Magister Commercii (Information Management) - MCom(IM) / This thesis explores and explains the existence of a best practice model to optimise the transfer of funds (the transfer funding process) between funders and service providers in the public sector. Using ideas about best practice in a specific context, the Health environment, it investigates the perceptions of managers about the transfer of funds between the Provincial Government of the Western Cape and the Local Authority of the City of Cape Town, the existence of a formula that will indicate appropriate amounts to transfer to service providers, and how information systems might assist with the process and the formula. / South Africa

Magister Administrationis - MAdmin / In an attempt to make South Africa a more just society after the first democratic elections on 27 April 1994, the South African society had to undergo a number of radical changes which impacted the social, economical, political and educational arena. These changes have influenced recruitment, retention and turnover. Changes at leadership levels in the private and public sphere coupled with a huge exodus of highly skilled professionals are evident as topics of equality and social justice appear at the top of company agendas. Many proponents have conducted research on organisational justice and the fact that more than twenty five thousand articles have been published on job satisfaction attest to the importance of these two variables on organisational performance. In an article examining past, present and future states of organisational justice it is argued that organisational justice has the potential to explain many organisational behavioural outcome variables. An investigation of the relationship between organisational justice perceptions and work behavior found job satisfaction to be made up of a large fairness component. The rationale behind the support for the study is the argument that employees who perceive that they have been fairly treated is likely to hold positive attitudes about their work, their work outcomes and their managers. If South African organisations wish to remain competitive then organisations need to understand how perceptions of justice influence attitudes and behaviour and consequently affect the success of the organisation. Agricultural Colleges, a division of the Department of Agriculture are no exception. The Agricultural Colleges' primary aim is to provide training to its prospective communities, and is continuously being evaluated in terms of how well its academic employees achieve its vision, mission and goals. It is evident from responses to job advertisements, low morale and high turnover that most of the academic employees in Agricultural Colleges are dissatisfied with their jobs, pay, management and the institutions based on their current salary. Attracting, recruiting and retraining highly skilled, internationally marketable and mobile employees are critical factors in determining the present and future success in agricultural training in South Africa. Limited research to examine the effects of organisational justice on organisational outcomes in an environment where the workforce consists of academics is the gap this research attempts to fill. This study is designed to assess the impact of organisational justice on job satisfaction of academic employees in agricultural colleges in South Africa. Also, to determine whether biographical values influence the relationship between organisational justice and job satisfaction. / South Africa

There is a wealth of studies which suggest that manager's positive perceptions/expectations can considerably influence organisational performance; unfortunately, little empirical evidence has been obtained from development studies. This first time research explores how Japanese aid workers' perceptions towards the local staff affects their behaviour and performance in cross-cultural project settings. Moreover, this research focuses on the perceptual and behavioural trait differences of successful and unsuccessful aid workers. With cooperation from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), 244 valid responses were obtained from the aid workers (managers) through a webbased survey. As a result of statistical analysis, positive causal relationships were confirmed between perception related factors and behaviour related factors and the organisational performance variable. These results strongly suggest that aid worker¿s positive perceptions result in positive behaviour in local colleagues and subsequently higher organisational performance. In addition, it was discovered that the aid workers' positive perception/expectation about work and their local colleagues was related to higher organisational performance, whilst conversely, the negative perception on their part was generally associated with negative behaviour and lower organisational performance.Although the differences in perceptual tendencies suggested by that these findings apply to Japanese aid managers; however, as human nature is universal, positive perception and behaviour should bring out positive output in most organisations. It is recommended that there is a need for people-related and cross-cultural management skills to ensure successful future activities, and stress management competencies to maintain positive managerial perception on the part of aid workers. / Japan/World Bank Graduate Scholarship Program (JJ/WBGSP).

A survey of literature has revealed that there is a need for a reliability study of the Denison Organisational Culture Survey (DOCS) for use in a financial institution in South Africa. The major objective of this research was therefore to determine the internal consistency reliability of the DOCS - in other words, to determine the accuracy or consistency with which the set of survey items measures one particular scale. The total sample of 2 735 individuals used in this research consisted of both male and female full-time employees of a financial institution in South Africa. The results of this introductory study on the reliability of the DOCS in South Africa demonstrated clear support for similar research conducted abroad and proved to be compatible with the cognitive-behaviouristic psychology movement's original concept of organisational culture. The reliability of the DOCS, as applicable to this South African sample, reflects statistical significant internal consistency. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M. Comm.

The aim of this quantitative study was to develop and validate a model to measure the organisational effectiveness of a metropolitan municipality in South Africa. The literature review phase explored the concept of organisational effectiveness and the assessment thereof in both the Public and Private Sectors. The literature review indicated that there is a clear distinction between business performance (operational and financial performance) and the larger concept of organisational effectiveness, and also that the measurement of organisational effectiveness in the Public Sector differed from the measurement thereof in the Private Sector. The literature review also indicated that measures of Public Sector effectiveness could not be directly applied to measure the effectiveness of Private Sector organisations. From the literature review a proposed theoretical model for measuring the organisational effectiveness of a metropolitan municipality in South Africa was proposed. This proposed model included organisational and behavioural variables contained in traditional approaches to organisational effectiveness, variables that were identified in previous organisational effectiveness studies, as well as variables contained in existing assessment models of organisational effectiveness. This model was then validated during the empirical phase by conducting a survey of an existing metropolitan municipality in South Africa (n = 6514) and exposing the results of the survey to Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The confirmatory factor analysis conducted as part of SEM subsequently identified three main and 10 secondary statistically significant organisational and behavioural variables that could be used to measure the effectiveness of a metropolitan municipality in South Africa. The three main variables identified were (1) Healthy Systems, (2) Goal Achievement and (3) Service Delivery, while the 10 secondary variables identified were (1) Diversity, (2) Training & Development, (3) Rewards & Recognition, (4) Management Practices, (5) Internal Functioning, (6) Work Environment, (7) Interpersonal Relations, (8) Workforce Equity, (9) Customer Satisfaction and (10) Vision & Mission. It was thus recommended that metropolitan municipalities in South Africa could use this validated model as an assessment framework to measure their current organisational effectiveness, to identify aspects which need to be rectified to improve effectiveness, and to compare and benchmark their municipality in order to learn from other metropolitan municipalities to improve their effectiveness. / Industrial & Organisational Psychology / D. Admin. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

The objective of the study was to determine whether any relationships exist between personality and the performance of sales staff in a call centre environment. Personality type (measured by the Jung Type Indicator [JTI]) and sales personality type (measured by the Sales Preference Indicator [SPI]) were correlated with sales staff performance in an insurance call centre environment. A quantitative survey was conducted using a sample of N = 146. Correlational and inferential statistical analyses revealed statistically significant positive, although weak, relationships between personality type and the performance of call centre sales staff while statistically significant positive and negative correlations, although weak, were found between sales personality type and the performance of call centre sales staff. More female and black sales staff members were found in the higher performing clusters than in the average and poorer performing clusters. The best subset of personality scales from the JTI that predicted univariate measures of performance were the extroversion-introversion scale and the judging-perceiving scale while the best subset of predictors from the SPI personality scale were the consistent-adaptive scale and the cooperative-competitive scale. Call centre performance criteria are based mainly on quantitative performance criteria. It emerged from the literature review that the call centre sales position is synonymous with emotional labour and it is, thus, recommended that future research should emphasise the importance of emotionally intensive labour and its measurement combined with quantitative performance measures. / Industrial & Organisational Psychology / M.A. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

The advent of democracy in 1994 prompted the South African government to provide public goods to the entire population as opposed to providing services along racial lines, as was the case during the apartheid era. Consequently, government expenditure increased considerably. However, continuous service delivery protests in recent years indicate that government has not been operating optimally. The Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation and National Treasury introduced Organisational Performance Management (OPM) to improve service delivery. Government also adopted internal auditing as a mechanism to improve OPM because of internal auditing’s mandate, role and body of knowledge. This study explored the implementation of OPM as a management tool to assist national departments in effectively delivering goods and services to the public economically and efficiently. The study also explored the adoption of internal auditing by national departments as a mechanism to improve OPM. The study followed a sequential mixed methods approach. The chief audit executives of eighteen national departments participated in the quantitative phase. Interviews were held with employees from four national departments as well as two monitoring departments. Departmental officials included five deputy directors-general, three chief directors, four directors, one deputy director and one senior internal auditor. Seven focus group discussions were held with twenty-two internal auditors from the four departments. Sixty-four documents were analysed. The study found that national departments have implemented systems of OPM and the reporting of quarterly performance information but are at different levels of maturity. However, governance and reporting fatigue and a reluctance to implement effective consequence management for poor performance may be undermining optimal performance. National departments may be also preparing strategic plans, annual performance plans and annual reports simply for compliance rather than for optimal performance. The study also found that internal auditors may not have a thorough understanding of the department’s performance environment and consequently undertake limited assessments of OPM, focusing mainly on quarterly performance information (PI) and documentation rather than on organisational strategy. However, management’s expectations from internal auditing go beyond assessing the quarterly PI and require advice and guidance on strategic imperatives. The appropriate skills, knowledge and training of internal auditors therefore require review. Management expects assurance of sustainable future performance of the department. Internal auditing currently stands positioned to make an evolutionary transformation into becoming the most important strategic partner to management. However, under-theorisation and a restricted internal auditing approach inhibit its natural evolution. / College of Accounting Sciences / D. Phil. (Accounting Sciences)

A survey of literature has revealed that there is a need for a reliability study of the Denison Organisational Culture Survey (DOCS) for use in a financial institution in South Africa. The major objective of this research was therefore to determine the internal consistency reliability of the DOCS - in other words, to determine the accuracy or consistency with which the set of survey items measures one particular scale. The total sample of 2 735 individuals used in this research consisted of both male and female full-time employees of a financial institution in South Africa. The results of this introductory study on the reliability of the DOCS in South Africa demonstrated clear support for similar research conducted abroad and proved to be compatible with the cognitive-behaviouristic psychology movement's original concept of organisational culture. The reliability of the DOCS, as applicable to this South African sample, reflects statistical significant internal consistency. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M. Comm.

People effectiveness has become a key differentiator of competitive advantage in the knowledge economy and the need for a valid and reliable measure of people effectiveneness has become paramount for success. The research positions the psychological work immersion scale (PWIS) as a relevant measure of people effectiveness and explores the relationship between the PWIS variables (psychological attachment and people effectiveness enablers) and perceptions of business performance. Furthermore the research explores whether higher levels of psychological work immersion leads to increased business performance over time in an attempt to position the value of organisational development interventions aimed at increasing psychological work immersion levels in the work place. The setting for this research was a not-for-profit organisation in South Africa. The sample for the study was measured at two defined points in time over a 14-month period and consisted of n = 414 (T1) and n = 551 (T2). The study showed that the PWIS factor structure is a valid measure of the psychological work immersion construct across time (T1 and T2). The results provided evidence of convergent, intra-discriminant and external discriminant validity (construct validity) of the PWIS within (T1 and T2) and over time (T1 vs T2). The results showed that the PWIS has acceptable internal consistency reliability within and across time (T1 and T2) as well as demonstrating test-retest reliability across time. The results provided evidence that the people effectiveness enablers and psychological attachment variables significantly predict perception of business performance indicators (profit/loss, costs, and cash flow related to operating activities), and that strong perceptions of people effectiveness enablers relate to strong individual perceptions of business performance through a high sense of psychological attachment. The mediation results confirmed the test-retest reliability and validity of the PWIS in predicting perceptions of business performance within and over time. This finding shows that psychological attachment is an important factor in terms of iv influencing the individual perceptions of business performance which is related to improvements in actual business performance. The study also showed evidence of a positive relationship between psychological work immersion and business performance and demonstrated improvements in psychological work immersion coincided with year on year improvements in business performance. The study contributes towards the current literature on organisational development and specifically on the measurement of people effectiveness within knowledge economy organisations. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / D. Com.

Knowledge Management aims to improve organisational performance and it marks the beginning of organisational transformation. The two types of knowledge managed are respectively categorised “tacit” and “explicit.” This research investigated the effectiveness of Knowledge Management for organisational transformation in Namibia. It was necessitated by the lack of knowledge sharing among employees and also lack of appropriate tools for effective Knowledge Management. Moreover, some organisations engage in Knowledge Management practices without a full understanding of the processes involved. This was determined by a through literature review which indicated that there were very few studies conducted on Knowledge Management in Namibia as shown on Table 1.1 on page 6. The study therefore provided a nuanced understanding of Knowledge Management. The study additionally established that the use of appropriate tools and technologies to better manage the knowledge ultimately improves organisational performance. The research objectives sought to explore the initiatives deployed to enable knowledge sharing, identify barriers to effective Knowledge Management, analyse the role of social media for knowledge sharing and also measure the effectiveness of the knowledge transfer activities. A mixed method research methodology was used to conduct this investigation. Participants were selected through purposive sampling. Out of 130 questionnaires distributed, 112 were fully completed and returned. This represented an 86.1% response rate. The results of the study revealed that organisational transformation is dependent on effective Knowledge Management. In addition to that, the study found that there is a correlation of 0.6 between Information Technology and Knowledge Management. The study further revealed that initiatives to enable knowledge sharing start with executive support and the employees should be motivated to share knowledge. More so, it was also found that lack of funds for Knowledge Management projects is the greatest barrier in organisations. Effective Knowledge Management is facilitated by social media. Finally, it was found that the most effective knowledge transfer activity is a collaborative virtual workspace followed by Communities of Practice. / School of Computing / M.Sc. (Computing)