This study investigates to what extent "e"-communication is used successfully by Zimbabwean commercial banks. The study was done using the literature survey method and the questionnaire. The closed and open-ended questionnaires used for gathering data were administered personally by the researcher leading to 99% return rate of questionnaires. The major conclusions from this study are that "e"-communication is widely adopted by the commercial banks in Zimbabwe, examples being the use of email, statement enquiries or bill payment services. Recommendations drawn from this research are that commercial banks' top management should be committed to the establishment of more effective information systems programmes and invest substantially more in Information Technology to meet the demanding needs and expectations of customers. The study could be replicated in other sectors of business in order to strengthen the reliability and validity of the results revealed here. / Financial Accounting / M. Com. (Accounting)

Since the late eighties, BPR has established itself as one of the attractive radical change management option for coping and adapting to the new competitive market environment and become popular both in the public and private organisations throughout the world . Cognizant of this fact, all Ethiopian public (government owned) institutions including the public financial institutions have embarked on large-scale change projects since 2004 in which Business process re-engineering(BPR) is a central element . This research examined whether implementation of Business Process Reengineering (BPR) projects have improved operational performance of the selected case public commercial banks in Ethiopia by collecting and analyzing both quantitative and qualitative comprehensive data set, using mixed research approach through questionnaires, interviews, observations and review of secondary sources of information. The operational performance measures utilized in this study are cost reduction, speed of service delivery, service quality, customer satisfaction as well as innovation. A total of 837 (84% response rate) questionnaires were returned from respondents of the selected branches and head offices. In addition, in-depth interviews were conducted with eight senior managers of the respective banks, who were also members of their respective banks reform team and were involved in the design and implementation of BPR. The third method that was used to collect qualitative data was personal observation of the selected bank branches in order to measure the speed of service delivery and convenience of the waiting places. The researcher measured the service delivery time of selected busy bank branches for five consecutive days, for half an hour spent in each branch. This study found that the introduction of BPR in the case banks was met with mixed reactions from employees and some managers. The main achievements of BPR were: service delivery time reduced dramatically as a result of the new process redesign and introduction of information and communication technology services(introduction of e-banking); introducing a single customer contact point through employee empowerment to make all the necessary decisions at that point of contact which resulted in improving the satisfaction of employees and customers. The challenge was that resistance from employees and some managers (labelled the initiative as “Blood pressure raiser” due to their assumptions it will result in employee lay off or the change brings increased workloads for some remaining employees without compatible rewards following the new process redesign. The study also revealed that telecom infrastructure and power interruption considered as main problem areas in providing banking services efficiently and effectively through branch net workings. The researcher recommends that for a better BPR design and implementation as well as sustainability of improvement gains in the banking sector, a forum should be established to discuss and share good practices and technology in the banking sector ; establish strong change management offices to continuously assist and monitor results; and continuously involve and communicate key stakeholders in the design and implementation of change initiatives. / Business Management / D.B.L.

Thesis (MTech (Business Administration))-- Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2009 / A quantitative research study was conducted in order to obtain insight and knowledge of the perceptions of management with regard to changes taking place within the Financial Services Sector (FSS). The call centre at Sanlam Head Office in Bellville was used as a case study, and focus was primarily with first line managers at the call centre. The motivation for the study stemmed from the researcher’s experience within the FSS coupled with introduction of legislation for financial service providers. The ultimate objective of the study is to provide generic guidelines of how managers should respond to change on various and different levels and to equip managers with tools to apply during change phases and cycles within the organization. The literature review covers areas that releates to how managers responded to change in areas of leadership, culture, structure and legislation. Changes in these four areas were researched from different authors that specialize in organizational development, leadership development, organizational change and legislation. These ideas and perspectives from a range of South African and international writers gave the researcher an opportunity to conceptualize change, in general, and to provide a clearer understanding of generic competencies that are required to deal with it. Some models of how to deal with resistance to change and key success factors in dealing with it, are discussed. The researcher elected to work with managers at the Sanlam call centre, since they experience and are directly exposed to implementation of change at grassroots level. Results of the research confirm that dealing with change is a challenging experience for managers. A participatory management approach will result in less resistance from employees. The investigation also recommends that deciding on a vision with all key role players is not a once-off occurrence, but should be revisited, realigned and adjusted as the need arises within the organization. Furthermore, the results confirm that soft skill training and development such as conflict and diversity management should be implemented during the diversity and the changing face of the workplace. The main objective and recommendation is that managers should relook and revisit their management styles, involve all role players during decision making processes, and value and appreciate employee’s inputs and ideas.

Orientador: Armando Boito Junior / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas, Université de Provence / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-17T21:02:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Gutierrez_Andriei_D.pdf: 1510602 bytes, checksum: 2e90e658878236b2cbd68b7be4de54f7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011 / Resumo: A tese tem como objeto de estudo o grupo profissional dos engenheiros brasileiros face às transformações políticas e econômicas que ocorreram no país após os anos 1990, respectivamente, a adoção das políticas neoliberais e a reestruturação produtiva. Analisa como as diferentes frações do grupo profissional foram afetadas por essas transformações e como suas distintas organizações de interesse agiram na conjuntura política. De um lado, mostra como a partir da combinação das políticas de abertura comercial, de desregulamentação financeira, de privatizações e de reforma do Estado existe uma tendência de aumento da participação do setor privado na economia e de crescente dependência financeira, patrimonial e tecnológica em relação ao exterior, transformando qualitativamente as atividades relacionadas à engenharia. De outro lado, a tese sugere que as políticas de desregulamentação do mercado de trabalho, de reforma da previdência e de focalização dos gastos sociais do Estado tiveram um efeito sobre o grupo profissional no sentido de uma tendência à individualização da gestão de carreira e do bem-estar. A partir de análises quantitativas entre os engenheiros e qualitativas entre estes e suas organizações de interesses, a tese tem como foco central de análise a evolução histórico política do grupo profissional. Parte, num primeiro momento, da descrição da literatura que trata das organizações de interesse dos engenheiros nos anos 1970 e 1980 para, num segundo momento, estudar de modo aprofundado como essas organizações agiram na conjuntura política da década de 1990 e início dos anos 2000. Também faz uma análise exploratória do perfil político dos engenheiros das empresas estatais, em especial da Petrobras, em comparação direta com as transformações ocorridas nas suas situações de trabalho. De um modo geral, a tese defende que a dinâmica das lutas macrossociais exerce um peso considerável no posicionamento político das diferentes frações do grupo profissional e de suas organizações de interesse / Resumé: L'objet d'étude de notre thèse correspond au groupe professionnel des ingénieurs brésiliens face aux transformations politiques et économiques menées au Brésil dans les années 1990 et 2000, notamment l'introduction des politiques néolibérales et de la restructuration productive. La thèse analyse comment les différentes fractions du groupe professionnel ont été touchées par ces transformations et comment ses distinctes organisations d'intérêt ont agit dans la conjoncture politique. D'un coté, la thèse montre comment la combinatoires des politiques d'ouverture commerciale, de déréglementation financière, de privatisations et de reforme de l'État sont liées à l'augmentation de la participation du secteur privé dans l'économie et à la croissante dépendance financière, technologique et patrimoniale du pays envers l'extérieur. D'autre par, la thèse suggère que les politiques de déréglementation du marche de travail, de reforme du système de retraites et de focalisations des dépenses sociales de l'État ont eu un effet sur le groupe professionnel : il y a une croissante tendance d'individualisation de la gestion de la carrière et du bien-être. A partir d'une étude quantitative avec des ingénieurs et qualitative entre ceux et leurs organisations d'intérêt, notre thèse est ciblée sur l'analyse de l'évolution historique et politique du groupe professionnel. Elle part, dans un premier moment, de la description de la littérature que porte sur les organisations d'intérêt des ingénieurs dans les années 1970 et 1980 et analyse, dans un deuxième moment, la façon dont ces organisations ont agit dans la conjoncture politique des années 1990 et 2000. La thèse fait également une analyse exploratoire des profils politiques des ingénieurs des entreprises étatiques, en spéciale la Petrobras, en les comparant directement avec les transformations dans leurs rapports de travail. D'une manière plus générale, notre thèse soutient que la dynamique des luttes macrosociales a d'influence considérable sur le positionnement politique des différentes fractions du groupe professionnel et de ses organisations d'intérêt / Abstract: This thesis analyses Brazilian engineers professional group in the context of the neoliberal policies and of the productive restructuring. It studies how the fractions of the professional group have been affected by these structural transformations and how their different political organizations have reacted in the political conjuncture. On one hand, the thesis shows how the combination of opening up the economy, privatization, States' reform and financial liberalization could raise private sector activities and Brazilian economic dependence. This thesis describes how both transformations have been qualitatively touched engineers activities. On the other hand, it suggests that the liberalization of labor market, the reform of the public retirement system and the policies of focusing State social investments have had an effect on the professional group: a trend towards an individual career and well being management. Through quantitative analyses amongst engineers and qualitative studies among them and their interest organizations, the thesis focuses on analyzing the evolution of political history of the professional group. First, it describes the literature which shows the Brazilian engineers interest organizations during the 1970s and 1980s. Second, it studies in depth how these organizations have acted in the political context of the 1990s and early 2000s. This thesis also makes an exploratory analysis of the political profiles of the engineers of state companies, particularly Petrobras, in direct comparison with the changes occurring in their labor conditions. In general, the thesis argues that the dynamics of the macrosocial conflicts carries considerable weight in the political positioning of the different fractions of the professional group and its interest organizations / Doutorado / Ciencia Politica / Doutor em Ciência Política

Orientador: Olivio Novaski / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Mecânica / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-27T18:53:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Cerqueira_SoniaCristinadaSilvaPedreirade_D.pdf: 3997193 bytes, checksum: c7816fe053cff9290f501d41daa343d2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014 / Resumo: A busca pela excelência nos resultados dos projetos de desenvolvimento de produto em organizações de P&D torna cada vez mais primordial o conhecimento e implementação das melhores práticas na área. Desta forma, a implementação da melhores têm se constituído em importantes instrumentos para mudanças e desenvolvimento de propostas de valor que asseguram a rotina adequada ao sucesso futuro dos negócios das empresas. Assim o estudo das melhores práticas em projetos de desenvolvimento de produto e o conhecimento da percepção destas práticas pelas pessoas que trabalham com desenvolvimento de produto torna-se fundamental devido à necessidade de melhoria da gestão dos processos de P&D, impulsionada pela competitividade no lançamento de produtos. Nesse contexto, este trabalho tem o objetivo de avaliar a percepção das pessoas que trabalham nos centros de P&D quanto às melhores práticas em desenvolvimento de produto. Tal avaliação mostra que é relevante tratar as melhores práticas do ponto de vista da percepção das pessoas que trabalham com o desenvolvimento de produtos, pois os resultados dependem das pessoas que aderem, se mobilizam e percebem o que deve ser feito para o sucesso dos projetos de desenvolvimento de produto / Abstract: In R&D organizations the search for excellence status regarding the results from product projects development is hindered by the use of the proper knowledge and best practices. As a reality the of the best practices implementation are indeed relevant tool to the changement e development value proposals that assure the proper routine to the success of the business in the future. As a consequence it is basic to study of the product development project best practices and assure that the people working with product development have the proper perception knowledge about these practices. This is justified by the processes management improvement need oriented by the competitivity when launched the product. So, this work has the main objective focused in the people perception that have jobs relating with product development best practices in the R&D centers. This way used show that is basic to consider the best practices of the view point of the people that are engaged in the product development, because the results measured depends upon of the people that give adhesion, and that go through to the mobilization phase and so have the proper perception of what have be done to generate product development project success / Doutorado / Materiais e Processos de Fabricação / Doutora em Engenharia Mecânica

This study deals with the cultural differences between conducting business in Eruope particularly in France compared to conducting business in the United States.

This dissertation focuses on the re-use of business process reference models, available in a business process model warehouse, to enable the definition of more comprehensive business requirements. It proposes a business process model warehouse framework to promote the re-use of multiple business process reference models and the flexible visualisation of business process models. The critical success factor for such a framework is that it should contribute to minimise to some extent the causes of inadequate business requirements. The proposed framework is based on an analogy with a data warehouse framework, consisting of the following components: usage of multiple business process reference models as source models, the conceptual design of a process to extract, load and transform multiple business process reference models into a repository, a description of repository functionality for managing enterprise architecture artefacts, and motivation of flexible visualisation of business process models to ensure more comprehensive business requirements. / Computer Science (School of Computing) / M.Sc. (Information Systems)

The purpose of this research was to explore and describe the effectiveness of the health care reform implemented in Ethiopia in the form of Business Process Reengineering (BPR) and develop strategies to strengthen its implementation. The research was conducted in two phases. In phase I, the effectiveness of the BPR health care reform was explored and described through gathering quantitative information from health care providers (n=406) using a structured questionnaire. All public hospitals of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia which have been implementing the reform from its inception (n=5) were included. In Phase II, in-depth strategies aimed at strengthening implementation of the reform were developed. Two-rounds of Delphi study were conducted to seek the opinions of senior health policy experts (n=10) and arrive at consensus on the developed strategies. Cronbach's alpha, descriptive statistics, Chi-square, logistic regression analysis, principal component analysis, weighted median score, adjusted and standard satisfaction scores, Mann-Whitney U test, and Kruskal-Wallis test were conducted for data analysis. The BPR health care reform was able to restructure the hospitals’ departments into case teams, with the goal of adopting a “one-stop shopping” approach. However, 50% of the health care providers reported that the reform was not effective to satisfy the perceived health service needs. Limited effects were reported in favour of health care quality (48%), access (50%), efficiency (51%), sustainability (53%), and equity (61%). While poor effects were reported in patient-provider (41%) and provider-management (32%) interactions. The most important predictors that influenced implementation of the reform were financial resources (AOR=3.54, 95%CI: 1.97, 6.33), top management commitment and support (AOR=2.27, 95%CI: 1.15, 4.47), collaborative working environment (AOR=1.77, 95%CI: 1.00, 3.11), and information technology (AOR=3.15, 95%CI: 1.57, 6.32). The overall job satisfaction in the public health sectors remained poor, with only 25% job-satisfied providers engaged. Moral satisfaction (AOR=177.654, 95%CI: 59.539, 530.08), management style (AOR=4.017, 95%CI: 1.490, 10.828), workload (AOR=2.422, 95%CI: 0.925, 6.342), and task (AOR=5.491, 95%CI: 2.307, 13.069) were the most significant factors. Job satisfaction results were significantly different among the study hospitals (2 = 30.557, p < 0.001). The current health care delivery performance of the public hospitals was 60% when weighed against the World Health Organization’s health system framework which required a minimum of 80% score. However, there existed a significant difference in performance at least between two hospitals (2 = 571.902, p < 0.001). Five strategies that could disrupt the status quo and strengthen the BPR health care reform are proposed based on their strategic priority, which were: reinforce patient-centred quality of care services; foster a healthy and respectful workforce environment; efficient and accountable leadership and governance; efficient use of hospital financing; and maximize innovations and the use of health technologies. The strategies could be used to enrich the quality of health care interventions through continuous review, refinement and adjustment of the reform as required. Key words: Health care reform; Business Process Reengineering; quality; access; equity; efficiency; sustainability; job satisfaction; health system; patient-centred care; workforce; leadership and governance; hospital financing; health technologies; Ethiopia. / Health Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Health Studies)

Capes / O presente estudo tem como objetivo identificar e analisar comparativamente os principais processos de negócio de empresas de pequeno porte do subsetor de edificações da construção civil. Para tanto, foi utilizado o método de pesquisa qualitativa e estudo de casos múltiplos como técnica principal. Participaram deste trabalho, cinco empresas que estão localizadas na cidade de Curitiba, Paraná. Para a coleta de dados, foram realizadas entrevistas semi-estruturadas, análises de documentos e observações diretas. A partir das informações obtidas, desenvolveu-se graficamente o mapeamento dos processos de negócio de cada empresa utilizando-se a notação BPMN. O estudo mostrou que os processos e as atividades das empresas deste setor apresentam características comuns, facilitando assim, a padronização das melhores práticas. Com o estudo de outros casos, surgirão outros aspectos semelhantes que poderão ser utilizados na elaboração de um modelo de referência que apresenta orientação específica sobre como os processos de negócio podem ser gerenciados nas organizações do subsetor de edificações. / The present study has as objective to identify and analyze comparatively the main business processes of small companies of the subsector of edifications of the civil construction. Therefore, was used the qualitative research method and multiple case study as the main technique. Participated of this work, five companies that are located in the city of Curitiba, Paraná. For data collection were performed semi-structured interviews, document analysis and direct observations. From the information obtained, developed graphically mapping the business processes of each company using the BPMN notation. The study showed that the processes and activities of companies in this sector present common characteristics, thus facilitating the standardization of best practices. With the study of other cases will arise other similar aspects that could be used in the preparation of a reference model that provide specific guidance on how business processes can be managed in organizations of the subsector of edifications.

This dissertation focuses on the re-use of business process reference models, available in a business process model warehouse, to enable the definition of more comprehensive business requirements. It proposes a business process model warehouse framework to promote the re-use of multiple business process reference models and the flexible visualisation of business process models. The critical success factor for such a framework is that it should contribute to minimise to some extent the causes of inadequate business requirements. The proposed framework is based on an analogy with a data warehouse framework, consisting of the following components: usage of multiple business process reference models as source models, the conceptual design of a process to extract, load and transform multiple business process reference models into a repository, a description of repository functionality for managing enterprise architecture artefacts, and motivation of flexible visualisation of business process models to ensure more comprehensive business requirements. / Computer Science (School of Computing) / M.Sc. (Information Systems)