Thesis (M. A. (Translation Studies)) -- University of Limpopo, 2016 / This study is an evaluation of language management by the University of Limpopo. It is divided into six chapters which are arranged as follows: Chapter one serves to introduce the study by first giving background to the study and the research problems. The researcher’s aims and objectives as well as the research design, method used to collect and analyse data were discussed. Chapter two deals with literature review that covers the scope of Language Management Theory; the language policy in higher education; the intellectualisation of African languages; the advantages of using African languages in education; the non-implementation of language policies; and the attitudes towards the use of African languages. Chapter three discusses the methodology used in the research. The methodology used in this research is qualitative and the method used to collect data was questionnaires and interviews. Ten students and ten lecturers answered the research questionnaires and furthermore five language practitioners were also consulted for this study. Chapter four of this research compiled a sociolinguistic profile of the University of Limpopo. SWOT analysis of languages was also done to determine the strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the official indigenous languages of the University of Limpopo. Chapter five presents the interpretation of results. The data from students, lecturers, and language practitioners were examined separately. SPSS version 23 was used to analyse the data collected through questionnaires and the graphs are shown in chapter four. Content analysis was used as well to analyse the data collected through interviews. And lastly, the summary of the results was presented. Chapter six presents the summary of all the chapters included in this research. It also provides the recommendations of the study.

Occupational regulation of many professions has grown in magnitude and complexity in the past fifty years. Statutes relating to occupational regulation are often implemented by state legislatures without sufficient quantitative analysis. Prior studies have analyzed the need for regulation to protect consumers. Some research has been published which addresses the differences in the quality of services offered by regulated and unregulated professions. Due to lack of data, the effect of state regulation on commercial income tax preparers has not been quantified. Recently data from the 1979 cycle of the Taxpayer Compliance Measurement Program (TCMP) has been made available by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). These data provided the opportunity for analysis relating to questions of quality of services offered by commercial income tax preparers. The analysis evaluated differences in error rates or amounts between returns prepared in a highly regulated state--Oregon, a state with minimum regulation--California, and the remaining forty-eight unregulated states. Items were chosen from the tax returns to evaluate the integrity and competency of the tax preparer, the effect of continuing education, and the accumulated effect of the totals of income, adjustments, and deductions. Descriptive statistics, cluster analysis, and non-parametric methods were used to test the hypotheses. Descriptive measures indicated that Oregon's error rates were among the lowest while California's errors were among the highest in the country. Cluster analysis grouped Oregon with states in the midwest while California grouped with other states in the sunbelt. The non-parametric tests indicated that Oregon's error rates and amounts were statistically smaller than the unregulated states. When Oregon was compared to the clustered states or to other states in the Northwest, the differences were not significant. When the samples from California were compared to those from the unregulated states, it was evident that the error rates were substantially higher in California. When California's errors were considered relative to the states from the sunbelt, the results were similar. The final comparison was made relative to levels of regulation. The errors on the returns from California were significantly larger than those from Oregon in all areas tested.

Successful innovations have been assumed by prior literature to ultimately be adopted by all competitors within an industry based on social explanations or economic rationale specific to the efficiency of the innovation. However, capabilities possessed by a firm can enhance or inhibit the adoption based upon their similarity to those used in the innovation. In categorizing a firm's capabilities as complementary, substitutive, or neutralizing to the innovation, this study provides an economic explanation for the role of internal capabilities in adoption decisions. Using a sample of professional football teams adopting the West Coast Offense, I find that capabilities influence the decision process in favor of adopting for organizations with complementary and substitutive capabilities. The role of knowledge from the innovator is highlighted in adopting the innovation, but fails to moderate the relationship between adoption and firm performance. I also illustrate how adopting firms with complementary capabilities outperform those organizations with similar capabilities that elect not to adopt. Finally, I demonstrate that firms with neutralizing capabilities are better off not adopting the innovation based on comparative performance of adopters and non-adopters. The overall results suggest a greater emphasis on internal capabilities of the firm in innovation adoption and reconsideration of theories stating that innovations should be adopted throughout an industry.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how knowledge retention may be enhanced at the University of Zambia (UNZA). A mixed research methodology was employed in the case study design. Data was collected using interviews and questionnaires. Purposive sampling was used to determine participants for the interviews while stratified random sampling was employed for the questionnaire respondents. Out of a population of 435 a sample of 205 was surveyed. The response rate was 60 %. Findings indicate that UNZA lacked a number of knowledge retention practices that can enable it to retain operational relevant knowledge. In view of these findings, the study concluded by recommending guidelines for the adoption of various knowledge retention practices that could be embedded into UNZA's knowledge management policy. / Information Science / M.A. (Information Science)

The purpose of this study was to investigate how knowledge retention may be enhanced at the University of Zambia (UNZA). A mixed research methodology was employed in the case study design. Data was collected using interviews and questionnaires. Purposive sampling was used to determine participants for the interviews while stratified random sampling was employed for the questionnaire respondents. Out of a population of 435 a sample of 205 was surveyed. The response rate was 60 %. Findings indicate that UNZA lacked a number of knowledge retention practices that can enable it to retain operational relevant knowledge. In view of these findings, the study concluded by recommending guidelines for the adoption of various knowledge retention practices that could be embedded into UNZA's knowledge management policy. / Information Science / M.A. (Information Science)

Movement, distribution, and habitat use of juvenile bull sharks were examined in two studies using manual and passive acoustic telemetry. Research was conducted in the Caloosahatchee River, which serves as nursery habitat for this species, and is highly impacted due to anthropogenic alterations in water quality and quantity via dams and locks. Manual tracking yielded fine-scale results for eight individuals on home range size, rate of movement, swimming depth, linearity, direction of travel, tidal influence, diel pattern, as well as correlation with environmental variables. Changes in salinity, temperature, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, and pH played a role on the distribution of bull sharks. Passive monitoring of twelve individuals allowed for examination of trends in residency, home range, depth, and distribution in response to water quality alterations. Both studies documented a shift in the distribution of animals in response to significant modifications in salinity and flow levels. Sharks were distributed throughout the river at low flow rates, but were located only near the river mouth, or exited the river at discharges rates above 75 m³s-1. Current water management policies are examined and recommendations are made which include the physiological preferences of this top-level predator.

Extant research within competitive dynamics recognizes a positive relationship between high levels of competitive activity and firm performance, but the cognitive and psychological antecedents to competitive activity are far less clearly understood. I explore the role of a specific psychological antecedent - status, in impacting firms’ motivations to launch competitive moves against rivals. The key question, which extant literature does not seem fully equipped to answer, is when and under exactly what circumstances lower-status firms become motivated to launch action against higher-status ones and vice-versa. I use the stimulus-response model in social cognition to build theory which helps to answer the question by considering structural properties of market engagement. The specific structural property of market engagement that I focus on is market commonality, or the extent to which a rival is a significant player in markets important to a focal firm. I predict that a rival’s market commonality with a focal firm and its status relative to the focal firm have independent and positive effects on the extent to which the focal firm pays attention to the rival, that a rival’s market commonality with a focal firm and its status relative to the focal firm interact negatively to predict the focal firm’s motivation to launch action against that rival, and that a rival’s relative status and market commonality with a focal firm interact positively to predict the extent to which the focal firm pays attention to the rival. I test theory through a field study on gourmet food trucks in Lexington and an experiment through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk tool. Results provide broad support for the hypotheses. Three consequences follow from my study – that high-status firms are likely to come under attack from lower-status firms with whom they do not compete in markets, that they are unlikely to be paying attention to those lower-status firms when first attacked, and that they are likely to become aware of and motivated to act against those lower-status firms only after the lower-status firms have occupied key markets. My study contributes to the literatures in competitive dynamics, status, multi-market contact, and entrepreneurial action.

Many small businesses fail after 5 years, having a negative impact on local and national economies. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore small-enterprise leader-operators’ experiences regarding practices that aid sustainability beyond 5 years. Twenty small enterprise leaders in the United States Midwest who were identified as having 5 years of longevity in leading organizations with fewer than 500 employees were invited to participate. These participants shared their lived experiences through semistructured interviews conducted in-person and by telephone. The dynamic theory of leadership development was used to underpin the study. In the central research question for this study, the skills and practices needed by small-business practitioners to ensure success beyond 5 years were addressed. A reduction method was used to reduce data from 11 interview questions in 20 semistructured interviews into common themes. Seven themes emerged as long-term practices used by practitioners. These 7 practices included collaboration and forms of communication, mentoring, people skills, networking, investing in people, setting an example, and planning. The implications for positive social change include the potential to stabilize the economic wellbeing of the small business sector and therefore the community. Small business practitioners may benefit from this research by identifying and improving practices leading to long-term viability.

The McDonald's model of labour management has been widely adopted throughout the fast food industry. Literature that is critical of fast food labour management policy and practice often portrays employers as offering work that is low paid, unchallenging and uninteresting. However, others argue that the industry provides young workers with: a first resume entry, training opportunities, the chance to develop a career and a path into employment. This study interprets these two perspectives as reflecting either misalignment or alignment of employee/crew and employer preferences. Such an interpretation recognises that fast food work does not represent a career for many who do it but is short term or 'stop-gap' in nature. The study's research question is: to what extent does management preference for elements of work align with the preferred working arrangements of crew at McDonald's Australia? This research subjects McDonald's Australian stores to independent scrutiny. Previous research in this area has mostly used qualitative methods. Earlier studies, by and large, provide descriptive accounts of fast food employment however they often lack the rigour of an empirical investigation. The present research uses a structured survey method to obtain data from crew and managers. Results are analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings focus on three areas of labour management: industrial relations, work organisation and human resource management. Several themes relating to alignment of preferences in the fast food employment relationship are identified. These are: crew have scant knowledge of industrial relations, do not like aspects of work organisation, but respond positively to certain human resource management policies and practices; crew lack knowledge of labour management issues generally; crew work is simple and repetitive; and, many young crew seem to dislike aspects of fast food work as they get older but others, who have distinctive characteristics, appear to continue to like the McDonald's approach as they age.

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