Thesis (MBA)--University of Limpopo, 2011 / The Department of Education has invested huge sums of money in trying to improve the quality of education. In order to improve the quality of education, the department realised the need to develop educators. This was done through the introduction of the Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS). The Integrated Quality Manegement System came as results of the combination of the Whole School Evaluation (WSE) and Developmental Appraisal System (DAS). The Department of Education realised the importance of managing the performance of educators. This study was influenced by the need to investigate how the performance of educators is being managed at schools in Bahlaloga Circuit. This study focussed on the following research questions: How is the integrated quality management system being implemented at schools? What have been the major challenges and or successes with regard to the implementation of the integrated quality management system? Is it relevant or appropriate to link the performance of the school with the performance of educators? Is it necessary to link promotion of educators with performance? Is it necessary to link financial reward with the performance of educators? Study managed to find out that the implementation of the Integrated Quality Management System is not taking place as outlined in the policy. The support from the Developmental Support Group is very minimal and in some cases not taking place. Schools have all the necessary documents and stuctures in place to be able to implement the policy but they are unable to do so. At the same time there are number of reasons that were found to be the main reasons why schools are unable to implement the system as prescribed by the policy. Some of the challenges include the following: Shortage of Heads of Departments for some of the subjects who can help during and after the actual evaluation has taken place, movement of both principals and head of department from one school to the other is another challenge that affects the continuous implementation of IQMS; there is no prescribed good teaching practice for all the subjects and therefore what is good teaching practice to one educator may not be the case to the DSG, this situation normally causes confusion among xiv educators.Some educators are being evaluated by Head of Department who does not have the knowledge of the subject and as a results he does not get the necessary support from the DSG, the support from the Department of Education has been lacking, poor working conditions, line of reporting is too complex, that is the Head of Department has his own expectations from educators, principals expect something different, circuit managers have their own plan around the performance of educators while curriculum advisors advises educators to approach the subject differently. All these have an impact on the performance of educators. Lack of team work in schools is one other challenge in the sense that when teachers are not working together as a team, they are less likely to support one another. Some educators are offering more subjects and some of which they are not even qualified to teach. Other Heads of Departments do not have the necessary knowledge of other subjects and therefore they find it difficult to support educators. Some teachers find themselves teaching subject that they are not qualified to teach. The other findings from both the principals and educators are that the promotion and financial rewards must be linked with the performance of the educators. Educators must work for them. On the other hand, the performance of the schools must be linked with the performance of the individual educators. These findings also provide another challenge to the researcher to find out better ways the performance of educators could best be managed taking into account the complexity of the schools’ fuctioning and staffing. / N/A

Thesis (M. Dev.) -- University of Limpopo, 2013 / Recent changes in the allocation of land through the results of land redistribution have compelled members of communities to form committees, that is, Communal Property Associations (CPAs) that would be responsible for managing the claimed land. The Maruleng Local Municipality was not excluded from this process. Five of the CPAs have been formed under the above mentioned municipality to manage claimed land. The research investigated the impact of performance management on the Moletele CPA’s performance at Maruleng Local Municipality of the Limpopo Province. The management of Moletele CPA was not without challenges, problems such as lack of resources, adequate training programmes, lack of clear policy and objectives were also found in the study. This research also seeks to investigate why Moletele CPA is performing better than the other CPAs in the municipality. In order to understand the total context of the challenges faced by Moletele CPA, an empirical research and interviews were conducted to collect data from the members of Moletele CPA. The findings of the study suggest that a lack of resources and relevant training programmes are contributing negatively towards the performance of the Moletele CPA in particular, and other CPAs in general. To conclude, the study revealed that performance management is not determined by one factor, but other challenges such as clarity of policies and cooperation amongst stakeholders also contribute towards the success of the Moletele CPA ;hence the recommendations made in chapter five.

Thesis (MPA.) --University of Limpopo, 2009 / The study investigated the impacts of performance management system on service delivery in Mokopane Regional hospital. The study moved from the premise that Performance Management System in Mokopane Regional Hospitals is not well managed. The investigation however revealed that efforts are being made to implement performance management system although some essential improvements are inevitable required. It also probed the implementation of the performance management system within the ambit of the determined policies and procedure manual for the hospital. The challenges experienced are due to the failure of the line managers and supervisors in understanding the essence of the system. The implementation of the system often results in biasness and other performance unrelated factors. In many instances, other factors (such as subjectivity at the expense of objectivity) are unrelated to high performance rates. The study makes a recommendation on how alignment can be made to ensure that the system become more effective.

There are numerous numerical and experimental studies to find correlations of octane rating with fuel properties. This thesis was based on the hypothesis that quenching characteristics at ignition locations impact the flame development. Conversely, determination of quenching characteristics might serve as an effective measure to determine the fuel mixture octane number. This hypothesis was tested with premixed flame experiments using primary reference fuels (iso-octane and n-heptane) and commercial grade gasoline. Premixed flame experiments were conducted on a flat flame burner. Primary reference fuels of different ratios were taken and correlated to their respective thermal quenching condition by introducing co-flowing inert gasses at room temperature with fuel-air mixture. The inert gasses that were used in the experiment are nitrogen and helium and the results are analyzed using a camera and an imaging spectrometer. The experimental results support the hypothesis that flame quenching can be correlated to fuel mixture octane number, and holds potential as an alternative method to determine the octane number.

Ratings curves are conventional means to continuously provide estimates of discharges in rivers. Among the most-often adopted assumptions in building these curves are the steady and uniform flow conditions for the open-channel flow that in turn provide a one-to-one relationships between the variables involved in discharge estimation. The steady flow assumption is not applicable during propagation of storm-generated waves hence the question on the validity of the steady rating curves during unsteady flow is of both scientific and practical interest. Scarce experimental evidence and analytical inferences substantiate that during unsteady flows the relationship between some of the variables is not unique leading to looped rating curves (also labeled hysteresis). Neglecting the unsteadiness of the flow when this is large can significantly affect the accuracy of the flow estimation. Currently, the literature does not offer criteria for a comprehensive evaluation of the methods for estimation of the departure of the looped rating curves from the steady ones nor for identifying the most appropriate means to dynamically capturing hysteresis for different possible river flow conditions. Therefore, the overarching goal of this study was to explore the uncertainty of the conventional approaches for constructing stage-discharge rating curves (hQRCs) and to evaluate methodologies for accurate and continuous discharge monitoring in unsteady open channel flows using analytical inference, index velocity rating curves (VQRCs), and continuous slope area method (CSA) with considerations on discharge measurement uncertainty. The study will demonstrate conceptual and experimental evidences to illustrate some of the unsteady flow impacts on rating curves and suggest the development of a uniform end-to-end methodology to enhance the accuracy of the current protocols for continuous stream flow estimation for both steady and unsteady river conditions. Moreover, hysteresis diagnostic method will be presented to provide the way to conveniently evaluate when and where the hysteresis becomes significant as a function of the site and storm event characteristics. The measurement techniques and analysis methodologies proposed herein will allow to dynamically tracking both the flood wave propagation and the associated uncertainty in the conventional RCs.

During the mid 70's and early 80's, several precast deck panel bridges were constructed in Florida. These utilize prestressed precast panels as stay-in-place forms and are designed to act compositely with a cast-in-place deck which is poured subsequently. Such bridges offer advantages of quicker construction and lower costs. However, several such bridges built in Florida developed extensive cracking and spalling. Following localized failures, the Florida Department of Transportation have decided to replace all 127 precast panel deck bridges in Districts 1 and 7. Since deck replacement is contingent on funding, it is necessary to develop a rational procedure to decide the order in which they are replaced. This work describes the calibration of a software program developed to assist in the replacement prioritization of panel bridges. Prioritization is based on information available with FDOT in the form of biannual inspection reports over the past 20+ years. A new computer language called BRAILE ( BRidge Annual Inspection LanguagE) was developed to input the data from the inspection reports. A compute program PANEL was used to process the BRAILE data to identify trends that could be used to assign weights to observed deficiencies. The prioritization developed based on the method presented here was found to correctly identify high risk bridges and was reliable than one based solely on National Bridge Inventory (NBI) condition rating.

This study investigates the relationship between CEO pay and firm performance, the asymmetric nature of pay-performance sensitivity, and the effect of CEO participation on the pay-setting process, for publicly-listed New Zealand firms during 1997 to 2002. The research is conducted using a unique hand-collected panel data set containing information about executive compensation, firm performance, ownership, firm governance and CEO participation in the pay-setting process. The sample covers the six-year period following the introduction of mandatory disclosure requirements that were imposed on executive and director compensation in 1997. An initial descriptive analysis of the data reveals a large pay difference between worker and CEO pay. In addition, pay-performance indexes for the highest and lowest paid CEOs document differences between the change in pay relative to real shareholder returns. An examination of the sensitivity between growth in CEO pay, and contemporaneous and lagged firm performance using a firm fixed-effects model, shows that not only is pay significantly related to firm size and performance but also board size, compensation risk and director share ownership. Models of the relationship between growth in CEO compensation and firm performance indicate the pay-performance sensitivity generated by cash and the change in the value of stock option holdings is reported to be three-times the magnitude of the sensitivity due to salary and bonus payments alone. In addition, growth in CEO compensation is asymmetrically related to changes in firm performance. CEO cash compensation is positively related to increases in firm value only. Total compensation is related to contemporaneous returns and positive lagged returns. Change in CEO wealth is positively related to contemporaneous returns but is more sensitive to losses. However, change in wealth also increases when lagged returns are positive and negative, implying that CEOs are able to extract pay in excess of that which is optimal under the contracting view of executive compensation. Furthermore, firms in which CEOs demonstrate a low level of participation in the pay-setting process earn higher levels of pay, which also grows at significantly greater rates than their high-participation counterparts. In particular, growth in low-participation wealth is more sensitive to positive and negative contemporaneous returns as well as being negatively related to negative lagged excess returns. This finding is opposite to theoretical predictions and can be explained by the tightly held nature of the high-participation firms which typically have fewer directors, are exposed to higher return volatility and have greater director and CEO beneficial share ownership. Consistent with the trickle-down effect, there is a positive relationship between growth in the non-performance related cash compensation awarded to CEOs and the growth in pay earned by their executive directors and employees. In addition, growth in non-CEO executive pay is not related to firm performance when there is an overpayment effect and CEOs exercise a high level of participation in the pay-setting process. Consistent with the contracting view, growth in non-CEO executive pay is positively related to firm performance with no benefits from CEO overpayments when stock option awards are included in the CEO pay contract.

<p>This study aims to investigate the relationship between systematic risk and credit ratings. The systematic risk, frequently measured by beta, is an important consideration for both investors and corporations. Therefore it is interesting to examine if indications about the systematic risk could be gained by looking at credit ratings, especially on the Nordic market, where credit ratings are seemingly growing in importance. Consequently, the following research hypothesis is posed;<em> We intend to establish a relationship between market risk (Beta) and credit ratings for firms in the Nordic countries.</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p>In order to confirm or deny the research hypothesis, theories from peer reviewed databases were collected. These were divided into three sections; background theories, hypotheses about credit ratings and a literature review. The background theories consisted of two classical financial theories, the Capital Asset Pricing Model and the Efficient Market Hypothesis, which are the foundation upon which the research field have progressed. The hypotheses is specifically designed to explain the relationship between credit ratings and either systematic risk or stock price. The literature review contains information about studies which did not contribute to theory building, but produced results interesting in the research area.</p><p> </p><p>The actual sample in the thesis consisted of the 58 credit rated companies on the Nordic stock market. These companies were rated by Moody’s and/or Standard & Poor’s, the two largest credit rating agencies in the world. As a measure of the systematic risk, betas for each of the companies were calculated. To investigate the relationship between these variables a regression analysis was performed, as well as one sample T-test using the software SPSS.</p><p> </p><p>The result revealed a moderate relationship between beta and credit risk, a relationship which was not statistically significant on the five percent level. Our results suggest that credit ratings contain some information about companies’ systematic risk, a finding that might be useful for market participants.</p><p> </p>

<p>Levnadsvillkoren för individer med utvecklingsstörning har under de senaste decennierna förändrats till det bättre. Att känna sig delaktig i sitt liv och ha möjligheten att själv påverka livssituationen är viktigt för dessa människor. Uppsatsförfattaren ville med den här studien undersöka om skillnad finns i hur aspekter av delaktighet uppfattas av två grupper; individer med utvecklingsstörning och personer i deras omgivning. En enkätstudie genomfördes med en omarbetad version av ”The Arc’s Self-Determination Scale” (Wehmeyer, 1995).En rangkorrelation visade på samband mellan vissa frågeområden. Resultatet diskuteras i relation till tidigare forskning och till svårigheter att undersöka upplevelser hos personer med utvecklingsstörning.</p>

<p>Bakgrund</p><p>En stor majoritet av Sveriges befolkning sparar i fonder. Utbudet av fonder är mycket omfattande och det kan vara svårt för den enskilda fondspararen att välja fond. Till hjälp för investeraren finns företag som betygsätter fonderna utefter prestation. Det största av dessa företag är Morningstar.</p><p>Syfte</p><p>Vårt syfte är att undersöka huruvida det föreligger ett samband mellan Morningstars fondrating och framtida prestation. Vidare ämnar vi jämföra prediktionsförmågan hos Morningstars rating med en alternativ rating, baserad på Sharpekvot.</p><p>Genomförande</p><p>Tidsseriedata över fondkurser och Morningstar-rating för Sverige-domicilierade fonder samlas in. Fondernas prestation, mätt med ej riskjusterad avkastning och Sharpekvot, beräknas. Med hjälp av regressionsanalys undersöks om prestationen, efter ratingtillfället, skiljer sig mellan de olika betygskategorierna. Sambandet mellan Morningstar-rating och framtida prestation jämförs sedan med sambandet mellan en alternativ rating och framtida prestation. Vi undersöker även Morningstar-ratingens varaktighet.</p><p>Slutsats</p><p>Våra undersökningar visar på att det föreligger ett tydligt samband mellan rating och framtida prestation. Våra undersökningar där sambandet mellan Morningstars rating och prestation jämförs med en alternativ rating baserad på Sharpekvot visar på ett tydligare samband och en högre signifikans hos den alternativa ratingen. Studien av varaktigheten visar att en hög rating till viss del är varaktig. Resultaten pekar på att fondernas prestation upprepar sig vilket innebär att den effektiva marknadshypotesen kan ifrågasättas.</p> / <p>Background</p><p>A large majority of the Swedish people invest in mutual funds. There is a vast amount of funds available to the investor and it may be difficult for the investor to choose between the funds. To assist the investor in choosing funds, there are a number of companies that rank the funds based on historical performance. The largest of these companies is Morningstar.</p><p>Purpose</p><p>The purpose of this study is to examine whether there is a relationship between the Morningstar fund rating and future performance. In addition to this, we aim to compare the predictive ability of the Morningstar rating with that of an alternative rating, based on the historical Sharpe ratio.</p><p>Implementation</p><p>We collect time series data of the funds’ NAV and Morningstar ratings of all mutual funds domiciled in Sweden. The funds’ in sample performances are then measured using un-adjusted return and Sharpe ratio. Via regression analysis we examine whether the performance, after the rating, differs between the different rating categories. A similar study is made based on the alternative rating, and the results are compared. In addition to this, we examine the persistence of the Morningstar ratings.</p><p>Conclusion</p><p>The results show that there is a strong relationship between the Morningstar ratings and future performance. However, our study of the predictive ability of the alternative rating shows that there is an even stronger relationship between the historical Sharpe ratio and future performance. Our study indicates that there exists, to some extent, a persistence in the Morningstar ratings, i.e. highly rated funds tend to keep high ratings. These results indicate that fund performance repeats itself, which is not consistent with the efficient market hypothesis.</p>