Literature has also shown that how long an employee stays in an organisation is determined by their relationship with their manager. By identifying the key managerial behaviours that are considered by knowledge workers to be important for retention, organisations will stand a greater chance of retaining these individuals. This research investigated what impact the knowledge worker’s perception of his manager’s behaviour has on his intention to stay with the organisation. The research also aimed to establish whether perceived managerial behaviour affected retention differently for the different race groups. A quantitative study was done which was based on a previous study by Rhule (2004). The current study focuses on knowledge workers in a leading Pulp and Paper company in South Africa. The study found that there is a strong relationship between the knowledge workers perception of the manager’s behaviour and intention to stay. Another key finding is that there is no significant difference between black and white respondents in how competent they perceive their managers to be on managerial behaviours they consider important for retention. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

As human resources become part of strategic management in many organisations, employees are said to play a crucial role in helping their organisations fulfil their goals. It is a fact that organisations are now relying heavily on the competence of their human resources to gain a competitive edge over their competitors. It is therefore important that organisations should have employees that are committed and motivated in order to be able to compete. This study seeks to improve organisational commitment of the employees in the maintenance section of the selected telecommunications company, by investigating whether variables such as appreciative leadership, organisational citizenship behaviour, psychological empowerment (as measured by perceived control, perceived competence and goal internalisation), job satisfaction and employee rewards are significantly or not significantly related to the organisational commitment of the employees in the selected company. A sample, consisting of 120 employees, including technicians, supervisors and managers, was selected. The study achieved a response rate of about 52% (51.7) after 120 questionnaires were distributed. The empirical results of the study showed that only psychological empowerment (as measured by goal internalisation) and job satisfaction were significantly related to organisational commitment of the employees of the selected company. The implementation of the recommendations of this study should contribute to increased organisational commitment in the selected company.

Purpose - The purpose of this thesis was to explain the influence of organizational commitment on employee turnover within the audit industry.  Design/methodology/approach - The thesis has a quantitative methodology, and a deductive and explanatory approach. Hierarchical regressions were used to investigate data gathered through a survey.  Findings - The main results revealed that all dimensions of organizational commitment had a negative relation to turnover intentions, where affective commitment was the strongest predictor. Career opportunities had a positive relation to affective commitment and sense of obligation had a positive relation to normative commitment.  Research limitations - The study was performed during the busy season and the Covid-19 pandemic, which potentially could have impacted the results. Snowball sampling was used, which means the non-response rate and the population could not be determined.  Practical implications - Since affective commitment was the strongest dimension to explain turnover intentions, organizations should mainly focus on strategies related to that dimension in order to avoid undesired employee turnover.  Originality/value - This thesis has tested all three dimensions of organizational commitment among audit assistants in Sweden. While previous research has mainly focused on the affective dimension and a mixture of occupational groups within the accounting sector.

This study was an assessment of the importance of age, gender, organizational tenure, perceived organizational support, perceived fairness, and perceived autonomy in explaining affective organizational commitment among high school principals in the United States. Stepwise multiple regression was used to determine which independent variables explained a portion of the dependent variable, affective organizational commitment. A sample of 396 high school principals, stratified by gender, was drawn from a national data base developed by Quality Education Data of Denver, CO. The sample consisted of 132 females and 264 males. Data were collected from responses to a questionnaire that was mailed to all persons in the sample. Usable responses were received from 60 females and from 142 males. Results of the stepwise multiple regression indicated that 58 percent of the variation in affective organizational commitment among high school principals was explained by perceived fairness, organizational tenure, perceived organizational support, and high school principals' age. Perceived fairness explained the greatest percentage of variation; age, which entered the regression equation last, explained the least amount of variation. This study indicates that high school principals, first and foremost, valued fairness from school districts in return for their commitment to school districts. The challenge for superintendents and others who work with high school principals is to maintain fairness in educational settings where there are many diverse and competing student needs in the same school district. / Ed. D.

Thesis advisor: Michael G. Pratt / Persistence, continuing effort in the face of challenges over time, can have clear benefits for creativity. At the same time, abandonment, stopping effort toward a course of action, is often necessary to help creators move forward towards their best ideas. Creative workers, and the organizations that employ them, thus face a dilemma between forces for persistence and forces for abandonment in developing ideas and projects, what I refer to as the persistence dilemma. Existing theory provides some clues about this dilemma (e.g. theories of motivation or escalation of commitment), but a lack of holistic theorizing leaves many questions outstanding. Through a longitudinal qualitative study of four organizations, I set out to explore how creative workers managed the persistence dilemma. I found that the organizational context shaped how project teams responded to the dilemma. Teams within the startups I studied managed the dilemma with a process focused on commitment. Leaders helped team members transform the ambivalence that resulted from the dilemma into commitment to the organizations core project. Teams in the established organization, by contrast, managed the dilemma with a process focused on balance. The organization focused on balancing forces for abandonment and forces for persistence since both were perceived as necessary and beneficial in their own way. My work has implications for understanding the persistence dilemma, as well as for theories of creativity more generally. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2021. / Submitted to: Boston College. Carroll School of Management. / Discipline: Management and Organization.

This PhD studies the imperative of racially transforming South Africa's economy in a way that spurs the growth of capital investment that is socially and locally inclusive. Part I explores the role of bargains among elites (“deals”) in facilitating investment. It studies deals as the basis of credible commitment and as the “arena of action” in the context of a relatively robust rule of law. What kind of deals produce capital investment and transformation, and what kind of deals produce predation and isomorphism? Using process tracing methodology, the research traces deal in platinum mining between 1994 and 2018. Part II examines the extent to which this investment is socially inclusive in alleviating local poverty, creating local employment, and reducing local inequality. This part relies on individual level census data of 20 million observations and geocoded mining data of over 400 mines to evaluate the local impact of mining investments on income poverty, employment, and inequality between 1996 and 2011. The study finds compelling evidence that “deals are the basis of credible commitment” to securing investment. The rule of law alone is important but insufficient as it leaves “residual uncertainty” for investors. The evaluation of the impact of mining investments on local communities suggests a qualification, at the local level, of the “resource curse” hypothesis. Mining brings benefits in terms of income poverty alleviation and employment. However, the high-low cycles of commodity price booms create employment volatility and exacerbate inequality. Mining investments inherently involve trade-offs that can be moved in net positive directions with good deals between business and the state, and local communities. The research thus contributes to the literature on property rights and investment, state-business relations and development, and natural resource governance for development.

No / Not available

Constitutions and bills of rights have previously been argued to be non-democratic. To justify the entrenched nature of constitutions, some theorists have argued that constitutions represent a type of rational precommitment. However, this precommitment understanding of constitutions is not without its own problems. In this work, I will argue the prominent understanding of constitutional precommitment used by its proponents seems to rely upon a definition of commitment to which their arguments do not stay true. However, when I try to amend their arguments and apply a proper example of commitment, it leads to some problems with other tenets of the constitutional debate, especially the fact of constitutional entrenchment. In an attempt to determine just what it would take to save the rational precommitment understanding of constitutions, while maintaining a proper definition of commitment, I turn to metaphysical puzzles about change, persistence, and the possibility of a mereological understanding of our constitution. I conclude that 1) current debates do not have a proper conception of commitment and are thus failing to accomplish their ends, and 2) if proponents of the rational precommitment view do not buy into my analysis, then it is going to prove quite difficult to keep their account afloat once we properly define commitment. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

This study addressed the relational maintenance strategies and the meaning 23 to 35 year old students attributed to their long-distance dating relationships. Ten participants completed in depth interviews exploring the thoughts and feelings individuals held about their current long-distance partner and relationship. Also, commitment and quality of alternatives were addressed including the strengths and weaknesses of the respondent's relationship. Common themes of strong friendship, absolute trust, commitment to one partner, and using the technique of reminiscing were all dominant issues that emerged from the interview data. Social network approval as well as positive role models in the form of older siblings was also instrumental in lending support to the success and general positive attitude felt by participants about the geographic separation. Methods of communication included the telephone and e-mail, which was substituted or supplementary when high phone bills created financial concerns for the respondents. Variation in physical visitation was due to the intersection of academic schedule, affordable transportation, attitude towards work disruptions, geographic distance, and a general willingness to travel. Participants told a story of the geographic separation as both a temporary and necessary inconvenience, rather than a major obstacle or focal point of the relationship. Future directions for studying long-distance dating relationships include collecting couple data and examining gender differences to determine if sex has an impact on how geographic separation is viewed. / Master of Science

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2005. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Today's economy demands that organisations' continually change the way they do business. The agility and efficiency with which organisations can implement change are vital in ensuring their continued competitiveness. Unfortunately, people's fear of the unknown results in a natural propensity to resist change. This presents significant challenges that management must overcome in order to implement desired changes to improve organisational efficiencies and overall stakeholder value. This study investigates the importance of employee commitment in implementing workplace change through a review of related literature and the analyses of primary data collected. The data was collected by means of a questionnaire that was sent to all employees within Media24 IT. The findings indicate a strong relationship between commitment and change. Especially one type of commitment displays significant importance with respect to workplace change, i.e. commitment that deals with an employee's emotional attachment to, identification with and involvement in the organisation. Additionally, certain drivers of commitment are investigated and conclusions presented. However, it is recommended that further research might be necessary. This is mainly due to the fact that the primary data collected could be seen as merely a reflection of the situation within a single organisation at a certain period in time. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Vandag se ekonomie vereis dat organisasies vooortdurend die wyse waarop hulle besigheid doen, moet verander. Die tempo en doeltreffendheid waarmee organisasies verandering kan implementeer, is van deurslaggewende belang vir hul voortgesette kompeterendheid. Ongelukkig veroorsaak mense se vrees vir die onbekende 'n natuurlike geneigdheid om verandering teen te staan. Dit bied aan bestuur aansienlike uitdagings wanneer gewenste veranderings om organisatoriese doeltreffendheid en belanghebberwaarde te verbeter, geimplemenleer moet word. Hierdie werkstuk ondersoek die belangrikheid van werknemers se toegewydheid ten opsigte van die implementering van verandering by die werkplek deur middel van 'n literatuurstudie en die analise van primere data wat ingesamel is. Die data is deur middel van 'n vraelys wat aan al Media24 IT se personeellede gestuur is, ingesamel. Die bevindings dui 'n sterk verwantskap tussen toegewydheid en verandering aan. Veral een tipe toegewydheid wat handel oor 'n werknemer se emosionele verbintenis tot die organisasie, asook identifikasie met en betrokkenheid by die organisasie, toon 'n sterk invloed op verandering in die werkplek. Addisioneel word sekere drywers van toegewydheid ondersoek en afleidings gemaak. Daar word egter aanbeveel dat verdere navorsing moontlik nodig mag wees. Dit is hoofsaaklik weens die feit dat die primere data wat ingesamel is, gesien kan word as 'n blote weerspieeling van die situasie binne 'n enkele organisasie op 'n gegewe tydstip.