Thesis (Ph. D.)--Dept. of Psychology. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2005. / "A dissertation in psychology." Advisor: Sharon Portwood. Typescript. Vita. Title from "catalog record" of the print edition Description based on contents viewed June 27, 2006. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 86-102). Online version of the print edition.

Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

M.Comm. / Iscor is the largest iron and steel producer in Africa in terms of crude steel per anum (Bloomberg, 1999). Iscor has two main divisions namely the Mining division and Steel division. The Mining division is responsible for the mining of the raw materials such as iron ore, coal and dolomite. Some of these raw materials are exported and the rest is supplied to the Steel division. Approximate 8,9 million tons of iron ore is exported annually (McKic, 1999). The Steel division converts the iron ore into iron pigs, steel and finish hot and cold rolls at the Newcastle and VanderBijlpark Works. During the financial year ending June 1998 Iscor produced 6,5 million tons of crude steel (Alberts, 1999). The question is sometimes asked; why are some companies able to turn their ideas into appropriate actions, thereby creating a competitive advantage resulting in superior performance? The answer is that successful companies have the specific identities, attitudes, competencies and sets of values and beliefs not possessed by other companies. These attributes of winning companies are collectively known as organisational culture. Organisational culture exists in every organisation and can be either positive and/or negative. One of management's focuses is to change the existing organisational culture into the ideal organisational culture applicable to specifically that organisation. The process of change should be implemented over an extended period of time.

M.Comm. / In our ever-changing, fast paced world, competitive relationships can shift quickly when organizations respond too slowly to increased competition in their industry group. Succeeding in such a competitive and changing environment demands that organizations be reshaped to meet the challenges and competitive realities. The changes organizations are being forced to make merely to stay competitive are so fundamental that they must take root in an organization's culture and be managed. The idea of managing organizational culture is still quite new to most managers - at best they have a vague sense of what it means. They lack insight into the concept organizational culture, the complexity of integrating organizational culture and strategy and the managing of organizational cultural change. The lack of managerial insight can be attributed to the fact that organizational culture wears many cloaks and the fact that various definitions are being used to describe the concept. A clear conceptual understanding of the terminology is essential if the role and influence of organizational culture in the change process is to be understood, therefore various definitions are being focused on. Due to the changes taking place in the environment in which organizations operate, managers will increasingly find that they are confronted with major questions of how to position their organizations in a new business environment and how to change fundamentally the organizational culture. The interaction that takes place between organizational culture and organizational strategy in formulating and implementing organizational strategy is discussed. Whether organizational culture can be changed successfully has led to a debate among researchers. In order to implement strategic change the organization needs to manage cultural change to achieve congruency between culture and strategy. Organizational leadership is a critical factor in the change process and is analysed with reference to the role to be played by management in the creation of shared patterns of beliefs and values. Various managerial systems exist for achieving change within the organizational culture and it is essential that managers use a combination of these systems. Systems such as communication, reward systems and human resource management are discussed to establish their role in the process. The aim of the study is therefore to gain a clear insight in the concept organizational culture, the interaction of organizational culture and strategy and the change of organizational culture in the ever-changing business environment by focusing on various factors which are present in the afore-mentioned processes.

Since its inception more than three decades ago, there has been a prolific adoption of the matrix organisational design across diverse industries. Despite the ubiquity of matrix organisations, there remains several challenges primarily related to interpersonal relationships; most notably ambiguity of authority as a result of the dual command structure. This study examines the perceptions of the types of power and influence mechanisms used by the direct functional manager and the indirect project manager to influence project personnel. The effect of the types of influence mechanisms used on attitudinal outcomes is also examined with a view to understand the impact on project personnel performance. The research was conducted using a two phase design. The first phase was qualitative with various stakeholders required to validate the constructs of power and influence identified in the literature and identify new constructs. The results from phase one and the literature review findings were used to develop a self-administered questionnaire for phase two. Quantitative data was obtained from 23 functional managers, 28 project managers and 101 project personnel in South Africa, Italy and Canada from one large project execution and technology company. There appears to be a large perceptual gap between managers and project personnel. Two themes that emerge are the perceived use of inspirational and personal influence mechanisms by managers in comparison with the perceived use of coercive punitive mechanisms by project personnel. Relationships were observed between the perceptions of the type of influence mechanisms used on project personnel and their satisfaction with manager, performance and the amount of effort expended. Relationships were also observed between satisfaction with each type of manager and performance & employee engagement. Finally the results indicate a strong relationship between the functional manager and overall job satisfaction, highlighting the role of the direct line management relationship. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / lmgibs2014 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

Due to the numerous cases of fraudulent accounting practices in 2001 involving such corporate giants such as Enron and WorldCom, the United States Congress passed the Sarbanes Oxley Act 2002 (SOA) to restore investor confidence in the capital markets. In Section 406 Congress requires each issuing company to disclose whether or not ( and if not, the reason therefore) the company has adopted a code of ethics for senior financial officers. While the SOA does not specifically mandate a code of ethics for listing companies, it emphasizes the importance of corporate codes of ethics as the cornerstone for building a strong internal control environment to prevent or deter management fraud. A written code of ethics for senior management lays the foundation for promoting a corporate culture that values and practices ethical behavior. In this paper I focus on codes of ethics and the effect that they have on an organization's culture.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Washington State University. / Includes bibliographical references.

Background: Businesses are increasingly expanding their businesses globally, evolving into multinational enterprises. Managers within MNEs extensively use corporate culture to maintain a unified organization and guarantee them more control over their subsidiaries. Nevertheless, MNE’s subsidiaries are also embedded in their own national culture, which might differ from the corporate and national culture of the company. Swedish corporate and national culture differs extensively from other countries, which may result in Swedish MNEs encountering several challenges when aiming to implement their corporate culture within their subsidiaries. Consequently, different strategies are employed with the aim of an effective implementation process.    Purpose: The purpose of this study is to enhance comprehension regarding Swedish multinational enterprises’ implementation process of their corporate culture within their subsidiaries abroad. It will provide a deeper understanding of strategies Swedish MNEs employ during this process and investigate how the Swedish corporate culture might hinder the process of implementation.    Method: This study is based on the relativism and social constructionism paradigm and is conducted through qualitative research with semi-structured interviews with eight different Swedish Multinational Enterprises. In addition, an inductive approach is employed, seeking to find new information and perspectives among the data, given the varied experiences among the interview subjects.    Conclusion: The empirical findings present three new challenges and seven new strategies regarding Swedish MNEs implementing their corporate culture in foreign subsidiaries. The challenges regard resistance against Swedish businesses overall, subsidiaries unwilling to change their corporate culture, as well as difficulties in understanding the Swedish corporate culture. The strategies regard trust-building initiatives, leadership education, education in cultural differences, Swedish leaders in subsidiaries, meetings to ensure alignment and understanding, physical meetings, and mobile and flexible leaders.

South Africa’s unique history has produced an organisational climate where race groups forcibly separated in the past, have to now work together in harmony. Limited interaction between the ethnic groups creates a culturally uninformed society where trust between groups is lacking. The objective of this study was to confirm the levels of collectivism for the different race groups, and to determine the relationship between collectivism, propensity to trust and in group trust. A survey was administered to a Business Unit of a South African petrochemical company. 387 responses were obtained from a sufficiently diverse sample. The results confirmed that blacks and Indians are more collectivistic than whites and coloureds. Collectivistic groups had a lower propensity to trust and higher in group trust. This research creates awareness regarding the different aspects of culture and the behaviours these cultural differences drive. Trust development must be approached with a culturally informed view.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Within the service industry, the brand is portrayed directly through the people within the organisation. Employees operating by the company’s central value system will live the values of the brand in their daily activities. A company that focuses on aligning their brand values and company culture as a strategic differentiator will be in a position to gain a competitive advantage. This study was conducted within Hollard Namibia and investigated if an alignment exists between the brand values and company culture and if so, to what extent. The investigation comprised a literature study on the alignment between brand values and company culture and included the concepts of organisational culture, models on organisational culture, brand as an equity, brand values, and brand alignment. Quantitative research methodology was applied to evaluate the existence of an alignment. A questionnaire designed by the Barrett Value Centre was used to collect the data. The results of the survey would then illustrate if there is an alignment and if it can be used as a strategic differentiator. The research proved that aligning your brand values and company culture can be used as a method to enhance an organisation’s competitive advantage and create successful future sustainability. This strategic alignment focus is not a once-off action plan. As the business changes, so must the values be amended to follow the changing demands of the employees and the industry it services. The research also proved that the stagnated gross profit margins in Hollard can be due to the absence of an active internal branding process within the organisation. After finalising the research assignment, it was concluded that the personal values, current cultural values and desired culture values of Hollard’s employees differ from each other. A high level of entropy was found and there was only a small alignment between the brand values and organisational culture within the organisation. The study recommends that the leadership team of Hollard Namibia develops and implements a strategic brand value awareness programme. This strategic plan must incorporate a culture of employee centricity within the organisation. Hollard Namibia (Pty) Ltd will maintain and extend its competitive advantage if it implements the suggested changes.