Finanças / Master in Finance

Finanças / Master in Finance

Contabilidade / Master in Accounting

Finanças / Master in Finance

Economia e Administração de Empresas / Master in Economics and Organizations Administration

The last decade has witnessed an unprecedented attempt to improve performance outputs from public sector organizations as a whole. This has culminated in a range of government reforms across the whole of the public sector based on the principles of accountability, targets and measurements. Underpinning the performance improvement drive within the public sector is an emerged concept of new public management (NPM) regime which mirrors the management practices of the private sector. This work focuses on the Further Education sector as an entity within the public sector services underpinned by the broad theoretical context to understand why FE colleges with similar characteristics perform differently. The OFSTED report, “Why colleges succeed or Fail” (2004) found a strong correlation between Ofsted’s assessment of management effectiveness and performance of the institutions. Those that were awarded Grade 1 for leadership and management recorded outstanding overall performance output and those judged to have weak leadership and management recorded overall poor performance output. It is would seem logical to draw a conclusion that the quality of FE leadership impacts on the quality and value of its service. This work explores this relationship in greater depth. The focus of this study was to explore the extent to which managerial competences within a situated cultural and structural content contributed to the differences in the performance of FE colleges in England and Wales. The overall objective was to analyse how the competences of senior managers, defined as formal qualification, professional experience, professional functional skills and personal attributes interact with organizational factors such as structure and culture to impact on performance. There is a lack of knowledge on the subject and this hinders the ability to place a value on the quality of leadership in the FE sector and its importance in organizational performance. Four colleges were chosen for the study from East London. The four colleges were from the same socio- economic catchment and they fell within the four categories of Ofsted performance measurements: Outstanding, Good, Satisfactory and Poor. The methodology used in this study examined the phenomena of interest in the four colleges through a process of semi-structured interviews which provided an in-depth and contextual understanding of the problem in a case study scenario. In total 27 managers were interviewed for the study, of which 3 were the college principals, 16 senior managers and 8 middle managers. A performance framework was developed from the research findings which provides some of the answers to the key research questions. Broadly, the findings suggest that some elements of managerial competences such as formal qualifications, personal attributes and educational or managerial orientations within a specific cultural climate and structure contributed to the differential performance outputs of the four FE colleges. The performance framework identified three strong relationship links between these elements which collectively would produce a strong performance outcome. The thesis makes two key contributions to existing knowledge. First, it introduces a conceptual framework that could inform managerial decision making in such a way as to achieve effective performance output from an FE college. The findings could also have a possible broader application across public sector organizations. In addition, the work also makes contributions to extant management literature by either providing some evidence of the relevance of some of the existing work or providing an alternative view to the current lines of thinking.

This study aims to determine the state of employee participation in decision-making within the public enterprises of communication in Rwanda. More particularly, it is aimed at mapping out the extent of employee participation in the decision-making process in this area, to identify whether employees desire to participate in decision-making and to find out whether they would prefer to participate directly or act through a representative. It also aims to determine the form(s) of participation practised in the public enterprises of communication, to identify impediments to the participation of employee in decision-making and based on the results suggest recommendations in order to further promote employee participation in the decision-making procedure within this area. The research focuses on employee participation in the decision-making process in the public enterprises of communication in Rwanda. A questionnaire related to employee participation in decision-making was administered to a sample of 96 employees, but only 82 employees filled and returned the questionnaire. Various data analyses techniques were performed measure the state of employee participation in decision-making in general, and the extent of employee participation in the decisionmaking procedure within the public enterprises of communication in Rwanda in particular. The results revealed that the degree of employee participation in decision-making is very low and only senior managers (department managers) have access or rights to participate in the decision-making process. However, those who do not have opportunities to influence decisions made at the workplace manifest a great desire to participate in the decision-making process, and for a considerable number, this tends to be concerned with decisions daily affecting their own job. It was noted that the main obstacles to the participative process within the public companies of communication in Rwanda are the following: a lack of interest, a lack of initiative and support to the participation process from the government, an authoritarian approach via centralisation system of authority and control, managers especially general directors who are unwilling to share decision-making power with employees, manager's enterprise hesitates to accept employees as valuable partners in making decisions, and inadequate understanding of employees concerning their new roles in management of their enterprises. Therefore, employees did not recognise an educational level as an obstacle to their participation. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2004.

Whether the clients were in pretty good health or very good health, the clients would generally pay the same price. But now insurers are looking more closely at the healthiest customers, understanding that someone who is not overweight, and who has low cholesterol and no family history of major medical conditions is a better risk than the average person. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2004.

Purchasing and supply education and training are vital to the success of Eskom and most importantly to the survival and growth of the profession. In the last decade, the field of procurement has been faced with many changes which have had dramatic impacts on the field of purchasing and supply chain and which ultimately have influenced education and training needs. Eskom is currently facing a number of key challenges to meet current increasing demand fuelled by economic growth and to manage a build program of some R84 billion over the next five years to meet future load demand. These challenges have to be met in the face of Chinese and Indian consumption of raw materials which is affecting their availability to Eskom suppliers. This is putting further strain on the procurement practitioners within the Generation Division who are required to be both highly skilled and knowledgeable in order to meet the challenges in this dynamic and competitive profession. However, continual poor audit results achieved by the majority of the Power Stations in addition to the inclusion of Procurement and competencies and skills development on the Big Five List of high risk areas, have been a clear signal that there is a major problem in the Procurement field, not only across the Generation Division, but Eskom wide and possibly country wide as well. Although the focus of this dissertation will be on the Generation Division, it is envisaged that the recommendations made will be able to be utilized Eskom wide and possibly even in other organizations external to Eskom. A three pronged approach was utilized when conducting the research. This approach consisted of an extensive literature review of the existing body of knowledge available, this was used in conjunction with surveys and interviews conducted. The results obtained from a sample of 89 procurement practitioners, managers and training practitioners were used to reach findings and to make conclusions. It is important to note that there is a dire lack of local information concerning the subject, overseas journals and books were thus used as a reference source a majority of the time. Although there is currently a Procurement Curriculum which Procurement Practitioners are required to complete, it was found that the curriculum did not meet the requirements of the practitioners and did not adequately provide them with the necessary competencies required of them to perform their tasks effectively. There is thus a dire need for this curriculum to be reviewed and to take into consideration the competencies required to assist the Procurement Practitioner to become world class and to elevate the status of the organization to that of a worldclass organization which possesses the competitive advantage. The above mentioned issue was however not seen to be the major issue. Other possibly more important issues were deemed to have also contributed to the poor audit results and subsequent poor image of Procurement. The major issue, the author believes is due to the fact that there is no professional body recognized by Eskom. This has contributed to a host of problems for example, lower graded jobs, discrepancies in grades between divisions, no standardized entry level criteria to name but a few issues. This has resulted in the Theory of Self Sealing Behavior taking place in the form of a de-motivated body of employees which in turn has contributed to the poor image procurement possesses in the organization. It is believed that if a new nationally recognized and credible professional body is created, a multitude of problems will be minimized. This body will however be required to provide guidance and a professional status which is so desperately required in the procurement field. It is furthermore believed that this will positively change the perception that management currently possesses of Procurement. Other important recommendations made include: • Generation Commercial Training to be re-linked to the Corporate Supply Chain Management Office which will enable the Department to provide guidance and World Class Procurement and Supply Chain Management Training Eskom wide. • Standardized entry level criteria. This should preferably be a Degree in Supply Chain Management. Further studies must be encouraged as it is envisaged that in the next decade a Masters Degree will be seen as the minimum requirement. Retention and succession plan policies must be encouraged to ensure that employees are retained and that a transfer of skills occurs. The survey conducted indicates that a majority of the people are over the age of 50. • The entire manner in which Commercial Training is currently training practitioners must be reviewed. For example, alternate training interventions must be introduced for example the internationally recognized International World Trade Centre Supply Chain Program. Alternate forms of training should be introduced for example, the reading of journals, updating of skills by looking at a video etc. The introduction of adult principles of learning into training interventions is of vital importance to ensure maximum transfer of learning. Senge (1990: 64) states that "Tackling a difficult problem is often a matter of seeing where the high leverage lies, a change which with minimum of effort - would lead to lasting, significant improvement." With this in mind it is suggested that the change which would have the highest leverage would be the introduction of a formalized coaching and mentoring system in Eskom. By utilizing the competencies and past experiences of the older people, coupled with the correct world class skills will ensure the success of this discipline. Without this sharing of knowledge, the required professional status will never be obtained. In conclusion it is believed that the current skills issues which are currently being experienced by Eskom are not unique to Eskom, there is currently a skills shortage country wide. However, because Eskom is such an significant and visible organization in South Africa it is imperative for the future economic growth of South Africa that there is a culture change in Eskom towards Procurement with the career development of purchasing and supply change management professionals being viewed as a top priority. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2005.

Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2010.