Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Business Administration, Durban Institute of Technology, 2005. / Project managers are faced with the challenge of matching skills to a task rather than merely assigning people to a job. If these skills are not readily available, the project may not be able to be executed with the desired level of quality and timescales may not be met. Nowadays, organisations need to respond faster to market requirements than before due to increased competition and rapid advances in technology. Coupled to this is the trend for human resources to be more mobile, as lifelong commitment to an organisation becomes a thing of the past. These two trends present modern organisations with the requirement that their human resources require increasing levels of skills, yet they are faced with the risk that these skills may be lost due to their mobility. Organisations, therefore, need to understand what their core competencies are and ensure that these competencies are developed such that the organisation retains an adequate supply of core skills. The aim of the study is to identify the core competencies and associated skills within an organisation and devise a method whereby these competencies and skills can be measured and duplicated such that core knowledge is retained and developed within the organisation. / M

Much has been written on the subject of sustainable development and the urgent need for society to understand and address human impacts on socio-ecological systems. Emerging from this broad context, the concept of sustainable product development (SPD) represents an important strategy to steer human society towards sustainability. This thesis investigates strategies for integrating sustainability concepts, through organisational learning and stakeholder management, into a new product development tool entitled ‘Touchpoint’. Built on prior research, specifically Methods for Sustainable Product Development(MSPD) and Templates for Sustainable Product Development (TSPD), this could help to eliminate product development approaches that lead to reductionism and ensure that SPD is adopted rapidly and widely.

This thesis explores the problem of information systems evaluation by conceptualising it as a process in which the manager comes to an understanding about a system. In other words, information systems evaluation is a hermeneutic process. The thesis explicates this notion through an argument that is itself hermeneutic in its development, beginning with the mainstream functionalist view of information systems evaluation, and then considering an interpretive view of IS evaluation, each of which points to one of two stereotypes of IS evaluation and the manager engaged in this process: the objective/rational manager utilising objective/rational methods versus the subjective/political manager engaged in political manoeuvring, utilising objective/rational methods only as ritual or symbolism. Neither of these opposing stereotypes is satisfactory. Instead, this thesis proposes a dialectic view of information systems evaluation, in terms of which, rather than being a decision maker, the manager is in-the-world, evaluating systems in order to get the job done, on the basis of her thrownness in-the-world. This conceptualisation provides an intuitively appropriate account of evaluation on the part of an individual manager, but we must still consider how managers as members of the organisation, reach a common understanding about a system. This they do through a process of organisational learning as encultured knowing, in terms of which a narrative, situated, pragmatic knowledge is most useful in evaluation. Evaluation, in other words, happens in the course of skilful conversation. Such conversation is, however, not always skilful because the organisation is not just a collection of individuals but also a network of power relations. Conversations as generators of meaning are never held outside of power: systems evaluations as conversations cannot take place outside of a regime of truth. A post-dualist view of action as both constituted by and constituting structure, however, suggests that there is always the potential for genuinely hermeneutic and ethical conversation, provided it is both improvisatory and deconstructive. Having understood the requirement for improvisation and deconstruction, it is possible to suggest some heuristics for information systems evaluation based on these ideas. / Dissertation (Phd (Information Technology))--University of Pretoria, 2003. / Informatics / unrestricted

This thesis reports on an exploratory study to see to what extent an instrument could be developed to measure the strategically innovative environment of life assurance organisations in Southern Africa. This instrument was applied to a number of life assurance organisations in Southern Africa and the results plotted on a four quadrant matrix, developed for this study, to illustrate to what extent certain variables could contribute in establishing a strategically innovative environment. The main contribution of this study is to explain the interaction between the knowledge economy, intellectual capital, the corporate curriculum, learning theory and strategic innovation. This study argues that the interaction between these components is key in developing human capital which in turn is an important component of strategic innovation. Furthermore, the instrument developed for this study can be used to evaluate other organisations, thus ultimately assisting them in becoming strategically innovative as well. It was found that life assurance organisations in Southern Africa could be regarded as moderately strategically innovative. The degree of strategic innovation varies according to the presence and integration of certain variables set out for the organisation. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Information Science / unrestricted

The purpose of the study was to explore the role of organisational behaviour in establishing a corporate university in a large corporate in the construction industry. Studies have been conducted regarding the process steps in establishing a corporate university but a gap exists in the cohesive presentation of the various relationships and the behaviours that drive the successful implementation and sustained operation of a learning academy. An understanding of organisational behaviour at three levels (individual, group and organisational) is a critical success factor that provides the superstructure to the firm foundation provided by the right process steps. An in-depth, single case study research design was used by the researcher taking a qualitative approach from a complete member researcher perspective with an analytic autoethnographic orientation. Data collection comprised archival document review and semi-structured, in-depth interviews with senior executives and leadership on other levels in the organisation. Analysis was conducted with the assistance of a qualitative data analysis computer software package as well as through iterative coding and memo writing to surface patterns and themes. The study resulted in a framework reflecting a complex web of relationships and roles that included: context as a catalyst; leadership as a critical role player; academy structure as a key driver of learning; individuals as recipients and beneficiaries; key stakeholders and internal role players in the implementation of learning; and finally, organisational culture as the normative domain. The study concludes with propositions that encapsulate these relationships. The framework presenting a complex web of relationships and roles has expanded the existing theory of organisational learning by integrating and incorporating organisational behaviour theory to understand the role that behaviour on individual, group and organisational levels plays when establishing a corporate university. In addition, the framework provides insight into the role of an academy in promoting a culture of learning. Organisations can benefit from an insight into the behaviours which underpin the establishment of a corporate academy because such insight will more readily lead to successful implementation and the avoidance of costly mistakes. A corporate academy plays a key role in assisting organisations to build essential skills and capabilities particularly in times of increasing demand for competent and capable employees to execute strategy. The single ‘revelatory’ case study approach was conducted due to the unique opportunity presented when the researcher was tasked with establishing a corporate university in a large corporate in the construction industry. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Human Resource Management / unrestricted

abstract  Date: 2022-06-1 Level:  Bachelor/Master thesis in Business Administration, 15 cr  Institution:   School of Business, Society and Engineering, Mälardalen University  Authors: Jan Rausch  Oscar Karlsson  Ylvi Zyberi             (97/11/10)   (98/04/23)  (98/10/10) Title:    How do Manufacturing Companies engage in Post-Crisis      Management? An explorative study in the Manufacturing Industry    into post-crisis management after the Covid-19 crisis Supervisor:    Ali Farashah Keywords:    Post-Crisis, Organisational Learning, Organisational Change,     Manufacturing,       Covid-19 Research question:   How do Manufacturing Companies engage in Post-Crisis      Management? Purpose:    There is a research gap in Post-Crisis Management. This paper aims   to contribute to filling that gap. Method:   This is an exploratory study into post-crisis management.    Semi-structured interviews were conducted to gather data. The study   follows a deductive approach with inductive aspects. The data was   analysed in a thematic approach. Conclusion:    Aspects of post-crisis management have mostly been confirmed by   data. Some aspects of literature and findings contradict each other.   Some aspects have been indicated by the gathered data that are not   yet considered in the literature.

Masters of Art / Knowledge Management (KM) has developed over the years into a mainstream organisational necessity to achieve success and organisational effectiveness. The goal of this study is to assess KM and organisational learning within religious organisations especially Pentecostal Churches. This study is based on both qualitative and quantitative research design, employing a case study research method. The study population was the 120 congregational members of Christian Faith Revival Ministries of South Africa, located in Tafelsig, Mitchell’s Plain, Cape Town. Quantitative and qualitative data was collected using questionnaire and Interview. Analysis was done using SPSS and Atlas.ti.

The growing interest in sustainability amounts pressure on organisations to operate in more environmentally friendly ways, sparking the need for radical sustainable change. The purpose of this study is to discover what factors and conditions facilitate and hinder organisational learning for sustainability transitions (ST), a topic that has caught recent academic attention and thus needs further interdisciplinary research. The conceptual framework derives inspiration from the Four Factors of Learning for ST whilst the Competing Values Framework and the Three Loops of Learning are used as additional lens to better understand the conditions of learning for ST. The thesis will take a qualitative approach through conducting a content analysis of three company documents and seven semi-structured interviews with employees from a public service agency in Scandinavia currently implementing a transition lab. A descriptive analysis of the coded data highlights the levels of understanding and acceptance towards sustainability transitions from the case organisation and the conditions that facilitate and hinder organisational learning. The results show that the most prominent of the Four Factors of Learning for ST in the early phase of a sustainability transition is interpersonal, followed by material, institutional and intrapersonal. Within these factors, the discussion further highlights the most prevalent sub-codes and themes that reoccur in the data. Moreover, five key findings under the themes of flexibility versus control, resource availability through digitalisation, communication, collaboration and facing complexity using institutional logics were identified as the primary facilitating and hindering factors that promote learning for STs. Finally, recommendations are presented to inform both theory, and practice, as further analysing learning for ST is of high relevance to better understand and design these learning journeys and a more sustainable (organisational) future.

Thailand is called the kitchen of the world; the country produces food and beverage products and exports around the globe. According to previous studies, there is not enough data on food waste in Thailand and worldwide. This study aims to analyse the characteristic of the loop of learning in assisting the process of organizational change and explain how it can support sustainable change in Food Waste Management. Even though a loop of learning is used frequently to develop changes in organizations, the relationship between organisational learning methods and organisational change is still not yet identified.  The qualitative method, particularly a case study, was used to accomplish the aim. The case study focuses on how production companies develop their organisational change toward sustainable Food Waste Management in Thailand by aligning the management's thinking level with a loop of learning. The data collection method is a semi-structured interview with 12 managers of different food and beverage manufacturing companies. The results show that current actions are 1) following the existing regulation and finding solutions for challenges, 2) developing better methods and re-using waste, and 3) setting new strategies to achieve sustainable Food Waste Management. Thus, those actions have the quality of single, double and triple-loop learning.  Furthermore, the research findings indicate that changing norms with environmental concerns can influence other factors, such as laws and stakeholder expectations. The organizational change process must involve continually thinking in the loop of learning from an individual and organisational perspective. These authors conclude that the nature of loop learning is a process that individuals and organizations can use to identify and reclaim problems; this process assists organization to realise the need for changes and continue developing solutions for those matters. The outcomes of continuous thinking will present changes in action which reach organisational change.

Yes / Empirical research on three commercial environmental vocational education and training programmes revealed distinct personal, teaching and work-based presage factors, which influenced individual learning and learning transfer to the workplace. The extent to which behaviour change and learning transfer occurred depended on a diverse range of factors, notably the workplace utility of the course; student’s level of personal commitment and position within the employing organisation; strength of the organisation’s environmental culture; level of post-course managerial/supervisory support available within the workplace; and changing workplace circumstances/priorities.