Communication and culture both play essential roles in organizations. The effective communication of accounting information is required to coordinate business operations and move the organization toward the accomplishment strategic goals. Without effective communication, the most sophisticated analyses and crucial reports will fail to generate appropriate decisions and actions. Culture is a symbolic system of values that helps the members of an organization explain, coordinate, and evaluate behavior and to ascribe common meanings to events and symbols encountered in the organization. Organizations confine the experience and interaction of its members into structured and recurring patterns. As organization members interact, shared meaning for issues of common interest evolve. A technical organizational language develops whose symbols have definite and common meaning. If the culture of organizations or subcultures within an organization are different, dissimilar meanings could be ascribed to the management accounting terms (symbols) used to communicate accounting information. Dissimilar meanings could inhibit the fidelity of accounting communication within and between organizations and organization subunits. / Ph. D.

Corporations work to create, define, and refine their corporate images through many means including logos, slogans, advertising campaigns, community involvement, products, and philanthropic activity. As a composite or individually, these elements can be used to identify things associated with the corporation, the corporation itself, or distinguish it from other corporations. In addition to these prevalent corporate "identifiers," every corporation has its own voice, comprised of numerous facets of style and design that combine to create an identity. This voice is present in the written word of a corporation-correspondence with clients and customers, reports to shareholders, internal memorandums to employees, and website content that reaches worldwide. The voice may vary somewhat between audiences, but it is unilaterally present. While the subtleties of voice may not be recognized by the general public, the resulting rhetorical effects are-giving significance to corporate voice. The research involves an in-depth study of the voice of Lockheed Martin Corporation. With permission, a variety of non-proprietary LMCO documents have been analyzed using a rubric based on Thomas Gibson's "Style Machine," presented in his 1966 book, Tough, Sweet, and Stuffy: A Study of Modern American Prose. The analysis has resulted in conclusions regarding LMCO's corporate voice.

This thesis contributes to research that informs the studies of organizational management and organizational anthropology. It examines the internal hierarchy and organizational practices of a Tech Company and describes how findings contributed to policy recommendations aimed towards supporting a “guild” model for organizational success. The data collecting and research were undertaken while working as an employee of the Tech Program and subsequent analysis continued past the end of that phase of work. Methods included semi-structured interviews which captured the sentiments and understandings of employees within the organization, and a questionnaire which revealed sentiments and experiences from former employees. These were buttressed with participant observation engaged through a participatory action research methodology. Findings add to the work directed towards understanding the effect of Founder’s Syndrome within organizations. Additionally, this thesis contributes to a growing body of research centered on best practices for fostering positive organizational growth by creating lines of communication from front-line employees to management level employers.

by Fung Cheung Tim. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 81-84). / Chapter Chapter I --- Introduction --- p.1-3 / Chapter Chapter II --- Rationale for the Study --- p.4-8 / Chapter Chapter III --- Literature Review / Communication and its Process in Organizations --- p.9-17 / The Concept of Organizational Communication --- p.20-24 / Upward Communication --- p.24-30 / Timeliness of Information --- p.30-31 / Organizational Communication Relationship --- p.31-34 / Job Satisfaction --- p.34-37 / The Relationship between Upward Communication and Job Satisfaction --- p.37-39 / Chapter Chapter IV --- Conceptual Framework --- p.40-44 / Chapter Chapter V --- Research Methodology / Sampling Design --- p.45-47 / Measuring Instruments --- p.47-53 / Method of Data Analysis --- p.53-55 / Chapter Chapter VI --- Findings / Characteristics of the Respondents --- p.56-57 / Job Satisfaction among Outreaching Social Workers in Hong Kong --- p.57-59 / "Upward Communication, Organizational Communication and Timeliness of Information Perceived by Outreaching Social Workers" --- p.59-61 / The Influence of Upward Communication on Job Satisfaction --- p.61-66 / The Association between Organizational Communication and Job Satisfaction: A Multiple Regression Analysis --- p.65-73 / Chapter Chapter VII --- Summary and Conclusion / Summary of Major Findings --- p.74-75 / Conclusion --- p.76-79 / Limitations of the Study --- p.80 / Bibliography --- p.8184 / Appendix A --- p.85 / Appendix B --- p.86-93

Thesis (D. Tech)--Central University of Technology, Free State, 2008 / The global, one-world economy has arrived and South Africa is part of it. Business needs to understand the challenge of global competitiveness. This study reflected the prominence of managing diversity in establishing service excellence and performance management for professionals in the mediumsize chicken breeder/broiler industry in South Africa, following the increased importance of the breeder/broiler industry in providing an affordable nutriment/commodity to the poor and needy South African population. The ongoing variables in the political, social, cultural and technology domains in South Africa also affect the chicken breeder/broiler industry. It necessitates the scientific evaluation of the effect of the external political and socio-political environment; internal training and development, leadership styles, literacy levels, employment equity, resistance to change, reverse discrimination and cultural diversity on service excellence and performance. Country Bird (Pty) Ltd., a significant role-player in the food production industry, was thus selected as the object of this study. The role of management and the workers was examined to determine the level of impact in attaining service excellence and organisational performance. Attention was also focused on the development of a service excellence and organisational performance management model that can be used in the chicken breeder/broiler industry to improve organisational performance and sustainable profits.

Dissertation submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Technology Degree: Public Relations Management, Durban University of Technology, 2012. / Corporate Social Responsibility (CSI) is an issue with a growing business value in South Africa. The increasing emphasis on CSI is affecting the relationship between organisations and their various stakeholders, such as investors, customers, vendors, suppliers, employees, communities and government. The stakeholders of an organisation play a vital role in the process of CSI planning and execution. There is a need to communicate CSI activities to stakeholders, as well as to monitor the flow and role of communication within the CSI context. While it is generally agreed that companies need to manage their relationships and communication with their stakeholders, the way in which they choose to do so varies considerably. Challenges in communicating corporate social responsibility do exist – for example, communication channels that are used in CSI, scepticism towards company messages and potentially hostile reactions from the media, complex community engagement processes, diversity of the audience, misunderstanding with special interest groups such as employees and government regulations. The diverse information requirements of different stakeholder groups also present special communication challenges, and these requirements are examined in turn. Given this background, the purpose of this study is to investigate communication in CSI practice. This study seeks to understand communication challenges facing CSI and communication channels that are used in CSI. Lastly, this study offers recommended best practices that can be applied in CSR communication. Although CSI is gaining a role as a strategic business function, however the literature review presented in this paper shows that CSI communication is still an area to be explored. One of the arguments presented in the literature review originate from Maignan & Ferrell (2004:17) that “Businesses cannot hope to enjoy concrete benefits from CSR unless they intelligently communicate about their initiatives to relevant stakeholders”. Communication challenges in CSI exist mainly in the process of transmission and receiving of messages from sender to receiver. The selection of the proper channels to disseminate information is also a challenge. These challenges arise mainly in rural and underdeveloped areas. In most instances, these communities lack infrastructure such as electricity and telecommunication which facilitate the dissemination of information. Commonly the communicator has to first do the necessary research in order to establish the most suitable medium for disseminating information to these communities. Illiteracy is also a major hurdle to communication in underdeveloped areas. This poses a challenge in that often messages have to be disseminated face to face, which can take time and requires expertise in communicating. The research method that was used to conduct this study is random sampling. A sample of thirteen organizations was drawn from the Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE) database of medium to large businesses that are actively involved in CSR programmes in South Africa. The findings in this study reveal that South African organisations are engaged in serious efforts to communicate and pro-actively integrate CSI as a strategic business phenomenon. These findings are significant to communications and CSI practitioners who wish to communicate with their stakeholders in CSI implementation. These findings will also benefit corporate executives who wish to engage in CSI communication. Non-Government Organisations (NGOs), Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs) and community organisations that wish to engage in CSI activities with corporate organizations, can also benefit from this study. In summary, CSI has grown from an ideology to a business reality and is now acknowledged as an important dimension of modern business practice. It is important that organisation examine their CSI communication in the context of the ever-changing business environment.

Mini-study project (MBA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) has been undertaken by many organisations with the hope of dramatically improving their competitive position. In most cases however, this undertaking has been a failure. For the success of the BPR, organisational and people issues are of critical importance and cannot be overlooked, as often is the case. Many organisations have not recognised the fundamental need of fully addressing the "soft people issues" during their re-engineering exercises. The ability of the Management team and Management Consultants to filter through these soft issues is of critical importance to the success of the BPR. This study discusses leadership as the first topical issue. Within the parenthesis of LNDC, it then explores the leadership skills required by management of this institution. Leadership is intensely studied from the traits models, situational, consistency models to the transformational leadership styles. Change leadership forms an important basis of the discussions. Organisational culture is one important aspect that has to be considered during change initiative. Crafting and creating appropriate organisational culture forms the centrepiece of leaders' consideration during organisational change. The ability of a leader to create shared values within the organisation leads to building a strong corporate culture that distinguishes between organisations. The McKinsey's seven S model provides a firm framework for most changing organisations. This model illustrates how the soft, yet important issues powerfully impact the BPR process. All of these namely, strategy, structure, systems, style, skills, staff and shared values, are equally important and if any one of them is not properly aligned with the rest, the whole change process may become a failure. This model impacts all seven S's of the organisational dimension and is driven by strategy. Communication on the other hand forms another important element of the discussions. This study shows that without proper communication during organisational change, the whole change process can become a complete failure. The ability of a leader to disseminate intended information appropriately to the employees requires one to have skills and communication methods that are applicable to that particular organisational setting. After undertaking a survey at the LNDC, the researcher concluded that management, at this corporation lacks leadership skills necessary for managing change in an organisation. Recommendations have been made suggesting that the either the CEO be replaced or trained in leadership skills. This would help the organisation to successfully implement the intended change process. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: geen opsomming

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This mini thesis is being submitted within a few weeks of two important events focusing on racism. One is the World Conference on Racism (WCAR), which was held in South Africa from 31 August to 7 September 2001; and the other is the release on 30 August 2001 of Race relations and racism in everyday life, a summary report on the results of a national survey commissioned by the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR survey). The WCAR, as President Thabo Mbeki said in his opening address to it, had "to indicate what is to be done practically" to bring about "a changed and changing world in which all human beings actually enjoy the inalienable right to human dignity". Instead, months of careful planning and fastidiously drafted declarations were undermined by undignified squabbling over whether or not the United States should send a delegation to the Conference. Right at the end, when it seemed as if the conference was going to close on an inconclusive note, a United Nations declaration and programme of action was drafted that set out the 10 most important commitments for continuing to combat racism. What the WCAR didn't do, however, was leave people with an understanding of subtly conveyed racism and how individuals can change their behaviour so that a culture of nonracism is developed. The SAIRR survey was conducted in response to a plethora of media reports of racial friction or conflict. Its overall objective was to establish the extent to which 'the attitudes and inter-action of people in the new South Africa (are) still structured by racial definitions'. Although the results (see paragraph 1.4.4) show that only 5% of South Africans regard race as the cause of problems they have with other people, 59% regard racism as a serious problem. Moreover, the section of the population most concerned with race issues is the white Afrikaans-speaking group, the group most blamed for previous racial discrimination. By contrast, black African people, who are generally considered to have been the main victims of discrimination, are much less concerned with race issues than the media have made them out to be. The outcomes of the WCAR and the SAIRR survey may be telling us that the attention given to racism by the media is excessive in relation to the time the South African public spends thinking about it. On the other hand, the outcomes also reveal that most people's understanding of racism is limited to their awareness of inhumane acts or blatant racism. People may indeed be experiencing most of the examples discussed in Chapter 4, but they may not be identifying them as racism. The main objectives of this mini thesis, therefore, are to: • provide a short theoretical overview of communication and of racism; • discuss the ways in which racist tendencies are communicated and explain how that causes communication barriers; and to • discuss and recommend strategies for developing a culture of non-racism. One of the main tenets of the thesis is that, despite the democratisation of South Africa, racism continues to be communicated in various ways in the South African workplace. Fourteen of these ways are discussed in Chapter 4. They include: devaluation of previous suffering; stereotyping; perceptions of self-superiority and negative expectancies of other races; and the creation of in-groups and out-groups. In each case the racism puts up communication barriers between the sender and receiver of messages. These barriers include: unwillingness or inability to understand communications because of resentment or a lack of trust; distortion or misinterpretation of messages; poor performance because of negative expectancies; and conflict that breaks down team spirit. In other words, apart from its dehumanising effects, racism also has a detrimental effect on communication between people. The combined effect is to undermine people's performance in the workplace. Accordingly, in Chapter 6, a package of strategies is presented for developing a culture of non-racism. The strategies operate on different levels, beginning with a focus on nonracism in a universal context. The focus then shifts to the national legislative framework before moving on to organizational policies and culture, such as diversity and inclusiveness. Finally, the focus falls on the individual, and ways are discussed of developing the individual's awareness of racism and also his/her ability to control hislher own communication. The concluding argument put forward IS that awareness and understanding of racist tendencies, together with control over what and how they communicate, will enable individuals to make non-racism the norm in their inter-action with other people in the workplace. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie mini-verhandeling word voorgelê binne 'n paar weke van twee belangrike gebeurtenisse wat op rassime gemik is. Een van hierdie gebeurtenisse is die World Conference on Racism (WCAR), wat vanaf 31 Augustus tot 7 September 2001 in Suid- Afrika gehou is; die ander gebeurtenis is die bekendstelling op 30 Augustus 2001 van Race relations and racism in everyday life, die opsomming-verslag van 'n nasionale opname wat deur die South African Institute of Race Relations opgedra is (die SAIRRopname). Soos President Thabo Mbeki dit in sy openingsrede by die WCAR gestel het, moes die WCAR aandui wat prakties gedoen moet word om 'n veranderde en veranderende wêreld daar te stel waarin alle mense onvervreembare regte op menswaardigheid geniet. In stede daarvan is maande van deeglike beplanning en puntenerige opstelling van deklarasies deur onwaardige gekibbel ondermyn - en dit het alles gegaan oor of die Verenigde State 'n delegasie na die konferensie moes stuur al dan nie. Toe dit geblyk het dat die konferensie op 'n onbeslisde einde afstuur, is 'n United Nations Declaration and programme of action haastig opgestel. Hierdie dokument sit uiteen die 10 belangrikste stappe vorentoe om aksie teen rassime te neem. Nieteenstaande hierdie dokument, het die WCAR nie vir mense 'n begrip van subtiele rassime gegee nie. Dit het ook nie aangedui hoe mense hul gedrag kan aanpas sodat 'n kultuur van nie-rassisme teweeggebring kan word nie. Die SAIRR -opname is opgedra in reaksie op mediaberigte oor rassekonflik. Die oorhoofse doel daarvan was om vas te stel in watter mate Suid-Afrikaners se begrip van ras hul houding teenoor, en inter-aksie, met ander mense beïnvloed. Die resultate (kyk paragraaf 1.4.4) dui aan dat slegs 5% van Suid-Afrikaners van mening is dat ras die oorsaak is van hulle probleme met ander mense is. Aan die ander kant beskou 59% van Suid-Afrikaners ras as 'n ernstige probleem. Wat interressant is, is dat blanke Afrikaans-sprekende mense die mees besorgd oor rassisme is - en hulle is die groep wat hoofsaaklik blameer word vir historiese rasse-diskriminasie. In teenstelling daaroor, is swart Afrika-mense, wat die meeste onder rasse-diskriminasie gely het, heelwat minder besorgd oor rasseaangeleenthede as wat die media voorgee. Die uitvloeisels van die WCAR en die SAIRR-opname wys miskien dat die media heelwat meer aandag aan rasse-aangeleenthede gee as die Suid-Afrikaanse publiek. Hierdie uivloeisels wys egter ook dat die meeste mense se begrip van rassisme beperk is tot bewustheid van onmenslike dade of blatante rassisme. Miskien beleef mense wel die soort gedrag wat in Hoofstuk 4 beskryf word, maar hulle besef nie dat dit op rassisme neerkom nie. Na aanleiding daarvan, het hierdie mini-studieprojek drie hoof doelwitte: • om 'n kort teoretiese oorsig te gee oor kommunikasie en rassisme; • om 'n bespreking te hou oor die kommunikasie van rassistiese neigings en dan te verduidelik hoe dit kommunikasie-versperrings veroorsaak; en om 'n bespreking te hou en aanbevelings te doen oor hoe 'n kultuur van nie-rassisme ontwikkel kan word. 'n Kernagtige leerstelling in die verslag is dat rassisme op verskeie maniere in die Suid- Afrikaanse werkplek voorkom, nieteenstaande die demokratisering van die land. Hierdie voorbeelde sluit in: die ontwaarding van voormalige lyding; stereotipering; persepsies van eie meerderwaardigheid asook negatiewe verwagtinge ten opsigte van anderkleuriges; en die skepping van sogenaamde ingroepe and uitgroepe. In elkeen van dié gevalle veroorsaak rassisme versperrings tussen die sender van boodskappe (bv. spreker) en die ontvanger van boodskappe (bv. luisteraar). Sodanige versperrings sluit die volgende in: • onbereidheid of onvermoë om boodskappe te verstaan vanweë gegriefdheid of afwesigheid van vertroue; • verdraaiing of wanvertolking van boodskappe; • slegte prestasie as gevolg van negatiewe verwagtinge; en • konflik wat spangees afbreek. Rassisme het dus 'n ontmenslikingde uitwerking én dit veroorsaak kommunikasieversperrings. Die algemene uitwerking daarvan is om mense se prestasie in die werkplek te ondermyn. In die lig hiervan, stel Hoofstuk 6 strategieë voor vir die ontwikkeling van 'n kultuur van nie-rassime. Dié strategieë werk op verskillende vlakke. Om mee te begin, is die fokus op nie-rassisme in 'n universele konteks. Daarna word gefokus op die nasionale wetgewende raamwerk wat diskriminasie betref. Dit word gevolg deur 'n bespreking oor organisasiebeleid en -kultuur, soos 'diversity and inclusiveness'. Uiteindelik val die fokus op die individu, spesifiek op hoe om die individu se bewustheid van rassisme te verbeter en hoe om die individu te leer om beheer uit te oefen oor sy/haar eie kommunikasie. Die slot-argument wat na vore gebring word, is dat bewustheid en begrip van rassistiese neigings, tesame met beheer oor hul eie kommunikasie, individue in staat stel om nierassisme die norm te maak in hulle inter-aksie met ander mense in die werkplek.

M. Tech. Language Practice / Sepedi is one of the eleven official languages spoken in South Africa. It is mostly spoken in Limpopo province and by the minority in other provinces. The National Language Policy (1997) states that indigenous languages should be used to provide equal access to public services and programmes amongst all citizens, thus, Language Policies of the spheres of governance, national, provincial and local, should be determined based on their needs and circumstances of its residents. This study strives to check whether Sepedi as one of the five official languages has been used to its full capacity in the Greater Letaba Local Municipality, Limpopo province, as a language for official communicative purpose. The municipality has five official languages. In view of the fact that Sepedi is one of these official languages of the Limpopo province, it deserves to be treated with the respect it ought to have.

M.Tech. (Operations Management) / The South African manufacturing sector is considered the main driver of economic growth, but is falling behind in adopting and adequately using information and communication technology (ICT) to improve productivity and competitiveness. This is creating a constraint that hinders the manufacturing sector, adversely affecting its ability to access the global market and produce high value-added goods, and also to compete globally. Thus, the main objective of this dissertation is to gain an in-depth understanding of the impact of ICT on service design and operations to address barriers to manufacturing sector growth and to improve productivity and competitiveness. This study proposes an ICT-based service design model to increase productivity and competitiveness in the South African manufacturing sectors. It argues that the challenges faced can be addressed and that some of the solutions lie in the integration of ICT into service design and operations processes. The research adopted an interpretive approach through qualitative methods and, was carried out as a single case study using ArcelorMittal South Africa for which a purposive sampling technique was considered appropriate. Qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews, and tape recorded and analysed through descriptive procedures. The findings suggest that ICT diffuses rapidly, creating opportunities and challenges for manufacturing companies. In addition it was found out that the adoption and adequate use of ICT depends on the implementation phase. This is when most challenges and impacts are experienced: for example, technological capability, technical skills, resources and ICT infrastructure capabilities. In addition, the findings suggest that a more educated workforce possesses the capability to acquire the necessary skills, in the form of self-education to overcome any challenges encountered. Evidence also shows that companies are facing challenges in relation to the selection and integration of the right technologies due to lack of ICT expertise. Therefore, this research proposes an ICT-based service design model to increase productivity and global competitiveness in the manufacturing sectors in South Africa.