Thesis (M. Ed. (Education))--Rhodes University, 2006.

In the area of project management, it is well understood that effective communication processes impact positively on project performance. Despite this, project teams still struggle to develop effective communication plans that address their project communication needs. The evidence of this is that many project problems are attributed to poor communication. The literature addresses the needs and shortcomings of group communication and communication planning in general; but there is however, a scarcity of literature describing how to plan for the internal communication needs of high-performance civil engineering teams. With the limited literature available on the topic, this study seeks to validate how effective the current communication planning methods are at Aurecon in meeting the communication needs of its project teams. This qualitative research project is a case study of communication planning within the project teams at Aurecon in Port Elizabeth. A semi-structured interview process was followed, addressing specific questions, without limiting the direction of the interviews. Project team members, working on high performance projects, were asked for their thoughts, feelings and suggestions about existing communication practices and project communication planning. Overall, it was found that the existing communication-planning practices at Aurecon did not have any beneficial effect on how team members communicate. It was concluded that project teams would benefit from improved communication-planning processes that are more inclusive of their specific communication needs. Organisations working on high-performance projects will benefit directly from the research, which challenges these organisations to think more broadly about how they plan for communication at a project level. The research provides practical suggestions for improving the way that teams plan their communication processes; and it does so by focusing on the communication needs of the team members. Recommendations are made to professional bodies, tertiary institutions, project organisations – and most importantly – to project team members themselves. The recommendations to project team members include taking ownership of communication practices, asserting their views, as well as making their needs known.

Business organizations disclose financial Information to a wide range of audiences through the medium of audited financial statements. Distinct classes of readers come in contact with these statements—each reader possessing varying degrees of financial expertise. Readers as "semantic reactors" develop their own expectations and interpretations of the messages management and the auditor are attempting to convey. In the process, many readers look upon the auditor's report as a "symbol" or seal of approval. The purposes of this study were to assess the role that communication theory plays In the auditor's attestation, to examine the perceived communication effects of the expanded auditor's certificate versus the current auditor's certificate, and to recommend ways in which communication problems can be dealt with more effectively. It was concluded that a communication problem does exist in relation to the auditor's report, and communication theory can play a distinctive role in reducing the magnitude of this problem. The profession should continue to seek answers as to the proper role of the auditor and management in relation to audited financial statements, as well as to settle the question concerning whom the statements are intended to serve.

Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Magister Technologiae: Public Relations Management in the Faculty of Informatics and Design at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology / Introduction This research explores effective communication within tourism to answer the research question “What are the communication needs of the same day rail visitor in Cape Town?” The research sub-questions are namely: Who is the same day rail visitor in Cape Town? What are the same day rail visitors’ communication needs? What are the same day rail visitors’ information search preferences? How does the same day rail visitor perceive rail tourism communication? What are the same day rail visitors’ product attributes? Literature review Using a theoretical framework anchored by Lumsdon and Page’s (2004) tourist-transport interface, Fodness’s (1994) tourism motivation theory, as well as information search (Fodness & Murray, 1997), this quantitative research considers how the same day rail visitor obtains tourist destination information and the influence of that information on their transport decisions to reach the tourist destination. Destination image (Beerli & Martin, 2004a) plays a key role in influencing the purchase behaviour of tourists as those destinations with a strong positive image, have a better chance of being selected by tourists in their travel decision process. Furthermore the literature explores effective communication and its ability to link the tourist with the destination (Hall, 1999), and the role of public relations in establishing rail tourism in Cape Town (Stacks, 1992; Grunig & Hunt, 1984: Van Ruler, 2004). Design and methodology A quantitative empirical, research design was selected for this limited scope thesis. The study used a single, structured, self-administered and pre-tested questionnaire. This questionnaire was distributed to convenience samples of same day rail visitors on board the tourism train to either Simon’s Town or Stellenbosch. While the non-probabilistic sample cannot be generalised into a broad overview of the same day rail visitor; it can offer insights into the communication needs of the rail tourist. Key findings The key findings to this research were: The same day rail visitor in Cape Town is mainly local South African, travelling in a family or friend group and using rail for the first time. • Understanding ‘information search’ behaviour is the key to meeting the communication needs of the same day rail visitor as while both men and women seek information, but they seek information differently and use different information sources, with the message and channel being important. • The same day rail visitor uses a variety of communication channels to find information. • The same day rail visitor was disappointed in some of the promotional communication as it over promised on the destination image (trip). • Cape Town rail service is doing an ‘average’ but not a good job in communicating rail tourism information. • Effective communication channels for trip experience and feedback were email and social media (Facebook and Twitter). • The same day rail visitor uses a variety of communication channels to communicate with, and to receive communication from, Cape Town rail service. • The same day rail visitor requires relevant information that enables them to make a purchase decision. • The majority of same day rail visitors obtained knowledge about the tourist service via promotions on Groupon and thereafter from family, friends and the internet. • Personal safety and security are very important product attributes (88 %). • Cross-transport inter-connections, preferably at railway station, were essential to 90% of the respondents. • The same day rail visitors’ product needs are matched by their experiences. Recommendations Future study is recommended to consider whether improved communication on the trains and stations to the ‘to work’ commuters and ‘anything but work’ commuters, would extend their patronage to include same day rail visitor. It is recommended that further studies explore whether a causal relationship exists between the prices of the Groupon same day rail visitor package and purchase decisions of rail tourists in Cape Town.

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Technology: Public Relations Management in the Faculty of Informatics and Design at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology / According to George Bernard Shaw, “The main difficulty with communication is the illusion that it has been accomplished.” Effective internal communication is crucial for successful organisations as it affects the ability of strategic managers to engage employees and achieve objectives (Welch & Jackson, 2007:177). According to Toth (2007:480), internal communication is one of the most important specialities of public relations, it is the force that develops “structures and cultures” within an organisation. Mersham and Skinner (2001:8) infer that communication permeates all activities in an organisation: it represents an important work tool through which individuals understand their organisational role and integrates organisational subunits. According to Grunig and Hunt (1984:23) symmetrical public relations models will increase the likelihood of employee job satisfaction and their satisfaction with the organisation as a whole. In addition, Toth states that “satisfied employees are more likely to be loyal to the organization they can identify with” (2007:481). The author further propounds that “the more participative the culture, the more symmetrical system of communication”. To augment the aforementioned statement, Kitchen argues that an organisation’s communication system and models are an important contributing factor for staff morale and productivity (2001:81). Employees tend to have higher morale and are more motivated in the workplace if all channels of communication are open. To extrapolate “open communication” systems, this paper will distil Grunig and Hunt’s (1984:21-31) symmetrical model of public relations as departure point to effective corporate communication, but also focus extensively on the internal communication matrix (Welch & Jackson, 2007:185) that will provide answers to the anti-luvial question on who communicates, to whom, in what way, with what content and for what purpose (Welch & Jackson, 2007:185). A modern organisation cannot function effectively without a positive internal climate and well-functioning channels of internal communication. To research the goals of the organisation’s internal communication strategy it should be responsive to employee needs and concerns (Seitel, 2004:288). The author further propounds the importance of internal publics as a stakeholder by arguing that in the new information era, managers have realised that the assets of the institution lie very much in the hands of the employees (Seitel, 2004:288). According to Garbarino (1977:32) the concept of culture is not new, as Ethnographers have studied the cultures of various societies since the 17th century. It is however only since the 1980’s that the impact of culture on organisational processes is being studied by scholars (Smircich & Calas, 1987). Organisational-or corporate culture is understood to be the firmly implanted values and assumptions of the organisation (Ouchi, 1981; Schein, 1990). Martin, Sitkin and Boehm (1985:99-124) identified two schools of thought regarding the question of cultural change. Cultural pragmatists argue that it can be changed due to the fact that it is a cultural efficiency managed to suit organisational goals set by the dominant coalition. Wilkins and Ouchi (1983:479) on the other hand argue that corporate culture is something that develops over time through unconscious evolution among a majority of people in the organisation, not through the dominant coalition. “Cultures specific to an organization evolve over time and influence the way in which individuals in the organization interact and react to the challenges posed by the environment” (Sriramesh et al., 1992:584). Sriramesh, Grunig and Dozier (1996) followed the lead of other organisational scholars (e.g. Wilkins 1983a) by using organisational culture to explain variables of primary interest to scholars in the field of public relations. They used corporate culture in particular to explain the nature of the communication system inside organisations. Grunig, Grunig and Dozier (2002:482) generated theoretical propositions about two distinct types of organisational culture which they contrasted as “authoritarian” and “participative” cultures in the Excellence study. This study further aims to establish the importance of values, symbols, meanings, beliefs, assumptions and expectations as an integral part of corporate culture, and that there is a symbiotic, reciprocal relationship between culture and communication. According to Sriramesh et al. (1996:239) altering one “will facilitate a modification in the other”. Siehl (1985) emphasised, after looking at change of leadership in organisations, that “once the desired value system was identified and articulated, the entire workforce (not just the managers) may have to strive to change or manage the organisation’s culture.” (Sriramesh, Grunig & Dozier 1996: 237). Sorge and Warner (1997:09) argue that “the core of culture is values”. Deal and Kennedy go so far as to say that they are of the opinion that successful companies succeed because their employees can “identify, embrace, and act on the values of the organization” (1982:21). The aim of this study, based on theory, is that there is a reciprocal relation between internal communication and corporate culture based on open symmetrical communication at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) can potentially modify the organisational culture of the University.

Thesis (MTech (Quality))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2015. / The fundamental activities of a business can be summarized as being a cycle of strategy development and implementation, operations design and management and finally performance measurement, which feeds back into strategy design. This research aims to determine whether visual management can assist the quality motive by adding value to the above‐mentioned business activities for start‐up businesses and strategic business units within the South African context. The main topics to be addressed are performance management and visual management (VM). Performance management entails investigating the concept of strategy, its formulation and eventual implementation; performance measurement; improvement initiatives and greater quality theory. Visual management will be introduced as an angle on corporate communication and the importance of sharing information indiscriminately throughout the organisation. Both empirical and non-­‐empirical research methods are used to answer the question of the impact of VM on business activities. The first involves a theoretical synthesis from the literature, the second was based on interviews with professionals from the relevant industries, the third is content analysis of the above.

Based on the rapid development of Big Data, the data from the online social network becomea major part of it. Big data make the social networks became data-oriented rather than social-oriented. Taking this into account, this dissertation presents a qualitative study to research howdoes the data-oriented social network affect its users’ privacy management for nowadays. Within this dissertation, an overview of Big Data and privacy issues on the social network waspresented as a background study. We adapted the communication privacy theory as a frameworkfor further analysis how individuals manage their privacy on social networks. We study socialnetworks as an entirety in this dissertation. We selected Facebook as a case study to present theconnection between social network, Big Data and privacy issues. The data that supported the result of this dissertation collected by the face-to-face and in-depthinterview study. As consequence, we found that the people divided the social networks intodifferent level of openness in order to avoid the privacy invasions and violations, according totheir privacy concern. They reduced and transferred their sharing from an open social networkto a more close one. However, the risk of privacy problems actually raised because peopleneglected to understand the data process on social networks. They focused on managed theeveryday sharing but too easily allowed other application accessed their personal data on thesocial network (such like the Facebook profile).

D.Litt. et Phil. / The main objective of this study is to determine the role of the communications manager in the changing South African business environment and the compilation of a contextual sensitive generic framework of the required outputs for communications managers in South African organisations. With this objective in view, a comprehensive theoretical study has been conducted to determine the role of public relations as a organisational sub-system, based on the principles of the systems approach. The main inward and outward public relations functions and xv the role of the communications manager as cosmopolitan on the border between the organisation and the environment has thereafter been discussed. As a result thereof, it became apparent that an integrated approach to communications is central to the effectiveness of public relations in a dynamic business environment. The validity and approaches of existing models of public relations have been evaluated as a basis for the development of an integrated public relations model. The integrated communication approach to public relations suggests that public relations cannot function in isolation of the other sub-systems in the organisation and that the public relations function is directly influenced hereby. With the integrated communication approach as basis, the influence of change and the socioeconomic implications thereof for public relations in South Africa have been determined. The implications of the intended standardisation in terms of the National Qualifications Framework (NQF), the state of professionalisation of the public relations profession in South Africa and the requirements for competence in communication, have been determined by means of an in-depth theoretical inquiry and discussions with enlightened individuals and institutions. As a result, a generic framework for communications management in the South African business environment has been compiled with a view to contribute to the determination of the requirements for public relations in terms of the essential outputs as will be defined by the NQF. In the final section the proposed generic framework has been empirically tested on the basis of personal interviews conducted with communications managers of thirty of the Top 100 organisations in South Africa. After the results have been analysed and the implications discussed, the conclusion was reached that the proposed contextual sensitive generic framework has succeeded in expressing the essential outputs, as defined in the existing business environment. The framework was then interpreted in accordance with the levels of work and the implications for the state of public relations, as well as for research in this area, pointed out. The study illustrates the importance of the role of communications management in the South African business environment and presents a valuable contribution by creating an output model as basis for the suggested standardisation in terms of the NQF.

This research study was conducted in an attempt to explore the experience of multicultural communication within a South African organization. To this end employees, representing both Black and White culture, within a South African organization in the throes of transformation, were accessed. A model of managing diversity, focussing on the personal, interpersonal and organizational levels, was utilized in an attempt to uncover the nature of the experience of multi-cultural communication within Company X. A qualitative research design, and more specifically the case study method was employed in this study. Consistent with the case study approach a number of data sources were accessed. The primary data source consisted of a 3-stage interview process. Other data sources included documentary sources and company publications. By accessing multiple data sources, the researcher attempted to gain a holistic understanding of the experience of multi-cultural communication. It was found that the societal context of our post-Apartheid society exercises a profound influence on multi-cultural communication. Under Apartheid cultural separation was promoted. Diverse peoples thus have little common basis for interaction and view each other with skepticism and distrust. This exercises an effect on the personal and organizational levels of the managing diversity model. Influences at the personal level relate to the cultural paradigms of the individuals which provide the rules governing interactions and affect judgements of acceptable and unacceptable behaviours. Issues at the organizational level relate to its structures and policies which are still based on the “white is right ideology”. These issues, in turn, affect the interpersonal level of managing diversity, i.e., where the interactions occur, causing “communication short circuits” within the process of multi-cultural communication. In order to deal with failed multi-cultural communication, the individuals have developed a number of coping strategies. The results of the study indicate that both the organization and its employees share a responsibility for creating an environment that will facilitate effective multi-cultural communication.

Service Management (SM) is an integrated, cyclical and collaborative approach to the management of service requirements and levels. It involves the definition of client expectations, the satisfying of those expectations and the perpetual refining of the business agreement (Sturm 2001). SM in the ICT sector is a comprehensive process that extends beyond the development of Service Agreements (SAs). A number of identifiable steps constitute the progressive implementation of a managed services environment, the key components of which are a readiness to provide services, the accurate elicitation, management and satisfying of client requirements and the continual improvements to the business relationship. Unfortunately, a number of SM initiatives fail. These failures can be attributed to a lack of SM understanding, the absence of a fully implemented SM strategy, poor communication and people issues. This research describes an investigation of SM implementation. A number of recognised frameworks are explored and critically analysed. The common strengths of these frameworks and the results of an exploratory pilot study are used to construct an SM implementation framework. This framework is then tested empirically by means of an online survey, and revised in the light of the results of this survey. The framework comprises two distinct phases, namely a Foundation phase and a Managed Services phase. The Foundation phase comprises 8 critical preparatory activities that take a service provider to state of readiness to provide and manage ICT services. The Managed Services phase comprises 5 key cyclical steps for the management of ICT services, including Planning, Analysis, Design, Implementation and Review.