This study aims to explore strengths and challenges in an all-female executive team. The subject of female executive teams is relatively unexplored, why the study contributes with a new perspective on the dynamics and processes occurring in an all-female executive team. 45-minute interviews were conducted with each member of the group, which consists of five women between the age of 50 and 61. Together they constitute an executive team in a Swedish organization. A thematic analysis was conducted and four themes were identified, as follows: openness, respect, inefficient processes and homogeneity. In general, the group is perceived to be well-functioning, and they consistently emphasize positive qualities within their group. Among other things, they talk about an open climate, absence of prestige and express care for each other. To some extent, the group is homogeneous. This makes them at risk of groupthink and missing perspectives, although there is no indication in the interviews that this is occurring. They do however express a lack of time and strategic work, deficiencies in structure and to some extent a too large need for control. The study’s findings are discussed in relation to previous research on power structures, gender studies and group development. At last, suggestions are given for further studies to explore whether it is the gender composition or the women's personalities that make the group so well-functioning.

Organizations of all types are now able to operate in virtual capacities through time, space, and distance across multinational boundaries; therefore, geography no longer limits business functioning. In fact, many corporate executives and boards employ virtuality in their work regimen. Therefore, organizations employ virtual executives to work teams with ideal skill sets to effectively persevere and complete tasks through distance, space, and time. The purpose of this study was to identify and yet understand the experiences of executive multinational, virtual board members working as a team in a virtual environment. Through this research the virtual dynamics of the virtual team have been studied, prodded, purposely mismatched, and weaved together to understand the culture of the virtual environment in which the team members interact and perform duties. With this particular board, there has been a history of previous work experience or exposure in some capacity; however, it has no great impact on their interaction and work with the entire board. In this study, an exploratory look at the experiences, perceived team dynamics, and strategies used to successfully function as a virtual team are highlighted from a qualitative perspective. The purpose is to describe the individual perspectives of how a multinational executive virtual team best works. The findings of this study reveal that there are many ways to communicate utilizing technology, but the objective for this virtual team is to be multidimensional in use. That means that honest communication is necessary for the board to perform at their optimal level. Therefore, the theoretical framework is based on team performance as a teamwork process-based construct which depends on communication, relationship, and trust to add success for virtual teams The framework results in three step process for team flow and success i.e., the importance of face-to-face meetings; advantages of virtual teaming; and challenges of virtual teaming to result in virtual team performance dependent on the team having communication, relationship, and trust present.

Student Number : 0106532X - PhD thesis - School of Education - Faculty of Humanities / Managerialism and collegiality are employed in this thesis as constructs through which to make sense of the changing nature of management in a South African university. The rise and dominance of the managerialism discourse is examined with respect to organisational change and restructuring. As principally a qualitative research project, a single case study of the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) is investigated using interviews, documentary analysis and focus group discussions as the main sources of data from 2001 to 2004. The study is exploratory and strives to establish how and why management has changed. It does so by investigating the underpinning changes in the organisational regime and the different levels of management; the role of the Senior Executive Team, the changing nature of the deanship and the head of school position as a consequence of the merger of departments and the creation of a school structure. Although management in higher education is recognised as having existed for as long as the establishments themselves, the thesis is concerned with the changes in power and authority of academic leaders, the struggle with their ‘lived’ tension between academic leadership or collegiality and managerialism and the implications of this for academic practice. The thesis illustrates that changes in management at Wits demonstrate efforts towards an era of post-managerialism, in this specific case best described as ‘contrived collegial managerialism’. The concept of ‘contrived collegial managerialism’ refers to how the domination of managerial practices from above has altered collegial relations from below. This has resulted in the weakening of academic leadership with profound implications for academic work and practice. Only through strengthened academic leadership at the different levels of university management and primarily school and disciplinary levels, can the university survive the indignities of the increasing corporatisation of its strategies, processes and management practices which constrain the opportunities for meaningful engagement and development of intellectual projects. It is only at disciplinary level, through strengthening the position of heads of department as academic leaders, that collegial relations can be developed and pressure towards upward accountability structures counteracted. Without this, the university risks being consumed by corporate practices at the expense of its unique quality and contribution to society, academic and intellectual advancement.

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