Stakeholder engagement-dialogue is proposed as a method of responding to the sustainable energy challenges facing South Africa. Establishing the renewable energy sector requires constructive engagement including consumers, energy suppliers, regulators and government. The purpose of this research is an attempt to gain a deeper understanding of the stakeholder engagement process - specifically dialogue - being used by government to establish the renewable energy sector. It evaluates the effectiveness of the current dialogue and the role this dialogue can play in establishing the renewable energy sector. Initially, the study analyses the dialogue contained in fifty public domain internet articles on renewable energy. This data is validated by face-to-face interviews with nine stakeholders. The analysis focuses on comparing the dialogue against an acceptable dialogue framework. Evidence from both sets of data suggests that the dialogue, although inclusive and open, lacks tolerance, empowerment and transparency. The study further found that effective dialogue should contain clarity, policies and trust. Moreover, findings from the research indicate that stakeholder dialogue can play a vital role in establishing the renewable energy sector but this dialogue needs to be with relevant stakeholders. This research adds to the existing literature in dialogue in that it proposes three additional dimensions for effective dialogue. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Genetic counselors, along with the National Society of Genetic Counselors, desire evidence-based research and data assessing the value of genetic counseling in genetic service delivery. This pilot study was designed to gather data about genetic counseling outcomes as well as analyze the feasibility of a study looking at new genetic outcome measures in the prenatal setting. Implementation of the methods used for data collection were evaluated by analysis of the appropriateness, acceptability, feasibility, fidelity, and adoption of the research protocol at three sites. We found that there is a hierarchy between implementation outcomes and it may be necessary to satisfy one implementation outcome before the next one can be achieved. We also found that patient engagement is a key component to evaluating the success of methods used for data collection. These findings may be useful to individuals designing future research studies used to measure genetic counseling outcomes.

Wisdom is very difficult to study due to the complexity of defining wisdom outright. Various models propose characteristics of individuals that are perceived as wise but wisdom finds its real application in decision making. People would characterise someone as wise if they believe that the decision made by the person (the manager in this instance) is informed by the values of all stakeholders and have long term validity. With increasing demands placed on managers to make decisions in contexts where various stakeholders and the natural environment have to be taken into consideration, managers have to make increasingly complex decisions. The decision then also has to take into consideration the values, beliefs and needs of the employees. By asking respondents to rate their manager‟s level of wisdom, why they perceive their managers as wise and what constitutes employee engagement in their minds, a relationship between employee engagement and the perception of wisdom can be deduced. The evidence suggests that especially the cognitive and emotional dimensions of employee engagement are correlated with the perception of wisdom of the manager. New models for the measurement of implicit wisdom and employee engagement are proposed. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Increasingly the competitiveness of organisations will depend on the level of service and quality of experience offered by the employees of the organisation. In short, it is the employees within an organisation that define how successful the organisation can be to the market. The opportunity to outperform competitors lies in the ability to innovate quicker, respond faster and better understand the needs of the consumer, in so doing, becoming the organisation that creates the next trend rather than follow it. The key to achieving outstanding performance, driving both bottom-line revenue and sustained growth in the long term is in harnessing the collective knowledge latent within the organisation and freely available just beyond the organisation in the external context. This can only be done through developing a strong Learning Organisational Culture. The impact this has on the organisation is in improving employee engagement providing the catalyst in which employees perform at an optimum, minimising the unproductive cycles of the organisation resulting from employee turnover, lost intellectual capital and general employee apathy. The study provides evidence that Learning Organisation Culture is positively correlated with Employee Engagement. Copyright 2010, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. Please cite as follows: Knox-Davies, B 2010, The extent to which a learning organisation culture influences employee engagement in two service based organisations in the property sector of South Africa, MBA dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-03242012-174550 / > F12/4/208/zw / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

A key-­‐contributing factor for the performance of organisations,specifically in a knowledge worker environment, is organisational energy. Defined as an exhaustible and rechargeable cultural asset; organisations with high levels of productive organisational energy display intense, positive emotions, high attention and strong activity levels that are oriented towards the company’s key strategic goals. This research aims to explicitly model the components and drivers of productive organisational energy. A qualitative investigation was used to develop constructs with which to measure productive organisational energy. These constructs were then used to create a quantitative research tool in order to determine the components and drivers of productive organisational energy. Quantitative data was gathered from 219 knowledge workers from a broad range of business sectors. Factor analysis and multiple regression testing were then used to review and empirically quantify the components and driving factors of productive organisational energy. In sharp contrast to the prevailing literature, the empirical evidence from this study shows that the components of productive organisational energy can be defined in two factors, one specifically focused on the individual and the second focused on the organisational whole. The independent drivers of these components can be broadly divided into five key areas with only three and four statistically significant factors influencing two defined components of productive organisational energy respectively. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

This research is based on the premise that change management implementation is significantly related to employee engagement in post-merged organisations. The relationship between employee engagement and the demographic variables age and length of service, and variable change experience is also explored in the postmerged organisation. The study uses a quantitative design methodology to cover the objectives of the research and to answer the questions relating to the topics of the study. The sample was drawn from a mining industry within the private sector that has undergone a merger in the last five years. The sample for the study was selected using the convenience sampling method. Statistical tools that were used in this study included frequency analysis, measures of central distribution, t-tests, Friedman‟s test, and analysis of variance. The study found high levels of employee engagement in the dimensions emotional commitment and discretionary effort. The responses for the dimension intent to stay were above average while the response for rational commitment remained neutral. A significant difference was found between the levels of emotional commitment between the two merged companies. The extent of change management implemented differed significantly between the two merged companies. With regards to the demographic variables age and length of service and variable organisational change experience, no significant relationship was found with employee engagement. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

This research investigates the use of build-your-own capture the flag ethical hacking simulations to help learners engage and understand penetration testing methodologies. Students in a senior level ungraduated ethical hacking class were tasked with the development of a capture the flag platform that scored participants' progress while exploiting a vulnerable web site. Remediation of the found vulnerabilities was also demonstrated to illustrate secure coding best practices. This work chronicles the development of one of the CTF platforms and the process used to develop it.

Die vorliegende Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit Chancen und Herausforderungen in der Zusammenarbeit zwischen professionellen Sozialarbeiter*innen und ehrenamtlich Engagierten im Bereich der Geflüchtetenarbeit. Dafür wurden insgesamt 12 problemzentrierte Interviews mit Hauptamtlichen geführt. Aus den Aussagen der Befragten wurden dann Faktoren und Rahmenbedingungen herausgearbeitet, die die Zusammenarbeit fördern bzw. erschweren können.:1. Einleitung 2. Ehrenamtliches Engagement 2.1. Definition und Begriffsklärung 2.2. Staatliche Ehrenamts- und Engagementpolitik 2.3. Gesamtgesellschaftliche Bedeutung des Ehrenamts 3. Das Verhältnis von Sozialer Arbeit und Ehrenamt 3.1. Unterschiede und Verzahnung von Haupt- und Ehrenamt 3.2. Potenzielle Spannungsfelder der Zusammenarbeit 3.3. Potenzielle Chancen der Zusammenarbeit 3.4. Rahmenbedingungen guter Zusammenarbeit 4. Haupt- und ehrenamtliche Arbeit mit Geflüchteten 4.1. Geflüchtete in Deutschland 4.2. Soziale Arbeit mit Geflüchteten 4.3. Ehrenamtliches Engagement für Geflüchtete 4.4. Zusammenarbeit von Haupt- und Ehrenamt in der Hilfe für Geflüchtete 5. Zwischenfazit 6. Forschungsfrage und Vorannahmen 7. Beschreibung und Begründung der empirischen Methodik 7.1. Zielgruppe und Feldzugang 7.2. Problemzentriertes Interview (PZI) 7.3. Leitfadenkonstruktion 7.4. Pilotphase 7.5. Interviewdurchführung und Aufzeichnung 7.6. Soziodemografischer Fragebogen, Postskript und Transkription 7.7. Auswertungsmethode 8. Durchführung der empirischen Erhebung 8.1. Leitfadenkonstruktion 8.2. Pilotphase 8.3. Hauptstudie 9. Zentrale Ergebnisse 9.1. Bedeutung und Bewertung des ehrenamtlichen Engagements 9.2. Formen der Zusammenarbeit 9.3. Konflikte und Konfliktgründe 9.4. Beispiele und Faktoren erfolgreicher Zusammenarbeit 10. Diskussion der Ergebnisse 11. Fazit 12. Literaturverzeichnis 13. Anhang

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Las redes sociales ha permitido una nueva forma de comunicarnos y expresarnos con la marca a través de las interacciones y por el contenido generado por los usuarios conocido como co-creacion de valor. Además, ambas acciones que permiten interactuar en estas plataformas da a conocer la fidelización que tienen los usurarios generando Engagement a las marcas y esto se e basa en la experiencia del usuario con equipos tecnológicos que permite a los usuarios interactuar, generar y agregar contenido en sus redes. Es por ello que, las redes sociales permite entablar una relación bi-direccional entre el usuario y la marca, siendo así, una comunicación horizontal donde ambas partes tienen una comunicación activa y para que se logre el diálogo con las marcas es clave que desarrollen contenidos con información relevantes, dinámicos y en tiempo preciso. Esto permite que los usuarios conozcan a la marca en base a las publicaciones de sus experiencias de otros consumidores y la marca puede identificar diversas necesidades de los usuarios y de ese modo crear diversas acciones para el beneficio de la marca, el cual, puede permitir aumentar la ventas, crear conocimiento de marca y fidelizar a los usuarios. En la actualidad. es importante tener diversos canales de comunicación en redes sociales que sean confiables y que promuevan positivamente la marca, lo cual permite reforzar la identidad y crear un vínculo digital con la comunidad. Así mismo, se puede obtener win to win porque fideliza a los usuarios convirtiéndose en comunicadores de la marca y beneficia a la marca a conocer las necesidades e inquietudes y así mejorar a futuro. / Social media has enabled a new way of communicating and communicating with the brand through interactions and by user-generated content known as value co-creation. In addition, the actions that allow interaction on these platforms publicize the loyalty that users have in generating Engagement to brands and this is based on the user experience with technological equipment that allows users to interact, generate and add content on their networks. . That is why, social networks allow to establish a bi-directional relationship between the user and the brand, thus, a horizontal communication where both parties have active communication and for the dialogue with brands to be registered, it is key that they develop content with relevant information, dynamic and in precise time. This allows users to get to know the brand based on the publications of their experiences of other users and the brand can identify different needs of the users and in this way create different actions for the benefit of the brand, which, can allow to increase the sale, create brand awareness and build customer loyalty. Nowadays. It is important to have various communication channels in social networks that are reliable and that positively promote the brand, which allows identity and creates a digital link with the community. Likewise, you can get win to win because loyalty to users by becoming brand communicators and beneficiaries of the brand to meet the needs and concerns and thus improve a future. / Trabajo de investigación