Thesis (M.B.A. (Rhodes Investec Business School)) - Rhodes University, 2009. / A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Administration (MBA)

Thesis (M.Ed.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1997. / Bibliography: leaves [122-125].

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Cornell University, 1995. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 236-248).

This exploratory study examined the impact of company-provided training on the turnover rate of full-time leasing consultants in the apartment management industry. A national survey was conducted using the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM) directory of Accredited Management Organization (AMO) companies.The survey was mailed to the 419 AMO companies that employ leasing consultants. with a response rate of 69 surveys. A statistically significant correlation was shown between the True Turnover Rate and the provision of education for leasing consultants. The three significant variables that appeared to reduce turnover included 1) tuition reimbursement at up to 50%, 2) tuition reimbursement at 51%-100%, and 3) number of hours of training per year provided. Other trends were found in this exploratory study. / Department of Family and Consumer Sciences

The purpose of this research is to determine the role of employees' psychological contract in the successful implementation of management tactics and achieving optimum work performance. The concept of the psychological contract was first introduced by Argyris in 1960, in reference to the employer and employee expectations of the employment relationship (Smithson and Lewis, 2003). Recent research in the United Kingdom has revived the concept, with particular focus on how the psychological contract affects employee attitude or how it may be affected by employer actions. The perceived breach of psychological contracts, for example, may be linked to job satisfaction or staff retention. Research on the topic in a South African context is limited. The purpose of this research is to apply the concept to the South African context and to specifically determine how it impacts on strategy implementation through management tactics, as well as work performance. Furthermore the influence of factors such as gender, ethnicity and relative age will be investigated. Research will be conducted amongst employees of Engen Refinery, located in Durban, South Africa. It is expected that this study will add value to the body of knowledge in this field as well as benefit the company by identifying how an understanding of employees' psychological contracts is relevant to the implementation of tactics and achieving optimum work performance. Questionnaires will be administered to employees. A focus group discussion will be held with 5 employees. Two psychologists and one psychometrist will be interviewed. Two employees, who are also middle managers will be interviewed. Research findings indicate that the psychological contract of employees has a direct influence on the successful implementation of management tactics and optimising work performance at the Engen Refinery. Employees favour a relational psychological contract. It follows that meeting the relational needs of employees would result in an improvement in the successful implementation of tactics and work performance. Positive interpersonal relationships based on trust, respect and open communication minimise gaps in psychological contracts and reduce the degree of assumption with regard to mutual expectations. This has the effect of reducing feelings of inequity, which, based on equity theory, improves commitment and work performance and reduces perceptions of psychological contract violation. Recognition, and the application of behaviour modification theory, may be practically applied where a relational psychological contract is favoured, in order to influence the transactional aspects of the contract. While gender and age do not appear to influence how the psychological contract affects the implementation of tactics and work performance optimisation, ethnicity does, in the particular context of Employment Equity which is peculiar to South Africa. Research findings indicate that the concept of the psychological contract is relevant to improving the work environment, and can be used to effect change in order to enhance the successful execution of strategy and optimise employee work performance. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2005.

Thesis (M.S.C.I.T.)--Regis University, Denver, Colo., 2009. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Jul. 26, 2010). Includes bibliographical references.

The thesis focuses on the current corporate culture in selected enterprises. It concerns two midsize enterprises focused on beer and malt. The main objective is to evaluate the level of the existing corporate culture of both companies. The partial target is to asses and to compare the corporate culture of selected companies on the basis of the analysis, as well as to find imperfections and to suggest possible remedy. The paper also describes the importance of corporate culture for strategic management. The theoretical part summarizes the findings regarding the corporate culture. The thesis also includes characteristics of the enterprise. The analytical part is prepared on the basis of a questionnaire survey in selected enterprises; it describes the selected sample and the findings. The employees are not satisfied with staff benefits and internal communication. The final part summarizes the findings of the survey and the recommendations for improvement of identified weaknesses.

The purpose of this study was to examine the availability, credentials, and qualifications of nutrition providers for Division IA intercollegiate athletic programs that have competitive women's gymnastics, women's swimming and women's cross country, or a combination of two of these sports. It was also the purpose of the study to identify if relationships exists between demographic factors and 1). The employer of the nutrition provider, 2) the title of the nutrition provider and 3) the availability of nutrition education.Surveys were sent to 161 Division IA Athletic Directors. The institutions selected in the study have competitive women's gymnastics, women's swimming and women's cross country, or a combination of tow of these sports. The National Directory of College Athletics was used for selection of the universities participating in this study. A 69% return rate was achieved and all surveys were deemed useable. / Department of Family and Consumer Sciences

A call taker is the first point of contact in the emergency service system and thus the interface between the caller and ambulance dispatch. Misunderstandings in an emergency call have implications for the survival of patients. Using an applied conversation analytic approach this study examined participants’ use of conversational repair as an interactional strategy. Data included 101 calls from a South African emergency medical services call centre. The data set was comprised of two distinct subsets, namely: the 107 and public corpora. The 107 corpus (53 calls) contained calls from a general emergency call centre. The 107 caller thus served as a mediating party on behalf of the public caller. The public corpus (48 calls) comprised calls received directly from members of the public. The data subsets afforded a unique opportunity to analyse ways in which participants to an emergency call manage asymmetries of knowledge. Differential patterns of the type and purpose of repair were tracked across both data sets and similarities and differences were explored. Both data sets showed that participants’ choice of interactional strategies was customized based on an ongoing assessment of knowledge asymmetries. However, whilst knowledge asymmetries posed some constraints an overriding interactional constraint, inherent within the institutional nature of the emergency call, was a rigid adherence to routinized protocols. The call taker’s dilemma was thus identified as the management of these constraints through the frequent use of conversational repair. Although a level of responsiveness is required to glean quality information from callers, high volumes of emergency calls would not be possible without routinized protocols. However, increased orientation to routinized protocols led to a decreased orientation to responsiveness. This research therefore showed that knowledge symmetry is not necessarily more advantageous but that successful call trajectory is reliant on the call taker’s ability to maximize the collaborative nature of the interaction and effectively negotiate through the judicious use of repair and other relevant interactional strategies. This has important implications for call taker training.

Some leadership styles can produce job dissatisfaction, resulting in labor turnover and financial loss to organizations. Despite these known consequences, there is a lack of research on the perceptions of leadership styles on job satisfaction for hourly wageworkers. This phenomenological study was used to understand the experiences of non-management employees on how management leadership styles affected their job satisfaction. Bass's leadership theory, Herzberg's dual factor theory, and Maslow's hierarchy of needs guided this study. The primary research questions were used to explore themes in leadership styles affecting selected North Carolina employees in the workplace. Data collection included in-depth interviews with 25 hourly wageworkers who completed at least one annual performance discussion with their first-line supervisor. Utilizing Moustakas' modified van Kaam method of data analysis, 4 primary themes emerged: (a) perceptions of 3 leadership styles, (b) insights on job satisfaction, (c) observations of leader behaviors, and (d) leadership agility. The 4 primary themes and 18 subthemes indicated that participants perceived more positive experiences with transformational leaders than they did with transactional or laissez-faire leaders. The findings are important for first-line supervisors in the fields of business, finance, and education to develop strategies that may maximize positive experiences with leadership styles that will create and improve overall job satisfaction. Social change implications, given the findings, include supervisors' increased awareness of how the 3 leadership styles could provide more favorable experiences for hourly wageworkers.