Trees represent important living components in many urban parkland spaces. As living landscape entities, they have the capacity for potentially long life spans. As a result of these longevities, issues concerning tree death or senescence are not often engaged until the end of tree life spans have been reached, or are fast approaching. As organisms with finite life spans, tree senescence must be expected at some future point in time, and due consideration of this inevitable change is imperative within an urban parkland context. An understanding of tree longevity in urban parkland spaces must therefore be considered advantageous to subsequent design, management, and planning decisions enacted upon these landscapes. For appropriate decision-making to take place with regard to urban tree populations, figures reflecting expected tree longevity could purvey estimations of future tree senescence, and assist in providing practical information for all stakeholders of urban landscapes. In addition to this, developed models of parkland spaces supplying visual and spatial analysis of future tree senescence patterns could indicate potential landscape scenarios, and highlight tree populations most at risk of senescence within the near future. The development of models predicting possible future tree senescence patterns required a review of various fields of research in order to establish appropriate models for use, and to assign confidence levels based upon the knowledge of tree growth, longevity, and senescence in predicted landscapes. This thesis examined the subjects of tree longevity and senescence, with a particular focus upon the Adelaide Park Lands region in Adelaide, South Australia. Various tree growth parameters were collected from the field and combined with assigned tree ages to create matrix models that represented expected tree growth trends. Through the incorporation of curves fitted to these matrix models, tree ages could be assigned to tree specimens of unknown age, to determine dates of establishment based upon key growth parameters. Tree longevity figures for each taxon were sourced from a peer reference group survey conducted specifically for this purpose. Through the combination of calculated tree age and predicted tree longevity, senescence patterns for a region of the Adelaide Park Lands were modelled. Interactive structured query-based GIS software was incorporated to display these senescence patterns visually, and to provide interpretations of future landscape scenarios. Results obtained from the peer reference group survey provided a range of valuable figures representing expected tree longevities for 131 taxa from within the Adelaide Park Lands environment. These longevity figures, combined with matrix models and GIS simulations, revealed that considerable populations of established trees within Tuttangga/Park 17 in the Adelaide Park Lands are at a high risk of reaching senescence within the near future. / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Design, 2008

The objectives of this study were to identify leadership competencies required by health services leaders, determine the role of mentorship in leadership development and, make recommendations for succession planning in the public health sector. A quantitative approach using an exploratory and descriptive design was used, with the intention of conducting a census survey. Respondents were managers in positions 11 and upward. Findings revealed that experience assisted managers in improving the technical competencies of human resources, financial and strategic planning, but not that of leadership skills and behaviour, and communication and relationship management, which required development in the form of mentorship. It is recommended that leadership development for future leaders be embedded in succession planning, based on policy guidelines. Limitations of this study were that a response rate of 30% was achieved and due to the narrow geographical coverage, the findings could not be generalised. / Health Studies / M.A. (Health Studies)

The diploma thesis looks into talent management in context of educational management with the application of professional literature analysis. It describes talent acquisition, human resource development, career management and succession planning and points out the connection between these and other human resource processes and talent management. It specifies the approach of personality psychology, industrial organizational psychology, vocational psychology, positive psychology, social psychology, educational psychology and management to the meaning of the talent. It defines talent management strategy, including a guideline on how to create one. It compares every approach to the talent amongst each other and summarizes the main difference. It presents research results on talent management application within organizations, which brings the attention to a low rate of application of this process and its complete absence within the educational institutions in the Czech Republic. It describes talent management best business practice in the educational sector abroad. It reaches the aim of the thesis, when it proposes a talent management concept in context of educational management and its implementation into educational organizations' practice in the Czech Republic. KEYWORDS career management, educational...

Magister Administrationis - MAdmin / The lack of skills and capacity has been cited as one of the key reasons for organisations failing to recruit staff, with 81% of companies in South Africa experiencing recruitment challenges. More specifically, the problem of low skills and capacity has had an impact on the ability of the state to meet its goals and objectives in a variety of public service areas. In fact, in 2006, a question time session in the National Assembly revealed the enormity of the problem. The President, while being questioned on the crisis arising from a lack of suitably qualified people in the Public Service, referred to a skills audit conducted in 2004. The audit, conducted across 284 municipalities, revealed the number one challenge in the context of service delivery as that of a lack of skills. In this context, the City of Cape Town has adopted an ambitious Human Resource Strategy. One of the Human Resource initiatives is the Skills Development Strategy .This broad strategy provides for the implementation of various interventions that facilitates the development, capacity and retention of local government officials in the City. This notwithstanding, it would seem that the City’s remedial action in terms of skills development and retention is not meeting the prescribed intentions of its HR strategy.The study was guided by the following assumptions:The skills development strategy of the City is aimed at appropriate training and development of local government officials that will facilitate career planning and retention of staff.The City’s broader HR strategies will create an enabling environment in achieving the strategic objectives of the various interventions aimed at skills development and retention.The skills development strategy will enhance employee motivation and loyalty towards the City and hence reduce employment turnover.Successful implementation of the City’s skills development strategy is dependent on effective and innovative human resources policies and interventions aimed at developing the talent pool of the City.The primary objective of the study was to critically examine the strategic aims of skills development strategy as adopted by the City of Cape Town in 2007.In this regard, secondary objectives include:critically examining the legislative and regulatory framework for skills training and development in South Africa, critically examining the policy and regulatory framework that informs the management and development of human resources in the City Of Cape Town,contextualising the need for more rigorous training and development interventions within the City of Cape Town,identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the various interventions put in place to facilitate the implementation of the skills development strategy of the City, and finally proposing recommendations to overcome the implementation challenges. The research relied on theoretical research methodology to collect data for the study. Primary and secondary sources of data were used. Secondary sources included books, journals, and government policies and documents. Primary sources included interviews and personal observations.

The problem was the lack of effective succession planning strategies to facilitate the transfer of technical expertise from retiring employees to younger employees. A rebound of oil exploration activities in Nigeria would adversely affect the drilling sector due to lack of preparation and succession planning to meet the demand for technical expertise. The purpose of this case study was to explore how a succession planning program contributes to knowledge transfer and development of expertise for business continuity and prevents loss of knowledge in the oil-drilling sector in Nigeria. Twenty-four participants from one oil-drilling contractor in Nigeria participated in the study. The conceptual framework was guided by knowledge creation theory, succession planning concepts, and transformational leadership theory. Data collection included semistructured face-to-face interviews supplemented with document review. Data analysis involved a traditional text method where data coder pace each piece of data into various categories by hand. This study revealed 4 themes: individual development program, mentoring, on-the-job training, and 360-degree communication. Findings may affect oil-drilling practices by contributing to enhanced succession planning and knowledge transfer initiatives. The implication for positive social change may include the development of individuals for leadership roles and could add to the organization talent bench, and reduce knowledge gaps while ensuring business continuity.

Creating successful leaders is one of the challenges that social services organizations are facing. Employees may lack essential managerial skills to become productive leaders, and some managers may lack viable succession planning methods for preparing employees for leadership positions. The purpose of this case study was to explore methods that executive managers use to prepare employees for leadership positions. Path-goal theory and transformational leadership represent the conceptual framework that grounded this study. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 10 executive managers in the social services industry within southwest Georgia with experiences and skills specific to implementing successful succession planning. Company archives of corporate reports, government records, and business and management records were used for triangulation. The data were coded and analyzed using a modified van Kaam method. Participants verified the accuracy of the analysis of their responses through member-checking. The findings revealed 4 emergent themes: organizational management, hiring employees that fit the culture, leadership capabilities, and talent management. A recommendation from the study was that executive managers find methods to prepare employees for leadership positions. These findings may contribute to positive social change by identifying methods to prepare employees for leadership positions, thereby generating organizational sustainability, increasing organization revenue, and creating community economic development.

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The aim of this research is to investigate how succession planning can be used as a developmental tool in developing middle managers in the Department of Science and Technology (DST). The research shows that the DST has good strategies and policies in place for the development and retention of its employees, although there is no succession planning tool or system in place. Proposed interventions to address identified gaps in terms of succession planning include a quota system of positions that should be filled by internal candidates to encourage employees’ buy-in to succession planning; inculcating it in the institutional culture and therefore, preserving and retaining institutional memory; creating a robust reward management programme based upon a pay-scheme that seeks to reward middle managers for developing their competencies in line with institutional requirements / Public Administration / M.A. (Public Administration)

In this dissertation, the strategic planning process in a family owned firm of Saudi Arabia will be discussed. The main aim is to develop a comprehensive model of strategic planning, specific and customized to the family businesses of Saudi Arabia. The model will encompass all the factors that are unique to the Saudi Arabian family businesses, such as the family culture of Saudi business families, the interfamily dynamics that shape the strategic approach of the family and the unique market conditions or the external environment that influences the strategic planning process of family owned firms in Saudi Arabia. The literature review extensively covers the topic of strategic planning, family business dynamics and major salient features of family business described by various authors. The literature review also discusses the models of family business that define the interaction of various elements in family owned firms, their drawbacks and the gaps in applicability of these documented models to family businesses in general and specificallyt o Saudi Arabian family businessesT. he literaturer eview revealst hat there is no comprehensivem odel of strategicp lanning processf or the family owned firms that highlight all the critical factors that shape the strategic planning process and also documents uccessfufli rms that haveb enefitedf rom thesem odels. Based on an extensive survey of the family owned firms of Saudi Arabia and statistical analysis of various unique features of such firms, the most critical factors that play a major role in strategy formulation could be isolated. These critical factors helped in designing the strategic planning model for the family owned firms of Saudi Arabia. The model was practically implemented and validated in 10 family businesses of the kingdom and results confirm the applicability of this model. The model formulation and validation in the family firms of Saudi Arabia, forms the main focus of this dissertation.

This thesis explores gender-related barriers in CEO successions. Only 4% of Fortune 500 CEOs are female despite the fact that women have held the majority of college degrees in the US since the late 1990's and now comprise almost half of the workforce and the majority of managerial positions. Their representation is low even in comparison to the other two top management positions from which CEOs are typically sourced. It is less than one-third of the percentage of both female executive officers (15%) and board directors (17%). A holistic and qualitative research approach was utilized. Data were gathered on societal, individual and organizational factors through one-on-one, semi-structured interviews with board directors, executive search consultants and female CEOs, and analyzed using computer-assisted coding software. This thesis challenges the perception that women's individual barriers are the main reason why there are so few female CEOs. While all three types of barriers were found, organizational barriers appear to be the most important. The convergence of predominately male board directors, CEOs and top executive search consultants with informal, subjective, secretive and disparate talent management and CEO successions programs effectively results in the CEO position being a better fit for men than women. While moderating factors were beneficial to the women who have become CEOs, many factors were found for why they cannot be relied upon to greatly increase the number of female CEOs. A deliberate and comprehensive effort by society, individuals and organizations is required.