M.Phil. / The purpose of this essay was to identify the components of success from the literature and to test the components in practice to see to what extent each component formed part of the success experience of a financial institution's senior management. The result was evaluated from a Personal and Professional Leadership perspective. Attention was given to the concept 'success' by describing and explaining the concept. Possible Personal and Professional Leadership guidelines to experience success was investigated and recommendations were made to the financial institution in this regard. A quantitative and descriptive research strategy was followed. The primary research methods used in the study included a survey, word and concept analysis. A word and concept analysis of the word 'success' was undertaken, while a literature study was conducted, to investigate current data documented on the subject of success. A questionairre was developed to determine the success experience of the senior managers of a financial institution. The data was analysed, compared and interpreted. The most important findings of the study are as follows: • From the literature study and the empirical results of the investigation it was found that success is not necessary prosperity or money. Although money can be an advantage it does not guarantee sustainable success. • Success is not a single component for example accomplishment or achievement. Success asks for a holistic approach constituted multiple components. From the literature, 31 components of success were identified. To experience true success balance in terms of all the life dimensions is required. • Three success factors were identified in this study. The first factor is about the "inside-out" success experience (intrinsic factor). The second factor is an "outside-in" success experience (extrinsic factor). Both factors must be acknowledged in success aspirations. The third factor is a PPL-factor. Taking action is a result of the "insideout" factor. This component is calculated, well thought through and based on an awareness of who I am; where I'm going, and why I am going there. It also includes viii • knowledge about my purpose in life, understanding my potential and realising my potensial. This action should further be build around the individual's character and principles. • Success is primarily not happiness. Success and happiness is not a goal to be achieved but a byproduct of that which is longed for. • Success is not power or influence. You could achieve success in this regard by reaching a certain position at work ant think that you have arrived. This position does not indemnify you from an empty and unfulfilled feeling. • Success is not achievement and can not only be measured against achievement alone. • Success is a journey. How do I use each day? Do I make the best of each opportunity? Do I see the opportunity around me? Do I take the necessary action? • More than two thirds of the respondents linked success with the realisation of their goals, the reaching of certain milestones, living in balance with their life dimensions. • Respondents that are 37 and older is more inclined to experience success in their emotional life in contrast with those under 37 years. • Very happy people are more inclined to experience success in terms of their social end emotional life than people that are fairly happy. From this study, it can be concluded that one must know what success is in order to achieve it. There is as many definitions of success as there are people thinking about it. Success in one area of your life does not mean overall success. Balance in all the different life dimensions of life is essential. You must know who you are, where you stand with yourself, what you would like to do and take the necessary steps to get there. All these aspects are based on the principles of Personal and Professional Leadership. The conclusion can thus be made that PPL can make an important contribution to experience success in a balanced way.

M.Comm. / The knowledge-based service industry consists of numerous professional practices. The nature of the service is a function of the type of knowledge offered e.g. technical specialists, artistic design specialists and legal specialists to name but a few. Providing a service instead of a product to satisfy a need in the market requires special unique skills and approaches. Since most professional practices are small, the total management task is the responsibility of the partners or the board of directors. In an area of specialisation, such as engineering, general management skills are also required. Knowledge of finance, marketing, personnel, operations and general management aspects are important. The study incorporates a broad set of issues from economic aspects to management functions to determine what the critical success factors (CSFs) should be to ensure the success of small professional knowledge-based organisations. Internal factors are considered and related to how the firm operates. The study extends externally to examine how clients perceive the services rendered. From a general point of view, managerial competence is rated as the most important critical success factor. It influences the relationship between the client and the professional providing the service. The role of the client's opinion is important when providing an effective service. It is vital to know what the client needs and how to satisfy the needs. Use is made of a service - quality rating model to determine where customer expectations are not being met. The study is concluded by recommending that the CSFs be actively used to focus the firm's internal activities and resources on the external client requirements. In essence, management must do more active work, in areas such as cost control, where clients feel they are being neglected. More attention needs to be focused on the tangible aspects of service delivery. To bring about success as well as attending to the listed CSFs, training was deemed to be necessary with regards to quality management, financial management, marketing management and personnel management. All action plans that could be developed by the service provider need to be simple to implement on an ongoing basis. Time and effort is to satisfy a client's needs. The results of this study indicate that management should focus their efforts on the tasks of management. It does not suggest that they actually do the work of transforming knowledge into tangible products. It does say that management should actively influence those people who do the work of knowledge transformation. The client should always be the centre of the firm's activities.

D.Phil. / Both leadership and negotiations constitute key success factors for organisations. Previous studies on leadership suggest that leadership effectiveness differentiates successful organisations from others. Equally, negotiations success constitutes a key distinguishing factor separating developed countries from the developing and the under-developed ones. A perusal of available literature and previous research on leadership and negotiations reveals a historical tendency by writers and theoreticians to deal with these topics separately. Thus, while the two topics have each been researched extensively, the number of studies dealing with leadership and negotiations as concomitant variables in the same study is limited. The current study investigates the relationship between negotiations success and leadership style. The study postulates that there is a positive relationship between negotiations success, which is defined as negotiator satisfaction levels with negotiated outcomes, and leadership style. Specifically, the study postulates that the use of the Blake and Mouton team leader style would account for counterparty satisfaction levels with the negotiated outcomes. The study involves the application of two questionnaires to 156 negotiators with a history of involvement in annual wage and other negotiations. The first questionnaire tests the respondents’ leadership style in terms of the Blake and Mouton Leadership Grid. The second questionnaire is the Subjective Value Inventory (SVI) questionnaire developed by Curhan and colleagues. The SVI is also a self-report questionnaire and measures negotiator satisfaction levels with negotiation outcomes. The multiple regression results from the analysis of variance (ANOVA and MANOVA), and other multivariate tests indicate leadership style as a strong predictor of negotiations success. This research is one of a small number of studies that have investigated and revealed statistically significant relationships between negotiations success and leadership style.

The Eastern Cape Province has been cited as the second poorest province in South Africa. The impact of entrepreneurship on the economy, with respect to socio-economic development, has placed increased pressure on entrepreneurs to operate effectively. Moreover, entrepreneurs are required to adopt and adapt to leadership practices that lead to business success. Business success is largely dependent on the leader. The importance of this study may, thus, be attributed to the need for entrepreneurs to possess the necessary leadership attributes for the efficient running of a business. The primary objective of this study was to improve the success rate of entrepreneurs in the Eastern Cape Province. This was done by determining the impact of selected leadership attributes on the success of entrepreneurs. More specifically, this study investigated how the success of entrepreneurs is influenced by leadership attributes (the dependent variable), namely, leadership style, vision, networking, risk-taking and ethics (the independent variables). In order to achieve the research objectives, the researcher used the inferential statistical approach, specifically, hypothesis testing. The first step was to conduct a literature review on factors that influence entrepreneurs. This entailed the barriers to success, critical success factors, the impact of the SMME sector on the economy, as well as the selected leadership attributes. Secondly, the quantitative research method was used to assess the perceptions of entrepreneurs with regards to the influence of the leadership attributes on their businesses. This was done through an empirical survey, namely a self-administered questionnaire that was distributed to a sample of 100 entrepreneurs who are based in the Eastern Cape Province and have been operating for a minimum of three years. Out of the envisaged 100 respondents, 89 questionnaires were completed (89% response rate). The data obtained from the empirical survey was then analysed statistically and the descriptive statistics were presented by using graphs and tables. The results of the empirical survey revealed that although all the above-mentioned independent variables contribute towards increasing the success rate of entrepreneurs, networking and ethics exert the most significant influence. Based on the findings of the literature review and the results of the empirical survey, this study made recommendations on areas of improvement for entrepreneurs in order to increase their success rate. Suggestions were also made for possible future research.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Science in Engineering. 9 August 2019 / Lean startup is a new concept that was initially developed to help startups grow their business in a more effective and scientific way. The methodology has some elements that are in contrast to the way businesses or new ventures are traditionally run. While the lean startup methods have been proven in industry, the academic research especially within a South African context has been minimal. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the extent to which lean startup principles have been applied across industry in South Africa and how these have been used in conjunction with the corporate and operations strategy. From the research it was found that while South African professionals may be familiar with the concept, the application of the concept in its full form is limited. Participants also at times applied the concepts without having full awareness that the concepts were part of the lean startup methodology. A number of participants used the methodology to help develop the business and operations strategy. Participants also typically saw the value in the concepts for application across industry as long as the right structures are in place to help support the initiative. / E.R. 2019

Thesis (MTech (Business Administration in Project Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2019. / Construction projects are deemed to be complex due to the uncertainties in-volved in such projects. The project management literature has outlined chal-lenges that are found in construction projects. It points out that major challenges and problems found in construction projects include cost and schedule overruns. To achieve construction project success a project has to be completed within cost, time and quality standards or performance. To attain success has always been difficult due to the lack of skills and competencies required by construction project managers. A project manager that has the desired competencies to effectively manage cost, time and quality standards in construction projects is needed. Poor management of construction projects is not only in South Africa but it’s a global challenge. Through the combination of qualitative and quantitative research method (also known a mixed method) this study evaluates project manager’s competencies with the objectives of determining the appropriate competencies that could assist a project manager to excellently execute construction projects. This thesis points out that for an effective project manager to successfully manage construction projects requires to have high strength on leadership competency to provide pro-ject leadership, communication competency to direct a way forward in a project and problem solving competency to provide feasible solutions. Provision of project leadership refers to a project manager upholding effective working relationships with colleagues, influencing others to work without being pressurised and provision of vision for the team to know their direction. Direct a way forward in a project refers to a project manager effectively communicating project objectives, speaking to encourage team members to perform tasks effi-ciently and listen actively. Provision of feasible solutions refers to a project man-ager having an ability to identify a problem, seeking best solutions when dealing with problems and exhibiting creativity in problem solving.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2006. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file viewed on (March 2, 2007) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

The goal of the study was to determine whether the factors that drive entrepreneurship in Durban, South Africa, are sufficient to promote economic development. In order to gain business perspective of the factors contributing to the success of business a non–probability sampling was conducted. A non-probability sample of 100 respondents was drawn from local entrepreneurs and some of the people who were interested in establishing their own businesses in Durban. The sample was composed of 44% males and 56% females. Of the sample, 17% was a snowball sample, which was made of 13% females and 4% males, and convenience sample, which was composed of 40% males and 43% females. Of the sample, 83% were entrepreneurs and 17% were would-be entrepreneurs. The convenience sampling was viewed to be the perfect approach to gather information from the subjects who were conveniently available to supply it. In addition to that, convenience sampling was the best manner of acquiring some basic information fast and efficiently. On the contrary, to collect data utilizing probability sampling could be minimal and could take long time to collect information. To save time and costs, non-probability sampling was appropriate. Initially contact was made with two persons who then picked up sample elements known by them. A questionnaire was developed to gather data. Statistical analysis showed that the variables presented significant relationships. The findings showed that lack of entrepreneurial background and government support impeded success of entrepreneurs. It was recommended that the government through Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA) and other agencies, and University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) Graduate School of Business conduct more workshops for people who intend to start their own enterprises. This study could benefit the community in identifying factors that could help boost success of their businesses and develop confidence in them. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2010.

This study assessed various communication skills which a manager must possess in order to effectively communicate. This communication commonly would take place between or among individuals through a common system of symbols, signs and behaviour in friendship, circles, groups, and businesses, which would result in an improved business performance. This study concentrated on these two aspects of communication as follows: 1) Verbal communication: Vague statements, Ambiguous statements. 2) Nonverbal communication: Physical appearance, Eye contact, Body language, Confidence, Manner of approach, Listening skills, Active communication. The study looked at the impact of each of these communication skills without concentrating on the causes of each in detail. The study therefore would reveal the impact of each without identifying the specific cause/s of each skill. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2009.

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