Thesis (M.Arch.(Prof)) -- University of Pretoria, 2008. / Abstract in English.

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More than 50% of the workforce in the United States is disengaged, costing U.S. organizations almost $355 billion annually. Engaged employees improve customer satisfaction, perform effectively, and are committed to organizational goals. Guided by Kahn's personal engagement theory, the purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies business leaders in the hospitality industry used to improve employee engagement for increased productivity. A purposive sample of 1 business leader each from 6 organizations in South Korea shared their experiences with the phenomenon of employee engagement. Data were collected through face-to-face semi structured interviews and by reviewing company position descriptions and human resource policies. Yin's data analysis method revealed prevalent themes of communication, recognition and rewards, and work environment. Leaders influence employee engagement through open communication, providing rewards or recognition as performance incentives, and creating a psychologically safe work environment. Implications of this study for social change include decreased physical and mental health costs for employees and organizations. Improving employee engagement in the hospitality industry can reduce absenteeism and increase organizational profitability, sustainability, and participation in community and social programs.

<p>Empirical evidence suggests work engagement to be of crucial importance for business critical aspects such as work performance and employee retention. When building a strategy for enhancing engagement in the workplace, identifying its predictors becomes important. Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify predictors related to work engagement. The study was conducted in a management consultancy company, through analyzing their employee survey. Results indicated satisfaction with leadership to be of vital importance for work engagement. Other work-related attitudes identified that seemed to be reliable predictors of work engagement were employee development, communication and innovation. In addition, the demographic variables of age and status pointed towards a correlation with work engagement, however the gender variable did not show significance.</p>

Empirical evidence suggests work engagement to be of crucial importance for business critical aspects such as work performance and employee retention. When building a strategy for enhancing engagement in the workplace, identifying its predictors becomes important. Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify predictors related to work engagement. The study was conducted in a management consultancy company, through analyzing their employee survey. Results indicated satisfaction with leadership to be of vital importance for work engagement. Other work-related attitudes identified that seemed to be reliable predictors of work engagement were employee development, communication and innovation. In addition, the demographic variables of age and status pointed towards a correlation with work engagement, however the gender variable did not show significance.

One of the fundamental ideas of transformational leadership theory is that transformational leaders develop their followers into transformational leaders. Unfortunately, there has been surprisingly little research on this topic. Although prior research has established a relationship between supervisor transformational leadership and follower transformational leadership (i.e., supervisor transformational leadership is positively related to follower transformational leadership), more research is needed to identify potential follower process variables and the interrelationships between cognitive, motivation, and behavioral variables that may be relevant to the development process of followers. This study initiated a closer examination of the process variables in three phases. First, the direct relationship between supervisor transformational leadership and various follower variables relevant to the development process was examined. Second, this study summarized the interrelationships between the process variables in a structural model, including a test of the indirect effects of supervisor transformational leadership on follower outcomes through more proximal follower variables. Third, this study explored transformational leadership theory's unique contribution to the understanding of leader-follower processes by comparing some of the relationships tested in this study to analogous relationships using other highly researched leadership styles, such as transactional leadership, initiating structure, consideration, and leader-member exchange. The findings supported several of the hypotheses involving direct relationships between supervisor transformational leadership and the follower variables relevant to self-concept, development orientation, development motivation, development activity, and leadership behavior. There was also support for partial mediation of the relationship between supervisor transformational leadership and the follower outcome variables (through follower developmental processes). Contrary to hypotheses, several of the alternative leadership styles showed comparable or at times better prediction of follower developmental variables, which suggests that the follower development process may not be unique to transformational leadership theory.

Två gånger per år genomförs kompetensinvesteringar för ingenjörer på GKN Aerospace Sweden AB. Konceptet går under benämningen Training Days. Syftet med investeringen är att höja kompetensen bland de ca 400 ingenjörerna. I anslutning till utbildningsdagarna genomförs en enkätundersökning för att se till deltagarnas åsikter om Training Days. Problemet är att det aldrig undersökt vilken inställning och synsätt medarbetarna har till lärande och utveckling och om de olika perspektiven i sådana fall påverkar effekterna av investeringarna. Den kvalitativa fallstudien syftar till att undersöka om ingenjörernas perspektiv på lärande och kompetens påverkar organisationens utveckling. Materialet har insamlats med kvalitativa intervjuer som analyserats i förhållande till teori och aktuell forskning. Dessutom har det undersökts om det finns ett gemensamt perspektiv på kompetensutveckling som kan utveckla Training Days och effekterna av utbildningsdagarna. Fallstudien kan ses som ett kompletterande verktyg till GKN:s interna enkät. Teorin menar att det är viktigt att skapa ett systemtänkande och att individer behöver se till sitt eget personliga mästerskap för att få en helhetsförståelse, och därigenom höja den individuella och gemensamma kompetensen. Majoriteten av respondenterna i studien anser att de inte får någon praktisk kompetens genom utbildningsdagarna, de menar snarare att konceptet bidrar till nya infallsvinklar. Resultatet av denna studie bygger på tolkning av det insamlade empiriska materialet, med stöd av teorin visar att det finns både olika synsätt och inställning till lärande och utveckling bland ingenjörerna vilket påverkar utvecklingsprocessen. På GKN finns alla förutsättningar för att lyckas med kompetensutveckling, men när inställning till lärande och utveckling är individuell påverkar det alla led i lärandeprocessen / Twice a year GKN Aerospace Sweden AB implements skills investment for their engineers. The concept is known as Training Days. The purpose of investment is to improve the skills of about 400 engineers. Adjacent to the Training Days there is a implemented survey to see what the engineers think about the concept. The problem is that the survey doesn't examine the attitude and the approach employees have about learning and development, and on the various perspectives, in such cases the affect of the impact of the investments. This qualitative case study aims to examine the engineer's perspective on learning and skills, and it´s effect on the organization's development. The material has been collected by qualitative interviews, analyzed in relation to theory and current research. Moreover, it has been investigated whether there is a common perspective on skills that can develop Training Days and the effects of training days. The case study can be seen as a complementary tool to GKN's internal poll. The theory says that it is important to create a systems approach and that the individuals need to make their own personal "championship", to get an overall understanding, and thereby raising individual and collective skills. The majority of the respondents in this study believe that they do not receive any practical skills through Training Days. They mean rather that the concept contributes to new approaches. The results of this study are based on the interpretation of the collected empirical material, supported by theory. The outcome shows that there are both different approaches and attitudes to learning and development among the engineers, which affects the development process. GKN have all prerequisites for the skills development to succeed. But the approach to learning and development is individual, so it affects all elements in the learning process

The aim of this thesis titled Employee training and development is the evaluation of training and development activities of Legrand company. The theoretical part is focused on various training and development approaches and then it describes each phase of the creation of the educational program: the identification and analysis of training needs, planning, implementation and evaluation of the training and development activities. I also mention some of the barriers that may occur during the training. In the end of the theoretical part, I briefly mention a specific field of education: talent management. The practical part of this thesis includes an introduction of training and development activities of Legrand company, with a focus on training program STRUCTOGRAM, which is the main topic of the training program in the company for the year 2016. Furthermore, I evaluate the training and development activities on the basis of a questionnaire survey among employees and I try to suggest some solutions to remove barriers and improve training activities in this company.

This diploma thesis deals with employee development and actual trends. The aim of the thesis is to analyze topical situation in the area of employee development in the insurance market. Another aim is to provide comprehensive overview of the level of development and main trends. It emphasizes the importance of education and development, mainly through the knowledge of human capital and competitiveness. The thesis includes definitions of terms such as learning, development, education or training. It is focused on vocational development and its integration into the system of human resources. The thesis shows stages of employee development and its systematic approach. Next chapter deals with chosen development methods and describes its pros and cons. Some trends are described throughout the thesis. They are summarized and completed in the last but one chapter. Practical part deals with research based on a questionnaire filled out by development specialist from insurance companies and insurance brokers from Czech Republic. Information obtained from the questionnaire is supported by semi-structured interview with an employee of an insurance broker. The survey is concerns four areas: development system, development methods and actual trends. Last area concerns internal and external development and budget. Problems are identified on the basis of analysis and recommendations to increase efficiency are proposed.

In the South Carolina state government, 43.4% of all full-time equivalent employees will be eligible to retire by the mid- to late-2020s. The potential loss of core organizational knowledge may occur as a result of the retirement of seasoned employees. Grounded by the transformational leadership theory, this qualitative case study explored the successful succession strategies of 8 Certified Public Managers (CPMs) in South Carolina state government organizations. Purposeful sampling led to selecting the 8 CPMs who each had more than 11 years of experience managing employees and each directly influenced the programmatic operations for their respective state government organizations. Data were obtained through individual semi-structured interviews and through state government organizational documents. Analysis included using codes to identify similar words and phrases, then recoding to categorize the codes into themes. Data transcriptions, coding, member checking, and methodological triangulation were used to strengthen the credibility of the findings. Thematic analysis identified 3 emergent themes within the data: succession implementation, succession continuity, and succession hindrances. The implications for positive social change include the potential for state government executive leadership to implement a succession program for all South Carolina state government organizations. The positive social change implications may provide standardization and structure for retaining core knowledge that could contribute to continuity, an increased focus on sustainable workforce capital, customer satisfaction, and social responsibility throughout communities in South Carolina.