A research report submitted to the faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management (Business and Executive Coaching) Johannesburg, 2017 / The objective of the study was to explore how a coaching leadership style adopted by Managers in different organisations, influences the relationships they have with their direct reports. The study used the qualitative method and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 participants, comprising 13 Managers and nine Direct Reports in various organisations in private and public sectors based in Gauteng, South Africa. This study contributes to the research and literature available on coaching leadership style and employee coaching, which occurs when an employee works one-on-one with his/her direct manager to improve his/her work performance and other areas that need attention. Executive Coaching has been extensively researched and refers to when an executive in an organisation is being coached by an external coach who is normally chosen by the Executive and paid for by the organisation. In Employee Coaching however, the coaching is conducted by the direct Manager and the employee has no choice in who the Manager is. Relationships between Manager and Direct Report are therefore crucial and these could be influenced by the Manager‟s leadership style. The findings suggest that within a South African context, the term “Coaching Leadership Style” is not a term that is widely used in organisations to describe a leadership style, however this style emerged through the behaviours that the Managers displayed. The findings further posit that coaching plays a pivotal role in influencing relationships between a Manager and his/her Direct Reports and that coaching may also cause shifts in leadership styles. The research provides insight into the leadership styles that Managers prefer to adopt and deepened understanding of how coaching adds value in a leadership context. The results add to the body of knowledge on how coaching affects leadership effectiveness and how it influences relationships between Managers and Direct Reports. / MT2017

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management (Public and Development Management) 2016 / The purpose - The study is to examine and understand the employee engagement approaches used in implementing change in CIPC, and how they engagement strategies could be improved to make the change implementation more effective and sustainable. Design, methodology and approach - The study used a qualitative research method, and institutional research case study design was used to gather individual experiences of employees about employee engagement practice pre, during and after the implementation of the merger. The findings – The paper identified that employee engagement approaches supporting fidelity goal orientation have been used in the case study. The change process has been hailed as not successful by the employees. However, proposal for improvement have been identified for consideration for future research. Research implication – the results of the study would add value to the case study organization by improving revitalizing the change management function and processes. It would serve as an empowering value as a source for employees and managers alike to understand the dual responsibility to communicate honesty. The practical implications- change can be owned and made sustainable by all those involved in the decision making and execution processes. This model of change appreciates people as sources of knowledge that contribute to the success of the organization. The model advocates for management to adopt a transparent and open approach to engagement, and disband the authoritative perspective to decision making. / MT 2018

Submitted for the partial (25%) fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Management in the field of Public and Development Management in the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management at the University of Witwatersrand March 2016 / In the past few years, the contribution of the performance culture to the overall success of the organisation has prompted interest to explore the concept. The purpose of this exploratory study was to determine facets that are perceived to be contributing to the performance culture and how employees in the Mpumalanga Department of Culture DCSR perceive such facets as causal factors to the performance of the organisation. This study is a qualitative descriptive study and semi semi-structures interviews were conducted. Eight participants were requested to take part. Two participants are from the head office and two from each of the three districts. All interviews were conducted face to face. Interviews were recorded on tape, transcribed and assessed according to themes. The overall findings of this study were that there are negative perceptions of performance culture as assessed according to the London School of Economics Eight Dimensions Performance Culture Model. / MT 2018

M. Tech. Human Resources Management / This study was conducted to determine whether there is a relationship between organisational culture and assignment fulfilment in an energy provider. Factors comprising organisational culture and assignment fulfilment will be established and discussed. By making use of a detailed literature review, three factors of organisational culture and assignment fulfilment were identified. These factors were used to structure a questionnaire. The following factors of organisational culture were identified: values, managing employee-employer relationships and leadership. Assignment fulfilment factors that were identified are job involvement, job satisfaction and organisational fulfilment. Correlation analyses were used to determine whether there is a relationship between organisational culture and assignment fulfilment. Correlation analysis proved that there is a negative correlation between organisational culture and assignment fulfilment, because when one variable increases the other decreases. It was proved that employees are not fulfilled in the organisation due to the culture of the organisation. An organisation needs to focus on leadership in order to improve the culture of the organisation.

M.Tech. Business Administration. Business School. / In their attempt to continuously improve their operations, Sasol Mining has since 1998 embarked on several different improvement initiatives including Operation Excellence with the improvement Lean Six Sigma in 2008. The main reason for choosing Lean Six Sigma was that the latter is a general, standard, well-documented improvement methodology, which is not dependent on any specific consultancy group to ensure successful and sustainable implementation. For sustainable Lean Six Sigma programme implementation, Sasol Mining has to ensure that human resources skills development and motivation enabling systems such as training and reward systems are in place. This research focuses on the assessment of the extent to which Operation Excellence employees perceive that there are benefits associated with their participation in the Lean Six Sigma programme during 2010 at Sasol Mining. In particular, how these perceptions could be effectively used by management as a basis for creating the environment where people are content and motivated to perform their best. The research investigates employee perceptions of various levels of Lean Six Sigma training within the context of categories of rewards most frequently associated with Lean Six Sigma; extrinsic, intrinsic, organisational and social rewards.

Sustaining competitiveness requires organisations to continuously reinvent themselves, consider both external influences as well as internal risk that may affect the company as a market leader. Organisations that have acknowledged that a relationship between engaged employees and business success exists, would seek ways to foster and facilitate the engagement of their workers through their leadership. The primary objective of the study was to determine whether a relationship exists between values-based leadership and employee engagement. The aim was to contribute to the quality of leadership values, behaviour and influence at Coca-Cola Beverages South Arica by gaining a deeper understanding of leadership and employee engagement. The theoretical study explored the definitions, key concepts, benefits and outcomes of both values based leadership and employee engagement. It provided a detailed literature review of the role of leadership in creating a values based organisation, what values-based leadership encompasses and its relationship with employee engagement. The theoretical overview highlighted that leadership is an influential factor in employee engagement and the extent to which employees feel valued and connected to the organisation’s goals. The theoretical overview further confirmed that leadership values, behaviour and influence are interrelated and exert an influence on employee engagement, thereby strengthening the fact that there is a relationship between values-based leadership and employee engagement. A structured web-based survey, with a questionnaire, was used to corroborate the theoretical findings and to assess employees’ perceptions of the prevalence of values–based leadership and employee engagement. A sample of 269 respondents was selected to participate in the empirical study and 167 responded to the survey, which yielded a 62% per cent response rate. The key findings of the study indicate that strong correlations exist between leadership values, behaviours and influence and that these concepts were interrelated. Furthermore, the study confirmed that values–based leadership was an important factor in employee engagement and specifically in terms of the physical, emotional and social components of engagement and less so in terms of the cognitive component. Values-based leadership and engagement were identified as critical factors in ensuring that organisations are well equipped to deal with the current volatile economic environment and to consider ways to maintain and accelerate their profitability and competitiveness in order to remain a sustainable business. It is strong values that underpin the performance of highly successful and sustainable organisations; coupled with effective leadership as a key driving force.

The primary objective of this dissertation was to investigate the relationship between intrinsic rewards, personality and emotional intelligence within the education sector within South Africa. In order to achieve this objective, the researcher tested a theoretical model using regression analysis, and made use of Pearson’s Product Moment Correlations. A further aim was to investigate whether differences existed according to teaching sector and teaching level with regards to these constructs. This was done using t-tests and analysis of variance tests. Moreover, the researcher aimed to further validate the Intrinsic Work Rewards Scale within the South African context. This was done via the use of confirmatory factor analysis. The questionnaire was completed by a total of 269 educators spanning across eleven educational institutions, including institutions within the private and public sector, and primary, secondary and tertiary educational institutions within the Eastern Cape. Data analysis was conducted using descriptive statistics which included frequency tables, and pie charts, and the aforementioned inferential statistics. The findings revealed a number of correlations between the three constructs, and significant differences between private and public sector institutions, and between primary, secondary and tertiary institutions with regards to intrinsic rewards, personality factors and emotional intelligence. The proposed theoretical model could be partly accepted as it showed that a correlation does exist between Extraversion, Neuroticism, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness (Openness was not correlated) and intrinsic rewards, and between intrinsic rewards and emotional intelligence. Moreover, the model showed that emotional intelligence acted as a mediator and partial mediator in predicting one’s level of intrinsic rewards via Extraversion, Neuroticism, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness, but no mediation could be shown with regards to Openness. Finally, the results of confirmatory factor analysis confirmed that the Intrinsic Work Rewards Scale showed acceptable fit and thus provided evidence for this instrument holding construct validity within the South African context. These results theoretically contribute to the area of intrinsic rewards, and have uncovered a new area whereby intrinsic rewards are shown to be related to personality factors and emotional intelligence. The findings of this study hold important implications for the effective management of educators in the South African context.

Occupational stress, intrinsic motivation and job engagement are areas of importance for today’s management. The main objective of this study was to explore the combined effect of occupational stress and intrinsic motivation in determining job engagement in the South African Police Service. Moreover, the study investigated the relationship between occupational stress, intrinsic motivation and job engagement. The study also sought to enquire into the effects rank and gender has on the study variables. A quantitative approach was adopted. A structured self – administered questionnaire comprising of four sections: biographical information, police stress questionnaire, intrinsic motivation inventory and job engagement scale was used to collect data. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyse data, and both descriptive and inferential statistics were utilized. The results revealed a negative relationship between occupational stress and job engagement. A positive relationship between intrinsic motivation and job engagement was also found. There was no combined effect of occupational stress and intrinsic motivation on job engagement. Lastly, no significant differences in the way police experience stress were found among rank and gender. The researcher concluded that even when police officers are under great amounts of stress they are still engaged in their jobs. Where levels of intrinsic motivation were high for the police officers, so were the levels of job engagement. Demographic variables did not yield any significant relationships to the study variables. These findings are of significance in creating a police force which is productive and meets the goals and objectives of the South African Police Service.

Increasing competition within the freight transportation market in South Africa has intensified the need for rail industries to identify ways in which to enhance their competitiveness within this market. One of the most important challenges for organisations’ operating in this market is to deliver goods on time, while meeting the needs of customers, at the lowest possible cost. If such organisations are to remain competitive, it may be required of them to shift their focus to their employees. Research has shown that employees render organisations’ with sustainable competitive advantage, more specifically, it has shown that engaged employees surpass disengaged employees. The distinguishing factor for organisations’ in the search of competitive advantage would therefore be an engaged workforce. The primary research objective of this study was to investigate contribution of reward systems to enhanced employee engagement within Transnet Engineering (TE) in Swartkops, Port Elizabeth. A theoretical overview was conducted to evaluate different definitions, engagement theories and factors of reward systems which contribute to enhanced employee engagement. An empirical study was conducted by means of a survey with a questionnaire as data collecting tool. The purpose of the structured questionnaire was to validate the findings obtained from the theoretical overview and to assess employees’ perceptions of reward systems and engagement. Recommendations were made based on the findings of the literature and empirical study. These recommendations will assist the organisation in understanding how reward systems can be used to enhance employee engagement, so that a competitive advantage can be achieved within the freight transportation market.

M.A. (Social Work) / Please refer to full text to view abstract