Motivated by an assumption of and concern about the unsustainable trajectory of modern human civilization, the purpose of this study was to develop a measurement tool to assist organizations striving to align their operations with principles of sustainability. The relevant context is established with consideration of the dimensions of environment, society and economy, as well as their interconnections, with an eye towards sustainability. Some of the challenges and opportunities presented to organizations by the current unsustainable trajectory are reviewed. The social constructs of culture and climate (organizational and psychological) are discussed as important to understand organizational life. I propose the notion of a sustainability climate to represent factors within the organization that are theorized as important for successfully integrating the principles of sustainability into organizational decision-making and routine behaviors. Items were developed to tap the theorized constructs and were administered to a population of university employees (N = 252). The study explored construct validity of these measures through exploratory factor analysis, assessment of internal consistency, convergent and divergent validity, and criterion validity. Results provide preliminary evidence for the reliability and validity of the sustainability climate factors (perceived top-management support, shared vision, employee involvement, rewards, sustainability norms), and factors of sustainability beliefs (personal understanding, supportive attitude, and positive engagement). These factors' power predicting the criteria, sustainability role expectations, sustainability role behaviors, and environmental stewardship demonstrates the potential to improve upon the instrument. Limitations of the present study are discussed and appropriate application of the Sustainability Climate Survey is explored.

Thesis (MTech (Business Administration))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2019. / Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are perceived to be poorly performing partly due to their culture; the constructs of NGOs’ culture usually affect employees’ commitment and performance negatively, leading employees to leave the organisation. This discourages and demoralises employees’ mind sets to perform as expected which affects NGOs’ productivity, goals and competitiveness in a negative way. The study investigated employee perceptions in organisational culture constructs to selected NGOs in Cape Town in order to generate valuable information in understanding the role of organisational culture in the achievement of organisational objectives in NGOs. Mixed methods approach was used in this study as it allowed collecting of qualitative and quantitative data simultaneously and assessing different facets of complex outcomes in a richer way than one method alone. The study found that culture is set to boost employees’ and organisations’ performance, and that managers and owners in NGOs have knowledge of this. The study revealed that some criteria such as openness and the creativity view of the organisational culture are only considered positive to managers and owners of NGOs. This study found that managers and owners in NGOs believe the implemented organisational culture is very effective, positively affects and boosts employees’ performance. The employees, however, had a different perception; they feel excluded from the development of the organisational culture which in turn affects their commitment and performance in a negative manner. This study found that employees’ commitment towards organisational culture derives from the way it is designed and how it suits employees’ expectations. Aspects such as remuneration, a safe work environment and sustainability, were found to be important for employees’ performance and commitment. Therefore, it is evident that directing or developing NGOs’ organisational culture that focus on employees’ expectation such as remuneration and sustainable employees’ innovation and practice will receive more support from employees. Furthermore, the criteria are keen to improve the way employees perform and commit to the organisation. It was recommended that NGOs involve employees in the design or development of its organisational culture in order to have more information on employees regarding what to expect from them. Another major implication is that the issue of employee benefit or remuneration have to be addressed in order to maintain employees’ performance.

Abstract not available

Abstract not available

This study investigated the nexus between multicultural policies and contract management within the Community Health Services in the Northern Metropolitan Region of the Victorian Department of Human Services. Access and equity of services to linguistic minority migrant groups is a central component of this study. The study drew on literature pertaining to social work theory and practice, with a particular focus on structural social work, the evolution of Australia's multicultural policy and the context of contract management. The data collection consisted of two stages. The first stage comprised of twenty-two semi-structured interviews with Chief Executive Officers and managers from the Community Health Services, government personnel from the Department of Human Services and key informants. The second stage of the study, a self administered questionnaire survey for service providers, was developed and designed from the key themes identified from the interviewee data. A total of 119 service providers responded to the questionnaire. Key findings of this study were first, that the Community Health Services have broad policies of inclusion. Secondly, that the multicultural policy may be considered a broader policy then just a policy relating to people of non-English speaking backgrounds or culture relating to ethnicity. Thirdly, funding arrangements appeared limited in their expectations regarding linguistic accessibility. Fourthly, service providers had a different perception of the quality level of service their organisation provided to English speakers and non-English speakers. Implications of this study included, first, having broad inclusive policies would require specific strategies of access. Secondly, multicultural policy as such may need to develop into a policy of 'structural cultural equity'. Thirdly, partnerships between government and Community Health Services can be further utilised to develop more innovative service delivery methods to respond to linguistic minority groups. Lastly, culturally sensitive practice modules may need to be considered as a central component in the health and welfare field of tertiary education. The study concluded that Community Health Services are ideally located to implement services, which not only address the notion of multiculturalism, but also address the issues of equity in the context of a dominant paradigm. In such an environment someone who speaks a language other than English is 'visible' and therefore, 'a woman without a word of English enters the Community Health Service' and receives the same service as an English speaker.

This thesis emerged from the author’s quest to increase her personal and professional effectiveness, to become more congruent, and to be a better person in the world. The thesis discusses how to move from Argyris and Schon’s behavioural model 1 (seeking answers externally, blaming others, avoiding responsibility, controlling behaviour and the belief that there is one right way) to model 2 (seeking answers from within, accepting responsibility, living in a state of flow, surprise and emergent possibilities, looking at the world in multiple ways and collaborating with others). Drawing from her own experiences and interactions with others, the author explores issues such as how people learn the qualities that enable them to be better people; what experiences have enabled people to move toward model 2; what happens when a group, especially within an organisation, moves toward model 2 and how does this happen; and how can conditions be created to enable individuals or groups to move toward model 2. / Master of Science (Hons)

The research conducted for this thesis had two broad aims. The first was to provide descriptive information about the use of computer-based information systems (CBIS) in regional small business. The second of the aims was to examine the relationships among key constructs identified from the literature and to explore how they contributed to predicting CBIS success in regional small business.In the second phase of the analysis, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was used to examine the factorial constructs underlying the data. Constructs were identified that measured CEO characteristics, two measuring organisational characteristics, four measuring aspects of decision-making, and five measuring perceived CBIS success. Correlations among the constructs were examined prior to relationships among the constructs being explored using hierarchical regression analysis. The constructs were also examined in a single measurement model to determine their collective effect and relationships with the constructs measuring CBIS success based on structural equation modelling. Notwithstanding the limitations of the research, it resulted in the identification of relationships among key variables that predict CBIS success. The identification of items associated with decision-making processes, and the identification of the factorial constructs underlying the data is a major contribution to a portion of the literature that was non-existent. The final measurement model is also a significant contribution in identifying and specifying the relationships constructs measuring CEO characteristics, organisational characteristics, decision-making and CBIS success in regional small business. / Doctor of Philosphy (PhD)

The interaction of the personnel boundary in inter-firm relationship management is viewed as particularistic in China instead of universalistic as in many Western cultures. Specifically, guanxi networks, the Chinese system of inter-personal relationship, have strong strategic implications for business interactions. The practices of guanxi and the social norms associated with guanxi are complicated. On the one hand, guanxi practices can be traced back to Confucianism; on the other hand, guanxi???s significance has been changing in line with China???s economic reform. In this research, we have attempted to find what presently constitutes good guanxi in inter-firm relationship management against this dynamic backdrop. Additionally, from the transaction cost economies (TCE) perspective, we provide an analysis that guanxi-based business practices offer transaction cost advantages as an alternative to market-based practices. We argue that such advantages partially result from guanxi???s effect on the reduction of opportunist behaviors. Backed up by 97 questionnaire responses from firms in Shanghai and 15 semi-structured interviews, our study confirms that, in inter-firm relationships management, trust, affection and long-term orientation are features of close guanxi. To enhance guanxi quality, familiarization by self-disclosure and the presence of mutual benefits are also necessary, providing practical implications for business practitioners in China. Our study also indicates that guanxi business partners are expected to be obligational in business and flexible in contingencies. Opportunistic behaviors can be mitigated by adopting guanxi practices, supporting the TCE logic. In an absence of a rationalized legal system, guanxi may fill the gaps in the enforcement of the written contract.N

This thesis is concerned with the question of how narrative activity influences the conditions in which a new sense of self is actively emergent for an employee at a time of organisational merger. It is contended that an organisational merger is a transformational event with complex temporal and spatial characteristics, involving the activities of making shared meaning (MacIntyre, 1981; Ricoeur, 1974a), narrative-making (Carr, 1986; MacIntyre, 1981; Ricoeur, 1984, 1985, 1988) and positioning (Bourdieu, 1993, 1998b). These activities are central to the conditions in which persons and organisations are both formed and reformed. Consideration of how they are part of a project of narrative identity (Ricoeur, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1992) opens new possibilities in our understanding of the lived experience of a merger. In appropriating narrative theory, this thesis is exploratory in nature as narrative ideas have not, to date, been applied to an understanding of the lived experience of an organisational merger. Mergers are currently understood as a clash of cultures, and a merger is treated as a marriage with partners, compatibility, commitment, rituals, dominance and fit. Whereas culture is construed in the literature as a quality that differentiates one organisation from another, and personal experience is understood in terms of adjusting to the presence of another culture, in this thesis a different theory is employed. The main theory integration in this thesis gives prominence to the dynamic of activity/passivity (Allen & Starr, 1982; Schelling, 1800/1978) and the notions of agency, relationship, transformation, and identity. Narrative theory is integrated with social theory (Bourdieu, 1998b) to enrich our understanding of these notions. Hence this thesis extends the contribution of Drummond (1996, 1998), and is situated in the constructive postmodern stance of process philosophy (Gare, in press-a; Griffin, 1993). This stance is invoked as a response to calls for better theories of action in management studies (Reed, 1996; Wilmott, 1994). It is argued, in agreement with Gare (in press-a, in press-b), that living organisms have a complexity that makes it difficult to maintain a state of indifference with respect to changes in their environment, and that they must form and reform themselves as products. Attention within management studies to self-organising activity at the levels of person, organisation and field of practice, is therefore central to our understanding of complex events such as organisational mergers. In this regard narrative-making and positioning are self-organising activities that are yet to be brought to centre stage in management theory. While no previous work has been done to apply narrative ideas to an understanding of mergers, such a move is nevertheless consistent with the increasing interest in narrative that is occurring across the theoretical divides in management studies. The application in this thesis concerns a merger of two government organisations. These organisations, herein given the fictitious names of 'Anessa' and 'Isengate' (for reasons of confidentiality), were each part of what is usually referred to in local government as 'a council'. This thesis is about the employees in these organisations during this time of political amalgamation of the two councils, and the consequent organisational merger. Through interviews with informants, the use of documents, and the integration of theory, a narrative is created. Of the many narratives that could be offered about this merger, it is the narrative given here that constitutes a response to the research question. Hence the methodology used sustains the purpose, which is to contribute to a reading experience, and the possibility of new interpretations regarding the lived experience of an organisational merger. This thesis concludes that it is at the level of 'ongoing argument' that persons and organisations are contributors to the process of 'making shared meaning'. At the federal level of government this argument is about how best to govern, and at the level of the field of practice it encompasses the argument over what constitutes public service activity. The State Government of Victoria actively furthered this contest when it undertook local government reform. It is argued that their narrative about local government reform has a life as part of 'economic rationalism' (Pusey, 1991), and it proceeds from an ideological position in a tradition of readings known as 'neoliberalism' (Bourdieu, 1998a). In this thesis employees are regarded as actively emergent beings living out a process of narrative identity. Under the authorship of the State Government employees were positioned as passive characters in the narrative of local government reform. For the employees considered in this thesis, this brought closure to a current and projected life narrative as a public servant at the local level. Their response was to reauthor their position to transcend this limitation, but it was found that this activity could be further limited according to the capital an employee could acquire in the form of 'time to tell a story' and 'space to tell a story'. The main contribution of this thesis, as a response to calls for better theories of action in management studies, is an exploration of how individual employees are processes of becoming, and how they participate in the becoming of the organisation and field to which they contribute. It is concluded that employees could be valued as processes of becoming, and this is a major contribution that they make to the field and organisation.

Despite the ubiquity of the term ‘organisational culture’ in both popular and scholarly management literature, it remains an ambiguous concept, whose practical application is recognised as being far from universally successful. Models which seem to be preferred by practitioners are often criticised as being static or mechanistic, while more dynamic scholarly approaches tend to discount the possibility of deliberately influencing organisations at the cultural level. This dissertation, instead of focussing on culture as some sort of objective or unchanging attribute of an organisation, treats it as a phenomenon emerging from social interaction and individual sense-making. It draws on, and extends, George Kelly’s Personal Construct Psychology to build a framework for understanding the production of meaning by individuals in their social context, and how this contributes to the establishment of the collective boundaries between which cultural effects are observed. This framework is applied to the case of a business school attached to a large university, which is first absorbed into its Commerce Faculty, and then dissolved into a new Department, as the overall university structure is modified. Grounded Theory methodology is used to develop an approach to the description of the cultural interaction and changes that occur, and to generate theory that goes some way to explaining how and why they do. The theory gives insight into how latent cultural distinctions become, or are made, salient and the different means by which divisions may be resolved or superseded, sometimes resulting in conflict. Implications are explored for the management of organisations undergoing change, particularly where this involves merging or restructuring organisational units, and for the training and development of managers who are to be involved in such activities. ¶ At a theoretical level, building on a constructivist and processual ontological base, the dissertation makes contributions to the understanding of behaviour in organisations and draws on pragmatic epistemologies such as those advanced by George Herbert Mead. It brings concepts from psychology, sociology and management disciplines to bear on the problem of cultural interaction, and suggests that integrating them in this way may enhance their value in this context. ¶ By focussing on culture as a phenomenon produced at the interface of collective constructions, the dissertation proposes that it be viewed as fundamentally dynamic once eloquently described as ‘multiple cross-cutting contexts’ – but, nevertheless, explains how it may be recognised more through its apparent intractability than its fluidity. Whilst rejecting managerialist approaches which would suggest that culture and, through it, people, can be manipulated at will to reliably produce desired effects, the dissertation suggests ways in which insight into cultural interactions might be generated for those who are participating in them, and options developed to influence these interactions that might otherwise not have been available. It therefore has potentially valuable implications for management practice.