Project management is undeniably the fastest growing discipline as organizations move into the euphoria of projectification of their operations. Though projects have been a part of human life since time immemorial, there is a sudden realisation of the effectiveness of the methods used in project management. The enrolment of students studying for project management in tertiary institutions has shown tremendous increase. Yet the project execution process is mired by high failure rates and absence of clarity on the necessary skills required for effective project execution. The authority-gap in project management presents political and operational conflicts, and new innovative ways of authority-gap reduction need to be identified and taught in training programs. Simultaneously there is a realisation by both academics and practitioners that there is a difference between managers and leaders. Extensive studies on leadership have not allowed for a one-stop-leadership-style to be used in leadership of any form, let alone project leadership. In fact there is no standard definition of leadership as this has been heavily contextualized and thereby disallowing the creation of a universal definition. No cast-in-stone leadership styles are known and thereby leaving the research on leadership to concentrate on critical competencies required for effective leadership of projects. This study seeks to establish the core competencies needed by the project leaders and other practitioners to reduce the failure rate and maximise the benefits currently sought after by organisations. Studies have shown that the matrix structure within which the embedded projects work is a contributing factor to the failure of projects. Because projects are executed by people, it would be the proper utilisation of people’s talents and competencies that are expected to yield favourable results. Thus, whilst the matrix structure creates the authority-gap that presents a problem for effective project execution, management-by-projects still remains the best way known to add economic value to performance and productivity. The study therefore focuses on those characteristics of project leaders that will most likely make the difference in the way people perform in the workplace. The research findings emphasised the importance of empowerment of project managers and the development of their interpersonal skills of the project leader with special emphasis on extroversion, genuineness of senior management, and the responsiveness of the project leaders as important requirements for effective authority- gap reduction. These critical competencies will therefore facilitate the project execution process and enhance the empowered project leader’s ability to reduce the high project failure rate and high cost overruns. These competencies apply specifically to the human element as it relates to the role of the project leader and the interaction with the team members, this new knowledge needs to be introduced into training programs and project practitioners.

In his 2006 State of the Nation Address, President Thabo Mbeki emphasised the need for the development of managerial competencies and other skills to empower the country’s municipalities to meet the needs of the community (Governance and Administration, 2005). In order to meet the needs of the local community, municipalities need to render effective and efficient services. The lack of relevant managerial competencies adversly influences the municipality’s capacity to deliver the required services. In addition, the uneven distribution of capabilities and capacity across different sections within a municipality also poses a great risk to municipal performance and equitable service provision over the medium term. Notwithstanding progress made to date, service delivery backlogs still exist in key areas that affect the daily lives of the community. Where these backlogs coincide with poor municipal capacity, the result is service failure and a government that is incapable of meeting its goals (Governance and Administration, 2005). The objective of the study is to assess the contemporary management competencies that are required to assist municipal management in addressing the challenges of a dynamic, uncertain and complex Local Government environment. A questionnaire was used to gather the perceptions of 26 senior managers. This sample constituted a response rate of 65 per cent of people employed by municipalities within the Eden District Municipality’s service area. The questionnaires were distributed to the senior managers by means of an identified contact person within each municipality. The empirical findings such as the mean, median, standard deviation and pvalues were calculated by means of MS Excel. The main findings of this research indicated that: • Presently the most developed managerial competencies were selfmanagement, strategic action, planning and administration and communication. • The least developed current competency was global awareness. • The managerial competencies regarded as the most important for the next ten years were planning, administration and strategic action. • Global awareness was regarded as the least important competency for the next ten years. This finding points to the need for developing the global awareness competency to ensure that Municipal Managers are more sensitive to cultural cues and are able to adapt quickly in novel situations.

This paper explored the requirements and subsequent competencies needed for an emerging market SME to operate in the developed markets on design, development and manufacturing projects. This was analysed by first exploring the differences in the requirements of the two markets and then determining what competencies a typical SA company would have to acquire to be competitive in the DM. The case was explored through a study of an SA SME operating in the design and development market, who was in the process of internationalising into the US and European markets. Data was gathered through a desk analysis of specifications from each market as well as in-depth interviews with the firm’s key decision makers and customers from each market. The first outcome was that there was a difference in the requirements of the two markets, namely the level of detail and sophistication of the DM specifications, the greater need for a competitive product in the DMs, both in pricing and functionality, the requirement for socially ethical practices and that EMF products need to overcome the negative COO effects. The final outcome was that EM SME’s needed to improve on their current competency set, namely an adaptation of the development process, sourcing practices and improvement in technical competencies. The firm also developed a method of introducing their product to the DM, such that the COO effect was reduced. This was done through the use of SA OEM’s and DM MNE’s supplying SA. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

The purpose of this study was to determine the critical core occupational competencies for secondary agricultural education programs as identified by Ohio agricultural business and industry. The method used to generate this information was an item analysis of the competencies that industry experts identified as core competencies in the Ohio Competency Analysis Profile (OCAP) process. OCAPs are a source of competencies that agricultural educators use to teach the essential skills needed for employment in agricultural careers. The study identified the importance of and relative time spent on core competencies in 10 agricultural occupations, determined the critical core of occupational competencies in each of 10 agricultural occupations, and determined the common core of critical occupational competencies across all 10 agricultural occupations. A survey of Ohio agricultural business and industry workers was conducted. The competency lists for this study consisted of 10 agricultural education OCAPs developed by the Vocational Instructional Materials Laboratory at The Ohio State University. The OCAP lists consisted of: Agricultural Production, Agricultural Sales and Service, Agricultural/Industrial Mechanical Technician, Animal Management Technician, Floriculture and Greenhouse Worker, Forest Industry Worker, Meat Processor, Nursery and Garden Center Worker, Resource Conservation, and Turf and Landscape Worker. Conclusions included: 1. Competencies in the general safety precautions unit: demonstrate safe work habits, maintain safe work environment, and operate equipment and vehicles were ranked among the 20 most important competencies in all 10 agricultural occupations. 2. One competency in the general safety precautions unit, operate equipment and vehicles, was the only competency ranked among the top 20 competencies on relative time spent in all 10 agricultural occupations. 3. A critical core of occupational competencies was identified for each agricultural occupation. 4. Each agricultural occupation is so highly specialized that a substantial common core of critical occupational competencies in agricultural occupations could not be identified. Selected recommendations included: 1. Given that the competencies in the general safety precautions unit are the most important competencies in all agricultural occupations, agricultural educators should concentrate on preparing workers with general safety precaution competencies. 2. Because a critical core of occupational competencies can be identified, agricultural education programs that need to determine the occupational content for the program should concentrate on the critical core competencies for the occupational focus of that agricultural education program. 3. Because the common core of critical occupational competencies across all 10 agricultural occupations is not substantial, agricultural education programs cannot be generic agricultural education programs with a common core of critical occupational competencies for program content. Agricultural education programs should be occupationally specific. / Ed. D.

Thesis (M.B.A.)-Business Studies Unit, Durban Institute of Technology, 2004 iii, 111 leaves / The purpose of this study was to determine the core competencies of Sappi Forest Product division as a basis for establishing future developments. The literature focused on the resource-based view where the analysis of the firm’s internal resources and capabilities can be used as the starting point of strategy. / M

Submitted by Elba Lopes (elba.lopes@fecap.br) on 2016-12-30T19:03:55Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Ana Lucia de Souza Dias.pdf: 590211 bytes, checksum: 7e6e970daafac8131df1e8f41f949138 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-30T19:03:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Ana Lucia de Souza Dias.pdf: 590211 bytes, checksum: 7e6e970daafac8131df1e8f41f949138 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-09-02 / The aim of this research was to analyze the consistency between the Teaching Project, the legislation relevant to the university education in Brazil, and the teaching practices, in the view of the coordinator and professors from an Accounting Sciences graduation course in the city of S??o Paulo. It was a qualitative research. Firstly, it was applied an interview scrip. Secondly, with the professors. The results from the first stage show that, according to the coordinator, the competency approach is dealt with since the beginning of the course, and in all disciplines: basic, professional, theoretical and practical. The results from the second stage show that, despite working the competency approach, most professors do not know the concept of competency-based education, but apply this concept, although not knowing the theory. This stage also verified that the Teaching Project is in accordance with the National Curricular Guidelines. / O objetivo desta pesquisa foi analisar a consist??ncia entre o Projeto Pol??tico Pedag??gico, a legisla????o pertinente ao ensino superior no Brasil e as pr??ticas docentes, por meio do olhar do coordenador e dos docentes de um curso de gradua????o de Ci??ncias Cont??beis da cidade de S??o Paulo. A pesquisa qualitativa foi o m??todo selecionado. Em uma primeira etapa, foi usado um roteiro de entrevista com o coordenador do curso e, em uma segunda etapa, com os professores. Os resultados da primeira etapa apontam que, na vis??o do coordenador, a no????o de compet??ncias ?? tratada desde o primeiro dia do curso e em todas as disciplinas de forma????o: b??sica, profissional e te??rico-pr??tica. Os resultados da segunda etapa apontam que, apesar de trabalharem a no????o de compet??ncias, a maioria dos docentes n??o conhece o conceito de pedagogia por compet??ncias, mas aplicam esse conceito, embora n??o conhe??am a teoria. Tamb??m constatou que o projeto pol??tico pedag??gico contempla as orienta????es contidas nas Diretrizes Curriculares Nacionais.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) found that Botswana's information and communication technology (ICT) networked readiness index (NRI) had declined from position 89 in 2012 to 104 in 2015. A decline in Botswana's ICT NRI resulted in a modest gross domestic product (GDP) growth increasing from 4.2% in 2012 to 5.0% in 2015. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies ICT service provider managers use to build employee competencies to address ICT infrastructure performance deficiencies. The target population for this study consisted of over 120 managers from 2 ICT service providers located in Gaborone and Francistown in Botswana. The conceptual framework for this study was information technology (IT) competency model. Face-to-face interviews with 15 managers and a review of 12 company documents were gathered and all interpretations from the data were subjected to member checking to ensure the trustworthiness of the study findings. The thematic analyses of participants' interviews and company documents resulted in the emergence of 3 common themes: developing professional employee competencies through training, promoting knowledge acquisition and skills transfer, and developing budgets for funding the development of employee competencies. Participants cited training and professional development as a reason for ICT infrastructure performance deficiencies. Social implications from this study include developing strategies business managers can use to build employee competencies to improve ICT infrastructure performance, which could result in improved services to citizens and enhanced national development, social transformation, and economic diversification.

Bakgrund och problem: Den 1 november 2010 avskaffades revisionsplikten för små bolag i Sverige vilket innebar att ca 70 % av alla aktiebolag i Sverige inte längre var tvingade till revision. Detta påverkade revisionsbolagens förutsättningar och vi frågar oss hur de har tagit sig an den nya marknaden där en stor del av deras kundstock inte längre är tvingade att revideras. Vi har kommit fram till dessa frågeställningar: Hur har slopandet av revisionsplikten påverkat och förändrat de små revisionsbolagens arbetssätt? Hur förbereder de sig för ett eventuellt förändrat gränsvärde? Syfte: Syftet med vårt arbete är att utifrån revisorns perspektiv belysa vilka förändringar den avskaffade revisionsplikten för små aktiebolag har medfört för de små revisionsbyråerna. Vi vill också belysa hur revisorns roll kan komma att förändras i framtiden om Sverige väljer EU:s maximal tröskelvärde för att slippa revisionsplikt eller att gränsvärdet förändras på annat sätt. Metod: Arbetet är skrivet utifrån en kvalitativ ansats, primärdata har samlats in i form av semistrukturerade intervjuer med grund i en öppen intervjumall. Detta har sedan tolkats utifrån sekundär data i form av vetenskaplig litteratur. Resultat och slutsats: Studiens slutsats visar att revisionsbolagen har genomfört ganska omfattande förändringar för att möta lagändringen. Tappet i form av revisionsuppdrag har kompenserats med att de har tagit in fler redovisningsuppdrag eller börjat erbjuda redovisning som en ny tjänst. Revisionsbolagen tror att det bara är en tidsfråga innan gränsvärdet höjs, de gör ändå inget för att förbereda sig då de anser att påverkan på bolaget kommer bli mindre än vid tidigare lagändring. Detta för att ägarstrukturen i större bolag är annorlunda och en oberoende granskning är mer motiverat i dessa bolag. / Background and problem: On November 1, 2010 the audit requirement was abolished for small companies in Sweden which meant that about 70% of all companies in Sweden were no longer forced to audit. This affected the audit firms prerequisites and we ask ourselves how they have tackled the new market where a large part of their customer base is no longer forced to be audited. We have come up with these questions: How has the removal of mandatory auditing changed the small audit firms ways of working? How do they prepare themselves for a possible change in limit? Purpose: The purpose of our thesis is to highlight the changes that abolishment of the audit requirement for small companies has led to for small accounting firms from an auditor's perspective. We also want to highlight how the auditor's role may change in the future if Sweden closes up to EU:s maximum threshold to avoid audit duties or the limit otherwise changes. Method: The work is written from a qualitative approach, primary data were collected through semi-structured interviews with basis in an open interview template. This has since been interpreted on the basis of secondary data in the form of scientific literature. Results and Conclusion: The study's conclusion indicates that accounting firms have conducted fairly extensive changes to meet legislative change. The drop in the form of audit services is offset by more assignments or started offering accounting as a new service. Audit companies believe that it is only a matter of time before the limit is raised, they don ́t prepare themselves cause they consider the impact on the company will be less than in previous legislative change. This is due to ownership structure of major companies are different and independent verification is more justified in these companies.

Researth on the Value Creation Strategy -The Case Of Ritek Group By Li-Mei Chen Seeking sustainable growth has always been the core value of an enterprise.However, to achieve such goal, many questions followed¡Kwhat rules to obey upon seeking sustainable growth? High growth leads to high profit for sure? Larger company scale accompanies higher profit? Such growth strategy should be managed according more to external environment or more on own core competence? How to create company value resulting from the diversification and collectivization of the company growth? I adopt Ritek group (ëä¼w¶°¹Î) as my case study object. Purpose of my study is to find out the affection of their growth strategy to their company value, and, how this efficient growth strategy enhances sustainable competitive advantage. My study integrated the relation between company value and Resource-Based view, Enterprise Growth Strategy view and Economic Value Added (EVA) view. Results of my empirical study: 1. Resources construction is a key in the development of company. 2. Strategy to focus on core competencies and to be effective. 3. Company valued scale expansion strategy increased their company value. 4. Fast capital outlay expansion helps no company value promotion. 5. Long-term investment amount decides future value. 6. Highly fund financing could not create company value. 7. Company¡¦s profit ability affects its future growth opportunity.

Since Taiwan implemented the two-day weekend in 1998, ¡§home stay¡¨ industry has become a hot trend in leisure and become more and more commercial. Therefore, the research motivation of the case study is to find out the key success factors in business strategies of the home stay industry in Taiwan. The research methods of this study are to interview home stay operators, to directly experience home stay, to collect consumer questionnaires, and to probe into literature information. Social science research is used to collect data. Then, qualitative research and descriptive statistics are used to analyze information and discuss the results. The results of the case study of the key success factors in business strategies of the home stay industry are as follows: 1.Core assets: A. Home stay operators must choose a right location. B. Home stay operators must have adequate financial resources, own land, aesthetic architectures, and etc. 2.Core competencies: A. Home stay operators need to have personal special expertise, knowledge, or skills. B. Home stay operators need to have correct business ideas. C. Home stay operators need the abilities of business strategies and implementation. D. Home stay operators are able to prioritize service quality and create a brand. 3.Characteristics and charms of operators: A. Operators need the personal characteristics and charms to establish close interaction with customers. B. Operators have the characteristics of tenacious perseverance to overcome operating obstacles on the early-stage venture. With the core resources and core competences mentioned above, operators integrate all kinds of resources and exert the business method of ¡§synergy ¡¨ to enhance competitive advantages and to create value for future home stay business.