South Africa is experiencing a process of formidable and fundamental change. Public administrators as well as politicians are under tremendous pressure as heavy demands are being placed on them. These demands include coping with interventions such as Affirmative Action, Employment Equity, and the importance of managing diversity in the workplace. Despite improvements in race relations in the past twenty years, dysfunctional and ineffective behaviour still occur. This may be a reflection of the discomfort and anxiety experienced by employees in the work setting. In order to comply with legislation, organisations created opportunities for Black, Asian and Coloured males and females, White females and disabled people. This, in return, leads to perceptions of preferential hiring. The view that Affirmative Action involves preferential hiring and treatment based on group membership creates resistance to its implementation and original purpose. The reason for this resistance might be linked to the fact that people still perceive discrimination and injustice in the workplace. These perceptions seem true in public organisations even though public organisations have taken a positive stance with regard to implementing Equal Employment and Affirmative Action plans. A qualitative design with an availability sample (N = 20) of employees working in a public organisation was used. The qualitative research makes it possible to determine the subjective experience of employees in a public organisation. Semi-structured interviews based on the phenomenological method were conducted with employees working in different sections and different positions in a public organisation. Non-directive questions were asked during the interview. The tape-recording of the interview was transcribed verbatim in order to analyse the information. Content analysis was used to analyse and interpret the research data in a systematic, objective and quantitative way. A literature-control has been done to investigate relevant research in order to determine the comparativeness and uniqueness of the current research. Results indicated that Affirmative Action has been used as a tool in achieving its goal by focusing on preferential hiring. From the responses it was clear that the majority of the participants are of opinion that preferential hiring led to the appointment of incompetent candidates. It appears from the interviews that appointments are made without basing it on merit. This is against the basic principle of the public organisation of hiring and promoting employees by set standards. Due to the fact that previous disadvantaged groups are being placed in positions of which they have no experience or are not trained in, job related knowledge seems to present a problem. From the interviews it appeared that employees felt that poor customer service increased across the organisation due to the appointment of incompetent candidates. This also seems to have an effect on the workload being handled. It seems that predominantly white employees tend to be ambivalent towards Affirmative Action. Part of the reason for this ambivalence is the fear of change, especially when that change involves a radical re-thinking of past strategies. White employees, employed by the old apartheid system, feel alienated and/or marginalised in the new Affirmative Action process. White employees are also leaving organisations because they seem not to be part of the Affirmative Action process. This leads to loss of expertise occurring in organisations. Though organisations show a considerable amount of improvement on relationships between black and white, discrimination still seems to present itself through the implementation of Affirmative Action. Managing diversity is crucial for the effective management and development of people. It is important not to focus only on cultural differences but also concentrate on individual needs and perceptions. Unfortunately, it appears that South Africa is in the process of making the same mistakes as other countries in focusing on a power game and corruption. Black employees in particular, seem to be actively recruited, placed in senior positions and given the related finishing. In other words top management are using their 'power' to enforce Affirmative Action. There are also those who want to abuse the system or maybe understand the system incorrectly. Corruption coming from top management tends to make employees negative. In order to address these issues, a succession and career planning process needs to exist which is closely tied to the organisations' strategic plan. Employment Equity, as a strategic objective, is managed by the organisation, but needs the Human Resources function in a support and consultancy role. As such, it requires translation into practical objectives for departments, managers and employees. Recommendations were made for future research. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

BACKGROUND: Powerful public-private partnerships (PPPs) can only be established if the partners are able to deal with complexity. Such partnerships may serve to stimulate local community and economic development. Thus, it may maximise the effectiveness of local groups and resources in meeting the needs for rebuilding a community through a partnership representative of the public and private sectors. A problem that exists in South Africa, is the uneven distribution of population ratios dependent on public and private sector health care service delivery, in relation to the proportion of pharmaceutical service providers in the different sectors. OBJECTIVE: The main objectives of this qualitative research investigation were to examine the prospects for PPP development in the pharmaceutical sector of South Africa as well as to explore the possibilities of a proposition for a proposed generic public-private partnership model to be managed and used in the pharmaceutical sector of South Africa. METHOD: The study comprises of the exploration of the research questions by means of a qualitative research design. The study design implicated a balance between the in-depth literature study and a qualitative research process. The researcher employed a grounded theory approach to collect and analyse the data. Data collection represented the identifiable role players and opinion formulators in the South African health care sector. By following a combination of the various qualitative sampling methods and techniques, a total of 38 (n=38) interviews were conducted. The data collected from the interviewees and from the literature study were integrated and analysed by making use of computer assisted data analysis. SETTING: The researcher selected interviewees from the South African health care sector. The interviews included role players in the pharmaceutical sector in both the public and private sectors. The interviewees further represented eight different spheres of the pharmaceutical setting in South Africa. KEY FINDINGS: The investigation identified a range of prospects for PPP development in South Africa and these were reported in terms of views, expectations and scope for success. The management elements for developing and sustaining joint ventures between the public and private sectors were identified and a proposition was formulated in theory to serve as a proposed generic PPP model (PGM) in the pharmaceutical sector for the South African health care milieu. CONCLUSION The exploratory qualitative investigation surfaced the various facets of the complexity of PPPs. The investigation concluded that several barriers, such as competition and market entry disparities between the macro and micro level pharmaceutical entities, which impede PPP development, affected the prospects for PPP development in South Africa. The South African legislation, South African Treasury guidelines, regulations and the views of the SA Competition Commission need transformation to accommodate both the micro and macro level pharmaceutical service providers in the formation of PPPs. Capacity building within the sphere of pharmaceutical service delivery to the bigger population of South Africa may become sustainable on removal of these barriers. A series of recommendations were presented and several critical issues in need of supplementary research, have been identified. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Pharmacy Practice))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

ABSTRACT Title: Manager’s perspectives within Tourism Alliances: the cases of Hälsingland and Finnforest Level: Final assignment for Master Degree in Business Administration Authors: Michele Salvati and Anna Skouri Supervisor: Maria Fregidou-Malama Date: 2013 - May Aim: This study investigates the most important advantages and disadvantages of being a member of tourism alliances. Furthermore, this project illuminates the importance of the experience within the alliance. Specifically, we investigate if the experience affects manager’s perception to be a member of an alliance.  Method: It has been adopted quantitative and qualitative method. Data were collected from two alliances located in Sweden: Hälsingland Tourism and Finnforest; through questionnaires to the tourism organizations that belong to each alliance. Furthermore, we did face to face interviews to the Managers of the alliances and to the advisors of Coompanion who worked for the creations of the alliances. Finally, data were analyzed with Microsoft Excel. Results& Conclusions: Sharing knowledge is the most important advantage to be a member of a tourism alliance. On the other hand the cooperation with weak and unequal partner is the most important disadvantage to be a member of a tourism alliance. Additionally, it was found out that the experience affects the manager’s perceptions. Suggestions for future research: As far as the financial support from the municipalities plays a key role in the creation and survival of tourism alliances, future studies could be conducted in that field. Contribution of the thesis: It is essential for tourism managers to understand and value the importance of the alliance before joining or creating a network. Furthermore, it was emerged that tourism alliances give benefits for the creation of tourism destination. Key words: Tourism sector, strategic alliances, tourism alliances, tourism sector, experience, tourism managers.

Over the last two decades the public sector has been the target of significant change driven primarily by advocates of public choice theory who argue that the public sector is too large and inefficient. Changes, grouped under the banner of New Public Management, have therefore been aimed at achieving greater financial accountability through the adoption of private sector management techniques and the opening up to competition of monopolistic government supplied services. Recent reappraisals of these changes have suggested that they have failed to adequately address issues of social justice. It has therefore been proposed that public sector organisations now need to consider more egalitarian methods of service delivery through greater public consultation and involvement in decision making processes. Studies over the last 20 years in the public sector have tended to concentrate on change aimed at achieving New Public Management outcomes. This study adds to theory of culture and culture change in public sector organisations through exploring a change purposefully enacted to enable an organisation to meet both economic rationalist and egalitarian objectives. The primary aim of this thesis is to explore a planned process of cultural change within a technically oriented, public sector organisation to determine the processes used to undertake such change, the resulting outcomes and why these outcomes occur. A case study was used to investigate these areas. The study was longitudinal and used a combination of methods including focus groups, interviews, non-participant observation and document analysis. Historical data was first obtained to form a base from which to examine the process of planned change over a two year period. This method allowed consideration of the impact of contextual changes on the planned process that resulted in some unintended consequences in regard to how change was being driven. The findings conclude that models of planned change that include mechanisms through which diversity is encouraged may provide arenas through which conflict can act as a positive dynamic for change. The outcome of the planned change evidences how a purposefully created hybrid organisational form may be capable of addressing the sometimes conflicting goals of economic rationalism and citizenship participation.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karolinska institutet, 2008. / CD-ROM: Titel från titelskärmbild. Även utgiven som CD-ROM.

Thesis (doctoral)--Université de Genève, 1987. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [333]-354).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Pennsylvania, 1988. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 318-331) and index.

One of the most relevant powers available for the Public Administration so it is able to meet its objectives is the supervisory power. However, this is a matter insufficiently studied in the national legal ambit. In this article, the author conceptualizes the legal figure of supervision, proposing that it is a synonym of “inspection” and other similar concepts, and that it has wider purposes than the ones established in the Peruvian administrative legislation (that tends only to subsume it into the sanctioning power). With this theoretical framework, the author briefly analyses the phenomenon of the delegation of this power in the Peruvian power sector. / Una de las potestades más importantes con las que cuenta la Administración Pública para cumplir con sus fines es la de supervisión. Sin embargo este es un tema que ha sido poco estudiado en el ámbito jurídico nacional. En el presente artículo, el autor conceptualiza jurídicamente la figura de la supervisión, planteando que es un sinónimo de “fiscalización” y otros conceptos similares, y que tiene unos fines más amplios que los reconocidos por la legislación administrativa (que tiende sólo a subsumirla en la potestad sancionadora). Con este marco teórico, el autor analiza brevemente el fenómeno de la delegación de esta potestad en el sector eléctrico peruano.

Public sector reforms of recent decades in Europe have promoted managerialism and aimed at introducing private sector thinking and practices. However, with regard to public sector executives' self-understanding, managerial role identities have not replaced bureaucratic ones; rather, components from both paradigms have combined. In this article, we introduce a bi-dimensional approach (attitudes and practices) that allows for different combinations and forms of hybridity. Empirically, we explore the role identities of public sector executives across Europe, building on survey data from over 7,000 top public officials in 19 countries (COCOPS survey). We identify country-level profiles, as well as patterns across countries, and find that administrative traditions can account for these profiles and patterns only to a limited extent. Rather, they have to be complemented by factors such as stability of the institutional environment (indicating lower shares of hybrid combinations) or extent of reform pressures (indicating higher shares of hybrid combinations).

Research questions: I: What are the key steps to introduce, evaluate and implement health-associated technologies into different Swedish municipalities? II: Which are the main challenges and opportunities to introduce, evaluate and implement health-associated technologies into different Swedish municipalities? Purpose: The aim of the project has been to conduct a situation analysis on how different Swedish municipalities introduce, evaluate and implement existing health-associated technologies into their organization. To conduct this study, key steps and main challenges in these processes have been identified by interviewing different stakeholders involved from the public and private sector as well as end users. Methodology: This master thesis is an abductive case study. Primary data has been collected through interviews and internal documents from organizations. Secondary data collection was collected through research papers and literature review. Findings: The main findings of this study show that regarding the introduction procedure some municipalities are further in the process of developing formal procedures for organizations and end users to approach them with their products or needs. The evaluation as part of the procurement process has been considered a big obstacle for the three stakeholders groups interviewed since the criteria established doesn’t consider the different aspect of the technology as its value to the municipality and end user. Implementation procedures do not exist and were not under development from any of the three municipalities interviewed. Keywords: Innovation process, municipalities, healthcare, technology, public sector, private sector, end-users.