Employees are important endorsers and gatekeepers to authentic conversations brands want to have with their consumers. This research focuses on predictors of employee endorsement. The purpose of the study was to investigate how internal marketing, internal engagement and perceived external prestige influence employees’ propensity to engage in positive word-of-mouth conversations about their company’s brands to their families, friends and close networks. Although the concept of word-ofmouth has received a lot of attention from researchers and practitioners alike, few studies have focused on the perspective of the initiator of word-of-mouth conversations, especially if the sender is employed by the brand being endorsed. From the literature reviewed an endorsement model was developed testing relationships between the constructs of (independent) internal marketing, internal engagement prestige and (moderating) perceived external prestige with (dependent) employee endorsement. A quantitative study was conducted through an email-based survey for which data from 156 employees from a South African bank was used to test hypotheses. A moderated regression was applied to establish the model fit to the data collected. The results of the model confirm that internal marketing and internal engagement are important predictors of employee endorsement. Although an organisation’s external prestige is theoretically important to employees, data reveals that the variable does not have a significant bearing on the relationships between internal marketing and internal engagement with employee endorsement. These findings are relevant for businesses seeking to leverage their employee potential not only in strengthening their branded services when servicing customers also growing their client base with an engaged customer base emanating from authentic trust relationships. / Dissertation(MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / zkgibs2015 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

As empresas utilizam vários tipos de recursos tais como matérias primas, insumos, recursos humanos e recursos financeiros para gerar seu portfólio de produtos e/ou serviços. No último século os gestores das empresas desenvolveram práticas e ferramentas de gerenciamento para maximizar os resultados decorrentes da aplicação destes recursos. Nas últimas duas décadas o conhecimento passou a ser considerado mais um dos recursos a serem geridos e aplicados pelas empresas para alcançar diferenciais competitivos frente aos seus concorrentes. Por ser um recurso intangível com características diferentes dos demais recursos, várias práticas e ferramentas específicas foram desenvolvidas com o objetivo de explorar ao máximo os resultados do uso do conhecimento nas empresas. Esta tese teve como objetivo identificar e especificar as práticas de gestão do conhecimento e as ferramentas de tecnologia da informação e comunicação empregadas em empresas instaladas na indústria de software no Brasil, incluindo aquelas que são utilizadas por teletrabalhadores. Buscou ainda identificar e especificar se há diferença na utilização dessas práticas e ferramentas em ambientes de teletrabalho, além de verificar as influências da gestão do conhecimento na eficácia empresarial dessas mesmas empresas. Para tanto, como método de pesquisa foi realizado um estudo descritivo-quantitativo junto a 319 funcionários de 15 diferentes empresas de médio e grande portes integrantes da indústria de software do país. Os dados coletados foram tratados por meio de análises estatísticas descritivas e da modelagem de equações estruturais, mediante o emprego dos aplicativos SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) e PLS-PM (Partial Least Squares Path Modeling). Os resultados encontrados permitem concluir que: a) as práticas de gestão do conhecimento mais utilizadas nas empresas pesquisadas são: reuniões e conferências virtuais, treinamentos virtuais, treinamentos presenciais, e-learning, call center/help desk/suporte online, portal corporativo, biblioteca corporativa, sistema de avaliação, centros de inovação, mapeamento de processos e gestão da inovação; b) as ferramentas de tecnologia da informação e comunicação voltadas à gestão do conhecimento mais empregadas nas empresas analisadas são: e-mail, telefone via internet, telefone celular/rádio, intranet; servidores web e navegadores, telefone fixo, mensagens instantâneas, portal corporativo e treinamento baseado em computador; c) as práticas e ferramentas de tecnologia da informação e comunicação empregadas na gestão do conhecimento são mais usadas em ambientes de teletrabalho do que em ambientes de trabalho presencial e, por fim; d) as práticas e ferramentas de tecnologia da informação e comunicação voltadas à gestão do conhecimento influenciam a eficácia empresarial das empresas examinadas, com prevalência das práticas sobre as ferramentas. A conclusão é que as práticas e ferramentas empregadas na gestão do conhecimento são mais utilizadas em ambientes de teletrabalho e que a gestão do conhecimento em si influencia a eficácia empresarial das empresas. / The companies use some types of resources such as raw material, human resources and financial resources to generate its set of products and/or services. In the last century the managers of the companies had developed management practices and tools to maximize the decurrent results of the application of these resources. In last the two decades the knowledge became to be considered another one of the resources to be managed and applied by companies in order to reach competitive differentials comparing to its competitors. As the knowledge is an intangible resource with different characteristics comparing to other resources, several specific practices and tools had been developed in order to better explore the results of the use of the knowledge in the companies. This thesis proposed to identify and specify the knowledge managements practices and information and communication technology tools used in companies of Brazils software industry. It also attempted to identify and specify if theres a difference in the use of these practices and tools in teleworking or face to face working environments, besides verifying the influences of knowledge management in these companies organizational effectiveness. Because of this, a quantitative-descriptive research was conducted with the application of a questionnaire with 319 employees of 15 different midsize and large companies that operate in the countrys software industry. The collected data were dealt by descriptive statistics analysis and structural equations shaping, by the use of SPSS application (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) and PLS-PM (Partial Least Squares Path Modeling). The results show that it is possible to identify: a) the most used practices of knowledge management in the researched companies are: meetings and virtual conferences, virtual training, face to face training, e-learning, call center/help desk/online support, corporative gateway, corporative library, evaluation system, innovation centers, process mapping and innovation management; b) the most used information and communication technology tools turned to knowledge management in the analyzed companies are: email, web phone calling, cell phone/radio, intranet, browsers and web servers, landline phone, instant messaging, corporative gateway and computer based training; c) the practices and information and communication technology tools used in knowledge management are more used in teleworking environment than in face to face working environment, and finally; d) the practices and information and communication technology tools turned to knowledge management influence the organizational effectiveness of the surveyed companies, with more influence of the practices than the tools. The conclusion is that the practices and tools used in knowledge management are more used in telework environment and that knowledge management influences the companies organizational effectiveness.

Situational leadership -- Management coaching -- Leadership principles.

No description available.

In the last three decades, strategic management scholars have explored the organization’s need to reconfigure its capabilities to leverage opportunities in a changing environment. The first objective of this study was to identify the underlying elements of the managerial processes of dynamic capabilities, and to offer a reconceptualization of the dynamic capabilities construct. The second objective of this investigation was to determine how the reconceptualized dynamic capabilities construct could influence the alignment of ordinary capabilities. Findings from this investigation indicate that organizational processes and managerial processes are unique components of dynamic capabilities. In addition, these organizational processes were found to be significantly and positively correlated with the alignment of ordinary capabilities. Furthermore, managerial processes were found to moderate the relationship between organizational processes and one type of ordinary capability alignment (i.e. innovation-operations capability alignment). Taken together, the findings of this study support the notion that dynamic capabilities are context specific, and that understanding how they influence the organization’s ability to change is complex. The developments and findings in this study offer a reconceptualized and empirically tested framework for the capability alignment process, thereby providing a more comprehensive picture of the underlying processes.

Five models for designing work teams from the Work Group Design Measure (Campion & Medsker, 1992b) and the models7 relationships to effectiveness criteria were compared using 30 self-directed work teams (SDWTs) in a manufacturing/production setting of a large defense contractor. The models which are from social psychology, socio-technical systems theory, industrial engineering, and organizational psychology include Job Design, Composition, Context/Resources, Potency/Interdependence, and Process. The study also examined distinguishing demographics, team characteristics, and interpersonal processes within the teams that differentiate higher performing teams and/or teams with higher job satisfaction. Effectiveness criteria were performance and job satisfaction. Among the findings, four of the five team design models (i.e., excluding the Composition Model), and the team-oriented interpersonal group processes correlated with performance and SDWT member job satisfaction.

In the post-industrial society, career management has become vitally important for assisting workers to be employable. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between career anchors and employability. The effort of researching these concepts is geared towards adding to the knowledge base in the field of Industrial and Organisational Psychology, so that the current organisation from which the sample was chosen and other organisations in South Africa can adopt a strong career management culture. A quantitative survey using primary data was conducted on a convenience sample (N=108) of full-time employees in a South African financial company. The Career Anchors Inventory (COI) and the Employability Attribute Scale (EAS) were used to gather data. The study found a statistically significant positive relationship between career anchors and employability. In addition, there were significant correlations between the sub-constructs of career anchors and employability, while significant differences in career anchor preferences and employability perceptions between males and females emerged. The only differences in career anchor preferences were detected between racial and age groups. The results indicate a mutual and positive relationship between career anchors and employability, which can be useful in career guidance in the 21st century. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.A. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

The literature clearly indicates that service organizations are lagging behind their manufacturing counterparts in terms of the effective deployment of total quality management (TQM) practices aimed at achieving operational and strategic objectives. The objective of this study is to shed some light on the current TQM practices of service organizations. In general, the results of this study appear to confirm the reported literature findings concerning outcomes and benefits of effective TQM implementation. More importantly, the results underscore the differences in TQM implementation practices and benefits due to some industry-specific factors. The lack of commitment to TQM implementation on the part of high percentage of the surveyed service organizations in this study is alarming.

The research adopts the technological affordance approach and the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to examine the role of enterprise social media (ESM) in employee communication and its effects on employees in the context of mainland China. The research postulated that organizations can actualize affordances of ESM to influence employees' cognitive perceptions of ESM (i.e., attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control) that further affect their ESM use intention and relationships with organizations (i.e., employee-organization relationships; EORs). Using a mixed-methods approach to examine Enterprise WeChat (EWeChat), the research interviewed 36 participants to explore organizational actions of EWeChat affordance actualization and employee perceptions about EWeChat use in mainland China. An online survey with 427 mainland Chinese employees adopting EWeChat was conducted to investigate the role of ESM affordance actualization in forming the employees' intention to continuously use EWeChat, as well as in cultivating their EORs through their attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and habits of EWeChat use. Key results of the research include the following. Thirteen EWeChat affordances and means of actualization (i.e., association, control, diversity, feedback, outeraction, perpetual contact, persistence, personalization, portability, privacy, social presence, synchronicity, and visibility) for specific organizational goals were identified. The influence of EWeChat affordance actualization on employees' intention to continuously use EWeChat was mediated by their perceived benefits and risks of EWeChat use. The utilitarian benefit, hedonic benefit, avoidance of work-life conflicts, social concerns, privacy concerns, and perceived behavioral control were positive indicators of the continuous EWeChat-use intention, while performance risk was a negative indicator. The effects of affordance actualization on EORs were partially mediated by employees' perceived utilitarian benefit and perceived professional image related to EWeChat use. The research extends the TPB to predict ESM use in Chinese workplaces. It explicates ESM affordance actualization as the interaction between ESM and organization (actor 1), and also between ESM and employees (actor 2). It also evidences that ESM can be used as a relationship cultivation tool. The research sheds light on how organizations in mainland China can effectively configure their ESM to maximize the efficacy and relational outcomes of its mobile application in employee communication

The research adopts the technological affordance approach and the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to examine the role of enterprise social media (ESM) in employee communication and its effects on employees in the context of mainland China. The research postulated that organizations can actualize affordances of ESM to influence employees' cognitive perceptions of ESM (i.e., attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control) that further affect their ESM use intention and relationships with organizations (i.e., employee-organization relationships; EORs). Using a mixed-methods approach to examine Enterprise WeChat (EWeChat), the research interviewed 36 participants to explore organizational actions of EWeChat affordance actualization and employee perceptions about EWeChat use in mainland China. An online survey with 427 mainland Chinese employees adopting EWeChat was conducted to investigate the role of ESM affordance actualization in forming the employees' intention to continuously use EWeChat, as well as in cultivating their EORs through their attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and habits of EWeChat use. Key results of the research include the following. Thirteen EWeChat affordances and means of actualization (i.e., association, control, diversity, feedback, outeraction, perpetual contact, persistence, personalization, portability, privacy, social presence, synchronicity, and visibility) for specific organizational goals were identified. The influence of EWeChat affordance actualization on employees' intention to continuously use EWeChat was mediated by their perceived benefits and risks of EWeChat use. The utilitarian benefit, hedonic benefit, avoidance of work-life conflicts, social concerns, privacy concerns, and perceived behavioral control were positive indicators of the continuous EWeChat-use intention, while performance risk was a negative indicator. The effects of affordance actualization on EORs were partially mediated by employees' perceived utilitarian benefit and perceived professional image related to EWeChat use. The research extends the TPB to predict ESM use in Chinese workplaces. It explicates ESM affordance actualization as the interaction between ESM and organization (actor 1), and also between ESM and employees (actor 2). It also evidences that ESM can be used as a relationship cultivation tool. The research sheds light on how organizations in mainland China can effectively configure their ESM to maximize the efficacy and relational outcomes of its mobile application in employee communication