Thesis (MBA (Business Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2008. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The study identifies the problem of job mobility among black managers in corporate South Africa, which is due to various factors explored in this research. The central theme of this research is to highlight the major challenges faced by black managers in the corporate sector to upward mobility. An extensive review of the literature, including legislation, textbooks, journal articles, internet and existing case studies has been conducted. A questionnaire survey of black managers who were members of the Black Management Forum was conducted with a view to gaining insight regarding key issues faced by black managers in corporate South Africa. Black managers surveyed came from different sectors of the economy, operating at different levels of management, from junior to top management. The results from the survey were analysed, and showed that black managers do not get proper organizational support, training and development to enable them to perform their duties and reach their maximum potential. Other issues from the survey findings include racial discrimination, lack of mentorship and support from top management, marginalization, tokenism, lack of career planning. These all present major challenges facing black managers seeking upward mobility in the workplace. Several recommendations are made on how to reduce the negative impact for both organisations and black managers caused by job-hopping resulting from these obstacles faced by black managers in the workplace. These include creating a working environment that is inclusive, where every employee feels recognised and valued for his or her efforts. Furthermore, it is recommended that organizations promote an environment that embraces diversity of cultures, where all employees are treated equally and fairly with due regard to their constitutional rights to equality and dignity. The author also suggests that organizational core values must reject unfair discrimination and promote tolerance of the different cultures and behaviours that exist within the organisation. It is further suggested that for these recommendations to work in practice, transformation must be a primary objective of the organisation. This must be accompanied by a change of mindsets and attitudes, and supported by management. AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die huidige studie identifiseer die probleem van werk mobiliteit van swart bestuurders in korporatiewe Suid-Afrika. Verskeie faktore wat lei tot die probleem word in die studie ondersoek. Die sentrale tema van die studie is om die hoof uitdagings wat mobilitiet van swart bestuurders in die korporatiewe sektor in die gesig staar te ondersoek. ‘n Omvattende literatuurstudie is onderneem en wetgewing, handboeke, joernaal artikels, die internet en bestaande gevallestudies is geraadpleeg. ‘n Vraelys is gebruik as metode vir die studie. Swart bestuurders wat lede is van die Swart Bestuursforum is gebruik vir die studie, met die doel om hulle insig oor belangrike sake wat swart bestuurders in korporatiewe Suid Afrika in die gesig staar. The swart bestuurders wat gebruik is vir die studie kom van verskeie sektore in die ekonomie. Hulle werk op verskillende vlakke wat strek van junior tot topbestuur. Die resultate van die studie is geanaliseer en het gewys dat swart bestuurders nie ordentlike organistoriese ondersteuning, opleiding en ontwikkeling ontvang om hulle pligte te verrig en hulle volle potensiaal te bereik nie. Ander kwessies geidentifiseer gedurende die studie is rasse diskriminasie, gebrek aan mentorskap en ondersteuning van topbestuur, marginalisme, oëverblindery en gebrek aan loopbaanbeplanning. Verskeie aanbevelings word gemaak oor hoe om die negatiewe impak van die rondbeweeg van swart bestuurders binne organisasies te verminder. Die aanbevelings sluit in die bewerkstelling van ‘n werksomgewing wat inklusief is, en waar elke werknemer voel dat hulle word erken en gewaardeer vir sy ywer. Dit word verder aanbeveel dat organisasies ‘n omgewing wat diversiteit van kulture insluit en bevorder, en waar werknemers regverdig en gelyk gehanteer word, met behoorlike oorweging aan hulle konstitusionele regte tot gelykheid en waardigheid. Die navorser beveel ook aan dat organisasies se kernwaardes moet onder geen omstandighede onbillike diskriminasie duld nie en moet die verdraagsaamheid van verskillende kulture en gedrag wat in die organisasie bestaan bevorder. Dit word verder aangeraai dat vir die aanbevelings om in die praktyk te werk moet transformasie ’n primere objektief wees wat gepaard moet gaan met ‘n verandering in gemoed en houding en ‘n algehele ondersteuning deur bestuur. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die huidige studie identifiseer die probleem van werk mobiliteit van swart bestuurders in korporatiewe Suid-Afrika. Verskeie faktore wat lei tot die probleem word in die studie ondersoek. Die sentrale tema van die studie is om die hoof uitdagings wat mobilitiet van swart bestuurders in die korporatiewe sektor in die gesig staar te ondersoek. ‘n Omvattende literatuurstudie is onderneem en wetgewing, handboeke, joernaal artikels, die internet en bestaande gevallestudies is geraadpleeg. ‘n Vraelys is gebruik as metode vir die studie. Swart bestuurders wat lede is van die Swart Bestuursforum is gebruik vir die studie, met die doel om hulle insig oor belangrike sake wat swart bestuurders in korporatiewe Suid Afrika in die gesig staar. The swart bestuurders wat gebruik is vir die studie kom van verskeie sektore in die ekonomie. Hulle werk op verskillende vlakke wat strek van junior tot topbestuur. Die resultate van die studie is geanaliseer en het gewys dat swart bestuurders nie ordentlike organistoriese ondersteuning, opleiding en ontwikkeling ontvang om hulle pligte te verrig en hulle volle potensiaal te bereik nie. Ander kwessies geidentifiseer gedurende die studie is rasse diskriminasie, gebrek aan mentorskap en ondersteuning van topbestuur, marginalisme, oëverblindery en gebrek aan loopbaanbeplanning. Verskeie aanbevelings word gemaak oor hoe om die negatiewe impak van die rondbeweeg van swart bestuurders binne organisasies te verminder. Die aanbevelings sluit in die bewerkstelling van ‘n werksomgewing wat inklusief is, en waar elke werknemer voel dat hulle word erken en gewaardeer vir sy ywer. Dit word verder aanbeveel dat organisasies ‘n omgewing wat diversiteit van kulture insluit en bevorder, en waar werknemers regverdig en gelyk gehanteer word, met behoorlike oorweging aan hulle konstitusionele regte tot gelykheid en waardigheid. Die navorser beveel ook aan dat organisasies se kernwaardes moet onder geen omstandighede onbillike diskriminasie duld nie en moet die verdraagsaamheid van verskillende kulture en gedrag wat in die organisasie bestaan bevorder. Dit word verder aangeraai dat vir die aanbevelings om in die praktyk te werk moet transformasie ’n primere objektief wees wat gepaard moet gaan met ‘n verandering in gemoed en houding en ‘n algehele ondersteuning deur bestuur.

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of Government and Public Administration

Can pay-for-performance increase the motivation of public employees? By providing a basis for personnel decisions, particularly linking rewards to performance, performance appraisals aim to increase employees' work motivation and ultimately to improve their work performance and organizational productivity. With the emphasis on results-oriented management, performance appraisals have become a key managerial tool in the public sector. Critics charge, however, that pay-for-performance is ineffective in the public sector, largely because the link between performance and rewards is weak. However, no one has empirically measured the strength of the linkage. If performance ratings do have an impact on career success in the federal service, they might contribute to race and gender inequality. Although many studies have examined factors affecting gender and racial differences in career success, studies that try to connect gender and racial inequalities to managerial tools are scarce. Using a one percent sample of federal personnel records, the first essay examines the impact of performance ratings on salary increases and promotion probabilities, and the second essay explores whether women and minorities receive lower ratings than comparable white males, and women and minorities receive lower returns on the same level of performance ratings than comparable white males. The first essay finds that performance ratings have only limited impact on salary increases, but that they significantly affect promotion probability. Thus, the argument that performance-rewards link is weak could be partially correct, if it considers only pay-performance relationships. The second essay finds that women receive equal or higher performance ratings than comparable white men, but some minority male groups, particularly black men, tend to receive lower ratings than comparable white men. On the other hand, the returns on outstanding ratings do not differ between women and minority male groups and white men, though women groups seem to have disadvantages in promotion with the same higher ratings as comparable men in highly male-dominant occupations.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

This research focuses on the experiences of Africans within the management ranks in South African organisations in the private sector. It examines progress (successes and failures) in the implementation of affirmative action programmes. The research further examines power as a concomitant of the managerial role. It argues that the approach that uses the notion of socio-psychological barriers directed to the individual aspirant may be incomplete in explaining lack of mobility if it fails to account for the broader power dynamics and structures within South African organisations. Furthermore, it explores attributes of individual managers as well as those of organisations in order to establish the fit between the individual and the organisation, looks at practices that are often associated with affirmative action programmes and describes empirically the experiences of black managers in such settings. The research concludes that in the absence of programmes that enable aspirant executives to empower themselves psychologically for upward mobility, affirmative action programmes may not be sustainable. The underlying assumption of this research is that the historical legacy which subjected Africans to an official policy of discrimination for decades impeded their upward mobility in the labour market, thus enabling the white labour force to occupy a position of privilege in the private sector. In such settings white managers are confronted with the role of implementing affirmative action programmes which pose a threat to the privileges they have grown accumstomed to. White managers are thus perceived by their black counterparts as reluctant agents of change. The research is guided by the hypotheses that where blacks in managerial positions perceive themselves as being unable to influence organisational decisions, or as having no control over resources, people and information, they would feel that affirmative action is disempowering. To obtain the required information a structured interview schedule with both open ended and closed-ended questions was used. Questions tapped the perceptions of black managers regarding their empowerment in employing organisations. Face-to-face interviews with 100 black managers from the private sector were conducted by the author. The resultant data was captured on a computer data base and then subjected to various forms of statistical analyses. The main predictor of feelings of empowerment was found to be the manager's centrality in decision-making processes. It was also found that positive relationships with superiors and colleagues influenced feelings of empowerment, as did membership of corporate clubs. Job rank was positively related to relationships with superiors and colleagues. It was also found that affirmative action environments presented this group with some contradictions: they advanced much slower than their white colleagues, and supervised largely, or only blacks, and/or are in specialist positions with no budgetary control. Organisational climate factors (negative attitudes and unfair promotional practices) were still perceived to be in place. Educational qualifications were not found to be good predictors of empowerment. The findings suggest that affirmative action programmes need to take the heterogeneity of managers into account. Management must show that managing diversity is crucial to their productivity and competitiveness. It is also important for such programmes to examine the format of corporate clubs, and consider altering them to accommodate the social reality of black managers. Lastly, a fundamental transformation of power relations is necessary so that decision-makers operate from more or less the same level of power. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1996.

La crise économique du début des années 90 a profondément modifié le système de distribution français. La montée en puissance des "hard discounters", conjuguée au très fort développement des produits "premiers prix", a eu pour conséquence majeure d'intensifier la concurrence entre marques nationales et marques de distributeurs. Cette dernière s'est encore trouvée accrue par une utilisation de plus en plus fréquente de la promotion par ces deux groupes de marques. Jusqu'à présent, la grande majorité des recherches sur la promotion des ventes a été effectuée au niveau de la référence, ou de la marque. Or les distributeurs gèrent des catégories de produits dont l'assortiment se compose aujourd'hui de trois grands groupes - les marques nationales, les marques de distributeurs et les premiers prix - groupes de marques qui présentent des intérêts et problématiques différenciés. Les distributeurs sont donc intéressés, en priorité, dans l'analyse des promotions, par les effets qu'elles peuvent avoir sur les ventes totales de la catégorie et sur sa structure concurrentielle. Nous développons, dans cette thèse, un outil méthodologique qui a pour objectif de mesurer les effets promotionnels à des niveaux d'analyse agrégés: la catégorie de produits et le groupe de marques (marques nationales, marques de distributeurs, ou premiers prix) .. Cet outil permet d'analyser les effets à court terme d'une promotion particulièrement importante - la mise en avant - sur : 1- les ventes totales de la catégorie de produits, 2- les rapports concurrentiels entre les groupes de marques qui la constituent et, plus spécifiquement, entre les marques nationales et les marques de distributeurs. Grâce à cet outil, nous sommes en mesure d'apporter, pour chaque catégorie de produits étudiée, des réponses aux questions suivantes : 1- les mises en avant augmentent-elles les ventes totales de la catégorie? 2- ces augmentations, si elles existent, sont-elles différentes suivant le groupe de marques promu? 3- les mises en avant constituent-elles des outils efficaces pour modifier la structure concurrentielle intra-catégorie entre marques nationales et marques de distributeurs ? 4- les effets entre les deux groupes sont-ils asymétriques, comme le suggère la théorie des niveaux de prix de Blattberg et Wisniewski (1989) ? Cette méthodologie permet en outre de confirmer que les effets promotionnels varient de catégorie à catégorie et d'enseigne à enseigne.

The aim of the study was to investigate the implications of the intersectionality of gender, race and class on the career progress of women in corporate South Africa and Zimbabwe in order to create a theoretical framework of the factors that can influence women career experiences. The research problem statement was derived from the continued underrepresentation of women in leadership positions shown in global annual reports despite undisputed research on the necessity for gender diversity in management teams. The key study objective was to investigate how the intersections of gender, race and class have contributed to career experiences of women in senior and executive leadership positions in corporate South Africa and Zimbabwe. The detailed objectives included: (i) Exploring the impact of authorisation processes and dynamics on the career journeys of women (i.e., study participants), (ii) Understanding the internal influences (meaning the woman herself, her confidence, self-esteem, interpersonal skills etc.) and their impact on the career journeys of women, (iii) Exploring the systemic influences and their impact on or contribution to the career journeys of women and, (iv) Creating a holistic theoretical framework that explores the career “twists and turns” that women have to navigate and proposes how they can do so, thus enabling the creation of retention strategies for women in corporates. The research questions formulated to unpack the research problem and study objectives were as follows: (i) How do gender, race and class simultaneously impact the experiences and career progression of women? (ii) How do organisations authorise or fail to authorise women in leadership positions? (iii) How do personal and internal factors influence the career journeys of women leaders? and lastly (iv) How do systemic and/or organisational factors impact the career experiences of women leaders? Methodology: Qualitative data was gathered through semi-structured interviews from a total of 18 participants (i.e., 12 South African and 6 Zimbabwean women in positions ranging from junior manager to chief executive officer) selected using a combination of purposeful and snowballing sampling techniques. The main study findings showed that gender, race and class intersect on the career starting points of the working class African, Coloured and Indian women, and that race plays the bigger role in career progression in South Africa, while in Zimbabwe, gender is the bigger challenge. The study outcomes resulted in the development of a theoretical framework that women could use as a reference to navigate the workplace. The study limitations are that it focused only on three primary identities. The study will significantly contribute to a better understanding of the experiences of African women in management and could potentially advance the debate on race and gender transformation premised on lived experiences of women. It also confronts the issues of sexual harassment and intergenerational dynamics in the workplace. In addition, several recommendations are made for future research. / Business Management / D.B.L.

My thesis deals with the problems of the Fair Trade business not only on the market of the European Union but it deals with these problems on the market of the Czech republic. The preface deals with the question {\clqq} why did I choose this theme``. The Fair Trade is good exaple and hits off the subjekt of my work. The second part of my thesis is concentrated on the importance and the function of the business from the theoretical standpoint. First of all I define advantages of business and then I put it together with the determinated functions from the economic aspects.The third part of my thesis describes methods, that was used to achieve the determination aims of my thesis.I determined the social {--} economic function and the consequence of the Fair Trade business. The fourth part is the analytical part of my thesis. There is the analysis of the environment of the Fair trade in the teritory of the Czech Republic in the frame of the providing of services and a acquaintanceship this brend in our republic, because the Fair Trade is there still almost unknown and there aren´t datas of researches.The last part of my thesis contains the summary and the betterment this problems.

This thesis deals with analyzing strategic position of energetic drinks production company. It mainly focuses on establishing a way the company can sustain and improve its current competitive position in the market. The results of the analysis in this thesis should be able to come up with measures that can help the company improve its sales promotion strategy in its area of activity – energy drinks. These measures should be the basis for its competitiveness and sustaining its position in the market.

This Diploma Thesis discusses the marketing communication of the company C-FILTER FITRY, s.r.o. which distributes filters and related services. This project analyses the current situation and weaknesses of the company and looks for ways to improve its promotion in order to increase the company´s revenue.