Ph.D. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

D.Phil. / Sport in South Africa (SA) has undergone a metamorphosis over the past two decades. Statutory restrictions that were prevalent during the period prior to 1980 have been lifted, resulting in increased participation in sport. The increased participation has created a backlog of facilities and services provided by sport organizations. Coaching is one such service that is provided by sport organizations. In order to provide this service, it has become necessary for sport organizations to acquire sports coaches. In SA professional sports coaching is not an easy task since professional sports coaches face distinct pressures that are not found in other professions. This is reflected in the high coach turnover in certain popular codes of sport like soccer and rugby. Thus the question of the human resources management of professional sports coaches has arisen. This study involved research into the management of professional sports coaches in sport organizations affiliated to the South African Sports Commission. The aim of this study was to propose guidelines for the human resources management (HRM) of professional sports coaches in South Africa. This was done by conducting an in depth literature survey to ascertain what different theoretical models existed with regard to human resources management, in order that the principles of HRM in relation to professional sports coaches could be identified. The literature was compared with the current situation regarding the HRM function for professional sports coaches at sport organizations in South Africa. It was supported by an exploratory study conducted through in depth interviews, and an empirical study. Two questionnaires, which were pre-tested to v ensure that they communicated information correctly to the respondents, was developed for professional sports coaches and HR managers. Four hundred and fifty (450) questionnaires each were administered to HR managers and professional sports coaches at sports organizations affiliated to the South African Sports Commission in the different provinces in South Africa. The empirical findings, when compared with the literature study, provided evidence that shortcomings existed, that needed to be seriously addressed by HR managers at sport organizations, with regard to the management of professional sports coaches in South Africa. Sport organizations need to approach the training and development of professional sports coaches with the South African Qualifications Authority’s requirements in mind. This will ensure that the qualifications of professional sports coaches are accredited. As a result of the unique nature of the job that the coach performs, there is a need to utilize recruitment and selection techniques specifically applicable to professional sports coaches. The study revealed that professional sports coaches experience problems with job security, therefore appropriate actions need to be taken by HR managers to satisfy job security needs. The performance of professional sports coaches was mainly based on the win/loss record of the coach. The literature study as well as the empirical study suggests that other factors, in addition to the win/loss record of professional sports coaches, need to be considered in their performance appraisals. The qualitative as well as the empirical study suggests that professional sports coaches are not satisfied with their compensation. HR managers need to investigate compensation packages that are offered to professional sports coaches. / Prof. W.J. Hollander

The face of traditional Human Resources services in progressive organisations throughout South Africa is currently undergoing a dramatic change. The focus has moved from managing established traditional HR functions to providing guidance to implementing business strategy. As a result, professionals in Human Resources are increasingly challenged to take a more strategic perspective regarding their role in the organisation. As Human Resources professionals respond to this challenge, measuring Human Resource’s performance and its contribution to the firm’s performance consistently emerge as a key theme. At the same time more and more top-level managers are realising that HR or the people side of the business is critical to the long-term survival of the business. Human Resources functions are challenged to prove to organisations that they add value to the organisation’s performance. These functions are, however, battling to justify the reasons for their existence in organisations. Perhaps one of the reasons that HR has not been more successful in communicating the importance of what they do, is because they have tended not to express it in economic terms. The study underway aims at addressing one of the challenges that the Eskom Human Resources function is facing. In view of the reality of recognizing human limitations it makes eminently good sense to consider the experience of others. By systematically studying the best business practices, operating tactics, and winning strategies of others, an individual, team or organisation can accelerate its own progress and improvement. This study therefore, draws from the experience of others through utilising benchmarking as a method to evaluate the value that HR adds to business performance. Benchmarking is the key to proving the impact of HR function as well as providing the data for effective strategic planning. A number of international HR benchmarking studies has been undertaken. Examples are, the PWC consulting group studies, The Saratoga human capital performance benchmarking studies, the Watson Wyatt human capital index and the HR Health checks undertaken in Europe and the U.K. Each one of these studies has a unique approach. The Saratoga tool has been chosen for this study as a result of its’ uniqueness regarding its’ capability of combining disparate data from around the enterprise in a central repository allowing HR professionals to deliver quantifiable results through analysis, benchmarking, trending and forecasting. The Return on Investment (ROI) of Human Capital draws years of quantitative and qualitative international research that has provided a breakthrough methodology for measuring the bottom-line effect of employee performance. There are a vast number of HR practices that the HR function focuses on. In this context it appears that the reason why HR has not earned the respect they should earn is also because they have been slow in transforming themselves from the traditional, transactional role to the transformational leadership one that takes on the change agent status. This study therefore aimed at identifying value adding HR practices, which HR should focus on in order to add value to organisational performance. The concept of the balanced scorecard, together with he newly introduced concept of the HR scorecard was also used as guides to measuring the value of HR in Eskom. Seven categories of HR activities were chosen according to the already established Saratoga measures. These categories are: organisational effectiveness; HR staffing, costs and remuneration; remuneration/ compensation and benefits; absence and retention; recruitment; training and development; and Occupational Health and Safety. The results of the study were presented based on the key indicators for the employment cycle namely; Acquiring skills, maintenance, development and retention. These indicators were analysed in relation to the organisation’s human capital performance. An additional category was that of the HR function itself. The primary results were as follows; Eskom posted relatively good results on human capital performance. However, there are indications that this performance can be improved. Eskom is weak on acquiring. There are big opportunities for improvement. Eskom’s maintenance posted poor results. There are however interventions under way to address this situation. Eskom’s investment in the development of its employees was found to be very good, outclassing all its counterparts. The study suggests that maybe this high investment account for the reason why Eskom is able to have a high internal recruitment rate. Eskom’s retention strategies seemed to be very effective especially since there were very low levels of resignations. The findings on the HR structure and support were that the HR structure is too densely populated, yet, professionalism was slightly lower. There are opportunities for improvement in this area. The study was therefore able to achieve its objectives. The main recommendation for future research is that a qualitative approach, which is interpretative, should back-up this study so as to verify a number of supporting HR roles and functions. / Dr. Jos Coetzee

M.Com. (Business Management) / Today's organizations are operating in a continually changing business environment. To be a growing and profitable business, it is important that management have a vision of where and how they want to direct the company to the desired future business outcome. Management must be in touch with both the internal and external factors that may influence the outcome of the changing environment ...

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The purpose of this study was to investigate whether Confucian values based on the four virtues and five relationships influence the style of the HRM practices adopted by Locally owned firms (LOFs) and Foreign owned firms (FOFs) based in Singapore. Confucian values emphasize a way of life. They are based on first cultivating oneself with the basic four virtues highlighted by Confucius (551 - 479 BC). Secondly, through the influence of the individual on others (via the five relationships, namely ruler-subject, father-son, brother-brother, husband-wife and friend-friend illustrated by Confucius), a 'perfect' world with peace and harmony can be created. This study investigates the degree to which the four distinct virtues - 1) human-kindness (ren), 2) integrity (yi), 3) propriety (li) and 4) knowledge (chi) and the five relationships, 1) ruler-subject, 2) father-son, 3) husband-wife, 4) brother-brother and 5) friend-friend, were adopted to underpin the practices of Human Resource Management (HRM) in Singapore. The target group of respondents chosen was executives, who were directly influenced by the style of human resource management in the firm. Electronics/technology related firms based in Singapore were the chosen group. The executives were chosen from electronics/technology related firms because these firms formed the most important industry, responsible for the well being of Singapore's growth (24% of GDP as stated by the Department of Statistics; 1999) and expected to continue so for the next 10 years. Managers from the same firms were given another set of questionnaires to verify the responses obtained from the executives. From the result obtained, it showed that there were influences of Confucian values on the five human resources functions tested. The executives' responses provided evidence on whether or not a certain trait or style has been used in the firm. The managers' responses, on the other hand, helped to verify that the trait or style was due to the influence of Confucian values as a whole and not other cultures or religions. The entire survey and interviews were carried out over twenty months from 1998, during which responses obtainable from both the managers and executives from each firm were analyzed. The data were analyzed using cross-tabulations and chi-square tests because cross-tabulation is one statistical tool which required only at least 5 responses in each cell for a reliable analysis to be conducted (Yong, 1994). Letters were then sent out to the Heads/Managers of the target firms, conducting interviews to obtain more insights to argue the survey data. Two interviews were conducted, taped and results obtained from the quantitative approach, helped further clarify earlier interpretations. This research showed that Singapore-based electronics/technology-related firms, regardless whether they were locally owned or foreign owned, showed that they were influenced by Confucian values in most aspects of the human resource practices. In addition, from the study, it showed that there were no significant differences between locally owned firms and foreign owned firms in terms of the degree of influence Confucian values have on the style of the management. This demonstrated that Chinese culture (in this case - Confucian values) - local/host country's culture played a stronger influence on the style of management in businesses conducted in Singapore than the organization's culture. This finding is important as most past research findings such as Rodrigues (1996) used to state that the organizational culture of the foreign-owned firms often have stronger influence on the practices adopted in firms regardless of the country that they were in. Lastly, after analyzing the responses obtained from the survey, the study justified that four virtues and only three (i.e. ruler-subject, friend-friend, father-son) of the five relationships outlined by Confucius has an impact on the style of HRM amongst Singapore-based firms in the technology/electronics-related industry. / thesis (PhDBusinessandManagement)--University of South Australia, 2002.

The dynamic nature of performance management is a significant issue for organisations. A review of the empirical performance management literature highlights that little research has examined an organisation�s holistic performance management framework. Most prior studies have been partial (i.e., examine various performance management elements), and there is a lack of depth in analysis (because of the short-term nature of many studies). In addition to the few studies that have examined the interconnections between the performance management elements, there has also been a lack of research examining incentive systems (especially at lower levels), target-setting, and performance evaluation. The literature review in this thesis also highlights the diversity in the performance management elements studied, the lack of theoretical development, diversity in who is interviewed and research sites, etc. This diversity in field study research provides a difficult base on which to build a cumulative body of literature (as most studies examine a different research question in a different context). This PhD research examines the overall performance management framework in a large and complex Australasian organisation, Sensol, over a 14 year period. The research is inductive, empirical and interpretative so as to gain a deeper understanding of Sensol�s performance management framework. The narrative highlights the multiple voices that exist in Sensol to illustrate the complexity of performance management at various levels. Otley�s (1999) performance management framework is a useful research tool (e.g., initial data analysis, structuring device). The documentary evidence traces the history and development of Sensol�s performance management framework. The designers� story tells about the sophisticated nature of Sensol�s approach to performance management. In contrast, the business unit managers describe the complexities in operationalising performance management in a complex, diversified and decentralised organisation. The researcher�s story explains the importance of understanding the highly interconnected nature of Sensol�s performance management framework and of understanding the behavioural issues (e.g., intense sibling rivalry, short-termism). It includes the importance of history, context (e.g., hierarchical culture), decentralised structure (e.g., interrelated business units), the trade-offs between financial and social objectives (and signalling effect of weightings), performance measurement issues (e.g., EVA�, scorecard, dominance of EBIT, transfer pricing), the subjectivity of objective setting and performance management processes (e.g., averaging, little differentiation between good and poor performers), problems with the annual incentive scheme (e.g., double dipping, risk and penalties, lack of understanding and line of sight, low trust), strategic programmes (e.g., lack of visibility), target-setting (e.g., conservative targets, impact of capping), and information flows (i.e., poor data, black boxes). The research also highlights the importance of understanding how the formal and informal performance management systems operate. There are considerable differences between the designers� rhetoric on the formal HPMF system (i.e., the intended design), compared to the system in use (e.g., formal and informal systems). This point has been recognised in some prior field studies but is an under-researched area. An understanding of the impact of the background to the performance management literature from classical management theory provides some insights into why the value-based management literature focuses on formal system design control tools, goal congruence, top-down focus, and the universal applicability of their techniques. Ignoring informal systems may be one reason that the traditional control problems remain evident with the new value-based management techniques. A final contribution of this PhD research is to use historical documents to identify how little change there has been over time and how performance management issues keep going around in circles (e.g., lack of accountability, transfer pricing). Some reasons for these circles include that history is lost, complacency, culture, communication issues (e.g., good news, blocking behaviours, standardisation). A feature of Sensol�s performance management framework is how it used EVA� and the balanced scorecard in a complementary manner. However, rather than adopting these new techniques as prescribed by consultants, Sensol built these new techniques onto their existing performance management system. This highlights the importance of understanding the history of an organisation�s performance management framework, so as to understand the reasons for the current design and operation.

Thesis (M.Eng.)--University of Louisville, 2007. / Title and description from thesis home page (viewed December 14, 2007). Department of Industrial Engineering. Vita. "June 2007." Includes bibliographical references (p. 35).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Saint Mary's University, 2008. / Includes abstract and appendices. Advisor: E. Kevin Kelloway. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 149-162).