Communication is regarded as the lifeblood of any organisation. It plays a vital role in ensuring the smooth functioning of all organisational activities. Communication enables individuals and departments to work together harmoniously to achieve a common goal. It allows leaders to inform, influence and motivate employees towards goal attainment. The survival and profitability of the protection services department studied depends on their leaders ability to effectively communicate with its workforce. Effective communication should be an ongoing process in this organisation. The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the effectiveness of communication amongst supervisors at the protection services department. The key dimensions that were explored in this study are the defensive scores dimension (namely, evaluation, neutrality, control, superiority, strategy and certainty) and the supportive scores dimension (namely, provisionalism, spontaneity, empathy, problem orientation, equality, and description). The research was conducted at the protection services department in Marianhill, Durban. Cluster sampling was used in this study. Various statistical techniques were used to test the six hypotheses. The results were analysed and a presentation and discussion of the respondents perceptions were presented. From this study, it is evident that there is an immediate need for development in the two key dimensions, namely, the defensive scores dimension (evaluation, neutrality, control, superiority, strategy and certainty) and the supportive scores dimension (provisionalism, spontaneity, empathy, problem orientation, equality and description). The limitations of the study and suggestions for further research are also outlined. Furthermore, a discussion of the possible causes for the findings are included, along with recommendations to improve the effectiveness of communication amongst supervisors in the organisation. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Durban-Westville, 2003.

Thesis (DTech (Human Resources Management))--Cape Technikon, Cape Town, 2001 / The Job Characteristics Model is widely accepted as a conceptual tool for addressing problems related to employee demotivation, dissatisfaction and marginal performance. The validity of the Job Characteristics Model (Hackman & Oldham, 1980) was assessed by reviewing relevant studies of the model. The review and evaluation are based on studies testing the variables and the relationships between the variables as contained in the model. The reviewed evidence confirmed that the dimensionality of the job characteristics is best represented by the five-factor solution as proposed by the model. The subjective self-report measures of the five job characteristics as formulated by the theory and measured by the revised Job Diagnostic Survey (JDS) were also supported. No evidence was found for the multiplicative Motivating Potential Score (MPS), and as a result the use of a simple additive index of job complexity is recommended as the predictor of personal and work outcomes. Strong empirical support emerged for the relationships between the job characteristics and the personal outcomes. Much weaker relationships between the job characteristics and the work outcomes, however, materialized. Results failed to support the mediating effect of psychological states on the job characteristics/outcomes relationships as specified by the model. The postulated relationships between job characteristics and psychological states were also not confirmed by empirical evidence. The role of growth-need strength, knowledge and skill, and work environment characteristics, as moderators of the relationships between job characteristics and psychological states, as well as of the relationships between psychological states and personal and work outcomes, was seriously questioned.

This research explores the link between human resource development (HRD) interventions and leadership competencies in retail supermarkets in Nigeria and the UK, in order to understand better how Nigerian supermarkets can improve their leadership competencies by adopting the appropriate HRD interventions learnt from their UK counterparts. The retail supermarket literature in Africa recognises the inability of indigenous retail supermarkets in the continent to outcompete some foreign entrants in their own local market. The thesis, therefore, starts by reviewing the challenges facing these indigenous retail supermarkets in Nigeria, including the specific competencies they may be lacking in comparison with their foreign rivals. With this established in chapter one, the literature review chapters then explore issues of competency creation, including the theories of learning and HRD, since competency is learnt, and the HRD construct is in the forefront of learning in the organisation. The methodology adopted was a constructivist ontological stance coupled with an interpretivist epistemology. 40 qualitative interviews were conducted and the data analysis method adopted was a thematic analysis, particularly the deductive-inductive strategy, while the method of data reduction was via categorisation, unitisation, and detecting a relationship between the empirical and secondary data collected. A set of core competencies were identified, and of these the key difference in the responses (gathered from the two countries) was ‘reflective action taking’, and which was a major competence identified in the responses from the UK supermarkets, especially, Tesco. The thesis, therefore, matched the Tesco options programme (which is a leadership development programme in Tesco) with David Kolb’s experiential learning theory (ELT), and, both correspond neatly well. The thesis, thus, recommends that the ELT should form a fundamental part of our curriculum design, pedagogy and delivery of HRD related modules in schools, but also should be adopted in leadership development programmes, especially, in developing countries. However, by building on the current debate on the link between HRD, leadership competencies and organisational transformation, this study helps to address the lack of empirical data on HRD in retail supermarkets in developing countries, and suggests ways of improving the competencies of retail supermarket leaders in Nigerian.

Magister Commercii - MCom / The purpose of this study is to investigate and review literature that examines whether job satisfaction and procedural justice have a positive relationshipwith employees organisational citizenship behaviour in a brick manufacturing industry. / South Africa

Yes

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Teams have been presented as a panacea to complex and turbulent business environments, but there are few examples of genuinely high-performing teams. This study considers the utility of work design as a means of improving the performance of project teams and thereby resolving this paradox. Grounded in quantitative methodology, and supported by relevant qualitative data, this study has used a single case experiment to examine the effects of multiple work design variables on the climate and performance of 49 construction project management teams. The single case environment provided an opportunity to study a large number of real work groups, executing broadly similar tasks, while controlling for the effects of organisational culture on social and work behaviour. The results indicated that three levels of intervention - transformational leadership, team organisation and team performance orientation - were influential in either (a) directly influencing project team performance or (b) creating a team climate which was itself predictive of desired outcomes, specifically the moderation of project complexity and higher levels of productivity. In particular, the results showed that the `inspiring a shared vision' leader practice was influential in explaining the perceived satisfaction of customers with project team performance. This provides empirical evidence that visionary leadership is an important determinant of high performance in complex, fluid and uncertain work environments, such as construction project management. Although task orientation and shared vision emerged as reasonably strong performance norms in the sample, it is generally difficult isolating the referent group norm(s) which explain(s) the variation in the performance of project teams working in myriad social, temporal and task conditions. Rather than attempting to manage group behaviour in realtime, therefore, the results of this study suggest that a coherent and integrated package of work design interventions can leverage exceptional value from project teams by helping each team to develop unique performance and behavioural strategies.

This study explores the nature of skills forecasting in nuclear decommissioning and that which makes skills forecasting information useful. The study adopts a pragmatic approach using an interpretative, qualitative case study research design and draws on aspects of a critical realist approach to uncover, deconstruct and challenge some ‘norms’ in skills forecasting. The study makes an original contribution to knowledge through the identification of nineteen factors that influence skills forecasting in the nuclear industry. It also generates a baseline of knowledge on the theory and practice of skills forecasting and management through a review of the literature on skills, forecasting, skills forecasting and workforce planning and relevant aspects of public sector management and HRM. The study documents and compares current skills forecasting practice amongst UK site licensed companies and selected supply chain companies. Such research has not previously been conducted in the nuclear decommissioning industry. This answers research questions about why, and how, different groups in the sector perform skills forecasting and how variations in approaches affect the information produced. It also answers research questions about who uses skills forecasting information, and how. Together with a review of current problems with skills information, this contributes to an understanding of what makes skills information useful. The research evidences that while the industry has some common features with other High Reliability Organisations, there are unique dimensions which make this research significant. Some ‘norms’ operating in skills forecasting were challenged including how it is being used, eg as an agent for change by some groups, and assumptions about the potential availability of skills from the supply chain. The literature review was used to construct a practical-ideal type, an approach derived from classical pragmatism offering a version of a nearly ideal process, on the understanding that this is socially constructed and subject to continual change. Existing practice is evaluated against this practical-ideal type in a unique application of this methodology in the nuclear decommissioning context.

Although adjusting to a foreign culture is not easy, being immersed in another culture is an experience lived by a growing number of persons in the globalized world. For expatriate managers, successful adjustment is imperative and fundamental in establishing overall effectiveness during overseas assignments. It is intriguing that organizations often blame the individual when expatriate assignments fail (Deresky 2002; Hodgetts and Luthans 2000; Swaak 1995a; Tung 1987) rather than recognizing that others may lack understanding of what it is like to be immersed in another culture. A study of Canadian expatriate managers who have worked in non-government organizations (NGOs) in Indonesia is presented. The research focuses on interpreting the lived experience of expatriate managers using their own words and meanings. Written descriptions from research participants were obtained via email and analysed/synthesized using Giorgi's descriptive phenomenological method (Giorgi 1975; 1985; Giorgi & Giorgi 2003). The central finding of the study is that expatriates experience paradoxical ways of being including feelings of: understanding/not understanding, discomfort/comfort, powerfulness/powerlessness, belonging/not belonging, being open to the new culture/yet holding on to own culture, freedom/restriction, being supported/not supported, and being unchanged/changed when immersed, living and working in another culture. The new knowledge and understanding obtained from this research may result in alterations to present human resource management practices and strategies utilized in facilitating and supporting expatriate assignments. These changes will enhance the experience for expatriate managers and organizations alike.