M. Tech. Business Administration / Within the procurement department in Standard Bank a low level of employee engagement is experienced. The aim of this research study is to better understand where to enhance engagement through the application of the social exchange theory model from Saks (2006)

Globalisation and the intense competitiveness amongst businesses and countries has increased the importance of comparative stakeholder analysis and banks focusing on their corporate culture. Managers are now being required to look within their companies and are constantly seeking ways to move forward and grow their business. Banks have moved away from a financial motive to one focused on satisfying stakeholder wants and needs in order to satisfy needs externally. The aim of this thesis was to investigate and evaluate the cultural setting in which a bank in South Africa namely Standard Bank operates. Further, how this environment influences a stakeholder’s perspective, particularly employees and managers. Firstly, the thesis examines the literature that is separated into different parts. Initially, stakeholder theory and the needs and the motivations behind the different models adopted were analysed. Furthermore, in order to understand the interconnection between bank culture, stakeholder interests and perspectives, the different cultural dynamics at the site were studied and evaluated. This aided in developing a deeper understanding of conflicts arising from cultural issues, particularly in organisations with diverse cultures, such as Standard Bank. Secondly, a mixed methods approach was utilised in order to understand the interplay between the stakeholder perceptions and corporate culture. This approach facilitated the researcher in gaining richer insights and a broader perspective of the topic, further enhancing the study. Insights were drawn from visual diaries (5), questionnaires (35), in-depth interviews (2), and observations (1 day). This was done through combining the various elements of both quantitative and qualitative research methods. The study contributes to an understanding that, the unification of both managers and employees understanding of their cultural environment is instrumental to the success of an organisation. In order to do so, this starts with the way a company operates mainly its culture, values and belief systems within the organisation. Therefore, these values and beliefs affect how a company operates. Taking this into account helps to create a customer centred environment. These views may either be aligned or conflicting with organisational goals and values. Although, banks the world over have a unified banking system, each bank has its own value and belief systems in place which make it successful. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2013.

Organisations are changing rapidly due to the multitude of environmental factors and pressures with which they are faced. In order for them to remain current and competitive they need to constantly learning and adapting to these changes. Having learning entrenched into the culture of the organisation would ensure that it is always ready for change and that it is also able to move toward the state of a learning organisation. The Standard Bank of South Africa’s Retail Bank branch network was perceived as not having an adequate learning culture, as displayed by an apparent lack of focus and responsibility being taken for learning by employees. A literature review was conducted to better understand a number of fundamental concepts such as learning, culture and organisational learning, as well as the nature and meaning of what a learning culture is. The literature review was also used to identify key elements within organisations, which could be considered vital for the creation of a successful learning culture. It was these elements against which the SBSA Retail Bank branch network was to be measured against, during the course of an empirical study, to determine the nature and extent of their existing learning culture. The empirical study made use of a quantitative descriptive research design, due to the large numbers of SBSA employees involved, who were widely dispersed across the country. Two electronic questionnaires were placed on the SBSA Intranet site for one week, to cater for both managerial and non-managerial responses, and a response rate of 95% was achieved for both groups. The research data was given to Statkon, (Rand Afrikaans University’s statistical consultation department) for analysis. The results of this survey indicated that the Branch network do in fact have an established learning culture, however this needed to be further developed and improved to ensure a greater alignment to the elements identified in the literature review. Incorporating the recommendations that are proposed will assist this development and improvement of the existing learning culture further, as will by taking note of the learning culture strategy and implementation suggestions put forward. Further investigation will still be required for some of the learning culture aspects, to better understand their nature and situation, as well as their possible impact. Suggestions are also identified for possible further research, some of which relate to researching the finer relationships and trends within the SBSA Retail Bank branch network, such as demographic factors and the development of a comprehensive learning culture strategy. All of this is necessary to ensure the creating and sustaining of a learning culture that will support and facilitate the development of a learning organisation. / Hannelize Jacobs

Recently, bankers have come to realise that banking operations, especially corporate lending, affect and are affected by the natural environment and that consequently, the banks might have an important role to play in helping to raise environmental standards. Although the environment presents significant risks to banks, in particular environmental credit risk, it also perhaps presents profitable opportunities. Stricter environmental regulations have forced companies to invest in environmentally friendly technologies and pollution control measures and in tum generated lending opportunities for bankers. This research examines the corporate practices of three of the four dominant banks in South Africa with respect to the environment, focusing on issues of climate change and environmental risk management by way of reporting and disclosure to all stakeholders. The emphasis on environmental reporting by South African banks has been reinforced by the latest release of the King III Report on Corporate Governance in South Africa. Global governance requires that the triple-bottom line should be applied in all corporate undertakings due to globalisation and trade liberalisation; however, the banking sector has responded poorly to the clarion call. The false view that the banks have no significant relationship with environmental degradation is being disproved. Environmental management is a huge and massive reconstruction of what has gone wrong with nature by human influence. The South African banks have had to face with the challenging tasks of reporting on the direct and mostly the indirect impacts of their environmental activities. Based on the three sampled banks which incidentally had greater percentages of the market capitalizations, the banks have fairly performed in environmental reporting. For example, Standard Bank (SA) Ltd has just signed the Equator Principles in 2007 implying corporate lending was done in 2007 without any respect to environmental impact assessments by corporate borrowers. Consequently, environmental reporting was not done to facilitate informed decision-making by stakeholders mostly shareholders and the communities where borrowers tun businesses. The objective of this research study is to investigate the extent and quantity of/voluntary environmental disclosures in the annual and sustainability reports of the banks listed on Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The periods examined were those subsequent to the release of the Exposure Draft Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies (CERES) Global Reporting Initiatives (GRI) issued in 1999. Using content analysis to focus on the environmental aspects, the research study compared three annual reports and three sustainability reports of 2007 year for the three sampled banks in order to evaluate reporting practices in the period surrounding this intervention. The results suggest a trend to triple bottom-line reporting and the extent and quantity of environmental information, albeit in specific categories.

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship that exists between emotional stability, stress and work-family conflict among Standard Bank female employees. For this purpose data was collected from the female employees of Standard Banks in Alice, Fort Beaufort, King Williams and East London Town’s in the Eastern Cape. A sample of 72 female bank employees was drawn from the population. Neuroticism is the opposite of emotional stability and it was mostly often used in place of emotional stability in the study. Results of the study indicated that all study variables are significantly positively correlated with one another. The findings of this study is helpful in the banking industry in order to design human resources policies which will reduce the work-family conflict and decrease stress for female bank employees and for future research in respective topics. The implications of this study are discussed along with recommendations for future research and professional managerial practice.