ABSTRACT The call centre environment has become an interesting new venue for research into organisational issues, having grown extensively both internationally and in South Africa, thus playing a crucial role in most industries. In call centres where high value is placed on the meeting of targets and metrics, performance management is crucial. There are numerous differing definitions when it comes to what exactly performance management is, what these definitions have in common however is that they include one or more of the following eight constructs: control; alignment with organisational strategies; the achievement of overall goals and objectives; rewards; training; development; appraisal and motivation (Fisher, Katz, Miller and Thatcher, 2003; Amaratunga, and Baldry, 2002; Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart and Wright, 2003). Perceptions and definitions of performance management may vary between agents, supervisors and managers. In order to determine what perceptions employees at different levels held of performance management in call centres, the exploration of metaphors was employed as they are thought to provide a basis for uncovering perceptions, attitudes and feelings which were previously subconscious or not articulated. The aim of this research was thus to determine: what images employees use to define performance management; what similarities and differences exist in the images and definitions used by employees from different levels within the organisation; and how the images and definitions relate to constructs used to define performance management in the literature. Interviews were conducted with 18 call centre agents, 6 supervisors and 3 managers. The results revealed that employees used both negative and positive images to describe performance management, some of the images did relate to some of the eight constructs, and perceptions of performance management differed according to organisational position with supervisors and managers using more positive images to describer performance management.

The concept of Architecture has received widespread acceptance within the construction industry. However, its importance within the Information Technology industry is a contested one. Critics of Architecture in the Information Technology (IT) industry posit that there is inadequate evidence to assume that it makes a difference to performance of IT. Enterprises increasingly need to ensure that they leverage their IT benefits not only within their silos but across business units. This need has driven ideas to introduce enterprise-wide blueprints or Enterprise Architecture (EA) Planning solutions to guide them in the design and implementation of IT. This study uses a quantitative survey to attempt to answer two questions: 1) What factors influence EA Planning within organizations? 2) To what extent does EA Planning improve IT performance? The Diffusion of Innovation theory (Compatibility, Ease of Use and Relative Advantage) was used to investigate the use of EA Planning whilst the Resource Based View of the Firm was used to investigate the performance impact of EA Planning. IT Performance is measured by Heterogeneity of Physical IT Infrastructure, Replication of IT Infrastructure Services, Business Application Integration and Enterprise Data Integration. EA Planning is measured by EA Planning Human Capital, IT Infrastructure Flexibility and Partnership Quality. Data was collected from 90 architects, some from South African consulting companies and the rest from architects around the world linked to popular Enterprise Architecture virtual communities. The key findings were significant relationships between the following for the factors that influence use of EA Planning: Compatibility and IT Infrastructure Flexibility; Ease of Use of EA Planning Policies and EA Planning Human Capital; Relative Advantage and EA Planning Partnership Quality. Significant relationships were found between the following for factors that influence IT Performance: EA Planning Human Capital and IT Performance (a combination of Enterprise Data Integration, Business Application Integration, Replication of IT Infrastructure Service and Heterogeneity of Physical IT Infrastructure); EA Planning IT Infrastructure Flexibility and Heterogeneity of Physical IT Infrastructure; EA Planning IT Infrastructure Flexibility and Business Application Integration. EA Planning Partnership Quality was rejected as a determinant of IT Performance. This study sheds light on how resistance to EA Planning can be reduced and also highlights the potential benefits of EA Planning in organizations. The implications will directly affect the relationship between EA practitioners and IT projects.

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This paper examines the relationship between the quality of accountings earnings and long-run performance for South African acquirers in the context of market-to-book value classifications. Glamour acquirers show significant earnings momentum prior to acquisition; however this momentum is not sustainable. In the period after the acquisition glamour acquirers exhibit a decreasing earnings trend and it is found that South African value acquirers outperform value acquirer’s post-acquisition. This paper does not however identify the determinant of this phenomenon as the hypothesis that the pre-acquisition earnings momentum of glamour acquirers is in part bolstered by their aggressive investments is rejected.

A dissertation in fulfilment of the Degree of Masters of Arts in Fine Arts (MAFA) at the University of Witwatersrand 2014 / Catherine Wood describes our society today as an entanglement between languages, time, space, intimacy, drama and diversity (Wood 2012: 10). Ian Chambers affirms that the notion of communicating or recounting with greater multi-­‐dimensionality, enacting or displaying more than one perspective at the same time, seems to better facilitate the complexity involved in communication itself (Chambers 2000: 25). Interaction in today’s context is therefore a complex experience that can position many modes of engagement in the same moment. The following dissertation explores the process of translating more than one visual language – here, painting and performance. It explores how the interdisciplinary nature of visual languages can interpret experience as multifaceted, lending greater perspective to concepts, issues and subject matter. Walter Benjamin suggests that this is only possible because languages “are not strangers to one another, but are, a priori and apart from all historical relationships, interrelated in what they want to express” (Benjamin 1969: 72). Benjamin’s text introduces the idea of translation between languages as a mode, a natural way of interaction. I will use his concept of translation to explain my interest in the conflation between painting and performance, and how this process reflects on a particular experience our current context.

As business environments become more complex, with varying degrees of uncertainty, organizations must become more entrepreneurial in order to identify emerging and new opportunities for sustained superior performance. Several factors can promote/enhance corporate entrepreneurship within organizations. This research study examined the role of compensation practices in the process of elevating employees‘ intrapreneurial behaviour. Drawing on the agency theory, hypotheses relating actual and desired compensation practices to elevated employees‘ intrapreneurial behaviour were empirically examined among different employees from various organizations. The moderating role of department‘s risk control on the relationship between desired compensation practices and elevated intrapreneurial behaviour was also examined. Empirical data were collected from 209 respondents in different organizations via a survey questionnaire. The measures included actual compensation practices, desired compensation practices, actual intrapreneurial behaviour, elevated intrapreneurial behaviour, and department‘s risk control. The main analytical techniques used in this study were t-test for dependent/related groups, canonical correlation and moderation regression analyses. The findings of this study indicated that non-monetary compensation practices were the best predictors of elevated intrapreneurial behaviour and that department‘s risk control did not moderate this relationship. However, it is unknown how the selection of industries will affect this study‘s findings. In addition, desired compensation practices explained only 25% of the variance in elevated intrapreneurial behaviour, suggesting that compensation systems are not enough to elevate employees‘ intrapreneurial behaviour. Compensation systems should be an integral part of an overall entrepreneurial strategy of an organization.

M.P.H., Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 2011 / Background: This study seeks to determine knowledge and attitudes of operational supervisors on the performance management system, at Mopani district hospitals in Limpopo Province. This is owing to the fact that literature indicates that poor management of performance is still found among experienced managers. Employees‟ perception is that managers/supervisors lack proper understanding with regard to implementation of management performance system, due to lack of training and use of predefined ratings. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out in the district hospitals of Mopani district for a period of two months (March to April 2010). The study targets operational supervisors because they directly supervise many employees (5 to 8) and are at the front line of service delivery, interacting daily with community members. Results: A response rate of 54% (88/162) was achieved. Operational supervisors with less than ten years of experience scored higher in both positive attitude and knowledge on performance management system, as compared to supervisors with more than ten years of experience. There is no statistical significance difference with all questions relating to perceptions. Conclusion: The finding of this study has led to the following recommendations being made: a) The provision of regular in-service training on implementation of the performance management system with special attention being given to operational supervisors, to assist in adherence to some form of quality control. b) Setting up of a task team to conduct regular audits on the implementation of performance management system in all departmental institutions hospitals to ensure that quality service delivery is provided to clients.

O presente trabalho pretende demonstrar, por meio de notas etnográficas, o caráter lúdico e dramatúrgico dos processos seletivos para trainees, suas contradições e clichês, bem como a necessidade implícita da montagem de performances por parte dos concorrentes para esses momentos decisivos e extremamente concorridos. A pesquisa se pautou na experiência que o pesquisador vivenciou ao longo de cinco meses de trabalho de campo, período em que trabalhou em uma consultoria de gestão de pessoas, ocupando uma posição liminar, sendo ao mesmo tempo um antropólogo e um headhunter. Além disso, foram realizadas análises documentais, entrevistas e visitas a feiras de carreira e profissões. Outra parte importante do estudo é a experiência subjetiva dos candidatos entrevistados, que são pensados enquanto atores que devem escolher o que entra e o que fica de fora de suas performances e que necessitam dispor de uma série de características desejadas pelo universo corporativo. Os sonhos de sucesso que povoam o imaginário dos participantes, alimentados pela publicidade das empresas, são contrastados com o profundo silêncio das experiências de fracasso que muitos vivenciam, seja por não se adequarem ao perfil esperado, seja pela insuficiência de suas formações acadêmica e profissional, ou até mesmo pelo show de horrores que compõe esses momentos arbitrários e subjetivos das seleções de emprego. / The present research intends to demonstrate through ethnographic notes the playful and dramaturgical character of the selective processes for trainees, their contradictions, clichés as well as the implicit necessity of performance´s building on the part of the competitors for these crucial and extremely disputed moments. The research was based on the researcher´s experiences during five months of fieldwork, period when he worked in a people management consulting company, taking a liminal position, being at the same time anthropologist and headhunter. In addition, documental analyses, interviews and visits to professions fairs were developed. Another important part of the study is the subjective experience of the interviewed candidates who are seen as actors who must choose what goes in and what is left out of their performances and who need to dispose of a series of desired characteristics from the corporative universe. The dreams of success, which invade the imagination of the participants, who are fueled of companies advertisements, are contrasted with the deep silence of the failed experiences, either because they do not fit the expected profile, or due to the insufficiency of their academic and professional background, or even the \"show of horrors\" that compose these arbitrary and subjective moments of the job selections.

Atravessado por conceitos de performatividade, participação e performação , o caderno de metodologia desta obra/estudo, além de abordar a estrutura da tese, apresenta proposições do tema transversal do estudo - Dinâmicas e Trocas Entre Estados de Performance (DTEEP). A tese solicita uma leitura/prática nas quais são propostos atravessamentos entre os seguintes formatos: Formatos de escrita: informativo/descritivo, exploratório, inventivo, propositivo e leitor/performer. Formatos de narrativas textuais: Leitura Composicional (entre índices, cadernos e encartes); Leitura Sequencial ou Linear (leitura padr nizada de texto), Leitura Icônica (através de ícones de identificação, de interferência e de transferência) e Leitura/Performance (realizando proposições). Formatos de agenciamentos no campo das artes visuaisŠ: Artista/ Pesquisador/Curador/Aluno/Participante. Formatos de autoriaˆ: projetos individuais do autor, projetos de outros artistas, projetos coletivos, projetos participativos. Formato de metametodologiaˆ: Atravessamento de metodologias de outros autores de Poéticas Visuais. Em cada um dos formatos acima encontram-se diferentes possibilidades expressivas que viabilizam atravessamentos no interior de cada formato. O uso desses atravessamentos, dentro e entre os formatos, objetiva a contaminação, almejando um resultado artístico complexo

Hospitals come under the focus of health planners and policy makers because they invariably consume large and increasing amounts of health care resources and performance is commonly believed to fall short of that possible. The common response by governments to this situation has been to implement hospital reforms. However, emerging evidence from impact evaluations of such reforms shows little clear evidence of performance enhancement. It is argued in this study that hospital reforms in most countries are implemented without enough understanding of current performance, or knowledge of hospital behaviour. Such information is necessary for effective design, implementation and evaluation of reforms. The aim of the study was to measure hospital performance and contribute to the understanding of its determinants. The role of internal organisation and management to hospital performance has been underplayed in most studies such that the workings of the hospital remain a "black box". The study sought to demonstrate that understanding hospital performance entails understanding not only the technical relationships of dimensions of hospital performance but also the institutional context, and behaviour of individuals or groups within it who ultimately shape hospital behaviour. A multiple case study approach was used to study six tertiary hospitals in Zimbabwe. Hospital performance was first assessed through analysis of utilisation statistics. This was followed by an assessment of two dimensions of hospital performance: costs and quality of inpatient services. Costs were measured using standard cost accounting methods at hospital, ward and patient level. At patient level, a combination of. prospective micro-costing and top-down costing methods was applied to cohorts of patients suffering from selected tracer diseases: 207 malaria and 158 pulmonary tuberculosis cases. The quality of hospital inpatient services was also measured at hospital and patient level using structural and process approaches. The relationship between cost and quality of services was then explored at patient level using tracer conditions. A triangulation of methods was then used to explore internal organisation and management: staff interviews, observations, attendance at hospital meetings and review of administrative records. Analysis of activity statistics showed that the six hospitals had different levels of activity although they had similar roles in the referral hierarchy. Distinctive unit cost patterns were observed across the hospitals. Unit cost variation across hospitals was generally similar at hospital, ward and patient level. The results from the analysis of activity statistics were predictive of hospital cost classifications. The quality of hospital services varied across hospitals from both structural and process perspectives. There was little convergence in results from hospital level structural quality assessment, and process quality assessment. Cost-quality relationships in inpatient care showed a distinct pattern across tracer diseases, which permitted classification of the six hospitals into three performance categories. These classifications were used to relate quantitative and qualitative results of the study. The institutional contexts within which public hospitals in Zimbabwe operate is explored and described. There are fundamental policy design weaknesses related to the way hospitals are financed, governed and managed, which affect hospital performance. Hospital staff appears apathetic about hospital performance because of lack of appropriate incentives. Several hospital internal factors were reported as impinging on hospital performance. These factors can broadly be summarised as lack of management capacity and skills, inappropriate internal organisational and management structures, and staff reward systems. The current incentive structure at individual and institution level does not engender performance improvement. Relative hospital performance did not vary systematically with different institutional characteristics. For instance, compliance or non-compliance with mandated organisation and management structures did not account for performance differences whilst weak associations were found between relative performance, and differences in management capacity and skills. The absence of direct relationships between institutional characteristics and relative performance was not unexpected given the exploratory nature of the study and the possible multiple interrelationships between these factors Nonetheless, the study systematically describes and exposes current weaknesses in the internal structure of public hospitals in Zimbabwe, and identifies those internal organisational and management features considered important to performance. The study concludes that there is considerable scope for improving hospital efficiency and quality of services (with available resources) by changing internal organisation and management of hospitals. Of particular importance is the need to change and align incentives (monetary and nonmonetary) at both individual and institution level in ways that promote performance improvement.