Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Technology: Public Management In the Faculty of Business and Management Sciences At the Cape Peninsula University of Technology / The aim of this study was to analyse the management of employee performance with particular reference to the challenges faced by the National Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (NDRDLR) in the Western Cape Province. The Employee Performance Management System (EPMS) provides an integrated framework to manage employee performance through continuous improvement and development. Hence, the organisation identifies the availability of skills, shortcomings and appropriate measures to overcome these shortcomings by means of training, retraining and recruiting skills for the programme or project at hand. A qualitative research methodology was applied using mainly unstructured interviews, focus groups, observation and literature review. A case study approach assisted the researcher to acquire valuable data which was collected from the sample of senior management, middle management, union representatives and human resource practitioners within the National Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (DRDLR) in the Western Cape. The study identified how the performance management systems (PMS) is applied at the DRDLR and also probed into strategies and tools for managing employee’s performance. A purposive sample was composed of managers, and staff from the DRDLR. The researcher obtained approval to conduct the study from the Deputy Director: Human Resource Management within the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, and from the Ethics Committee at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. Findings from this study provided some significance of performance management at the work-place, and some understanding of what is EPMS by both the employer and the employees. This study revealed that there was less understanding of the EPMS, employees’ understanding of EPMS was biased towards pay benefits and rewards. The non-compliance of participants during performance management was a barrier towards the implementation of the EPMS at the DRDLR from the top to bottom in the departmental units where the sample was extracted. The study recommends a workable approach where all affected employees should be included in the planning of performance reviews, and should be trained continuously in order to address shortcomings in the implementation of EPMS. The findings and conclusions from this study contribute to the field of Public Management, while the study also allows other researchers to conduct further research in the field of performance management.

This study investigated how educators experience the peer observation component of the Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS), a quality and performance management system that was introduced into South African schools in 2005. The extent to which the Integrated Quality Management System has contributed to the development of schools in their entirety has been largely unchartered. The objective of this dissertation was to investigate the perceived experiences of educators concerning the peer observation component of the Integrated Quality Management System. A qualitative research paradigm was employed in order to gather data for this study. Semi- structured interviews were conducted with educators; data collected from the interviews was compared and integrated with data collected from the documentsthat were studied. The data gathered was analyzed using the theory of collegiality in order to explore how educators experience peer observation as a component of the IQMS during its implementationas well as what impact it had on collegiality The findings revealed that teachers are given an opportunity to select their peers during peer observation implementation which, however, leads to an inconsistent and subjective allocation and rating of scores in order to get a 1% pay progression. The study found that the peer observation part of the IQMS is an effective tool for teachers‟ development as it helps them identify areas that need to be developed in order to improve on their teaching practice. The study‟s findings also revealed that if favourable conditions for peer observation are created, peer observation enhances collegiality among teachers. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Education Management and Policy Studies / MEd / Unrestricted

This report is written as a thesis for a degree of master. In this report you can read about increasing demands from customers that want their suppliers to be certified by some type of standard, like ISO 9001 and ISO 14001. ISO 9001 is a standard of requirements for implementing a quality management system within an organisation and is built on seven main principles which the organization need to fulfil. ISO 14001 is a standard of requirements for implementing an environmental management system and is like ISO 9001 built on seven main principles. Implementation and the work with the standards are based of the PDCA-cycle. The thesis is made together with AGES Kulltorp AB, a company based in Kulltorp, Värnamo. They supply diecasted and machined products in aluminium and has realised that they are in need to get certified by ISO 14001 and needs an effectivization of their quality management system according to ISO 9001. To be able to implement a standard of this kind, it requires an involved, determined management team and an acceptance that work will be time and resource consuming. The organizations shall also be able to accept changes and the employees must be motivated and empowered to simplify the implementation. This report determines most of the theories from academic work by the practical work of updating the whole management system at AGES Kulltorp to fulfil all the requirements of ISO 9001 and ISO 14001. This report will also state what type of documents and routines that is required for the quality and environmental management system. The report will also describe how AGES Kulltorp made their journey against effectivisation of ISO 9001 and certification of ISO 14001. The survey that were performed at AGES Kulltorp expose most of the internal obstacles that the company must work with to be able to fully implement the management system to the organization.

Two-thirds of higher education institutions are either currently involved in the process of or will soon begin to review their learning management system strategy (Green, 2012). Transitioning from one LMS to another is an endeavor that utilizes the entire institution and requires a great deal of strategic planning and cooperation. The literature described the involvement of instructional designers and technology support as key players in this transition process over a period of parallel time. When BYU transitioned from Blackboard to Learning Suite, a team of student employees managed the majority of the change. While there was very little time when Blackboard and Learning Suite ran in parallel, these employees provided support to faculty across the university. Data for this research included interviews with five faculty consultants who worked closely with faculty on the design of their courses and nine faculty members who used the student employees throughout the process along with survey data and the database kept to track interactions with the faculty members. Interview data were analyzed using a Spradley (1979) analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the survey and interaction data. Major findings suggested that the student employees were the critical component for helping smooth the transition. They were used extensively by the faculty members and logged over 41,000 points of contact over a period one year and four months. The student employees provided side-by-side help to resolve faculty concerns and answer questions. This team added capacity and tool knowledge that supported both faculty members and the consultants.

No description available.

The efficiency, security and resiliency are very important factors for the operation of a distribution power system. Taking into account customer demand and energy resource constraints, electric utilities not only need to provide reliable services but also need to operate a power grid as efficiently as possible. The objective of this dissertation is to design, develop and deploy the Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) - together with control algorithms - that enable demand response (DR) implementation at the customer level, focusing on both residential and commercial customers. For residential applications, the main objective is to propose an approach for a smart distribution transformer management. The DR objective at a distribution transformer is to ensure that the instantaneous power demand at a distribution transformer is kept below a certain demand limit while impacts of demand restrike are minimized. The DR objectives at residential homes are to secure critical loads, mitigate occupant comfort violation, and minimize appliance run-time after a DR event. For commercial applications, the goal is to propose a MAS architecture and platform that help facilitate the implementation of a Critical Peak Pricing (CPP) program. Main objectives of the proposed DR algorithm are to minimize power demand and energy consumption during a period that a CPP event is called out, to minimize occupant comfort violation, to minimize impacts of demand restrike after a CPP event, as well as to control the device operation to avoid restrikes. Overall, this study provides an insight into the design and implementation of MAS, together with associated control algorithms for DR implementation in smart buildings. The proposed approaches can serve as alternative solutions to the current practices of electric utilities to engage end-use customers to participate in DR programs where occupancy level, tenant comfort condition and preference, as well as controllable devices and sensors are taken into account in both simulated and real-world environments. Research findings show that the proposed DR algorithms can perform effectively and efficiently during a DR event in residential homes and during the CPP event in commercial buildings. / Ph. D.

In this dissertation, three major contributions are presented in a photovoltaic (PV) energy system. Firstly, a three-port grid-forming (GFM) microinverter and a lithium-ion battery pack are integrated at the back of PV panel. As a result, they form an AC-PV energy system module that produces an AC output voltage. The technoeconomic analysis, battery capacity optimization, PV panel size optimization, electrical and thermal model of batteries, battery heat generation model, battery management system and thermal management system are discussed in the AC-PV module by using stochastic analysis and battery test results. Secondly, a three-phase 540 KVA bidirectional inverter and a 1.86 MWh lithium-ion battery energy storage system (BESS) were integrated at the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC). A case study is performed for this system by acquiring the energy consumption of the building, the reduced energy consumption, the battery testing, the load shifting, and the peak shaving. The total harmonic distortion (THD) values are also provided. Among eight power management scenarios, the scenarios that include PV panels are satisfied via simulation. However, the scenarios that do not include PV panels are analyzed and presented based on the real-world setting measurements. Thirdly, a modified droop control method is designed for grid-tied and off-grid scenarios. The simulation results are obtained based on three scenarios. The first one is that the voltage and frequency regulation control algorithm is discussed when GFM inverters have the equal power ratings. Then, the load sharing control algorithm is determined based on different GFM inverters' power ratings. The last scenario includes Grid connection. Loads are added and removed from the system to ensure that the frequency and voltage stability is the range of continuous operation. The coupling reactance effect on power sharing is investigated.

Knowledge management has roots in a variety of disciplines, such as philosophy, psychology, social sciences, management sciences and computing. As a result, a wide variety of theories and definitions of knowledge and knowledge management is used in the literature. Irrespective of the theory or definition used, is it recognised that expert knowledge and insight are gained through experience and practice and that it is a key differentiator as an organisational asset. This shift to knowledge as the primary source of value results in the new economy being led by those who manage knowledge effectively. Today’s organisations are creating and leveraging knowledge, data and information at an unprecedented pace – a phenomenon that makes the use of technology not an option, but a necessity. It enables employees to deal with multifaceted environments and problems and make it possible for organisations to expand their knowledge creation capacity. Software tools in knowledge management are a collection of technologies and are not necessarily acquired as a single software solution. Furthermore, these knowledge management software tools have the advantage of using the organisation’s existing information technology infrastructure. Organisations and business decision makers spend a great deal of resources and make significant investments in the latest technology, systems and infrastructure to support knowledge management. It is imperative that these investments are validated properly, made wisely and that the most appropriate technologies and software tools are selected or combined to facilitate knowledge management. The purpose of this interpretive case study is to consider these issues and to focus on an understanding of the key characteristics of a knowledge management system architecture by exploring and describing the nature of knowledge management. Based on the findings of this study, a list of key characteristics that a knowledge management solution must comply with was collated, which expanded the existing knowledge management model towards describing a knowledge management system architecture. / Computing / M.Sc. (Information Systems)

Im Sinne einer nachhaltigen und ganzheitlichen Firmenentwicklung lässt sich in der Unternehmenslandschaft ein Trend in Richtung einer kontinuierlichen Erweiterung des unternehmerischen Zielsystems beobachten. Neben etablierten Aspekten, wie dem Qualitätsmanagement und der Arbeitssicherheit, erlangen weitere Themen, wie beispielsweise das betriebliche Umwelt- und Energiemanagement, zunehmend an Bedeutung. Um die Berücksichtigung dieser Aspekte nachzuweisen, steht Unternehmen die Möglichkeit zur Zertifizierung nach funktionsspezifischen Managementsystemnormen offen. Die Einführung und Dokumentation entsprechender Managementsysteme erweist sich jedoch als ein zeitintensiver Prozess, dessen Schwierigkeit vor allem in der unternehmensspezifischen Interpretation der allgemein formulierten Normanforderungen liegt. Strebt ein Unternehmen die Zertifizierung nach mehreren Managementsystemnormen an, so eröffnet sich die Möglichkeit zur Integration der Managementsysteme. Allerdings sind auch die Aufgaben der Integration durch verschiedene Herausforderungen gekennzeichnet, die den Bedarf nach einer systematischen Unterstützung verdeutlichen. Im Bereich der Wirtschaftsinformatik haben sich konzeptuelle Modelle als Instrument zur zielorientierten und verständlichen Beschreibung komplexer Informationssysteme etabliert. Entsprechende Modelle können die Durchdringung und Kommunikation komplexer Sachverhalte durch eine zweckmäßige Abstraktion und Strukturierung vereinfachen und eine Überführung in Anwendungssoftware vorbereiten. Für die vorliegende Dissertation leitet sich unter Berücksichtigung dieser Aspekte folgende zentrale Forschungsfrage ab: Wie kann die konzeptuelle Modellierung bei den Aufgaben der Dokumentation und Integration standardisierter Managementsysteme unterstützen? Der Forschungsmethode des Design Science Research folgend, präsentiert die vorliegende Arbeit funktionsspezifische und funktionsunspezifische Artefakte, die bei der Dokumentation standardisierter Managementsysteme und deren Integration modellbasiert unterstützen. Die Anwendbarkeit der Artefakte wird anhand eines realen Anwendungsfalls demonstriert. Die Ausführungen der vorliegenden Arbeit basieren auf einer Analyse der Anforderungen nach ISO 9001 für Qualitätsmanagementsysteme, ISO 14001 für Umweltmanagementsysteme, ISO 50001 für Energiemanagementsysteme, OHSAS 18001 für Arbeitsschutz- und Arbeitssicherheitsmanagementsysteme sowie des durch die Internationale Organisation für Standardisierung veröffentlichten Annex SL.

Knowledge management has roots in a variety of disciplines, such as philosophy, psychology, social sciences, management sciences and computing. As a result, a wide variety of theories and definitions of knowledge and knowledge management is used in the literature. Irrespective of the theory or definition used, is it recognised that expert knowledge and insight are gained through experience and practice and that it is a key differentiator as an organisational asset. This shift to knowledge as the primary source of value results in the new economy being led by those who manage knowledge effectively. Today’s organisations are creating and leveraging knowledge, data and information at an unprecedented pace – a phenomenon that makes the use of technology not an option, but a necessity. It enables employees to deal with multifaceted environments and problems and make it possible for organisations to expand their knowledge creation capacity. Software tools in knowledge management are a collection of technologies and are not necessarily acquired as a single software solution. Furthermore, these knowledge management software tools have the advantage of using the organisation’s existing information technology infrastructure. Organisations and business decision makers spend a great deal of resources and make significant investments in the latest technology, systems and infrastructure to support knowledge management. It is imperative that these investments are validated properly, made wisely and that the most appropriate technologies and software tools are selected or combined to facilitate knowledge management. The purpose of this interpretive case study is to consider these issues and to focus on an understanding of the key characteristics of a knowledge management system architecture by exploring and describing the nature of knowledge management. Based on the findings of this study, a list of key characteristics that a knowledge management solution must comply with was collated, which expanded the existing knowledge management model towards describing a knowledge management system architecture. / Computing / M.Sc. (Information Systems)