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The competences of project managers are a vital role in projects success. An exten-sive literature survey was conducted to determine the constitution of an adequate knowledge base for would-be project managers. A detailed literature study was conducted. The literature review discussed how to assess project management competencies. Technical skills and social cultural skills were identified from the literature review. A comprehensive list of criteria was used to generate the critical success factors.Based on the critical success factors that were obtained from the literature in the content for the knowledge base was constructed. This research then started to address what constitutes certification requirements. Certification programs were identified globally for the study. This study identified what the certification programs offered. This research started by proposing a knowledge base and using the “grounded theory approach” used content analysis to compare the proposed knowledge base with project management certification programs. The study concluded with recommendations on the gaps that exist in project man-agement certification programs.

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A study was done to test the effectiveness of a managerial training and development program. Seventy-three first-line and middle managers of a medium size oil company were the subjects of this experiment. The two experimental groups took part in three training seminars which were designed to increase their skills in motivation and supervision.

Devant l'accroissement des problèmes environnementaux menaçant la vie humaine, la question de l'implication de toute l'humanité dans la protection de l'environnement est aujourd'hui fortement mise en avant. Sur le plan managérial, les recherches académiques insistent, ces dernières années, sur la nécessité du changement des visions, des valeurs, des attitudes, des intentions et des comportements menant vers une organisation écologique. En positionnant notre recherche dans le champ de la psychologie du développement durable, l'objet de cette thèse est de développer un modèle expliquant les antécédents de l'intention environnementale des dirigeants des PME industrielles. Ainsi, en se basant sur la théorie du comportement planifiée et sur l'orientation entrepreneuriale, nous proposons un modèle conceptuel présentant l'influence des variables contextuelles (politiques, socioculturels et économiques) et individuelles (caractéristiques personnelles) sur la formation de l'intention environnementale des dirigeants des PME. La démarche empirique s'apparente à une démarche de triangulation méthodologique. Elle consiste en une étude qualitative exploratoire au prés de vingt dirigeants de PME, suivie d'une deuxième étude qualitative au prés de dix experts en développement durable et en RSE. Enfin, une étude quantitative au prés de 226 dirigeants est destinée à valider le modèle de recherche. Les résultats obtenus sont très intéressants et originaux. Ils montrent que les intentions environnementales des dirigeants ne résultent pas des pressions des parties prenantes. Par contre, l'intention est le résultat des perceptions de la disponibilité des ressources financières et de l'accompagnement, des résultats espérés du comportement souhaité vis-à-vis du pouvoir public et des institutions financières et aussi des caractéristiques personnelles du dirigeant (son degré d'innovation et de prise de risque). / In front of the increasing environmental problems that threaten human life, the question of the involvement of all mankind in the protection of the environment is strongly emphasized. At the managerial level and in the recent years, academic researchers have emphasized the need to change perceptions, values, attitudes, intentions and behavior leading to an environmental organization.By placing our research in the field of psychology of sustainable development, the subject of this thesis is to develop a model explaining the history of environmental leadership for industrial SMEs. Thus, based on the theory of planned behavior and entrepreneurial orientation, we propose a conceptual model showing the impact of contextual (political, cultural and economic) and individual variables (personal characteristics) on the formation of the environmental intention of SMEs managers.The empirical approach is similar to a process of methodological triangulation. It consists in a qualitative exploratory study nearly twenty SME, followed by a second qualitative study almost ten experts in sustainable development and CSR. Finally, a quantitative study in nearly 226 leaders is used to validate the research model. The results are very interesting and original. They show that environmental intentions of leaders are not the result of pressure from stakeholders. By contrast, the intention is the result of perceptions of the availability of financial resources and support, the expected results of the desired behavior concerning the public and financial institutions as well as personal characteristics of the leader (his degree of innovation and risk-taking).

This study is motivated by the growing influence in organisational research on the perspective of culture as a toolkit of resources from which individuals can draw on to develop strategies of action. Research has established that ambidextrous organisations succeed both in incremental and discontinuous innovation. However, there remains a scarcity of study on how managers orchestrate ambidexterity. This thesis extends the ambidexterity research by investigating how managers orchestrate ambidextrous strategies and how these strategies are shaped by elements of the organisational culture in high technology firms. An interpretive case study approach was used to achieve the aims of the study. Focusing on two engineering projects, 55 interviews were conducted alongside documentary reviews and participant observation for 6 months at Brush Electrical Machines Ltd, UK. Analysis of the findings is conducted using thematic analysis to identify common themes and NVivo was used to draw out patterns until relationships among the emerging themes became clearer. The thesis makes important contributions to the organisational ambidexterity literature by providing useful empirically-driven insights and deconstructing the roles of middle managers in facilitating ambidexterity. The findings of the research indicate that most of the middle managers demonstrated ambidextrous behaviours. These middle level managers enabled their behaviours through diverse cultural resources selected from the organisation s cultural toolkit. Thus, important contributions are made to the literature on organisational culture, specifically on the toolkit perspectives. The thesis takes the perspective that organisational culture should be viewed as heterogeneous and not homogeneous. The study concludes by suggesting that middle management ambidextrous behaviours shaped by cultural resources may be vital for the realisation of improved or sustained competitiveness in organisations.

Construction managers aim to deliver successful construction projects; however it is unclear how they perceive construction project success and how they influence that success. Focusing on the construction phase of the project, a Systems Conceptual Framework is induced from the literature review. In-depth interviews undertaken by 10 construction managers, whose experience accounts for over 130 construction projects, provide data to derive categories which populate the Systems Conceptual Framework initially developed. By adopting an unstructured approach to the data collection, a holistic view of how construction managers impact the success of construction projects is acquired. The construction managers' influence on success is identified through the skills, competencies and characteristics which enable success of the construction phase (enablers). This inductive-deductive methodological approach allows the identification of categories and relations between them which, along with the Systems Conceptual Framework, form the Empirical Model. A Pareto analysis was carried out in order to determine the relative relevance categories have against each others. Overall, 56 relations were identified between the 37 categories derived from the data analysis. The results of the research show that the influence of construction managers on project success is determined by twenty enablers. According to the Pareto analysis, 6 enablers were most relevant; they are separated into two interrelated sets: Communication, Leadership and People Management, and Ability to Pull Back, Experience and Technical Skill. This suggests that construction managers consider mastering 'hard' and 'soft' aspects of the job are both equally relevant to the success of the project. The high interconnectivity between the categories is what allows the Empirical Model to be developed; making it the most important finding of this research. Evidence indicates that construction managers work with both a subjective (qualitative) and an objective (quantitative) concept of success. The quantitative concept of success can have between two and four success factors, which are prioritised according to the needs of the client; there is always one critical success factors that leads the project. The subjective concept of success incorporates aspects of the end user and personal satisfaction, and specific characteristics of the project. The results also show that the outcomes of construction projects can be three: success, failure, and a third outcome which is neither, an outcome between success and failure. Participants have identified this last outcome as being the most frequent.

Effective leadership is crucial for organisational survival and growth, especially in demanding modern business environments. It is particularly challenging for women leaders who may function in gendered organisations that do not necessarily support their development. Group coaching is more time and cost-effective than individual coaching, is scalable and sustainable and is appropriate for the relational context of leadership. It is, however, in its infancy in terms of cohesive and differentiated research. This study investigated the impact of group coaching on leadership effectiveness in South African women managers. Data was gathered from pre-and-post questionnaire administrations as well as interviews and was analysed using mixed methods in comparative t-tests and thematic analysis. The findings indicated that leadership effectiveness did change significantly over a six month leadership development programme, most notably in the areas of enabling self, enabling others and self-confidence. Specific impacts of group coaching on leadership effectiveness were by increasing awareness of self and values; enabling learning through external input; enabling sharing and support through safety and a sense of direction. These themes relate to factors inherent in a group context: multiple interactions to explore identity and self, multiple feedback inputs and collective sharing and support. The respondents reported less impact in the achievement of personal goals or results. It is possible that there is a trade-off in focus on the individual’s objectives for the learning advantages of multiple interactions and exchanges in group coaching. The effects of group coaching, however, appear to be relevant for current business realities that demand modern leaders to be authentic and confident in complex and hyper-connected social environments. Women who work in male-dominated organisations may benefit particularly from alternative groups that provide safe feedback, validation and a sense of identification with similarly positioned women. This study deepened understanding of how group coaching adds value in a leadership development context. The results add to the body of knowledge on group coaching and leadership effectiveness and help to inform the practice of effective leadership in organisations, particularly for women managers.

ABSTRACT This study is a combination of the qualitative and quantitative approach using an exploratory/descriptive design conducted at the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality, Northern Region. The study explored how Line Managers at Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality perceive the impact of stress and trauma on work performance among employees. The study was conducted with 29 line managers sampled through a random sampling procedure, who had been working for Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality for at least three years. A questionnaire was used to collect the required data. The study found that line managers at Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality were of the view that stress and trauma can affect work performance among employees. It was also found that line managers are uninvolved in their sub-ordinates’ personal matters that are likely to cause mental health problems like stress and trauma.