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The role and importance of international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) has increased with globalisation and the growth of global institutions. Not only do INGOs play a major role in aid delivery in developing countries, they also serve as the voice of the people in the growing global governance system. Thus they have an increasing impact on the social and economic welfare of people around the world. For this reason, the performance and management of INGOs is vital. However, research on their management is lacking. INGOs possess unique characteristics including complex environments, value-based missions and no financial bottom line. Therefore, management practices, like internal communication, that are generally developed for for-profit organisations need to be evaluated for suitability within the INGO context. Strategic internal communication has been identified as driving organisational performance. Internal communication can be defined as strategic when its purpose is to align internal stakeholders with the organisation’s strategic intent. By facilitating strategic alignment, internal communication can play a critical role in organisational performance. Research on strategic internal communication is limited and virtually non-existent when considered within the INGO context. However, by considering communication management theory, strategic management theory and NGO management theory, it is possible to develop theoretical propositions on the strategic functioning of internal communication in INGOs. In particular, the theory suggests that a postmodern approach to strategic management and strategic internal communication can assist INGOs in addressing many of the challenges they face. This study explores the strategic functioning of internal communication in INGOs through exploratory, qualitative case studies. The evidence shows that internal communication in INGOs does not generally function strategically. However, the function is recognised as having potential to improve the performance of these organisations. In particular, there is support for the suitability of a postmodern approach to strategic internal communication in INGOs. / Dissertation (MPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Communication Management / MPhil / Unrestricted

The data produced and collected by organizations represents both challenges and opportunities for the modern firm. Business intelligence and analytics (BI&A) comprises a wide variety of information management technologies and information seeking activities designed to exploit these information resources. As a result, BI&A has been heralded as a source of improved organizational outcomes in both the academic and practitioner literature, and these technologies are among the largest continuous IT expenditures made over the last decade.Despite the interest in BI&A, there is not enough theorizing about its role in improving firm performance. Scholarly investigations of the link between BI&A and organizational benefits are scarce and primarily exploratory in nature. Further, the majority of the extant research on BI&A is techno-centric, conceptualizing BI&A primarily an organizational technical asset. This study seeks to explicate the relationship between BI&A and improved organizational outcomes by viewing this phenomenon through the lens of dynamic capabilities, a promising theoretical perspective from the strategic management discipline. In so doing, this research reframes BI&A as an organizational capability, rather than simply a technical resource. Guided by a comprehensive review of the BI&A and dynamic capabilities literature, as well as a series of semi-structured focus groups with senior-level business practitioners with BI&A experience, this study develops and tests a model of BI&A enabled firm performance. Using a snowball sample, an online survey was administered to 137 business professionals in 24 industries. The data were analyzed using partial least squares (PLS) structural equation modeling (SEM). The findings support the contention that BI&A serve as the sensing and seizing components of an organizational dynamic capability, while transformation is achieved through business process change capability. These factors influence firm financial performance through their impact on the functional performance of the firm’s business processes. Further, this study demonstrates that traditional BI&A success factors are positively associated with BI&A sensing capability. This study makes several important contributions to BI&A research. First, this study addresses a gap in the scholarly literature by establishing a theoretical framework for the role of BI&A in achieving firm performance which is grounded in an established strategic management theory. Second, by drawing on the sense-seize-transform view of dynamic capabilities, this dissertation proposes a new conceptualization of BI&A as sensing and seizing organizational capabilities. Third, this research links the use of BI&A to improved organizational outcomes through the transformation of business processes, consistent with the view that the value of IT is derived from its impact on the value generating processes of the firm. Fourth, by viewing BI&A and business process change as distinct but inter-related components of dynamic capabilities, this research clarifies the role of BI&A in the dynamization of organizational processes, providing insight into the relationship between BI&A and business agility. Finally, this dissertation shows how BI&A capabilities are related to BI&A success factors identified in prior research.