M.Phil. (Leadership, Performance & Change) / *Orientation - More and more South African organisations are turning to prominent productivity improvement systems such as Lean Production (LP). Sustaining LP, however, requires the creation of a discernible management system. One of the perennial questions in LP is whether a management system with such a strong Japanese orientation can be successfully transplanted into a heterogeneous culture such as South Africa. * Research purpose - This research aimed to investigate whether the behaviours and values adopted by successful middle managers in supporting a sustainable LP management system differ from those identified by Van Dun (2008) in a comparative study conducted in the Netherlands. The research also aimed to establish whether managers from different ethnic groups in South Africa adopt different behaviours and values. * Motivation for the study – Identifying the behaviours and values of LP middle managers in the context of both national and sub-cultures will assist in making the necessary allowances in order to limit dissonance and strengthen LP transformation. * Research design, approach and method – The study was conducted in two phases. Firstly, a two round Delphi-study was undertaken to identify criteria for the identification of successful LP middle managers, and to ensure that the Behavioural Leadership Questionnaire developed in the Netherlands has theoretical equivalence in South Africa. During the second phase, successful LP managers, their immediate superiors, subordinates and internal LP practitioners were surveyed in order to identify the extent to which certain LP behaviours and values were demonstrated. The data from the survey was analysed using parametric and comparative statistics. * Main findings – The results indicate that altough LP behaviours and values appear universal, these behaviours and values are to a large extent influenced by national culture. Cross-cultural influences based on racial demographics in South Africa is however inconsequential.

M.Phil. (Human Resources Development) / The transfer of learning after training courses is relevant to Human Resource Development (HRD) professionals, human resources divisions and managers within organisations. HRD managers in particular must secure a suitable training budget, present learning interventions, and employ qualified HRD practitioners who add value to a company’s turnover and profitability. When the HRD unit assists employees in improving their performance with training, this enables the Human Resources (HR) division to be a strategic business partner to the organisation. HRD practitioners should ensure that the learning provided to employees improves their performance in delivering strategic results without any obstacles or barriers. The aim of the study was to conduct an investigation into the potential learning transfer barriers that could have an impact on the successful transfer of learning within the financial services sector. This study sought to identify the predominant barriers to transfer of learning when employees return to the workplace after attending training. The literature review on the transfer of learning and the barriers to the transfer of learning highlighted an international survey instrument designed to measure the workplace barriers to effective learning transfer. This instrument was used in conducting the research for this study. The unit of analysis of this study included financial services managers from one bank operating within three provinces of South Africa: Gauteng, Kwa-Zulu Natal and Western Cape. The mixed method approach used in this study favours a dominant quantitative approach with a secondary qualitative component. Data was obtained using the adapted, international survey instrument, the Learning Transfer Systems Inventory (LTSI) questionnaire. The LTSI is a validated instrument that is used to diagnose factors affecting successful transfer of learning. HRD professionals are able to use the LTSI to identify potential transfer barriers after administering a learning intervention. The findings reveal that line managers are key role players in the learning transfer challenge. Line managers who fail to support and encourage the application of learning after training represent a barrier to employee transfer of learning. This report recommends that managers play the role of performance coaches, and become enablers of rather than barriers to employee transfer of learning.

Yes / Purpose – This paper establishes a comprehensive basis for understanding the roles and competences of midlevel management and their influence on the effectiveness of continuous improvement (CI) capability within an organisation. Design/methodology/approach – This research builds upon the hypothesis that methods alone do not lead to successful CI capability development. It focuses on the role of mid-level management in driving a CI environment that underpins the effectiveness of CI capability. A reference model for the CI environment is synthesised based on critical literature review, integrating CI culture, CI enablers and CI leadership elements.A comprehensive framework is introduced to define CI leadership roles and competence indicators. A quantitative benchmarking study involving structured interviews with 15 UK organisations was undertaken to collect evidence for a causal relationship between CI leadership competences and CI capability. Findings – Analysis of the benchmarking data provides clear evidence of the causal relationship between the CI leadership competences of mid-level management and CI capability of the organisation. Given that the empirical study was structured on the basis of the CI leadership roles and competences framework introduced in this paper, this also provides validation for the proposed framework and the CI environment model. Practical implications – The evidence-based knowledge of the positive relationship between the midmanagement CI leadership competences and the effectiveness of the CI capability informs strategic organisational development interventions towards enhancing CI capability and effectiveness, ultimately underpinning productivity enhancement and sustainability. The framework for mid-level management CI leadership roles, responsibilities and competences introduced in this paper and grounded in underpinning work undertaken within a large automotive Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), can be adapted by any organisation. The CI environment reference model should provide a comprehensive support for strategists to communicate the framework for CI capability improvement within an organisation, to enhance acceptability and adherence to improvement actions. Originality/value – This research proves for the first time the significance of the causal relationship between the CI leadership competences and the effectiveness of the CI capability within an organisation, thus filling an important gap between established previous work, focussing on the role of mid-level management on one side and practitioner and team level roles, methodologies and tools. The proposed CI environment model is a theoretical contribution with reference value for both practice and further studies. The comprehensive framework for mid-level management CI leadership roles, responsibilities and competences introduced in this paper provides sound foundation to deliver CI leadership in the workplace. / Jaguar Land Rover Ltd

Syftet med studien är att undersöka chefers uppfattningar om organisatoriskt lärande. Detta görs genom en kvalitativ semistrukturerad intervjustudie, där urvalet består av sju chefer från tre organisationer från två olika branscher. Resultatet visar att chefer anser att organisatoriskt lärande hör ihop med kunskapsspridning och lärande i vardagen. Resultatet visar också att de anser att de kan skapa förutsättningar för organisatoriskt lärande, eftersom deras roll innebär ett mandat att bestämma vad som ska läras och vilka arbetssätt och rutiner som införlivas i organisationen. Chefer menade att de skapar förutsättningar genom att ge medarbetare inflytande, genom att skapa strukturer för lärande och genom att skapa ett klimat som uppmuntrar lärande. De identifierar främst tid och ekonomiska aspekter som hinder för organisatoriskt lärande, men också faktorer som berör organisationsstrukturer och medarbetarens egen motivation. / The purpose of the study is to examine managers' own perceptions of organisational learning. This is done through a qualitative semi-structured interview study, where the sample consists of seven managers from three organisations in two different industries. The results show that managers believe that organisational learning is associated with knowledge dissemination and learning in everyday activities. It also shows that they believe they can create conditions for organisational learning, as their role involves the mandate to determine what should be learned and which work methods and routines should be incorporated into the organisation. Managers stated that they create conditions by giving employees influence, by creating structures for learning, and by fostering a climate that encourages learning. They primarily identify time and financial aspects as barriers to organisational learning, but also factors related to organisational structures and employees' own motivation.

This intrinsic case study is about people who worked in partnerships. Each of the partnerships emerged from relationships formed between the business, education, government and community sectors. A principle aim of the cross-sector partnerships was to enhance learning opportunities, integral to which was the incorporation of ICT. The study explores through interweaving narratives, some of the key interrelationships that emerged from the evolving partnerships as they strived to accomplish their aims. The partnerships represented a rich and complex context for dynamic and strategic change occurring, not only in the evolving partnerships, but also in the systems they intended to consolidate and optimise. Furthermore, such complexity pervaded ideological notions of instability and discontinuity arising from difference that may be implicit or explicit in open, distributed complex systems. The metaphor of hypertext serves to both retain textural qualities of organisation and address key problematics associated with visualisation and representation and also as a means to reflect upon the study by encouraging improvisatory processes akin to those experienced by the participants. In this respect, hypertext is not used to simply challenge artificial boundaries, linearities and determinisms but rather, prompt the construction of meanings further to those partially represented. It also serves to maintain a clearer relationship between those contexts within which research has been, or becomes situated. The thesis largely rests on its representational form in terms of its self-sufficiency to portray, convey, express, evoke, engage and inform. Ambiguity forms a fundamental facet of the thesis. In addition to those that rest within the texts, graphic illustrations are used to provide narratives in different forms whereby, readers are not bound by the same inadequacies or constraints in drawing meaning about the subject from text alone. By taking the view of the artist, the illustrations provide a flexibility that overcomes some of the dimensional limitations of the thesis and further emphasises its connectionist, constructivist and aesthetic undertones. The links between components and nuanced meanings emphasises the interdependencies in terms that transcend the representational form of discursive language. The case is thus, synthesised in the following illustration:

Knowledge management and organisational learning have received much attention in recent times, owing to the increased recognition which has been accorded knowledge as a source of organisational success and sustainability. Researchers and practitioners have become increasingly interested in striving to understand how the two notions can be harnessed in order to attain that success. However, while it seems clear that both knowledge management and organisational learning have the same goals, that is to nurture and harness knowledge resources, the concepts have tended, in the past, to be regarded independently of each other, with parallel strategies having been implemented for each. Such an imposed separation has, at times, resulted in resource duplication and unsatisfactory outcomes for the organisations concerned. The current study examines the nature of the relationship between knowledge management and organisational learning in higher educational institutions in Uganda, with the aim of providing a unified framework for understanding how the above-mentioned knowledge-based concepts relate to each other. A mixed methodology approach was applied to achieve the set objective. Quantitative data were collected using questionnaires from 270 respondents, employed at six higher educational institutions (comprising four universities, one management development institute, and one business school). Qualitative data, in contrast, were collected by means of interviews which were conducted with 13 key informants from three different institutions. Analytical techniques of correlation analysis, regression analysis and canonical correlation analysis were applied to the quantitative data, while content analysis procedure was applied to the qualitative data. Empirical evidence confirmed that knowledge management and organisational learning have an interdependent relationship, which is manifested in two main dimensions, namely the institutional strategic focus and people (human resources) focus. Based on such dimensions, the study proposes a re-conceptualisation of the linkage between knowledge management and organisational learning, aimed at evolving the two concepts into a single organisational knowledge sustainability concept in higher educational institutions. Such a joint concept emphasises the effective utilisation of existing knowledge, while, at the same time, focusing on the importance of continuous learning for acquiring new knowledge to meet future organisational knowledge requirements. In addition, empirical evidence from this study show that knowledge management practices play an important role in promoting learning at various levels of the organisation. The study concludes that knowledge management has not been fully integrated in the strategic agenda of most higher education institutions in Uganda and much internal knowledge is not properly harnessed for the benefit of such institutions. The study recommends that, in the current information age, higher education institutions in Uganda should prioritise both knowledge management and organisational learning by implementing strategies aimed at exploiting existing knowledge, as well as at exploring new knowledge. Lastly, recommendations for future research are presented.

This study describes an action research program, primarily within one company pursuing learning organisation concepts. The research was an integral part of the implication process, not involving case studies carried out after the event, or analysis prior to it, but an iterative mixture of both.Both the literature and case studies of various aspects of the operations of an Australian Aerospace company are used to help identify some particular practices that support organisational learning. A range of issues arising from the research are also discussed. A multi-faceted systems model of corporate memory is developed, and possible ways of obtaining leverage from that memory are discussed.The research identifies a number of competencies, processes and practices that need to be in place for organisational learning and knowledge management to be effective. It is suggested that a particular organisation may take many years to establish this portfolio of capabilities to the extent that they become the operating room. / Doctor of Business Administration

<p>The purpose of this study was to investigate, through a qualitative survey, the need of knowledge and strategy in organisations today and tomorrow. The empirical investigation is built on a semi structured interview that was conducted on nine different companies in Gislaveds community. The companies were from three different branches namely: tree, metal and polymer. Three interviews were conducted in each branch.</p><p>The result from the interviews showed that the globalisation had put the companies under hard competition which had made the need for rationalisation and effectivness more apparent. Having said this, the demands on the organisation and the individuals within it will constantly increase. In order to enhance the individuals and the organisation there are an increased need for flexibility and openness and the responsibility and authority must be with in the individuals in the organisation. Our work show that the individuals with in the organisation shall be some kind of “superhuman” that can perform most of the tasks in the organisation, he or she should be flexible and open minded.</p><p>Our findings shows the way an organisation can create this “superhuman” and what an organisation needs to do to become a learning organisation.</p>

<p><p> </p></p><p>This thesis is based upon the assumption that in Swedish school today it is a wide gap regarding the information flow when pupils are switching school. This was one of the reasons Skolverket published a report clearly stating that this is the case. The purpose of this thesis is to examine and describe how teachers are working in a teacher team at transitions to see and understand what their work may mean individually, in a group and to the school as an organisation. The questions at issue is to see how the teachers cooperate during transitions and how they notice students in need of extra support and students level of knowledge during transitions. The two last questions at issue is first to see how teachers approach parent’s expectations on the school and the teachers, secondly it is to examine what implications their work will have on the school. The examined group is a teacher team in an independent school working in grade seven. The school has the grades six to nine. The result was achieved through two qualitative interviews and six qualitative questionnaires in order to describe the informants experience as good as possible. The analysis is based upon two concepts: organisational learning and reflection as a collective process and how these concepts are dependant on the other. The main points of the analysis show how important the teacher team’s work is to both the individual and the organisation’s competence and learning development. It also shows how it helps the pupils to get a smooth transition even though the lack of information teachers has to deal with when the new pupils arrive.</p>

The purpose of this study was to investigate, through a qualitative survey, the need of knowledge and strategy in organisations today and tomorrow. The empirical investigation is built on a semi structured interview that was conducted on nine different companies in Gislaveds community. The companies were from three different branches namely: tree, metal and polymer. Three interviews were conducted in each branch. The result from the interviews showed that the globalisation had put the companies under hard competition which had made the need for rationalisation and effectivness more apparent. Having said this, the demands on the organisation and the individuals within it will constantly increase. In order to enhance the individuals and the organisation there are an increased need for flexibility and openness and the responsibility and authority must be with in the individuals in the organisation. Our work show that the individuals with in the organisation shall be some kind of “superhuman” that can perform most of the tasks in the organisation, he or she should be flexible and open minded. Our findings shows the way an organisation can create this “superhuman” and what an organisation needs to do to become a learning organisation.