Despite numerous successes and appreciable advantages of the Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree, the reputation of the MBA has deteriorated in the eyes of businesses, as its relevance has been questioned and businesses often fail to see students applying acquired skills practically back at work.While previous research has focussed on the experience and opinions of MBA students themselves, this research sought insights of businesses and business schools, specifically considering the value of collaborative relationships for strengthening the MBA’s impact.This research aimed to understand how collaboration can improve the impact of the MBA, first by affirming the successes of the MBA, confirming its importance to business and then exploring current challenges. Previous initiatives have been unsuccessful in reviving the MBA’s ailing reputation, as they were isolated initiatives, lacking the support and involvement of other MBA stakeholders.<p/>This research, therefore, investigated the requirements for a collaborative relationship to be willingly entered into and sustained, looking particularly at in-house programmes which were successful in encouraging collaboration and involvement of stakeholders.From the research findings, the Collaborative Impact Model was designed to set out how a collaborative relationship can be established and maintained, optimising the impact of the MBA while also minimising its many challenges. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Federal government managers were advised to strengthen internal controls; the law dictates attestation of effective management controls, and the internal control program is used to detect risks. However, managers lacked preparatory training, with training being overlooked given the increased responsibilities. Managers are assigned the programmatic role regardless of the lack of program standards in knowledge, skill, and ability. The research questions addressed change management components, concepts, and core qualifications relative to program readiness. The purpose of this single case study was to identify and explore change management components contributing to the effectiveness of internal controls. The conceptual framework was based on Lewin's change concepts of unfreezing, moving or changing, and refreezing phases with the inverse principle in field theory. Thirteen professionals from the pacific military unit in Hawaii participated in semistructured interviews. Inductive coding was used to thematically analyze the data. The key results of the emerged themes illustrated how: organization skillset was used for linking change components to internal controls, assessment was a tool used for transforming a manager's concept, and experience was essential in leading change core qualifications. Significance of the study was the promotion of stronger measures in preventing fraud, waste, and mismanagement of limited resources. The research results could inspire social change by increasing communication and collaboration to benefit senior leaders, and financial and program managers. The value-added training concepts and leadership innovation, and how managing change relates to internal control could lead to program success thus benefiting all primary stakeholders.

The TVET colleges in South Africa contribute to the social and economic development of the country. It is for this reason that TVET colleges are expected to provide quality teaching and learning, but this core business of the colleges has been hampered by a lack of professional development or irrelevant professional development of lecturers. The study aims to investigate the relevance of professional development offered at a selected TVET college in the Free-State province and the improvement thereof. The study employed a qualitative research design involving 22 participants. The participants comprised of two executive managers, two campus managers, four heads of department, six senior lecturers and eight lecturers. The participants were purposively selected using purposive sampling. Face-to-face semistructured interviews were conducted to collect data from managers and two focus group interviews were employed to collect data from lecturers. The findings of the study revealed that there is a need for relevant professional development of lecturers at the selected TVET college. The most important recommendation with the potential to change the situation at the studied college is that the planning, organising, leading and control of professional development need to be done more professionally. If managers utilise management functions (planning, organising, leading and control) properly to manage lecturer’s professional development, lecturers will be in a better position to provide quality teaching. Other relevant recommendations are also provided. / Educational Management and Leadership / M. Ed. (Education Management)