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published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

Thesis (MPA)--Stellenbosch University, 2004. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: A commitment to the market economy was easily extended to a widespread belief that money is the best motivator for work performance although there is no hard evidence to support that belief as a universal proposition (Armstrong & Murlis, 1994:263). Armstrong & Murlis (1994:263) contend that even if the effectiveness of money as a motivator can be questioned, most organisations strongly feel that it is fair to reward employees according to their contribution. The drive against incremental pay systems has taken place because management do not see why people should be paid for simply being there. Many people explicitly associate incremental pay systems with unmotivated performance. The argument being that if people are paid more flexibly according to their performance, they are more likely to be motivated than if they are sitting around waiting for the next automatic salary increment. Performance-related pay (PRP) schemes became more popular in many organisations in the 1980s as an answer to motivating employees and developing performance-oriented cultures. According to Flannery, Hofrichter & Platter (1996:83), organisations have been slowly coming to the realisation that compensation programmes have in many cases become a barrier to the growth and success of the organisations. Consequently, many employers devised new compensation systems that would likely support their emphasis on values such as quality, customer service, teamwork and productivity. Research shows that PRP systems can work for the organisation, but the first wave of enthusiasm revealed some weaknesses in their application. In this study project, the origins and underlying forces around PRP are discussed. The nature of PRP in the Lesotho Civil Service is addressed. PRP as part of the performance management system (PMS) in the Lesotho Public Service is introduced as a substitute for the current 'automatic' incremental pay system. Lastly, a model for introducing PRP in the Lesotho Civil Service is designed as a step-by-step guide for the people who are working on the PRP scheme. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: 'n Verbintenis tot die markekonomie het maklik aanleiding gegee tot 'n wydverspreide geloof dat geld die beste motiveerder is vir werkprestasie, hoewel daar geen vasstaande bewys is vir ondersteuning van die geloof as 'n universele proposisie nie (Armstrong & Murlis, 1994:263). Armstrong & Murlis (1994:263) beweer dat selfs al kan die effektiwiteit van geld as 'n motiveerder bevraagteken word, die meeste organisasies sterk voel oor die regverdigheid daarvan dat personeel volgens bydrae vergoed word. Die beweegrede vir afsien van die inkrementele vergoedingstelsel is te vinde in die bestuur se siening dat personeel nie noodwendig vir blote teenwoordigheid vergoed hoef te word nie. Baie mense assosieer die inkrementele vergoedingstelsel direk met ongemotiveerde werkverrigting en die argument word dan ook gehuldig dat as personeel met groter buigsaamheid volgens prestasie vergoed word, hulle waarskynlik meer gemotiveerd sal wees as wanneer hulle maar net wag vir die volgende outomatiese salarisverhoging. Prestasie-verwante vergoedingstelsels is gedurende die 1980's toenemend deur organisasies ingevoer as 'n meganisme vir die motivering van personeel en die vestiging van prestasie-georiënteerde kulture. Volgens Flannery, Hofrichter & Platter (1996:83), het organisasies stadigaan begin besef dat vergoedingsprogramme in baie gevalle belemmerend was vir hul groei en sukses. Gevolglik het baie werkgewers nuwe vergoedingstelsels ontwerp met waarskynlike steun vir hul beklemtoning van waardes soos kwaliteit, kliëntediens, spanwerk en produktiwiteit. Navorsing het getoon dat prestasie-verwante vergoedingstelsels gewenste resultate in 'n organisasie kan lewer, maar die aanvanklike geesdrif is gedemp deur swakhede wat in die toepassing daarvan na vore gekom het. In hierdie studie word die oorsprong van en onderliggende stukrag agter prestasieverwante vergoeding bespreek. Die aard van prestasie-verwante vergoeding in die Lesotho Staatsdiens word aangespreek asook hoe dit as deel van die prestasiebestuurstelsel in die Staatsdiens ingevoer kan word as plaasvervanger vir die bestaande outomatiese inkrementele vergoedingstelsel. Ten slotte word daar 'n modelontwerp vir die instelling van prestasie-verwante vergoeding in die Lesotho Staatsdiens as 'n stap-vir-stap gids vir diegene gemoeid daarmee.

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

Magistrinio darbo tema – Finansiniai e. atsiskaitymai verslo įmonių finansinėje veikloje. Darbo tikslas – išanalizuoti verslo įmonių finansinius atsiskaitymus bei pateikti rekomendacijas dėl vieningos atsiskaitymo sistemos ES šalyse. Informacinių technologijų augimo tendencija bei rinkos konkurencija priverčia verslo įmones keisti savo vidinius procesus, pritaikant šiuolaikiškas skaitmenines galimybes. Finansinių e. atsiskaitymų verslo įmonių finansinėje veikloje perkėlimas į e. erdvę yra labai svarbus žingsnis, skatinant skaitmeninės ir konkurencingos ekonomikos vystymąsi. ES nagrinėdama problemas, susijusias su e. atsiskaitymais, siūlo nemažai sprendimų kaip išvengti ir išspręsti šias problemas. Vienas iš tokių sprendimų yra vieningos mokėjimo erdvės sukūrimas ES šalyse, kuri vykdoma trimis etapais: sukūrimo, įgyvendinimo, prijungimo. Prijungimo etapas turi pasibaigti 2010 m. 12 mėnesį. Iki to laiko visos ES šalys privalo užtikrinti vieningos mokėjimo sistemos naudojimą, atliekant kaip vietinius taip ir tarptautinius pavedimus. Šios sistemos tikslas yra išspręsti „tarpsienines“ ES šalių problemas, susijusias su finansiniais atsiskaitymais – kad elektroniniai mokėjimai ES, t.y. mokėjimai kredito ir debeto kortelėmis, kredito pavedimai, mokėjimas tiesioginio debeto būdu ar kitaip būtų tokie pat paprasti, pigūs ir saugūs, kokie šiandien yra mokėjimai vienoje valstybėje narėje. „Tarpsieninės“ finansinių atsiskaitymų problemos stabdo ekonomikos vystymą konkurencingomis... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The aim of the thesis: to analyse the financial payments of business enterprises and to provide recommendations on a single payment system in EU countries. The trends in the area of IT growth and market competition make enterprises change their internal processes and make use of contemporary digital instruments. Shift of financial e-payments into the cyberspace in financial activities of business enterprises is a very important move stimulating the development of digital and competitive economy. Dealing with issues related to e-payments, EU offers a number of solutions how to prevent and to solve the problems. One of the solutions is a three-stage creation of a single payment area in EU countries: development, implementation and connection. The stage of connection must be completed by December 2010. By then all EU countries must ensure use of the single payment system both for local and international transfers. The goal of such system is to solve the problems of EU countries related to cross-border financial payments, so that e-payments in EU, i.e. payments by credit and debit cards, credit transfers, direct debit payments, etc., would be as easy, cheap and safe as the payments within borders of one member state are today. The problems of cross-border financial payments impede economic development on competitive conditions. Business enterprises of EU countries encounter a number of problems related to international transfers: incompatible architecture of computer systems... [to full text]

An online payment system allows a customer to make a payment to an online merchant or a service provider. Payment gateways, a channel between customers and payment processors, use various security tools to secure a customer’s payment information, usually debit or credit card information, during an online payment. However, the security provided by a payment gateway cannot completely protect a customer’s payment information when a merchant also has the ability to obtain the payment information in some form. Furthermore, not all merchants provide a secure payment environment to their customers and, despite having a standard payment policy, adhere to it. Consequently, this exposes a customer’s payment information to risks of being compromised or misused by merchants or stolen by hackers and spammers. In this thesis we propose a new approach to payment systems in which a customer’s payment information cannot be obtained by a merchant. A customer sends his payment information directly to a payment gateway and a payment gateway, upon verifying the transaction, sends a payment to the appropriate merchant. We use the Pedersen commitment scheme along with dual signatures to securely transfer funds to a merchant and protect a customer’s payment information from any Internet vulnerabilities.

With the technological development of e-commerce and the increasing necessity to use online transactions, more and more online electronic payments systems have appeared to meet global demand. Furthermore, user acceptance of these kinds of systems is different for individuals in different cultures, and culture could be a factor that has great potential impact on predictions of user acceptance. The world has evolved to a degree where transactions occur between different cultural environments. This study aims to provide an understanding of how culture affects users’ intentions of electronic payment systems. Based on the purpose of this study, a questionnaire has been conducted in the interest of collecting data for statistical purposes. To make more sense about the results, a case study on PayEx (an electronic payment system) in Linnaeus University has been conducted through analysing twenty users’ interview records. Finally, this study expands on user acceptance research through looking at the role of culture and social influence. In practice, the results of this study give the thought for accurate forecasting of user acceptance towards electronic payment systems with considering cultural influence.

The thesis analyse the most important payment systems in the world as well as in Czech republic. The thesis also includes the analysis of internet payment systems available for czech e-shops.