Thesis (MTech (Business Administration in Project Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Cape Town, 2018. / The demand for project management specialists grows worldwide. Traditionally, certain industries have been more project-oriented than others. However, nowadays, organisations in both private and public sector have embraced Project Management as the ideal means of managing projects with the hopes of ensuring the intended benefit delivery. Project management is a skill that is in high demand in South Africa. Project managers play a vital role in the economic growth of a developing country. This has resulted in organisations investing considerable resources to ensure that they build the capacity needed to effectively manage projects. South Africa is a diverse country in terms of age, culture, education, gender, race and religion amongst a group of people living or working together. Globalization has increased diversity within the workplace which is challenging and worsened knowing the country’s history. The attributes required to be a successful project manager include excellent interpersonal, communication skills, project management skills, adept problem solving and the ability to work well under pressure, whilst being highly adaptable and logical thinker. Confidence, strong negotiating skills and being able to motivate a team in order to achieve the goals is necessary; a project manager is a leader and a skilled delegator. Managers have diverse team to manage which speaks to the need for people of the different social dispositions to be able to co-exist. In the workplace, there is generally an organisational culture that speaks largely to how things are done. The culture observed by the outside world is largely because of the coming together of all the different people, with different origins, different tastes and different objectives. In this study, a construct was developed to identify the perceptions of the subordinates about the environment they work in and to identify the exact differences – things or behaviours that are perceived to be alien to their expectations.

Thesis (MTech (Quality))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2019. / Customer satisfaction is a topic of global interest in higher education and it also forms the backdrop of the research presented in this thesis. This study focuses on the employees (academics and non-academics) in the Faculty of Education at a South African university of technology (UoT) who play a key role in providing the services that their customers receive. The study is underpinned by the understanding that in order for the customer’s experience of service provision to be positive, a healthy relationship between the customer and the service provider is critical. The organization, in this case a higher education institution, has to have a sense of quality culture in order for the service provider to maintain a good relationship with a customer. Quality culture assessment can help to better understand complex organizational culture and its impact on service delivery. Quality culture assessment also helps to direct the implementation of organizational changes for better service delivery structures. The type of quality culture dominant in an organization may positively or negatively affect service quality, employee performance and motivation. As a result, the service delivery experience of the customer may be influenced. Quality culture affects the way in which employees interact with each other and with their customers. This study therefore, presents an inquiry into quality culture within a higher education context with the aim to evaluate quality culture within the Faculty of Education at a UoT using quality management principles (QMPs) as a framework. This study employed QMPs because of their increased effectiveness in enhancing customer satisfaction and improving customer loyalty. The quality management principles are: customer focus, leadership, engagement of people, process approach, improvements, evidence-based decisions and relationship management (ISO 9001, 2015:Online). This study used a quantitative research approach and was designed as a survey case study. Data was collected through a structured questionnaire that was disseminated to all the academic and non-academic staff in the Faculty of Education at the UoT. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software was used as a tool for data analysis. Findings in this study reveal that a safe working environment, communication between employees, communication between management and employees, in addition to good working relationships, may affect service quality in the Faculty of Education at the UoT. This implies that having a healthy working environment in an organization is beneficial for employees in order to perform their duties better and to provide quality services to their customers. In an organization with good quality culture, there is close cooperation between employees which leads to good service quality. If the institution under study is concerned with providing value to customers, it needs to consider improving customer value by formally applying QMPs throughout the organization. QMPs are central to the practice of quality management and service delivery. The findings of this study suggest that quality culture affects service quality in the Faculty of Education at the UoT as some of the quality management principles are lacking. This study recommends that the Faculty of Education have a closer look at improving communication between employees, communication between management and employees, in addition to encouraging good working relationships as well as an enabling environment that allows employees to work efficiently. It is also recommended that quality culture be on the Faculty of Education’s agenda in order to enhance the service delivery experience of customers. The Faculty of Education should support a quality culture environment by providing appropriate structures such as service delivery structures within their organizations. These structures may be needed in order to facilitate, maintain and show commitment of staff members towards a quality culture environment and service delivery. Furthermore, these structures may contribute to quality culture by introducing new shared values and behavioural norms that might facilitate the long-term success and well-being of the organization. It is also recommended that the institution under study formally apply quality management principles throughout the organization for the purpose of improving customer value, customer experience and meeting customer needs.