Thesis (PhD) -- University of Western Sydney, 2001. / " A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of PhD in Marketing, University of Western, Sydney." "Submitted July 2001 and revised February 2002" Bibliography: p. 273 - 285.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Western Sydney, 2001. / Bibliography : leaves 256-283.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1993. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 184-187). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Freie Univ, Berlin, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 126-140).

This thesis presents the results of research which investigated how creative processes in advertising agencies are organized and the role aesthetic understandings play therein. Indepth accounts describing how creative processes in advertising agencies are organized were not well characterized in the extant literature. This was surprising, given the confusion that existed about whether or not advertising practitioners share similar tastes. Whereas some research suggests highly homogenous taste patterns, other research, reporting about severe conflicts in advertising agencies, suggests that the contrary is true. Consequently, also research on taste-making processes and thus the ways through which tastes and collective action are negotiated was missing. This research aims to address these gaps in the literature by providing an in-depth account of the way specific practices creative processes are organized by analysing how practices and tastes interlink as well as by providing insights into the ways through which taste and collective action are sustained at advertising agencies. To do so, qualitative research at a leading London-based advertising agency was carried out over a period of five months. Two sets of practices by which the advertising creative processes were organized were identified. In addition, four types of tensions between both sets of practices and thus different tastes among advertising practitioners, depending on the practices in which they were immersed, were found. Moreover, ways in which tensions were resolved and thus how different tastes were negotiated were identified. By doing so, this research closes the above gaps in the literature and reveals that at advertising agencies' creative processes and taste-making go hand in hand. Finally, practical insights for managers in the advertising industries, aiming to foster collective engagement, collaboration and conversations, and creative expression in creative advertising processes as well as suggestions for future research are offered.

M.Comm. / Today's managers, faced with rapidly changing and fast-paced competitive environments, are challenged to manage "discontinuities created by an interdependent global economy, heightened volatility, hypercompetition, demographic changes, knowledge-based competition, and demassification of some sectors accompanied by enormous growth in others" (Daft & Lewin, 1993:i). Such environmental conditions place intense demands on organisations to interpret opportunities and threats actively when making key strategic decisions. To cope with such challenges, existing larger firms are increasingly turning to corporate entrepreneurship as a means of growth and strategic renewal (Guth & Ginsberg, 1990). Entrepreneurship involves a process of value creation in which an individual or team brings together a unique package of resources to exploit an opportunity. The key steps involved are: identifying opportunities, developing business concepts, determining needed resources, acquiring resources, and managing and harvesting the venture (Jones, Morris & Rockmore, 1995:86). Corporate entrepreneurship (also termed intrapreneurship) involves extending the firm's domain of competence and corresponding opportunity set through new resource combinations that are internally generated (Burgelman, 1984).- Terms such as 'reinventing the corporation', 'the empowered organisation' and 'organisational renewal' are used to describe change efforts where entrepreneurship is a central ingredient. Research has shown that organisations that adopt an entrepreneurial posture in order to cope with the uncertain environment are characterised along dimensions such as unpredictability, dynamism and heterogeneity. These organisations enjoy superior performance (Covin & Slevin, 1988; Zahra & Covin, 1995). The domain of entrepreneurship is no longer restricted in a conceptual sense to the process of creating an independent new venture (Wortman, 1987; Low & MacMillan, 1988). Lumpkin and Dess (1996:136) describe the essential act of entrepreneurship more appropriately as 'new entry'. New entry is the act of launching a new venture, either by a start-up firm, through an existing firm, or via 'internal corporate venturing' (Burgelman, 1983). With this in mind, they distinguish between entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial orientation. Entrepreneurship explains what entrepreneurship consists of, and entrepreneurial orientation describes how new entry is undertaken. Entrepreneurial orientation can therefore be defined as the processes, practices and decision-making activities that lead to new entry (Lumpkin & Dess, 1996:136). However, the entrepreneurial orientation (also referred to as entrepreneurial posture) is not limited to the creation of new organisations, but exists in all actions that distinguish entrepreneurial behaviour from other types of business activity that might be undertaken to capitalise on an opportunity (Lumpkin & Dess, 1996:153). These actions also pervade the organisation at all levels (Covin & Slevin, 1991:7).

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document / Thesis (PhD (Industrial Systems))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Industrial and Systems Engineering / unrestricted

Organisations need to foster continuous innovation in order to effectively compete in today’s global marketplace. Corporate Entrepreneurship (CE) can be seen as an effective strategy in ensuring organisation performance and sustained competitiveness. It is common understanding that top management guide and shape strategy however very little understanding exists on the role that middle managers play in its execution. The aim of this study was to investigate the differences/similarities in middle management perceptions of the internal CE environment within four South African industry sectors. A further aim was to identify the effect of biographical variables within the middle management level on the perception of CE. The eight-factor 34-item solution for the Corporate Entrepreneurship Assessment Instrument (van Wyk & Adonisi, 2011) was used to collect data from 172 respondents. This study identified significant differences and similarities in middle manager perceptions on CE within the four industries. It becomes evident that understanding the economic sector constraints on organisational culture plays a crucial role in determining organisational CE environment. It was also discovered that biographic variables such as age, tenure and gender play no signifficant role in determining middle manager perceptions of CE. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / zkgibs2015 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / Unrestricted

Summaries after each chapter / Flourishing organisations realise that employees make a critical difference when it comes to competitiveness, performance and innovativeness. Employees are required to be dedicated, energetic and absorbed in their work (Bakker & Schaufeli, 2008). In short, organisations require employees who are engaged. The general aim of this research was to use a controlled experimental research design to establish whether the participation of employees in an emotional intelligence intervention would increase their levels of emotional intelligence and thus improve their levels of work engagement. The researcher concluded that the intervention did not result in a significant increase in the employees’ levels of emotional intelligence and work engagement. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M. Com. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

Organizational leaders often seek to hire and retain innovative employees as a source of competitive advantage. Both transformational leadership and effectively managed workplace diversity have been theorized and shown to lead to increased employee creative performance at work; however, a full model of the relationships between leadership and the multi-dimensional construct of workplace diversity has not yet been tested. Using a sample of 371 employees in three Chinese high-technology firms matched with 64 supervisors collected at three time points, this study theorized and tested a moderated mediation path model in which transformational leadership and diversity climate were predicted to significantly interact to influence the workplace diversity constructs of organizational justice and organizational identity, which in turn, influence individual creative performance. Based on major theories of leadership, diversity, and creativity, several partial mediation hypotheses are presented, including diversity climate as a mediator of the relationship between transformational leadership and creative performance as well as organizational justice and organizational identity as mediators of the relationship between the interaction of transformational leadership and diversity climate and creative performance. Several single- and multilevel path analyses were conducted to test the model, using two measures of creative performance: self-ratings and supervisor ratings. The results showed that the interaction of transformational leadership and diversity climate significantly predicted self-rated creative performance, and organizational identity significantly predicted supervisor ratings of creative performance. In addition, transformational leadership was found to significantly predict diversity climate and organizational justice was a significant predictor of organizational identity. Finally, transformational leadership had a significant indirect effect on creative performance through diversity climate. The contributions of this study to three major bodies of literature, as well as the implications of the results for research and practice, are discussed.