Leadership effectiveness, and how it affects organisational performance, is a much researched area of interest. This study focuses on those leadership skills and behaviours that possibly could increase leadership effectiveness at the senior level of leadership. This is a qualitative research project and the data has been collected using a combination of a qualitative questionnaire and in-depth interviews, conducted with highly qualified individuals with extensive leadership development experience. The research showed a significant relationship between leadership skills and leadership effectiveness and revealed that certain behaviours impact leadership effectiveness at the senior level. In addition it confirmed that leadership skills and behaviours that increase leadership effectiveness could be both continuous and discontinuous in nature when transitioning from the middle management to the senior level. Within the context of sub-Saharan Africa, adaptability and learning agility are especially important behaviours for leadership effectiveness at the senior level. The research also showed that interpersonal skills is the most important skill group to be developed when transitioning to the senior level and, of these, political and cultural sensitivity emerged as the most important interpersonal skill for leadership effectiveness at the senior level. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / zkgibs2015 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

This research tests for correlation between corporate performance and use of financial measures, nonfinancial measures, and number of balanced scorecard categories used. Literature notes a preference for managing by nonfinancial measures because financial measures are lagging indicators, but little empirical evidence is available on the relationship between nonfinancial measures and financial performance, and few companies are found to realize the benefits of nonfinancial measurements. The balanced scorecard has been studied to find the impact of diversity of performance measures, and anecdotal improvements have been reported, but there is a paucity of empirical evidence regarding how the use of a balanced scorecard impacts organizational performance. These issues are investigated in this research with a web based survey distributed to a sample of publicly traded companies using a systematic selection process based on randomly selected numbers generated for each 3-digit NAICS category. The dependent variable is a rank of high, medium or low performance based on 12-month rolling average stock price comparisons from January 2005 to January 2009. These averages are analyzed as a percent change for each company, with performance standardized by 3-digit NAICS category to eliminate cross industry variance in performance ranking. Kruskal-Wallis one-way ANOVA is used to test for correlation. High performers show greatest utilization of both financial and nonfinancial measures, followed by medium performers, with low performers utilizing both measures the least. Nonfinancial performance measures are more correlated to firm value than financial measures with the high performers' mean score for nonfinancial measures being higher than for financial measures. By contrast, medium and low performers exhibit the opposite: higher mean scores for financial measures than for nonfinancial measures [p ≤ 0.05 for nonfinancial measures and p ≤ 0.1 for financial measures]. Correlation is found to be borderline significant (p = 0.06) for the number of balanced scorecard categories used with high performers utilizing the highest number of categories and low performers utilizing the lowest number of categories [p = 0.009 with inclusion of two respondents reporting no usage of balanced scorecard categories].

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil Engineering, 1982. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ENGINEERING. / Bibliography: leaves 134-135. / by Roscoe Dillard George III. / M.S.

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The present study explored the relationship between God schema and work place perceptions, specifically perceptions of equal opportunity (EO) climate and indicators of organizational effectiveness (OE). The first aim of this research was to investigate the impact of God schema (i.e., God schema patterns) on EO climate (i.e., collective EO climate patterns). The second aim of this research was to explore the impact of God schema, race, gender, and EO climate on indicators of organizational effectiveness, such as job satisfaction, organizational commitment, perceived work-group cohesion, and perceived work-group effectiveness. The final aim of this study was to examine the impact of group heterogeneity in terms of God schema, race, and gender, on group perceptual agreement. Data was collected and analyzed from 1,622 United States Navy personnel who completed the DEOMI Equal Opportunity Climate Survey (DEOCS) and attached God schema research module. Using a pattern approach (i.e., cluster analysis and configural frequency analysis), the results provided clear support for a relationship between God schema and perceptions of EO climate and OE. The findings suggested the influence of God schema was expressed differently depending on an individual's race/gender identity. Lastly, the results provided support for the predictive power of God schema (i.e., God schema heterogeneity within a unit) on unit-level agreement. Taken as a whole, these findings highlighted a dynamic relationship between God schema and perceptions of EO climate and related indicators of OE. The research findings affirmed individuals’ conceptions of God are powerful cognitive schema. In addition, the research findings illustrated individuals’ conceptions of God and variations among these conceptions are measurable, and can be investigated in an objective and scientific manner. Above all, the findings supported a meaningful relationship between God schema and work-place perceptions. / Ph. D.

This study had two objectives. The first was to extend the strategy paradigm by examining the relationship between strategy type and performance objective. The second was to test the idea of a contingency relationship between strategy and performance. The central research question guiding this effort was: What performance results arise from following different strategies within a given context? The intention of this study was to show that firms within a given environmental context could follow different strategies and be successful provided the strategy was related to a specific performance objective. The implication of this argument is that organizational success is a product of both proper implementation of a selected strategy, and the correct choice of a performance objective. Strategy was operationalized using the Miles & Snow (1978) typology. The choice of a typology was made in order to compare theoretical “ideal types“ with methodological "ideal types." The empirical tests of the hypotheses demonstrated that each strategy type was related to different performance objectives. Analysis demonstrated that for firms which achieved a higher degree of coalignment with their environment, there was a positive and significant impact on performance for the Defender and Analyzer strategy types. This relationship was not supported for the Prospector strategy types, although the results were in the predicted direction. The primary contribution of this study was to demonstrate that the basic strategic management research paradigm needs to be extended to allow for consideration of multiple performance objectives when examining the relationship between strategy and performance. While there is no single appropriate strategy for any given context, there are limitations to strategy choice after an organization has determined its objectives. This study was the first to demonstrate a contingency relationship between strategy types and differing performance objectives within a single environmental context. Also, the present study was able to operationalize the Analyzer strategy type using secondary data. This is one of the first studies to have done so. / Ph. D.

A key element that enables a firm to achieve better performance, the strategy-making process is of great interest to both researchers and practitioners. However, the bulk of past research has focused on the process alone and has reached few consistent conclusions. Recently, researchers have started to investigate the impact of crucial contingencies on strategy-:making. It appears this contingency approach is more fruitful in deepening and broadening our understanding of this critical area. To continue the research in this direction, this study inquired into the linkage between the environment and the strategy-making process. A theoretical framework was developed after surveying the germane literature to guide the empirical analysis. Following this model, comprehensiveness, or the exhaustiveness and the inclusiveness in strategy-making, was selected as the key process attribute for this study. It was hypothesized that environmental complexity, or the number and heterogeneity of factors in the environment, and dynamism, or the degree of change, would impact the perceived uncertainty of the strategy maker, and further comprehensiveness in strategy-making. In addition, it was posited that the match between strategy-making comprehens1veness and environmental attributes would lead to better firm performance. The computer industry served as the setting for this study. Questionnaires were mailed to top executives of randomly selected computer firms to obtain data on environmental attributes and strategy-making comprehensiveness. Secondary sources were used to acquire financial performance data and other background information. Analysis results suggest that the proposed model is useful in understanding the environment and strategy-making interaction. Both environmental complexity and dynamism were found to influence strategy-making comprehensiveness. Moreover, the adaptation of strategy-making comprehensiveness to environmental attributes was found to lead to better firm performance. Findings from this study hold promise for effective strategic management and. contribute insight into the strategy-environment linkage. / Ph. D.

This research study investigated how gainsharing works to affect organizational performance. Six top managers at Commonwealth Paper (a pseudonym) described how they believe their gainsharing program works to affect company operations and performance. From their verbal descriptions, a site-specific causal model was created. This site-specific model was then compared to the gainsharing literature and a general model hypothesized. Future research studies could build on the research findings to enhance the quality of the general case model. Additional site-specific models and the enhanced general model could later be translated to a mathematical simulation model to see what might happen to a gainsharing program over time. The research findings suggest that gainsharing works to affect organizational performance by providing additional forces for performance goal achievement. Gainsharing, however, does not provide a management practice or process through which performance goals are achieved. Because gainsharing can also provide forces for setting safe performance goals, it should be implemented in a culture where a critical mass of managers and workers are both intrinsically motivated and allowed to perform well. / Ph. D.

The strategic management literature makes frequent references to the need for directing the firm's responses to <u>perceived</u> opportunities or threats in the environment. The purpose of this study is to determine if the top executives from different firms view an important environmental development differently, in terms of it being an opportunity or threat, and, if so, do these perceptions relate to organizational factors and to personal characteristics of the top executive? A model is proposed and includes organizational strategy, organizational structure, executive locus of control and behavioral response repertoire. Fourteen operational hypotheses are formulated. Thirty-six top executives of firms in the metalworking machinery and equipment industry are polled for their opinions of flexible manufacturing systems (PMS) developments. PMS refers to technology that is only now becoming available and consists of the integration of computer facilities and robotics mechanisms. Predecessors of PMS include numerically controlled machinery (NCM), computer aided design (CAD) and computer aided manufacturing (CAM). The effect of locus of control on PMS perceptions is not analyzed because of measurement problems. Correlation analyses reveal that organizational strategy, some aspects of organizational structure, and certain characteristics of the top executive are related to PMS perceptions at close-to-significant levels. Cluster analysis is applied to the data on strategy and structure to identify groups of firms on the basis of the similarity in their strategy-structure features. Executives' perceptions of PMS are compared across groups, and certain combinations of strategy type and structural characteristics relate to more opportunistic perceptions, although not at significant levels. The results of the statistical findings are discussed and an interpretation offered. Suggestions for future research on strategic issue perceptions are proposed. / Ph. D.