M.Comm. (Business Management) / Over the past ten years the insurance industry has been subject to extreme losses due to dual exposure in both underwriting and investments. Financial survival was the number one priority for many insurance firms in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attack in America in 2001, the natural catastrophe losses across the USA, and most recently the global financial crisis. Multinational European and North American insurance firms have been forced to focus on core business activities, and this has necessitated improvement of holistic risk and capital management of global and regional operations. Against this evolving microeconomic and managerial backdrop, multinational insurance firms withdrew from the South African insurance market in an attempt to improve financial performance by recapitalising funds to their core operations in Europe and America, and to mitigate their international risk exposure in developing countries. This study explores the phenomenon of how an entrepreneurial entity experienced opportunity realisation within the South African insurance industry when multinational insurance firms withdrew from the South African market. This research employed qualitative case study methodology to illustrate the phenomenon under investigation. Participants of this study included a purposefully selected group consisting of 12 candidates who have been directly involved in the opportunity realisation of the entrepreneurial entity. Grounded Theory analysis allowed for insightful descriptions of opportunity realisation within the South African insurance industry. The empirical evidence suggest opportunity realisation to be impacted by five dominant forces, namely, the South African insurance market, an entrepreneurial entity, opportunity identification, strategic development, and organisational design. Collectively, these five forces constitute the Inductive Opportunity Realisation (IOR) theory. This study focuses on entrepreneurial behaviour to realise opportunities within the South African insurance industry. The IOR theory also highlights the important role of constructive and deconstructive entrepreneurial behaviour in realising opportunities.

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document / Thesis (DPhil (Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Psychology / unrestricted

D.Com. / Traditional strategic management thinking is no longer appropriate within a prevailing context of discontinuous and rapid environmental change. A swiftly changing environment necessitates the need for a new approach to strategic management. Executives frequently experiences great difficulty. in managing strategic and organizational change. Managing strategic change requires a new way of dealing with the future, one often requiring executives to go against practice anchored in experience and traditional theory, frequently acquired within a less volatile context. A dynamic unpredictable and swiftly changing context provides impetus for challenging and researching the underlying assumptions on which the tradi tional strategic management paradigm is based. This study is thus directed at acquiring an understanding of the complexities and dynamics involved in managing strategic change, within a turbulent context. In this study an endeavour is made to gain an understanding of strategic and organizational change, from a theoretical and a practical perspective. A central premises of this study is that in order to understand the management of strategic change a clear understanding must be attained, as regards the dynamics of environmental change. Privatisation and deregulation, as environmental determinants, will in all probability have a profound impact on organizations in the public sector and they thus serve as an ideal frame of reference for researching the management of strategic and corporate change. An analytic-descriptive research approach is followed. The study is based on two fundamental foundations, namely acquiring a sound theoretical understanding of the concepts and processes involved in managing strategic change within a turbulent context and substantiating these insights acquired, by means of interviews conducted with management practitioners from selected organizations in both the public and the private sector. The former organizations in particular have been subjected to a traumatic period of micro- and macro-environmental change, stimulated by the privatisation process. It is concluded from this study that the future can no longer be extrapolated in terms of historical trends or events, as the future rarely resembles the past. Visionary leadership, incorporating the unknown in a dynamic context, is identified as being a vital dimension in managing strategic change. Management must in particular note that an established organizational culture can generate resistance to change, resulting in stagnation, thus preventing the organization from realizing its vision and strategic objectives. In conclusion it is affirmed that a holistic management approach is vital for contending with corporate and strategic change in a dynamic future milieu.

This phenomenological study explored how HR professionals who identified themselves as facilitators of strategic HRD (SHRD) perceived the experience of being an organizational agent-downsizing survivor. Criterion and snowball sampling were used to recruit 15 participants for this study. A semi-structured interview guide was used to interview participants. Creswell’s (2007) simplified version of Moustakas’s (1994) Modification of the Stevick-Colaizzi-Keen Method of Analysis of Phenomenological Data was used to analyze the data. Four main themes and corresponding sub-themes emerged from an inductive data analysis. The four main themes were a) the emotionality of downsizing, b) feeling responsible, c) choice and control, and d) possibilities for growth. Participants perceived downsizing as an emotional organizational change event that required them to manage their own emotions while helping others do the same. They performed their roles within an organizational atmosphere that was perceived as chaotic and filled with apprehension, shock, and a sense of ongoing loss, sadness and grieving. They sometimes experienced guilt and doubt and felt deceptive for having to keep secrets from others when planning for downsizing. Participants felt a strong sense of responsibility to protect employees emotionally, balance employee and organizational interests, and try to ensure the best outcomes for both. Often being there for others meant that they put on their games faces and took care of themselves last. Participants spoke of the importance of choosing one’s attitude, being proactive rather than reactive, and finding ways to regain control in the midst of organizational crisis. They also perceived that although downsizing was emotionally difficult to go through that it provided possibilities for self, employee, and organizational growth.

No description available.

Purpose. This study investigated organizational development climate within the context of an organization experiencing rapid change in its environment resulting in employee knowledge obsolescence. Secondary purposes were: (1) determine current development methods and behavior; (2) identify preferred development methods; (3) examine the influence of educational background on development; (4) examine the influence length of service on development and (5) investigate reward preferences and their link to development. Procedure. The data were collected through a sample of 550 nonmanager engineers. The questionnaire consisted of individual background information and a modified version of the Work Description Questionnaire for Engineers (WDQE). Environment factors investigated were: (1) organization; (2) management and (3) peer support; (4) communication and involvement and (5) work assignments. Responses were obtained from 320 nonmanager engineers. A chi-square analysis tested hypotheses for education and length of service groups. Summary of Findings and Conclusions. (1) The engineering population differed significantly in their education and length of service backgrounds. (2) Knowledge foundation requirements for entry in the organization in the past five years have increased. (3) Non-degree development is more important for the majority, while degree development is important to bachelor-degreed and shorter length-of-service employees. (4) Reported non-degreed development averaged one course/seminar per year, 2-4 hours of independent reading per week and discussions within the immediate work group. Education groups reported significant differences in internal course/seminar participation and reading behavior. (5) The most effective development methods included a challenging job, reading, an advanced degree, courses/seminars, interdisciplinary teams and internal networking. Education groups showed significant differences for reading and interdisciplinary terms. (6) Primary barriers to development included time, cost, management and workload. (7) The work environment climate for development in the organization was moderate. Peer support received the highest rating; organization, management, and work assignments were rated moderately. (8) The most preferred rewards included salary/merit increases, achievement, advancement, recognition and challenging work. Education groups reported differences in preferred rewards. (9) Moderate opportunity for rewards occurred independent of development behavior. Education groups showed differences in opportunity for challenging work with improved development. Length of service groups reported differences for opportunity of rewards even with increased development.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.