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Thesis (M.A.)--West Virginia University, 1999. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains iii, 28 p. : ill. (some col.) Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 28).

Thesis (M.B.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1959. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 213-219).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 67-72).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rand Graduate School, 1985. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 165-190).

M.Comm. / The importance of motivation for organisational success is recognised by organisations of various sizes and functions the world over. One of thebiggest challenges for organisations is to establish the motivational levels of their employees with a greater degree of certainty. The multi-dimensional nature of an individual’s motivation complicates matters, requiring in depth analysis. The objective of the research is to determine the motivating factors, from an appreciative inquiry perspective, of the lower-managerial employees in a steel manufacturing company in South Africa. Appreciative inquiry reframes relationships around the positive and the possible and is grounded on the positive organisational behaviour philosophy. This philosophy suggests that focusing on the positive rather than the negative aspects of a situation will improve organisational success and individual well-being (McShane & Travaglione, 2007). The study on motivational factors was deemed important as the company has gone through a number of organisational changes without establishing the impact thereof on the employees. Owing to the multi-dimensional nature of motivation, the literature review showed that there is no single theory or integrated model for motivation studies. The evident lack of research integration in this area presented an opportunity for the researcher to study motivation from an appreciative inquiry perspective, of which the data collection stage began with the posing of questions that are unconditionally positive. The questions were analysed using the first-level factors framework presented in the two-factor theory of motivation by Frederick Herzberg.

M.Comm. / Many companies, especially in the steel industry, are today required to dedicate much of their time to managing the risks they are faced with. Risk can be defined as the uncertainty or probability of the potential deviation from the expected or the norm. Risk management therefore encompasses all activities undertaken by management, which seek to reduce either the probability of a potential deviation and/or the quantum of the potential deviation. The risk management process is therefore aimed at ensuring that the steel company will deliver to its shareholders the earnings that are expected of them. In order to avoid these potential risks, the steel company has to make sure that the clients that the company are doing business with have the ability and willingness to pay their accounts. There is a very thin line between choosing potential clients and the sales that will be gained from dealing with these debtors, and the risk that these debtors has for the steel company. It is therefore important to categorize the debtors into different risk profiles. After the category of risk is identified, the steel company has to choose between different credit insurance methods to cover risks. The methods that are currently available in the steel industry are rigid, and are costing the company money, that could have been invested elsewhere in the company. It is therefore important to look at alternative methods to either avoid the risks or cover the risks. It depends on the type of client the company is doing business with. The clients can be classified as A, B, C or D risk profile. The composition of the debtors book in terms of risk profiles will be the criteria for choosing a method for credit insurance.

This dissertation is a journey into the world of risk and safety in the steel industry. The problem statement that is explored in this study relates to the nature of the relationship between safety performance and stakeholders in the steel industry, the nature of the relationships between different stakeholders and the way in which these relationships impact on risk management strategies. The author contends that safety is not a normative or procedural system within the workplace, but rather a performative system. Performance in this system, which determines life and death, is based on consensual cooperative-conflict relationships between different role-players. The nature of these relationships are analysed and explored with the concept of cooperative conflict as a reference, while keeping temporal and spatial considerations in mind. The physical space of the steel mill is a contested space. Within this space, relationships play out themes relating to agency, masculinity, risk, resistance, compliance and survival in a constant subliminal negotiation for power and perceived control over an environment that is inherently threatening in nature. The research is presented as ethnography in the form of a case study of an international organisation that provides materials handling and slag reduction services to the ferro-industry in South Africa. The researcher interacted with role-players in this organisation as a participant observer, with the primary method of data gathering and analysis being qualitative in nature. Data gathering and analysis revealed that safety performance relates to specific aspects within the work environment, namely macro political, economic, institutional, psychological and concrete factors. The researcher concludes that overt, normative safety management procedures in the steel industry only provide a backdrop for daily risk management strategies. Negotiating risk, together with the often covert ways in which actors assert their agency within the steel industry, makes safety performance complex and relationship based. To improve safety performance in the steel industry, relationships and power need to be renegotiated. This requires internal organisational changes as well as larger systemic changes. / Prof. T. de Wet

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