Research into generational differences in the workplace is limited. Academic studies range from being robust to those which portray generational differences in more generalised terms, omitting characteristics such as age, life-stage, gender or profession. Studies into a career style, progression and career success, are likewise varied, being studied from a range of different perspectives, including gender, life-stage or age; however, to date, there has been no research conducted from a generational perspective. There has also been an acknowledgement that there have been only a few studies conducted that have a clear theoretical and empirical underpinning. With the majority being quantitative-centric; these studies do not have the rich insight into understanding the complexities surrounding a generation and / or of an individual’s career that a qualitative study would offer. Reflecting this existing gap, the aim of this study to investigate the role of generational differences in an individual, British manager’s career type, progression and perception of career success. The main study using an interpretivist methodology in the form of semi-structured interviews, investigated the careers of 42 British managers across three generations. The participants’ CVs were analysed using a documentary analysis approach, while the findings were interpreted using content analysis. The study’s first key finding is the acknowledgement that there is theoretical and empirical evidence to support the contention that a generation is a reliable means for grouping individuals. The second key finding of the study using, Verbruggen et al.’s (2008) Career Categorisation model, relates to the career types and progression are influenced by a generational grouping. This study contends that career styles and career progression are influenced by determinants such as age, life-stage, gender, profession but also by their generation. The final key finding is that the Kaleidoscope Career model provides a means to view differences towards career success from a generational perspective, but also reveals that a generation does not operate in isolation; rather, an individual’s profession, life-stage and gender are also significant. In conclusion, this thesis provides a deep and rich conceptual insight, knowledge and understanding for Human Resource practitioners and academia as to how a career is influenced when viewed through a generational lens. The first contribution of the study sets out the extent to which theoretical and empirical evidence demonstrates that a generation is a reliable means to group individual managers. The second contribution, relates to the extent to which career types and progression are influenced by a generational grouping. The final contribution extends Mainiero and Sullivan’s (2005, 2006) original Kaleidoscope Career model to more accurately depict career success when individual managers are grouped generationally, by introducing a new “glass chip” to represent the need for a ‘subjective challenge,’ which is reflective in the shift to careers becoming more protean.

This research explores the experiences of downsizing survivors from the UK and from Germany and Switzerland. It makes a unique contribution to organizational studies theory by applying the concept of sensemaking from Weick (1995) as a theoretical lens for the study of survivors’ experiences. Since this concept was never previously operationalized in this way, this research adds value to the theoretical debate about the sensemaking processes of organizational members in times of change. This work also contributes to the body of knowledge in this field by proposing a theoretical model about survivors’ sensemaking of organizational downsizing. Unlike previous research that mainly addressed causes and effects of organizational downsizing (e.g. Brockner, 1988), the present model depicts survivors’ sensemaking as an iterative process and thereby provides a more holistic view and a new dimension about how survivors respond to the situation post-downsizing. Further theoretical contributions relate to the long-term effects of downsizing on survivors. As it was found that survivors’ attitudes were still negatively affected up to 18 months post-downsizing, this study provides more evidence that the effects of downsizing are not only felt in the short term but are long-lasting. Moreover, this research revealed that repeated exposure to downsizing led to an accumulation of stress and thereby impacted survivors’ well-being over time. Thus, it contradicts several studies, mainly from North America (e.g. Chreim, 2006), which had indicated that surviving repeated waves of downsizing has a favourable effect on survivors and makes them more resilient over time. The present study also has implications for business practices with its recommendation that organizations need to have a clear concept in place to facilitate survivors’ change processes, as well as with its suggestion that organizations provide their line managers with more training opportunities with regard to how downsizing survivors should be supported.

Regardless of the widespread application of analytics to a variety of business measurements, it is noteworthy that the use of people analytics is still no place close where it could be. The main aim of this study is to examine the perceived meaning and benefits of people analytics in selected South African organisations. People analytics is a burning-fresh topic in HR field aiming at using data to make organisational decisions and little has been done in this area especially in the South African context. The study employed qualitative-exploratory design which comprised of 10 senior HR officers from selected organisations in South Africa. From the findings, it shows that the employment of people analytics in South African context is in its early stage and its conception and repercussions are little understood. In addition, there is an accord on its usefulness, however the workforce analytic skills have found to be the major difficulty to foster its successful implementation and adoption by organisations. Because of its qualitative nature, this study had a limitation that it lack representativeness hence the findings cannot be generalised. Research opportunities for future can be quantitative and longitudinal research to objectively ascertain the extent future employability of people analytics.

<p> The growth in the older adult population will result in an increasing number of individuals with functional and cognitive limitations. The demand for nursing home administrators will grow proportionately with the aging population and the need for effective leadership within nursing homes is and will continue to be imperative as the population ages. Identifying top-rated nursing homes that provide quality care is essential to understanding the operations of successful long-term care facilities. Nursing home administrators (NHAs) are tasked with leading and directing provision of skilled, intermediate and rehabilitation care on a 24-hour basis while ensuring high quality operations. Identifying the character strengths of nursing home administrators who lead exemplary nursing homes may benefit other nursing home leaders who lead lower rated or underperforming facilities. In this qualitative study, 19 nursing home administrators who lead exemplary facilities across Indiana completed the Value in Action Inventory Strengths (VIA-IS) questionnaire and engaged in face-to-face interviews. Analysis of the interview data via NVivo indicated how the use of character strengths is crucial to effective leadership within long-term care. Creativity, fairness, bravery, perspective, and judgment were identified by a majority of study participants as essential to decisionmaking and problem solving, especially in a heavily regulated environment. Humor, hope, courage, and spirituality were acknowledged as contributing to a positive and optimistic environment. Humor, hope, courage, and spirituality were also noted as coping mechanisms when faced with stress and adversity. Honesty, kindness, love, teamwork, and gratitude were emphasized by the study participants as essential to relationship development and formation of trust with staff, residents, and families. This study allowed participants the opportunity to reflect on their own character strengths and leadership both personally and professionally. This reflection resulted in increased self-awareness and appreciation of their staff, residents, and roles as nursing home administrators. </p><p>

Este trabalho tem como objetivo realizar uma análise da relação entre as âncoras de carreira e atitudes de carreira proteana e sem fronteiras na geração Z. Para isso, foi realizado levantamento bibliográfico sobre o tema “carreira” e mapeamento da geração Z na região da Serra Gaúcha. Após o mapeamento, optou-se por uma amostra não probabilística por conveniência, sendo aplicados instrumentos em alunos de graduação matriculados junto a Universidade de Caxias do Sul (UCS). Como testes, foram utilizados o inventário de âncoras de carreira de Edgar Schein (1996) e as escalas atitudes de carreira proteana e sem fronteiras de Briscoe et al. (2006). A pesquisa foi aplicada nos meses de agosto e setembro de 2017, obtendo 722 respostas válidas, sendo 538 respondentes com idade entre 18 e 24 anos, ou seja, integrantes da geração Z. Através da análise fatorial, foi possível verificar a existência de novos fatores, conforme o inventário de Schein (1996), sendo eles denominados resignação, criatividade empreendedora interna, especialista pleno e desconexo, além da exclusão da âncora competência técnica funcional, totalizando onze fatores e obtendo-se 60,32% de explicação desses fatores. A mesma análise foi realizada no inventário de atitudes de carreira proteana e sem fronteiras, sendo mantidos os quatro fatores originais e obtendo-se 47,08% de explicação desses fatores. Já através da análise de correlações, pôde-se verificar que ela é significativa em todos os fatores sugeridos por Briscoe et al. (2006): autodirecionamento e valores pessoais, para carreira proteana, e mobilidade física e mobilidade psicológica, para carreira sem fronteiras. Os resultados sugerem que o estudo das âncoras de carreira é relevante para o entendimento das atitudes de carreira do indivíduo da geração Z. Dessa forma, este trabalho apresenta uma contribuição quanto à possibilidade de novas âncoras de carreira e também sobre a tendência de atitudes ligadas à carreira da geração Z. / Submitted by cmquadros@ucs.br (cmquadros@ucs.br) on 2018-03-12T14:55:09Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Tiago Novaes.pdf: 1320800 bytes, checksum: f08a3636886c8b24facfed5444895112 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-03-12T14:55:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Tiago Novaes.pdf: 1320800 bytes, checksum: f08a3636886c8b24facfed5444895112 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-03-09 / This work aimed to analyze the relationship between career anchors and protean and boundaryless career attitudes in generation Z. In order to achieve this objective, a bibliographic survey on the career theme and a mapping of generation Z region of the sierra gaúcha. After this mapping, a non-probabilistic sample was chosen for convenience, the inventory of career anchors of Edgar Schein (1996) and the protean and borderless career attitudes scales of Briscoe et al. (2006), in undergraduate students enrolled at the University of Caxias do Sul (UCS). The research was applied in August and September 2017, obtaining 722 valid answers, and 538 respondents are 18 to 24 years old, that is, members of the Z generation. Through the factorial analysis it was possible to verify the existence of new Schein's (1996) inventory factors, being called resignation, internal entrepreneurial creativity, full and disconnected specialist, in addition to the exclusion of anchor functional technical competence, totaling eleven factors and obtaining 60.32% of explanation of these factors, the same analysis was performed in the inventory of protean career attitudes and without frontiers, maintaining the original four factors and obtained 47.08% of explanation of these factors. Already through the analysis of correlations, it can be verified that it is significant in all the factors suggested by Briscoe et al. (2006) who are self-directed and personal values for career protean and physical mobility and psychological mobility for career without frontiers. This suggests that the study of career anchors is relevant to the understanding of the career attitudes of the individual of generation Z. Thus, this work presents a contribution regarding the possibility of new career anchors and also about the tendency of attitudes linked to career, generation Z.

Thesis (MTech(Business Administration)--Cape Technikon, Cape Town, 2004 / My central thesis is, that certain social systems and cultures have supported modern economic growth and human progress, whereas others have not. Countries and, winning organizations that have been able to jump ahead out of the laggard have done so, because they developed a conquering culture of rigor and work, removed from the influences of invisible forces. The world at the beginning of the twenty first century is still, divided between the few who are rich and powerful and the many who are poor and powerless, between the free and the oppressed. Traditional'explanations like imperialism, dependency, colonialism and racism are no longer adequate after so many decades. Increasingly researchers are reasoning that the principal reason why some countries and ethnic groups are better off than others lies in cultural values and beliefs and attitudes, which powerfully shape political, economic and social performance, and share the view that value and attitude change is indispensable to progress for those who are lagging. There is a methodological difference between myself and some people who are consistently uncritical of the values and attitudes of a culture, and think people ought to resign themselves to economic and social values that condemn them to poverty and subservience, in the name of cultural purity. The power of cultural values, beliefs and attitudes to promote or resist progress has been largely ignored. Culture is a significant determinant of a nation's ability to prosper, because it shapes individual's thoughts and behaviours, and the way individuals think about progress.

Thesis (MTech (Human Resource Management))--Cape Technikon, Cape Town, 2003 / Co-operative education is an important sub-system of education that plays an essential role in the development of students' critical and creative thinking skills. The idea behind any co-operative education programme is that students alternate their academic periods at the academic institution with periods in the world of work, with the aim of implementing their theoretical knowledge in practical situations. The Co-operative Education lecturer plays an integral role in the co-operative education programme. He is an indispensable link in the interaction between the student the employer and the academic institution. The changing circumstances in South Africa's labour and education sectors warrant research into methods of improving current education systems and processes. A better understanding of what exactly a Co-operative Education lecturer is responsible for can lead to an improvement of the co-operative education process. Before the researcher undertook this study, there was no specific scientifically established model pertaining to the profile of a Co-operative Education lecturer in South Africa. Therefore, there were no set guidelines for the effective recruitment, remuneration, training and assessment of such a person. The objectives of this study were fourfold: • To define the current role, responsibilities, personality traits, abilities, characteristics, types of experience and level of qualifications of a Co-operative Education Lecturer. • To establish a profile of an ideal Co-operative Education Lecturer. • To create a job description that can be used as a guideline for the effective recruitment, remuneration, assessment and training of Co-operative Education Lecturers. • To identify areas for further research. The researcher investigated the roles and responsibilities; personality traits; abilities and characteristics; types of experience; and qualifications needed by the Co-operative Education Lecturer to complete his job successfully. From the investigation it is evident that the Co-operative Education Lecturer's function in the total co-operative education process is multi-dimensional. He plays an integral role in the effective functioning of the co-operative education programme and is an indispensable link in the interaction between the student, the employer and the academic institution. A profile of a Co-operative Education Lecturer was created as part of the research project This profile can be seen as a benchmark for Co-operative Education Lecturers in South Africa. The profile made it possible to obtain a holistic picture of the Co-operative Education Lecturer and what is expected of him to ensure that the co-operative education process is implemented successfully. The job description developed as a product of the research can be utilised as a tool in the effective recruitment, remuneration, training and assessment of Co-operative Education Lecturers in South Africa

M.A. (Social Work) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

D.Com. (Leadership in Performance and Change) / Against the background of the continuously increasing need of employers to attract and retain key employees and the utilisation of the rewards offering in this process, the aim of this study was firstly to determine the relationship between personality types and reward preferences. In addition, the relationship between different reward categories and underlying reward components in a total rewards framework was identified, the relationships between identified demographic variables and reward preferences were confirmed and the reward categories that contribute most to the attraction, retention and motivation of employees were identified. From the research constructs it can be seen that personality types, personality preferences and motivational theories influence the design of a total rewards framework, which, in tum, enhances the total rewards strategy and employee value proposition (EVP) of an organisation.

Change is a topic of crucial concern to all organisations in the present turbulent business environment. Leaders are constantly faced with the challenge of determining whether environmental factors will exert pressure which may cause harm or change to the organisation. Some of the major challenges that accompany change include a) the constantly changing environment has created an unpredictable future as the marketplace has lost its predictability b) leaders that are not able to predict what type of change the organisation is going to be faced with c) the uncertainty around the outcome of change d) no clear relationship exists between the scale of the change and the scale of its impact within an organisation and e) the risk of failure. Therefore, in dealing with change the mindsets of the organisation’s leaders, regarding the complexity of change, are the most critical factor. In this context, the main topic expanded on in this study is that change in organisations requires leadership and leadership in turn requires certain competencies. Central to the concept of leadership and change is the leadership-followership relationship as leaders have to lead people through the change and the ensuing uncertainty. In order to do so successfully leaders need to have a set of competencies that enable them to lead people through change and uncertainty. The purpose of this study was to develop a framework containing a set of competencies required for the major change types. It compared the views of managers and employees, in the financial services sector, on the importance of those competencies as well as the degree to which managers display the competencies. Ten leaders participated in the qualitative phase of the study and 60 managers and 74 employees responded to the survey. The major outcomes of the study included the competency framework as well as the competencies where statistically significant differences between the managers’ and employees’ views on, a) the degree to which the managers display the competencies as well as b) the importance assigned to the competencies, were found. / Dr. Anton Verwey