published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

Research report is submitted in partial fulfilment to the requirement of the degree of Master of Science (Building) in the field of Property Development and Management, to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, School of Construction Economics and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, 2016 / The purpose of this study was to explore the type of office spaces in South Africa together with the presence of generational and cultural/ethnic differences in employee’s perception in the office environment on particular aspects. The research was carried out as a single case study of an office using private consultancy firm, located in Johannesburg, South Africa. Questionnaires were sent out to employees based in various segments within the firm. The study showed that the leading office typology is open plan/group office spaces as opposed to all other office configurations within the firm, such as private/cellular offices. The case study highlights the trade-off between collaboration and privacy in the primary office typology, open plan office spaces. The findings demonstrated that no significant differences exist between the different generations’ and cultures’ ability to conduct activities which are influenced by personal and interpersonal aspects of the office spaces. Furthermore, findings illustrated that no generational and cultural differences exist in the environmental, personal and design aspects of the office space. Lastly, findings showed that generational and cultural differences do exist in group cohesion and intension to stay. The main limitation of research is the small sample size which may have resulted in an untrue reflection in the generalisation of the population. The paper’s findings add to the cultural and ethnic differences experienced in open plan offices on personal/interpersonal, environmental and design aspects. Further studies need to explore the possible theoretical links between the workspace, group cohesion, intension to stay and productivity for South African office using firms. Keywords: generational differences, cultural/ethnic difference, employees’ experiences, collaboration, privacy, team work / MT2017

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirement for the Masters Degree of Technology: Public Relations Management, Durban University of Technology, 2013. / In South Africa, the competition between shopping centres has increased significantly over the years due to the increase in the number of shopping centres and the changing shopping behaviour. The success of any shopping centre depends on the revenue generated by customers who frequent the mall to make purchases or use the services of the retail/entertainment outlets. To attract customers to shopping centres, management has to ensure that malls are effectively promoted to relevant stakeholders. Communication is important in any promotional, public relations or marketing activity and should be effective, persuasive and managed in a formal and structured way which fits into the overall goals of the mall. Shopping centre management may use a number of communication tools such as (and are not limited to) advertising, sales promotions, public relations, personal selling and sponsorship. However, do these strategies play a role in generating revenue to promote the overall success of a shopping centre? This dissertation, therefore, sets out to identify and examine the communication tools used by shopping centre managers within the greater Durban area in South Africa. It does so by interviewing marketing managers and the tenant mix of five competitive shopping centres within the greater Durban area in South Africa. Data will be collected from the respondents through questionnaires and an interview schedule. One of the significant results emerging from this study is that the function of tenant relations; promotions; publicity; and public relations plays an integral part in the effective functioning of a shopping centre.