Thesis (MTech (Post School Education))--Peninsula Technikon, Cape Town,1999 / The education and training of civil engineering technicians is an integrated and dynamic process. The success of any service delivery process will be dependent on the meaningful interaction of all role players, given their understanding and commitment to desirable educational ideals and endeavours. With the rapid changes in technology and the arrival of democracy in South Africa, an ideal opportunity existed to review current practices and operational procedures, with a view to making some input toward restructuring. A review of service delivery strategies could make a positive contribution to improving the education and training of civil engineering technicians as well as improving the ideals of co-operative education. The purpose of the study was to analyse the service delivery strategies within the National Diploma in Civil Engineering course by examining the relationship between the views and expectations of students, academic staff and industry towards desirable leaming outcomes, against the current status of service delivery strategies. The study then explored success factors that could enhance the development of civil engineering technicians in training, within the co-operative education relationship. The literature study concentrated on the nature and value of co-operative education. It also highlighted the contributions of the respective role players in educational strategies and their added value to the education of technicians in training. An important distinction was established between training and learning where training, as a content-driven concept has been redefined to learning, which implies a more student-centred approach in the search for knowledge and the demonstration of skills. Questionnaires were compiled which attempted to measure views and perceptions on desirable outcomes in relation to current practices prevailing in service delivery strategies by technikons and industry. The survey was completed by a total of 268 respondents consisting of 178 students, 40 academic staff from nine technikons and 50 companies from industry in the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, Kwazulu Natal and Gauteng. A statistical analysis and observations revealed reasonable consistency in the desirable outcomes of student learning and achievement. The survey also revealed that there were significant differences between the three samples when it came to measuring the contributions and involvement of the three parties in service delivery implementation. The conclusions flowing from the literature study and the empirical investigation revealed that the gap between the current status and desirable learning outcomes are being prejudiced by the inefficient application and utilisation of available and resources.

The objective of this investigation is to begin to develop an understandable, reasonably valid, and objective merit rating system for professional workers. It is recognized that all conventional merit systems have significant shortcomings. Therefore, by using a results-oriented approach which combines the best features of the critical incident technique with those of the forced choice method, it is hoped to accomplish this goal.

[No abstract submitted] / Arts, Faculty of / History, Department of / Graduate

This thesis studies the possibilities for greater development of unions for professional engineers in Canada. The analysis of the paper serves the purpose of supporting or reflecting the initial belief that more widespread participation in union activities is likely for engineers. The method of investigation is to analyze all relevant factors through use of published material, unpublished material, interviews and conference data. The general conclusion is that greater involvement in union activities are likely. Throughout the paper it is clear that factors which inhibit union formation are becoming less prevalent in Canada while the need for engineering unions is growing, A new type of "professional' union" is then discussed with original contributions in the areas of union functions, procedural details, union structure and the company side of unionization. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

In the South African business environment, there is a lack of both engineers and managers. This creates a compounded problem whereby many engineers find themselves transitioning from a technical position to general management. This transition has prompted the need to investigate the competencies required for engineers to effectively transition into general management and the methodologies used to acquire general management competencies.The research was conducted in two phases. The first qualitative phase took the form of semi-structured, in-depth interviews. The results obtained from phase one was used together with the literature review to develop the constructs for phase two. Phase two consisted of two quantitative self-administered closedended questionnaires. A questionnaire was developed for engineering managers and a separate questionnaire was constructed for human resource managers. A total of 116 respondents from 31 different countries participated in the research.The results in terms of the competencies required to transition into general management showed that interpersonal skills are the most important, followed by leadership skills. Highly focused business skills are the least important competencies. The methodologies used the most depict that the majority of people acquired their general management competencies through trial and error / learning on the job, networking and short business learning courses. The findings have been used to develop a model that will help organisations and human resource practitioners to assist engineers in the transition process. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Purpose. This study investigated organizational development climate within the context of an organization experiencing rapid change in its environment resulting in employee knowledge obsolescence. Secondary purposes were: (1) determine current development methods and behavior; (2) identify preferred development methods; (3) examine the influence of educational background on development; (4) examine the influence length of service on development and (5) investigate reward preferences and their link to development. Procedure. The data were collected through a sample of 550 nonmanager engineers. The questionnaire consisted of individual background information and a modified version of the Work Description Questionnaire for Engineers (WDQE). Environment factors investigated were: (1) organization; (2) management and (3) peer support; (4) communication and involvement and (5) work assignments. Responses were obtained from 320 nonmanager engineers. A chi-square analysis tested hypotheses for education and length of service groups. Summary of Findings and Conclusions. (1) The engineering population differed significantly in their education and length of service backgrounds. (2) Knowledge foundation requirements for entry in the organization in the past five years have increased. (3) Non-degree development is more important for the majority, while degree development is important to bachelor-degreed and shorter length-of-service employees. (4) Reported non-degreed development averaged one course/seminar per year, 2-4 hours of independent reading per week and discussions within the immediate work group. Education groups reported significant differences in internal course/seminar participation and reading behavior. (5) The most effective development methods included a challenging job, reading, an advanced degree, courses/seminars, interdisciplinary teams and internal networking. Education groups showed significant differences for reading and interdisciplinary terms. (6) Primary barriers to development included time, cost, management and workload. (7) The work environment climate for development in the organization was moderate. Peer support received the highest rating; organization, management, and work assignments were rated moderately. (8) The most preferred rewards included salary/merit increases, achievement, advancement, recognition and challenging work. Education groups reported differences in preferred rewards. (9) Moderate opportunity for rewards occurred independent of development behavior. Education groups showed differences in opportunity for challenging work with improved development. Length of service groups reported differences for opportunity of rewards even with increased development.

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

Thesis (M.B.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1985.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1985. / Also available in print.

Research report / At the time of this study, South Africa found itself in an economic growth phase. This was coupled with an acute shortage of engineers in the country, as well as in a number of foreign countries, who found themselves in similar growth phases. Foreign firms actively embarked on campaigns to recruit South African engineers to alleviate their shortage, to the detriment of the donor country. The objective of this study is to determine the propensity of engineers to emigrate and the main drivers for this in order to provide information to craft strategies to combat and mitigate the shortage of engineers. The research process involved the consultation of relevant local and international literature regarding the skills shortage, the extent of emigration from South Africa and the main drivers for this. Data were collected by means of self-completed questionnaires in order to gauge the sentiment of graduate engineers towards emigration. One hundred and fifteen responses were received. Key associations and relationships were then analysed. The study found that the engineers most likely to emigrate were either in their late twenties or were older than 55. They are likely to be white males from either the public or private sector, or who are self-employed. Approximately 10% of graduate engineers are likely to leave South Africa within a short period of time (less than one year) as they have already taken some measures in order to do so, 16% may leave within two years and 27% may leave within the next five years. Australia is by far the most popular destination for South African engineers, followed by Canada, Europe and the United Kingdom. The main country-related drivers causing South African engineers to consider emigration are crime and violence, confidence in the South African government and political uncertainty. The main work-related driver causing engineers to consider emigration is the policy of affirmative action. Of the engineers with a “high” emigration potential, just over half indicated that they would emigrate permanently. In order to at least retain existing engineers in South Africa, the factors causing them to consider emigration should be addressed. In order to increase the number of engineers in the country, more emphasis should be placed on mathematics and science at school, thereby increasing the number of candidates who qualify for admission to engineering courses. It also needs to be ensured that universities have the capacity to train the increased number of engineers required on an ongoing basis.