition of need in the barriers to learning approach to inclusive education.The most significant micro-level factors were (i) regular educators being reluctant to embrace the inclusive education initiative because of problems they had encountered with another recent initiative, the implementation of Outcomes Based Education; (ii) special educators fearing for their students if they were to be included without the requisite preparation and support; and (iii) some parents lacking the efficacy to access education of any sort for their disabled children.These macro- and micro-level findings exist within a multifaceted array of factors, an intricate web of nuances and complexity.

This thesis examines the risk and internationalisation practices of International New Ventures (INVs) in the environmental sector. The purpose of the research is to make observations regarding the manner in which environmental INVs manage risk when internationalising.The literature review focuses upon the published literature that relates to INVs, risk and risk management, mode of entry and the environmental sector. Section one of the literature review provides the characteristics of what constitutes an INV. Section 2 provides a review of the risk literature, this allows the differences between Multi National Enterprise (MNE) and INV risk and risk management to be reviewed. Section 3 takes the international business risks mentioned in section 2 and relates them to the mode of entry literature (i.e. the internationalisation of firms). The final section of the literature review is used to justify the investigation into the water pollution and control sector of the environmental industry. The research question is 'What strategies do environmental INVs use when entering new international markets?' The research question is broken into five specific research questions and addressed using the Repertory Grid process. The Repertory Grid process is used as it can turn the tacit knowledge held by the participants into explicit knowledge. The results show areas of convergence and divergence between practice and academia. The results also suggest new issues that need to be considered when firms internationalise. This culminates in the observations made in regard to the way environmental INVs manage risk when internationalising.

Abstract In this research, we aim to look at the inner workings of Lead Generation and Add-on Sales through the eye of the people working directly with it. We do that with the objective of understanding what contributes positively to its success and what can cause problems or hinders it throughout all its stages from generating innovative ideas to implementing and selling them. We have chosen a qualitative method to conduct this study using an interpretive paradigm in performing our analysis of the findings. The data was collected by organizing interviews with participants that we selected in collaboration with Telco’s researchers. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and coded to form our primary data. In addition to that, we have used vast secondary data that was deemed to be relevant to the subject we were researching. After analyzing the results and findings, we look to answer the research questions, which concern the difficulties accompanying the innovative process between initiating an idea and implementing it as well as identifying the enablers and hindrances that arise during the operations of these innovative initiatives called Lead Generation and Add-on Sales. Once factors were identified, further analysis is performed to discuss if these factors are hindrances or enablers to the innovative initiatives at Telco. The frontline employees’ new business ideas (leads) or add-on sales are added as inputs to the ICT systems of this initiative and follow to subsequent phases until reach the commercialization phase in case they succeed, all the phases and processes occur through the ICT systems. In the context of this research, technology plays a key role and not only make the Lead Generation and Add-on sales processes viable but is also a factor that can either facilitate or impede potential leads or add-on sales to succeed. We put forward a model to better illustrate our findings and clarify the reasoning behind them. Despite the delimitations in terms of scope of this research, we believe that our findings and analysis can play a role in contributing to the understanding of factors that can be a barrier in the pursuit for innovation.

The aim of this study was to explore women's perceptions of ageing in order to shed light on how individual women feel about getting older. The qualitative interpretive research paradigm was chosen for the purposes of this study. In-depth interviews were held with three women who gave their accounts of their perceptions of ageing. The data was analysed using hermeneutic thematic analysis. The accounts of the participants were reconstructed in terms of themes which emerged. Recurring themes in the accounts of all three participants were linked with the literature. This study provided rich descriptions of women's perceptions of ageing and helped to create new insights and meanings both for the participants and the readers. The information gained could serve as guidelines for clinical practice and future research. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

The main purpose of this study is to explore the role spirituality plays in the coping of traffic officers within the South African Traffic Services. A sample of ten traffic officers participated in the study, and data was obtained by means of open-ended questions during in-depth and semi-structured interviews. The literature review aimed to conceptualise spirituality, to conceptualise coping, and to theoretically explore the role of spirituality in the coping of traffic officers. Specific aims for the empirical study were: to gain a better understanding of how traffic officers experience the role of spirituality in coping with their role within the South African context; to provide a framework that can assist with creating an understanding of the role spirituality plays in coping as a traffic officer; and to formulate recommendations for possible future research that explores the role of spirituality in the coping of traffic officers within the discipline of Industrial and Organisational Psychology, more specifically in employee and organisational wellness, and career counselling. The research findings showed that traffic officers in the sample all utilised spirituality in the workplace to various extents, and that they exhibited adaptive coping abilities when doing so. They associated less spirituality or a lack of spirituality with weaker coping abilities. It was found that spirituality in the traffic officers is informed by a foundation of spirituality or religion, purpose to their work and life, their connection to their spiritual source, and the fruits of spirituality. Their coping ability was influenced by upbringing and background, by stressors from their work environment and by coping mechanisms. The role of spirituality in the coping of traffic officers culminated in their ability to interpret the meaning of spirituality, and then to implement spirituality in order to cope. / Industrial & Organisational Psychology / M. Com. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

An increasing number of reports indicate that managers are opposed to performance appraisal. It is important to understand why managers have favourable or unfavourable attitudes towards performance appraisal and it is necessary to investigate the causing factors of these attitudes. The aim of this research was therefore to gain a deeper understanding of the factors that influence managers’ attitudes towards performance appraisal. This study was conducted within the interpretive research paradigm and situated in a medium-sized organisation within the financial services industry. The sample was purposefully selected and the data were collected through in-depth interviews and naïve sketches. The data were analysed applying Tesch’s descriptive analysis method. The main findings indicated that managers who needed to conduct performance appraisals perceived and experienced performance appraisal as an uncomfortable and emotional process that might cause them to become defensive. Moreover, it was revealed that the managers experienced uncertainties about aspects of performance appraisal, such as the purpose of performance appraisal, what must be measured and frequency of performance appraisal. As a result of such uncertainties, managers might not always have the ability or readiness to conduct performance appraisals, especially when the performance appraisal contains negative performance feedback. Furthermore, the organisational context might put managers in an undesirable situation to distort performance ratings of employees in order to achieve organisational goals or the manager’s personal goals, which in turn influence the attitude of the manager. The findings of the study can assist organisations in influencing managers’ attitudes more positively and in enhancing the overall performance appraisal process. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M. Com. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

Information and Communication Technology is used in the education field in Sweden toimprove learning quality. The aim of this research is to investigate the use of LearningManagement Systems in primary schools, in the specific context of the role of LearningManagement System (LMS) in learning and teaching processes from teachers‟perspectives. Furthermore, This Thesis aims to explore teachers‟ perceptions of how touse this learning management system which is used in primary Swedish schools.Six teachers from two different primary schools in small municipality in the south ofSweden participated in semi-structured interviews. The theoretical model of UnifiedTheory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) inspired this qualitativeresearch along with the other related past studies. This quantitative model was only usedto sensitize the research process, for collecting and analysing qualitative data in thisstudy.The different elements of the theory such as performance expectancy, effort expectancy,social influence and facilitating conditions along with studies helps in conducting studybasedon qualitative approach for analysing the interviews. The research results indicatethat teachers were content with the usage of this learning management system, but thereis a lack of knowledge regarding this system. The system is helpful in performanceevaluation, planning, communication and overall working for routine tasks. Theresponses of interviews showed that teachers are not trained for using the features ofLearning management system in the way that it is designed for. The findings showed thatteachers require the support from professionals to integrate the system into their routineplanning. Furthermore, they also emphasise on the need to make the system user-friendlywith easy navigation. The findings of this study were compared to previous studies, anda further comparison was carried out regarding how it relates to the determinants andmoderating factors such as peer influence, internal perceptions and motivations, timeconstraints, organisational structure and facilitating conditions. Hence, support andtraining are needed to enhance learning and teaching through this Learning managementsystem.

The aim of this study was to explore women's perceptions of ageing in order to shed light on how individual women feel about getting older. The qualitative interpretive research paradigm was chosen for the purposes of this study. In-depth interviews were held with three women who gave their accounts of their perceptions of ageing. The data was analysed using hermeneutic thematic analysis. The accounts of the participants were reconstructed in terms of themes which emerged. Recurring themes in the accounts of all three participants were linked with the literature. This study provided rich descriptions of women's perceptions of ageing and helped to create new insights and meanings both for the participants and the readers. The information gained could serve as guidelines for clinical practice and future research. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)