There are many important factors that influence and even determine the work of middle and senior managers in the public and private sectors, NGOs, and international organizations such as the UN. Yet, despite this overall agreement, the study of ¿managerial effectiveness¿ has remained relatively neglected and unexplored particularly within the developing world. The present research explores the dimensions of the managerial effectiveness of middle and senior managers who work in the Education Programme of the UN Agency in Lebanon. These managers are dedicated to refugees and their children at primary and high schools, and vocational centers. In doing so this study has adopted the framework, ¿parameters of managerial effectiveness¿, developed by Analoui (1999) to explore and identify the factors and causal influences which form the basis for the effectiveness of these managers to develop policies and strategies for their increased effectiveness. The literature in the areas of development of management, management training and development, and recent works on managerial effectiveness confirm the importance of the parameters and interrelationship between them and the unique contextual factors, namely the personal, organizational and external factors. The Education Programme of the UNRWA in Lebanon provides a suitable case, and the middle and senior managers constitute the units of analysis. The entire cadre of senior and middle management (N= 132) were included in this first time study. The methodology adopted for collecting and generating relevant and adequate data was a combination of survey questionnaire, interviews and the use of secondary data available. The adoption of ¿triangulation¿ as a strategy yielded adequate and relevant data which was analyzed using statistical methods. The quantitative analysis was supported by qualitative data based on senior and middle managers¿ own perception of their effectiveness. The results, by and large, support Anloui¿s (1999; 2007) theory and led to the first time discovery of the eight parameters of the managerial effectiveness in UNRWA, Lebanon. The results revealed a myriad of factors and influences concerning the middle and senior managers¿ perception, managerial skills and competencies, organizations criteria for effectiveness, opportunities, demands and constraints involved, as well as the inter-organizational relationship and the dominant managerial philosophy of effectiveness. The study contributes to the literature on managerial effectiveness by contextualizing the model adopted thus contributing to this neglected field of managerial studies. It also provides the basis for the formulation of policies and strategies to improved and increase managerial effectiveness in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestine, and the developing world as the whole where UN is actively operating to support refugees. Like any empirical investigation the study suffers from limitations which need to be considered in the future research in this field.

This study is an attempt to improve job satisfaction and work motivation of the Egyptian textile managers and to fill the gap in the managerial literature regarding the Egyptian textile working context. The main objective of this study is to explore the motivation and job satisfaction of the Egyptian senior and middle managers. A research model was developed in order to explain and to understand the satisfaction and motivation process of senior and middle managers and was empirically tested in the actual textile context. Egyptian textile managers' motivation and job satisfaction were explored by using a total of 247 survey questionnaires and 33 interviews. The major findings indicated that the personal, organisational, and cultural factors were found to influence managers' job satisfaction and motivation. Managers were satisfied with their working conditions, job security, and their personal relationships. However, managers were dissatisfied with their pay, promotion, company policies, training, and their appraisal system. Moreover, managers have placed more concern for job content factors rather than for job context factors. The Egyptian culture was positively related with managers' concern for good personal relationships, achievement, responsibility, and for seeking to more knowledge. However, it negatively affected women managers' status as it led to a gender-biased discrimination towards them. The findings suggest a need to consider the personal differences between managers, improve the promotion system, review salary structure, adopt a results-focused appraisal system, pay more attention to the content job factors, improve training system, increase coordination and delegation of authority, give women equal rights, and increase managers' involvement in decision-making process.

The purpose of this thesis was to explore senior managers' perceptions of strategic management, with the specific context being the National Oil Corporation in Libya. As such it represents a ground-breaking study at PhD level. An extensive literature identified key themes and models of strategy formulation and strategic management, in particular Karami's model of strategic management (Karami, 2007) together with key factors influencing the processes involved. This led to a study of the Libyan NOC based on a two-stage research design, the first a survey involving two hundred and fifty two senior managers of whom seventy returned completed questionnaires and the second conducting twelve semi-structured follow up interviews to deepen the findings from the questionnaire with qualitative data. The findings of this thesis suggest that the Libyan NOC may have relied too heavily in the past on strategy formulation and strategic management as the preserve of a very few individuals at the very top of the organisation, as the role of the great majority of senior managers was limited to monitoring and high level supervision. It was found that although political directives set the strategy for the whole organisation, there was a gap in knowledge and understanding between the senior business managers and the political appointments to the Board. Recommendations for improving practice therefore concerned steps in the strategic management process and senior managers' effectiveness especially in the Board as a team. Recommendations for reflecting the Libyan NOC as an example of a state-owned enterprise in Karami's model were to include Board effectiveness as the first step, to add medium-term objectives and to include social responsibility in environmental scanning under external factors.

This research explores the nature and extent of management development and training of senior and middle managers working in Palestinian telecommunication organizations using a basic trichotomous (three-stage) model: needs assessment, training development, and evaluation. A critical review of the literature is presented to identify the different approaches and key principles that make up the field of training and development. Using the survey approach, primary data were collected to answer the research question. A total of 142 questionnaires were distributed among senior and middle managers with 110 questionnaires being completed and returned (77 per cent response rate). Field work was also supported with 10 selected interviews with high ranking officials in the surveyed organizations to help corroborate the results. Thereafter, data was analysed using SPSS and spread sheets, and then compared with data available from literature. Despite the presence of a rather systematic approach to training, the findings show that the current status of training in the surveyed organizations is inadequate with heavy emphasis on traditional methods throughout the three stages; the current system does not offer a holistic perspective to training and development. This study presents an exploratory investigation into the training status in telecommunication organizations. It provides a fundamental foundation for future research aimed at expanding the available knowledge within the context of the study. In addition, specific strengths and weaknesses in the current system are identified using the trichotomous model in a more practical manner. Overall, this thesis offers both professionals and academics a fresh perspective on training in Palestinian telecommunication organizations; it not only highlights the importance of training but also stresses that future initiatives and programs are more carefully designed and implemented.

Theses (MPA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2017 / The purpose of the study was to examine the perceptions of senior managers on the upper limits policy for the remuneration of senior managers at Polokwane Municipality. In 2014 the Minister responsible for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs in South Africa published a notice on the implementation of upper limits for the remuneration of senior managers across all municipalities in South Africa. The notice signified a new paradigm in the local government remuneration practice in the local government sphere. Local government remuneration in South Africa was characterised by lack of uniformity and negative public perceptions on the huge salaries that senior managers in local government earned. There are substantial variations in municipal salary structures and benefits, municipal managers’ salaries vary between R155 424 and R1, 3 million per year (National Treasury Local Government Budgets and Expenditure Review, 2001/02 – 2007/08). The South African media published stories articles on senior local government managers who earns more than the president of the republic. The public scrutiny on the remuneration in local government was compared to the standard of service delivery in their areas, and often there was no relationship between the remuneration of the senior managers and the performance of their municipalities. The implementation of the upper limits policy in 2014 meant that for the first time in the democratic South Africa, the remuneration of senior managers in local government was regulated. This meant a shift from a practice of senior manager’s negotiated remuneration to nationally regulated remuneration. The implementation of the Upper Limits policy had the potential of de-stabilising the local government sector in terms of senior manager’s recruitment, retention and availability of skills due to the low remuneration that the policy has introduced. v The research was conducted at Polokwane Municipality and the study sampled all senior managers of Polokwane Municipality. The researcher opted for a qualitative research approach and utilised semi-structured interview schedule to gather data. The research findings indicate that all senior managers (7) of Polokwane Municipality perceived the upper limits policy negatively and they were not in support of its implementation. The research indicated that the reasons for the negative perception was that the Upper Limits Policy was not properly introduced at Polokwane Municipality. The researcher recommends that Polokwane Municipality needs to formally introduce the Upper Limits Policy to senior managers. This needs to be done through conducting workshops on the policy.

This study is an attempt to improve job satisfaction and work motivation of the Egyptian textile managers and to fill the gap in the managerial literature regarding the Egyptian textile working context. The main objective of this study is to explore the motivation and job satisfaction of the Egyptian senior and middle managers. A research model was developed in order to explain and to understand the satisfaction and motivation process of senior and middle managers and was empirically tested in the actual textile context. Egyptian textile managers¿ motivation and job satisfaction were explored by using a total of 247 survey questionnaires and 33 interviews. The major findings indicated that the personal, organisational, and cultural factors were found to influence managers¿ job satisfaction and motivation. Managers were satisfied with their working conditions, job security, and their personal relationships. However, managers were dissatisfied with their pay, promotion, company policies, training, and their appraisal system. Moreover, managers have placed more concern for job content factors rather than for job context factors. The Egyptian culture was positively related with managers¿ concern for good personal relationships, achievement, responsibility, and for seeking to more knowledge. However, it negatively affected women managers¿ status as it led to a gender-biased discrimination towards them. The findings suggest a need to consider the personal differences between managers, improve the promotion system, review salary structure, adopt a results-focused appraisal system, pay more attention to the content job factors, improve training system, increase coordination and delegation of authority, give women equal rights, and increase managers¿ involvement in decision-making process. / Appendices files are not available online.

This research explores the nature and extent of management development and training of senior and middle managers working in Palestinian telecommunication organizations using a basic trichotomous (three-stage) model: needs assessment, training development, and evaluation. A critical review of the literature is presented to identify the different approaches and key principles that make up the field of training and development. Using the survey approach, primary data were collected to answer the research question. A total of 142 questionnaires were distributed among senior and middle managers with 110 questionnaires being completed and returned (77 per cent response rate). Field work was also supported with 10 selected interviews with high ranking officials in the surveyed organizations to help corroborate the results. Thereafter, data was analysed using SPSS and spread sheets, and then compared with data available from literature. Despite the presence of a rather systematic approach to training, the findings show that the current status of training in the surveyed organizations is inadequate with heavy emphasis on traditional methods throughout the three stages; the current system does not offer a holistic perspective to training and development. This study presents an exploratory investigation into the training status in telecommunication organizations. It provides a fundamental foundation for future research aimed at expanding the available knowledge within the context of the study. In addition, specific strengths and weaknesses in the current system are identified using the trichotomous model in a more practical manner. Overall, this thesis offers both professionals and academics a fresh perspective on training in Palestinian telecommunication organizations; it not only highlights the importance of training but also stresses that future initiatives and programs are more carefully designed and implemented.

The purpose of this thesis was to explore senior managers¿ perceptions of strategic management, with the specific context being the National Oil Corporation in Libya. As such it represents a ground-breaking study at PhD level. An extensive literature identified key themes and models of strategy formulation and strategic management, in particular Karami¿s model of strategic management (Karami, 2007) together with key factors influencing the processes involved. This led to a study of the Libyan NOC based on a two-stage research design, the first a survey involving two hundred and fifty two senior managers of whom seventy returned completed questionnaires and the second conducting twelve semi-structured follow up interviews to deepen the findings from the questionnaire with qualitative data. The findings of this thesis suggest that the Libyan NOC may have relied too heavily in the past on strategy formulation and strategic management as the preserve of a very few individuals at the very top of the organisation, as the role of the great majority of senior managers was limited to monitoring and high level supervision. It was found that although political directives set the strategy for the whole organisation, there was a gap in knowledge and understanding between the senior business managers and the political appointments to the Board. Recommendations for improving practice therefore concerned steps in the strategic management process and senior managers¿ effectiveness especially in the Board as a team. Recommendations for reflecting the Libyan NOC as an example of a state-owned enterprise in Karami¿s model were to include Board effectiveness as the first step, to add medium-term objectives and to include social responsibility in environmental scanning under external factors.

Magister Commercii - MCom / Against the background of major corporate scandals internationally and in South Africa, questions are being asked about the level of morality of leaders in organisations. This study assessed the level of moral reasoning of senior managers in a South African company in the insurance industry. The study was based on Kohlberg’s Cognitive Moral Development (CMD) Theory and an assessment of key literature pieces relating to ethical leadership and business ethics. Research has demonstrated that ethical leaders have a significant influence on an organisation’s performance, reputation, sustainability, ethical climate and employee engagement. Globally and in the South African corporate context it is therefore important for organisations to understand the capacity of its leaders to behave ethically so that appropriate interventions can be engaged in. More specifically, this study aimed to assess the level of moral reasoning of managers in a large South African organisation and examined the relationship between the variables age, gender, race, tenure and education on the one hand and the level of moral reasoning on the other hand. This study also assessed the reliability of the Managerial Moral Judgment Test (MMJT). This study was a cross-sectional, quantitative study utilising a previously developed questionnaire, the Managerial Moral Judgment Test. This study contributed to the very sparse body of knowledge of managerial moral reasoning in the South African business context, while the research results can be used to identify managerial training and development needs in ethics in the organisation studied. This study found that the moral reasoning levels of managers at the research site, is at the conventional level, while the variables age, gender, race, tenure and education have no significant influence on the level of moral reasoning. In addition, this study established the internal reliability of the Managerial Moral Judgment Test and located ethical leadership and business ethics in the literature.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of female senior managers in technology organizations and understand how they feel about themselves, their roles and their technology organizations. The study highlights the issues faced by women working in a gendered role, a masculine industry and a non-western, strong patriarchal society. Methodology/Design: A qualitative research methodology was adopted for this study. Eleven semi-structured interviews were used to collect empirical data from women senior managers in Nigerian technology organizations, which was thematically analyzed. Findings: The findings from this study indicate that women in technology are no longer reluctant to progress in this gendered career. Women technology leaders are ambitious and driven to scale the semantic barriers to top management roles. They experience workplace discrimination, insecurities and work-family conflicts, but do not punish themselves for sometimes dropping the ball. Rather, they show up to take on daunting assignments that prove their competence and choose to lead assertively in order to align their core values with the expectations of their role. Research Implications: This thesis makes a contribution to the wider literature on women leaders in technology by providing new insights on the role of patriarchal institutions in technology leadership, from a developing country in Africa. Practical Implications: Practical contributions are to support aspiring women in technology to fine-tune their leadership strategies in order to succeed in this gendered career and become beneficiaries of the vast opportunities in this dynamic industry. For technology organizations, to understand the issues faced by women leaders so that they can support women’s career aspirations by implementing and managing policies that support skilled and high-potential women employees to fulfill their career aspirations, and become change agents at the top management level. These efforts will disrupt stereotypes, change the narrative of inequalities in this industry and improve firm performance. Originality: This study is the first of its kind to focus on the role of patriarchal structures on women leaders’ careers in the technology industry within the context of an African society, which is rare in the literature on women leaders in technology.