D.Tech. Organisational Leadership. Business School. / The development of a quality framework for services in a shared services environment was the focus of the study. The shared services model has recently become an attractive organisational structure with many conglomerate multinational corporates. Shared services can be defined as a concentration of internal support services, professionally managed as an internal services business unit rendering the necessary services to the organisation’s business units. The shared services concept is not about centralisation. It is based on the existence of an internal supplier-customer relationship, where the power of the demand and nature of the services rest with the various business units. The literature has shown that the benefits of the shared services model include a reduction in the operating costs, improvements in efficiency of the corporate and in a higher level of internal customer satisfaction. Many practitioners have documented the fact that a reduction of operating costs stems from the elimination of duplicated services and providing service offerings at a greater economy of scale. In addition, business units can concentrate their efforts on the improvement of sales, thus lowering the percentage of the cost of sales. Efficiencies are improved by acquiring better technologies made possible by proportioning the costs to the various business units. The customer satisfaction levels of services from shared services centres have not materialised as per the literature. In recent research, shared services customers reported that they were dissatisfied with the quality of services and felt that there is a need for intervention to improve the quality of the services. One of the popular interventions for improving quality is a quality model.

There are several process maturity measurement automation tools available on the market. Most of them have significant shortcomings: they collect many incorrect data, they lack of graphic representation, or they do not facilitate continuous comparison of achieved levels over time axis. In this situation UAB “Blue Bridge” has taken decision to investigate possibility to develop own software which is free of these shortcomings. Therein described system is targeted to automate and shorten time of the process maturity measurement. It is intended to be implemented in UAB “Blue Bridge” IT infrastructure and to be used as an automating tool for the Project Planning and Implementation process. Tasks which have been completed are: • Thorough analysis of available software pointing out advantages and disadvantages they have; • Identification and documentation of functional and usability requirements • Developed system architecture design • Database designed to store questionnaires and responses to them • Developed web-based user interface • Prepared system testing plan and estimated ways to implement it �� Developed system and user documentation set There is sought company management support to the implementation of this system and during it testing in production environment phase.

This study has empirically analyzed the significance of emotional satisfaction in the financial service encounters. The specific focus of this study is around finding out if the relationship between emotional satisfaction and the following important concepts exists i.e. service quality, customer loyalty and relationship quality. Furthermore, the study seeks to clarify the role of emotional satisfaction in predicting customer loyalty and relationship quality. The relationship between emotional satisfaction, service quality, customer loyalty, and relationship quality as a context, was utilized, as well as data from a sample survey of 1,261 Inland West First National Retail Bank customers. The aim of this study is to establish using probable sampling technique if there are merits in support of customer experience strategic choice within retail banking sector. A survey approach has considerable ability in generating answers to business questions such as the what? why? and how? through use of questionnaires. Interviews will also be conducted as part of the greater FNB survey. The results showed that service quality is positively associated with emotional satisfaction, which is positively associated with both customer loyalty and relationship quality. In addition, customer's feelings of enjoyment proved a best predictor of customer loyalty, while feelings of happiness served as the best predictor of relationship quality. The findings of the survey imply the need for a FNB to strategically leverage of the key antecedents of customer loyalty and relationship quality in its pursuit of customer retention and long-term profitability / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2006.

With the renewed emphasis in recent years on profitability as the the key corporate metric, "forgotten" functions such as finance, human resources, procurement and IT are back in the spotlight. They are not only being viewed as sources of cost efficiency, which has been the traditional focus, but also as tools for corporate strategy and competitive advantage. But turning these functions into strategic value drivers can be as difficult as spinning straw into gold. Indeed companies have adopted a variety of approaches, form simple cost reduction and consolidation to discrete outsourcing and offshore strategies. However inconsistent approaches have led to equally inconsistent results. Benefits are available, but, in many instances, they are less than ideal and frequently short lived. In this paper, we will evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the newly implemented Anglo Coal Financial Shared Services Centre to determine if the inherent benefits of introducing a shared services environment is being realised. We will benchmark the current "AS-IS" state of the SSC to best practice in order to assess the gap and recommend a set of possible initiatives that, if implemented, will help improve the performance of the SSC. A broad, systematic approach was used in the diagnosis of the SSC that incorporated the three primary elements of a system - the processes, the technology that enables the processes and the people that drive the process. The research methodology is divided into two phases. Face-to-Face interviews were utilised to assess the process and technology aspects while a rating questionnaire was used to evaluate the people aspects. The study then makes several recommendations to help correct the most critical findings on process, technology and people of the study. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2006.

The purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which the existing ICT infrastructure in Kenya affects the provision of e-banking services at Barclays Bank of Kenya. The study also compares e-banking applications in Kenyan banks with best practice examples from other countries. Other areas studied are the existing ICT and e-banking security systems as well as the policy and regulatory framework that governs e-banking systems in Kenya. The dilemma still facing the banking and ICT sectors in Kenya is whether the existing ICT infrastructure is adequate and efficient enough to satisfy the demand for voice and data communications required in the provision of e-banking services. The problems that require attention are lack of appropriate equipment to serve a modem financial system and provide the full range of e-banking services, inadequate telephone landlines due to vandalism and failure of Telkom Kenya to expand its network. Other problems include lack of reliable Internet connection, high access costs for landlines and Internet, inadequate capital investment for the provision of sufficient ICT services, dumping of contraband traffic on Telkom's network, cyber crime due to lack of proper e-banking security systems and lack of a suitable policy and regulatory framework for Information Communication Technologies. A qualitative research methodology and a typical case study research design are adopted in the study. Barclays Bank of Kenya is examined as a case study. The activities of the banking and ICT key industry players, Central Bank of Kenya, Telkom Kenya, Communications Commission of Kenya and Today's Online, are also examined. In addition four other commercial banks namely, Standard Chartered, Citibank, Kenya Commercial Bank and Commercial Bank of Africa are contacted and their senior management interviewed concerning this study. Data is collected from interviews, archives, newspapers, published reports and the Internet. The study findings reveal that Barclays Bank Kenya offers different forms of e-banking services namely, Internet banking, online banking, telephone banking and mobile banking. However, the poor state of the ICT infrastructure hinders the growth of ebanking services in Barclays and other Kenyan banks. The existing security measures for landlines and e-banking systems in Kenya are also incapable of preventing most forms of risks and threats and need to be improved. Kenya also lacks a sound policy and regulatory framework to efficiently curb these ICT and e-banking risks. The study concludes by recommending that the Kenyan government should encourage the private sector and development partners to invest in ICT infrastructure and that a comprehensive review of existing laws relating to ICT and e-banking systems be done and amendments formulated. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2006.

This study was conducted among clients of Mediterranean Shipping Company with three principal aims in mind. Firstly, adopt the appropriate measuring instrument to measure customer satisfaction levels within MSC, using the five SERVQUAL dimensions namely Tangibles, Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance and Empathy. The second is to measure the levels of customer satisfaction within MSC and lastly to make recommendations towards improving the levels of service quality and ultimately begin implementing a customer orientated quality assurance programme within MSC. The results show that there are significant differences between the respondents' expectation and their perceptions. All five dimensions showed that customers' expectations exceeded their perceptions, with Tangibles having the smallest gap and Reliability having the largest gap. It has been the talk of many customers that MSC provides very good service to their customers. On the contrary, this study reveals that there is still some level of dissatisfaction among the customers. Therefore, it is hoped that this study would contribute to MSC's understanding of their clients' perception of service quality and develop a marketing strategy that will increase their customers' level of satisfaction and improve their relationship with MSC. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2005.

Recent labour market studies have focussed on the increasing importance of non-standard forms of employment. This study on agency temps aims to contribute to this body of literature, but proposes an alternative perspective. Focussing on the temp's particular employment relationship rather than on the approach of the secondary labour market or the currently fashionable 'flexibility debate', this thesis suggests that the temp's three-way employment relationship is a determinant of the temp's working situation. Labour law literature has shown that the temp's employment status is open to conjecture because of what has been called this 'ambiguous, legal relationship. Using this approach, this thesis suggests that the temp has two 'social' employers, who must be recognised as, important before categorising temps as either 'flexible' or part of the secondary labour market. Furthermore, the temp's situation is characterised by temporality and mobility which give rise to certain feelings of freedom. The temp's status as 'stranger' and the way in which this operates within the three-way employment relationship are therefore an important influence on the temp's experience of work. This thesis suggests that the, temp is a 'stranger'/outsider to the workplace. Temps occupy a position of mobility and temporality defined by their threeway employment relationship. Temps may therefore say that they feel 'free' because they have two social employers and they do not feel that they are employees of either. Temps may experience certain perceptions held by management and permanent co-workers about their ability to perform certain work tasks. Indeed, temps may find that the work they are given is boring and routine. This thesis argues that these conditions are influenced by the structure of the temps' three-way relationship within which temps are 'strangers'. It is not merely a case, then, that temps occupy a secondary labour market position, for example, but that this position must be recognised as including two nominal employers who may collude together in determining the temp's working situation.

Organizations normally introduce and implement changes in their respective departments. The general assumption is that the changes are meant for the improvement of operations, efficiencies and cost control measures, among other things. This research project was prompted by the fact that Eskom is introducing Shared Services within its Transactional Procurement and Supply Chain Management. It is important that this study is undertaken, through a survey, involving top executives, upper and middle management, as well as operational employees. Perceptions of the inherent successes or failures the new system might have on Eskom as an organization will be ascertained. Perceived difficulties will make the results more interesting, in that the sampling methodology used has to be compatible with the targeted research market. The results of the survey are important for sharing with Eskom’s management as the findings have a direct bearing on the improvement of the project. Whether Eskom should proceed or not with the introduction of Shared Service within the Transactional Procurement and Supply Chain Management is the problem statement of this research project. Although this project is meant for a particular market sector in the organization, the consequences of the benefits accrued and/or losses incurred will reverberate throughout the whole organization as it has multiple independent transactional procurement and supply chain outfits running in all their departments in South Africa. Whether the previous dispensation was beneficial or not, is subject to what is referred to as the ‘burning platform’ in Chapter 1. The researcher was an Eskom employee at the time of the research project, and the project was aimed at looking at Eskom’s corporate challenges. The survey was conducted conveniently among Eskom employees comprising two sets of respondents: executive management and operational employees drawn from upper and middle management together with supervisory and front staff. Convenience Sampling was done among what was believed to be the employees within the value chains of Procurement and the Supply Chain. The survey results have shown the distinct difference between the perceptions of the executive management and operational employees in that the former are more supportive of the project and well aware of its introduction, while the opposite is true for the operational employees. There was also a marked agreement noted where both responding groups regard the current set-up within the procurement and supply chain management as being fraught with problems. Both groups also agree that this section does not yield the required results. These research findings are significant for Eskom’s management to take note for benefits to accrue by virtue of a buy-in from the different stakeholders. The Eskom employees are expected to implement, manage and improve the efficiencies within the Procurement and Supply Chain Department, and this research project can be taken to have served as an unofficial but important research tool on behalf of the company. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2011.

Thesis (DBA(DoctorateofBusinessAdministration))--University of South Australia, 2003.

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