Magister Commercii - MCom / This literature study aims to identify international best practice concerning the role of the board and more particularly that of the independent director in ensuring good corporate governance. The study is based on sources which include a large contingent of up to date sources on the subject ranging from newspaper articles, journal articles, various corporate governance codes, company reports and reports on governance such as Cadbury and Higgs. / South Africa

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document Copyright 1999, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. Please cite as follows: Beukes, CJ 1999, A management accounting strategy for mining rehabilitation , DCom thesis, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd- 01192007-131232/ > H110/th / Thesis (D Com (Accounting Sciences))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Accounting / unrestricted

Since the inception of economic reform, China has undergone comprehensive changes which have stimulated substantial research on various aspects of Chinese society. In recent years, research on management and organisation in China has grown rapidly, but with relatively little attention being devoted to the ethnographic analysis of private enterprises, despite the fact that such enterprises play a crucial role in China’s economy and make a significant contribution to labour employment. A lack of close, personal and meaningful access to everyday organisational activities is often cited as one of the main reasons preventing such research. This thesis attempts to fill the gap through investigating the everyday nature of management and managerial work in seven large private shipbuilding enterprises in China. In so doing it seeks to provide ethnographic answers to one main question – what are the characteristic features of the emerging management systems employed in private enterprises in contemporary China? In so doing the research investigates how such systems have evolved and the ways in which they impact on the nature of everyday managerial work.Research that seeks to understand the reality of management and managerial work however is not research that deals exclusively with static or structural organisational phenomena. Instead it is also research that requires sensitivity to changing events and processes – ones that interact constantly with elements of a complex and dynamic environment. It is argued here that such research demands a theoretical framework capable not only of appreciating the diversity of formal management systems in contemporary China, but which can also incorporate informal social and cultural factors into its analysis. To establish sensitivity both to structural and cultural phenomena the research approach developed here is one that combines two, very different, sociological theories - labour process theory (LPT, derived from Braverman, 1974) and Chaxugeju theory (derived from Fei, 1947). On the one hand, LPT offers a framework for appreciating structural forces stimulating changes to management systems and managerial work. On the other hand, Chaxugeju theory facilitates appreciation of how cultural, historical and social factors are synthesized in rules and principles that characterise the operation of society and the values and logics that guide human action, Taken together, the combination of LPT and Chaxugeju facilitates the analytical connection of micro and macro forms of analysis, and thus the appreciation of a range of interacting systems (economic, ideological, social etc.) of relevance to understanding the nature of management and work organization in contemporary China.Given the nature and form of both the research questions and theoretical framework, a research design based on ethnography is chosen as the primary methodological approach. As the research not only studies the systems of management in China’s private enterprises, but also managerial experiences, behaviour and subjectivity in relation to changing circumstances, an ethnographic approach that commits extensive time to the field, interacts extensively with actors, generates rich data, and detailed and ‘thick’ description of the observed works well for this research. As to the case study organisations, shipbuilding companies were chosen for three main reasons: (i) the importance of shipbuilding industry to the Chinese economy, (ii) the rapid growth and significance of private enterprises in the industry, and (iii) (at a more personal level) the extensive connections and previous work experience of the researcher in the shipbuilding sector. At a general level, the findings reported in the thesis reflect that the evolution of management systems in China’s private enterprises is the product of the interaction of a range of internal factors specific to the firm and many external forces related to China’s transitional economy. As such, issues of cultural, social and historical inheritance are assessed together with those of economic interaction/processes of globalisation to document how these forces influence events at the organisational level. On the one hand, the research describes trends towards convergence with the status and nature of ‘global’ managerial work, despite a Chinese firm’s specific ownership origins, current ownership status, and (re)structuring strategies. In so doing the data demonstrate how managerial work in China’s private enterprises is experiencing fundamental changes; for example, the on-set of greater job scope, knowledge/skill levels, organizational control, responsibilities, incentive mechanisms, and relationship-based managerial ethics. On the other hand, the findings also suggest that within China’s transitional economy, private firms still incorporate aspects of traditional Chinese management. Such methods are often reminiscent of erstwhile state-owned practices and can function as a strategy for minimizing internal resistance to change. Findings suggest that the current ‘hybrid’ character of management in private enterprises in China will endure for a considerable period of time. China’s traditional management and its values still have a strong influence on firm practices, especially in terms of people management. In many respects the social character of the workplace functions in the spirit of Chaxugeju, with the fundamental organisational rules and behavioural patterns remaining largely unchanged, as individual-based social relationships substitute for formal institutions in the firm. These findings are all explained through detailed ethnographic description and analysis. Finally, perhaps the major contribution of the research which underpins this thesis is to reduce the gap between the perception and reality of management and managerial work in China’s private firms. Insights into the daily working lives of managers are provided which reveal the deep philosophies underlying apparently rationalized practices and behaviours. Research on such intimate management phenomena is of benefit to organizational research in that it supplements the more ‘global’ style of analysis common in appreciations of Chinese corporate behaviour. The study thus adds a deeper, qualitative level of analysis to the mainstream managerial research landscape on China. Theoretically it shows the practicability and value of combining an indigenous Chinese theory (Chaxugeju) with an established western paradigm (LPT) to analyze and interpret ethnographic organisational phenomena. It thus reminds us of the importance of looking beyond the boundary of specific academic theories when developing and applying our ideas, especially when exploring international and transitional economies.

This work deals with the managerial style a leader applies by managing. The aim of this thesis is to determine the managerial style asserted by leading managers of an engineering oraganization, assessment of satisfaction of their subordinates with this style of management, compared with other managers surveyed and drafting of measures to increase employee satisfaction with the manager and the company itself. Theoretical section summarizes the basic knowledge of the issue, practical part analysis of the results of the qustionnaire survey and the plan to improve the current situation.

Behavioural economics has established that cognitive biases such as the overconfidence bias impact managerial decision-making. Literature has also shown that different levels of management require different skills, values and decision-making processes and styles. It would likely follow that cognitive biases would impact different levels of management in varying ways. This research seeks to expand on current literature in drawing on principles of behavioural economics to further investigate the overconfidence bias and its relationship with different levels of management. This research also seeks to explore whether cognitive ability or reflection can further explain any relationship between overconfidence and level of management. A sample of managers at professional services firms was surveyed using various assessments of overconfidence. Utilising statistical techniques, it was found that in fact there were differences in overconfidence between levels of management. Specifically, middle management appeared to display different overconfidence tendencies than upper and lower management levels. The relationship between cognitive ability, level of management and the overconfidence bias also appeared to be significant enough to warrant further investigation. The results also showed insight into problems with the current definitions of overconfidence. Based on the findings, this study concludes by providing several business and academic recommendations. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

This dissertation consists of three chapters devoted to the study of communication games and behavioral economics. The first chapter extends the cheap talk model of Crawford and Sobel (1982) (CS). In CS, a speaker (S) uses cheap talk to persuade a decision maker (DM) to select an action as profitable to S as possible. This paper shows that the presence of an outside option -- that is, allowing DM to avoid taking any action, yielding state-independent reservation utilities to DM and S -- has an important qualitative impact on the results. Contrary to CS, in this model, the informativeness of communication is not always decreasing in the level of conflict of interest. Relatedly, communication can be more informative than in CS. The second chapter uses a different version of my cheap talk model with an outside option to explore managerial issues such as delegation and interpersonal authority. In this chapter, actions are costly for DM, and S's information is noisy. Hence, the agents may agree or disagree on the ex-ante ranking over projects, and DM may choose not to carry out any project. Unlike in the standard cheap talk model (without an outside option), when their ex-ante rankings coincide, S is more tempted to lie and hide bad news about both agents' ex-ante most preferred project because DM is highly likely to carry it out. Consequently, when their ex-ante rankings coincide, DM can have less incentives to delegate the choice of project to S and more incentives to use interpersonal authority than when their ex-ante rankings differ. The third chapter develops a theory of "personal rules" to explain a paradoxical stylized fact that increasing punishment rates can increase crime. This theory, based on the tradeoff between one's self-image of criminal productivity and the temptation of committing a crime, analyzes the way the agent may transform lapses into precedents. The foundation for this transformation is imperfect recall of one's own criminal productivity, which leads people to draw inaccurate inferences from their past actions. Rationalization may lead them to overestimate the utility of committing a crime when the opportunity presents itself.

Current management accounting techniques have not been widely accepted as a means to develop a competitive advantage. The information obtained from the literature reviewed and the results from an empirical study that involved a sample of forty respondents from Equity Bank found that the modern management accounting practices provide very important skills and techniques in building competitiveness. The practices play an important role in the planning, developing, implementing and evaluating strategic competitive policies that result in a competitive advantage. The study outlines the importance of management accounting practices in providing strategies that lead to the creation of a competitive advantage in an organisation. However, the conclusions are drawn on a conceptual level and a future empirical investigation is needed to substantiate these claims further. The study also sets a foundation for more focused research into the importance of modern management accounting practices in developing a competitive advantage especially in the banking sector. / Management Accounting / M.Comm. (Accounting)

Relire les lois du service public, c’est (re)mettre en question le socle des trois principes — égalité, continuité, adaptation constante — solidement établis et largement connus, depuis environ un siècle, comme structurant le régime juridique spécifique de l’ensemble des services publics ; c’est interroger l’actualité de ces principes généraux dans un contexte profondément renouvelé et, à travers elle, la pérennité du service public lui-même, en tant qu’objet juridique. Afin de dresser pareil bilan de santé, deux niveaux de relecture sont retenus. Il s’agit, en premier lieu, de revenir sur l’ensemble théorique que constituent aujourd’hui les lois d’égalité, de continuité et d’adaptation constante : ces dernières, devenues subsidiaires par rapport aux impératifs économique et gestionnaire, ne semblent plus être des données de premier ordre dans le système de pensée juridique des services publics ; elles continuent toutefois d’assurer l’unité de la notion de service public, notion réduite à la portion congrue. Il s’agit, en deuxième lieu, de reconsidérer chacune des lois séparément, dans son contenu : la signification respective des trois principes classiques a évolué et de « nouveaux principes » sont recherchés, ceux-ci n’étant pour l’essentiel que des déclinaisons plus ou moins nouvelles de ceux-là ; une tendance à leur subjectivisation est observable sans devoir être exagérée, les lois du service public continuant d’exprimer l’esprit objectiviste du service public. / Reviewing the laws of public service means questioning the foundation of the three principles — equality, continuity, mutability — that have been firmly rooted and widely known, for about a century, as structuring the specific legal regime of all public services. It also means questioning the developments of these general principles in a profoundly renewed context and, through it, the durability of the public service itself, as a legal object. To do so, two review levels are employed. On the one hand, we have to go back over the theoretical set of the laws of equality, continuity and mutability, which have become subsidiary to economic and managerial imperatives and as such no longer seem to be the most important considerations in the legal thought system of public services. However, they continue to ensure the unity of the notion of public service, a notion reduced to its bare bones. On the other hand, we have to reconsider each of the laws separately, in their content. The respective meanings of the three principles have changed and « new principles » are being sought, these being essentially newer variations of those. A tendency to give more consideration to the individuals involved when applying the laws can be observed but must not be exaggerated, as the laws of public service are continuing to express the objectivist spirit of the public service.

During the Covid-19-pandemic, many organizations have reorganized into teleworking to reduce the spread of the virus. The work is moved to the home, which requires the individual to carry out the same work remotely. The purpose of this qualitative study is to investigate whether, and if so how, a transition to full-time teleworking can affect the traditional managerial role based on managers and employees’ experiences. Central questions that are asked are whether the managers control and support of employees change during telework. This study is based on responses from six interviewees in white-collar work in the technology, banking, finance and insurance industries. The study's theoretical framework consists of Allvin's concept of flexibility through empowerment and Snell's theory of control systems. The results of the study indicate that teleworking does not have to lead to major changes in the managerial role. On the other hand, relationship-oriented leadership becomes of great importance in teleworking, as employees become isolated and experience feelings of not belonging to the workgroup. The flexibility that can arise in teleworking means that employees have increased control and independence over the work which means that they make their own decisions to a greater extent. Finally, it emerges that the managers play a more supportive role in teleworking and that communication between managers and employees becomes more open. / Under Covid-19-pandemin har många organisationer varit tvungna att göra en omorganisering till distansarbete för att minska smittspridningen. Arbetet har förflyttats till hemmet vilket ställt krav på individen att fortfarande genomföra samma arbete, men nu på distans. Syftet med denna kvalitativa studie är att undersöka om, och i så fall hur, en övergång till distansarbete på heltid har påverkat den traditionella chefsrollen utifrån chefers och anställdas upplevelser. Centrala frågor som ställts är om chefers kontroll och stöttning av anställda förändras vid distansarbete. Studien baseras på svar från sex intervjupersoner inom tjänstemannayrken i teknik-, bank-, finans- och försäkringsbranschen. Studiens teoretiska ramverk består av Allvins begrepp flexibilitet genom förtroende samt Snells teori om kontrollsystem. Studiens resultat har visat att distansarbete inte behöver leda till större förändringar av chefsrollen. Däremot har det visat sig att relationsorienterat ledarskap är av stor betydelse vid distansarbete, när de anställda blir isolerade och upplever känslor av bristande samhörighet till arbetsgruppen. Det har också framkommit att flexibiliteten som kommer av distansarbetet gör att anställda får en större kontroll över arbetsuppgifterna och upplever en högre grad av eget beslutsfattande än tidigare. Slutligen visar studien att cheferna intar en mer stöttande roll vid distansarbete och att kommunikationen mellan chefer och anställda därmed blir öppnare.

Background: Advances in new technologies like the Internet of Things, Big Data, and Cloud Computing are opening up new possibilities for manufacturing firms. The extent of these changes is expected to be far-reaching leading researchers to proclaim the fourth industrial revolution a priori. Within this development, Industry 4.0 presents the concept of how manufacturing firms want to meet these changes and benefit from newly created possibilities. However, while the technological aspects leading the introduction of Industry 4.0 have been subject to many studies, the managerial aspects on how to lead such an implementation have so far mostly been neglected. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the managerial challenges that companies might face when implementing Industry 4.0 and to draw conclusions on how they could be met. Method: Our empirical study included a range of qualitative methods. After following a sampling strategy, semi-structured interviews were conducted with researchers, consultants, and plant managers located in Western countries. All collected data were transcribed, open coded and analysed using grounded analysis. Conclusions: While managing people to welcome and embrace new processes as well as leading projects in general has been described in the literature concerning change and project management to some extent, we broaden this knowledge by providing a new Industry 4.0 related perspective and describe possible adaptations to meet the special characteristics of the concept. Further, we elaborated on how the right mindset of top management can influence implementation efforts. On top of the managerial issues described, we added an organisational perspective to the knowledge in the field, making first attempts at describing how a structural framework supporting the implementation could look like. Finally, we investigate how current ways of working might be affected by the implementation of Industry 4.0 and how these might change.