Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'High organisational performance'

The objective of this research was to gain insight into the key drivers of productive organisational energy and to determine whether there is a relationship between productive organisational energy and high performance in organisations. This study also aimed to identify key measures of success of organisations. Organisational energy has a critical role to play in driving both people behaviour and innovation in organisations, ultimately providing a competitive advantage.Both a quantitative and qualitative analysis was conducted on the data collected from four case study organisations, comprising a total sample size of 47 respondents. The research consisted of three phases. Phase One, which made use of an open-ended qualitative survey, was directed at industry experts who were required to identify and recommend four small- to medium- sized high-energy information technology organisations to be considered for this research. Phase Two consisted of gaining approval to conduct research within four of the recommended case study organisations, and conducting an open-ended exploratory face-to-face interview with each Managing Director, with the objective of determining the success, energy state, key drivers, and performance measures of the organisations, as well as the factors that drive the energy of staff. Furthermore, each Managing Director completed the same self-administered questionnaire that formed the basis of Phase Three. This structured survey was used to gather the perceptions and opinions of each organisation’s staff members in determining: the energy state of the organisation, the key drivers of organisational energy, and the link between organisation energy and performance. Statistical analysis techniques were used to determine whether significant relationships exist between the drivers of organisational energy and their respective rankings; and between organisational energy and organisational performance.The study provided evidence that intrapreneurial orientation, collective identity, employee investment and leadership are the most significant drivers of productive organisational energy and confirmed the existence of a significant relationship between productive organisational energy and high performance organisations. Through this research, a model has been developed that can be utilised by leaders of organisations to leverage organisational energy in order to improve and measure organisational performance, thereby creating a sustainable competitive advantage.
Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012.
Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS)
unrestricted

Organisations can create a competitive advantage through the way they design their human resource systems. High involvement work systems are considered to be a way to increase organisational performance and decrease employee turnover. However, the components involved are difficult and complex to define, and the synergy amongst the different components hard to evaluate. The literature suggests that the research is not uniform in its approach, and most research does not clearly define the variables involved or agree on the expected results of such systems. This research looks at high involvement work systems in the New Zealand organisational context, and relating these systems to employee turnover and organisational performance. The results of the study suggest that there does not appears to be a relationship between high involvement work systems, and employee turnover and organisational performance; but high involvement systems may contribute to increased labour productivity in New Zealand organisations.

A fundamental shift occurred in the global economy during the last three decades and even more so in the period since the 2008 financial crises. As a result of the advancing technology, national economies no longer self-contained entities protected from international competition by geographical distances, times zones, languages barriers, government regulations and culture or business systems. The effect of globalisation has further manifested in the global economic slow-down since 2008, where spending is constrained and consumers have become more discerning in their value considerations. The dual challenge of globalisation of competition and global economic slow-down is increasingly forcing businesses to do some introspection not only in terms of their cost structures, but also in terms of their value propositions in search of sustainable organisational success. Given the limited influence that businesses have over its external environment, an internal perspective is proposed where this problem is approached by means of a high-performance evaluation case study. The aim is to identify constraints that have resulted from more recent responses to market challenges and to establish which interventions to elevate in order to alleviate such constraints. It is proposed that if management and organisational practices that organisations employ in their daily functions affect the discretionary effort that employees contribute, then organisations should be able to gain insight into variations in organisational performance through evaluating and understanding these practices. This treatise focusses on organisational characteristics that drive high performance and propose interventions to enhance the environment for the development of a high performance culture within a single organisation. The research topic fell within the quantitative paradigm with data being collected through the use of a questionnaire. The results were analysed and interpreted to ascertain how current practice aligns with the theory. Recommendations are submitted within the context of the prevailing literature on the subject of high performance organisations and the related high performance characteristics of the organisation as based on the empirical data.

Despite the plethora of research scrutinising the role of high performance work systems (HPWS) in enhancing organisational performance, there is little consensus about the structure of these systems and processes underlying its relationship to organisational and individual outcomes. This research therefore advances the existing literature by conducting a more in-depth study of how and why HPWS relate to organisational performance. In particular, I adopt the mixed methods approach to uncover unexplored issues regarding the efficacy of HPWS on organisational performance. The qualitative phase of research examines managers‟ perceptions of HPWS in Vietnamese service organisations, based on a sample of 17 semi-structured interviews as many firms. The interview protocol is deployed as a rough guide to the discussion, and the data are analysed through content analysis. The findings demonstrate that HPWS have been pursued and valued by Vietnamese organisations. The interviewees help to conceptualise the construct of HPWS in the Vietnamese context and provide evidence that the use of HPWS impacts both employee outcomes (e.g., employee attitudes, behaviours, creativity, productivity), and organisational performance (e.g., firm growth, profit growth and market performance). The evidence also establishes a linkage between HR practices and organisational innovation. Despite the small sample size, the in-depth data reveal useful insights regarding the prevalence of HPWS in the Vietnamese context and form the foundation for validating a scale for HPWS for the research context. The quantitative phase of research develops a multilevel model of how HPWS influences both individual- and firm-level performance, based on self-determination theory, AMO theory and componential theory of creativity. Using a multilevel data set of 56 service firms (109 managers, 526 employees working with 153 supervisors), the M-plus software (Version 7.3) is adopted to test the hypothesized multilevel structural equation models. The findings demonstrate that the proposed hypotheses are mostly supported at the levels of analysis. At the firm-level, (1) collective human capital, climate for initiative and climate for psychological safety partially mediate the relationship between HPWS execution and firm-level innovation; and (2) the relationship between firm-level innovation and firm market performance is moderated by environmental uncertainty. At the individual-level, (1) trust in management and trust in supervisor partially mediate the relationship between HPWS perception and employee creativity; and (2) the relationship between trust in management and trust in supervisor and employee creativity is not positively moderated by employee psychological empowerment. At the cross-level, (1) HPWS execution positively influences HPWS perception; (2) the relationship between HPWS execution and trust in management, trust in supervisor is partially mediated by HPWS perception; (3) employee creativity, in turn mediates the relationship between trusts in management and supervisor, and firm-level innovation; (4) and firm-level innovation mediates the link between employee creativity and firm market performance. The findings highlight the importance of new mechanisms including mediating and moderating components (i.e., trusts in management and supervisor, creativity and environmental uncertainty) in the HPWS – performance relationship. By analysing the mixture of qualitative and quantitative data, the current study enriches our understanding of the underlying mechanisms through which HPWS influences organisational performance outcomes.

Organisations can create a competitive advantage through the way they design their human resource systems. High involvement work systems are considered to be a way to increase organisational performance and decrease employee turnover. However, the components involved are difficult and complex to define, and the synergy amongst the different components hard to evaluate. The literature suggests that the research is not uniform in its approach, and most research does not clearly define the variables involved or agree on the expected results of such systems. This research looks at high involvement work systems in the New Zealand organisational context, and relating these systems to employee turnover and organisational performance. The results of the study suggest that there does not appear to be a relationship between high involvement work systems, and employee turnover and organisational performance; but high involvement systems may contribute to increased labour productivity in New Zealand organisations.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2005.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The 21st century is marked by unprecedented changes in technology, political and economic systems, and societal demands, that call for leadership that can develop an organisation's human capacity, structure and functions to perform effectively in a highly dynamic environment. Ever more organisations are required to combine operational effectiveness with strategic flexibility, and organisations with hierarchies, bureaucracies, and many levels of review and approval seem to be incapable of fast response to the new business needs. Information technology (IT) offers additional variables that, when combined with considerations of structure, people, and tasks, can help design more responsive organisations. However, few organisational leaders know how to correct the situation when their organisations are not working well. This study presents IT as the greatest driver of organisational and societal change. Information technology can support different forms of organisational design to cope with the increasing complexity and conflicting demands of today's dynamic business environment. The onus is on management to align the organisational structure with its strategy to improve organisational performance. However, organisations and workplaces differ, and consequently their appropriate work organisation technologies differ. The changes in IT and market structures have shifted the competition from a single organisation to a network scope, resulting in a need for new organisational strategies and structures. Traditional forms of organisation are often deemed inefficient, but this research suggests that leaders should be willing to learn from the past, such as the nature of control issues in work, the importance of infrastructure and design, and that both traditional and new forms are necessary to adapt to the conflicting demands of today's business environment. Most organisations today are still hierarchical with some form of top-down structure, but it remains essential that some people are leaders and others are followers to prevent anarchy in an organisation. Simply eliminating hierarchical structures does not result in more responsive organisations, and thus "healthy hierarchies" should be designed to allow flexibility within a hierarchical structure. Emerging concepts and models of organisation thus rarely completely replace earlier ones, but instead try to create a richer context within which to reinterpret the earlier concepts and their role in a broader, more complex framework. Organisations cannot be represented as "pure" forms, but should be seen as dynamic systems that consist out of clusters of segments, where each segment can be represented as a pure form of organisation. Organisations should be able to gain a competitive advantage if management is able to combine difficult-to-combine attributes, and to design an organisation with different forms to face internal and external challenges. A framework is presented to help practitioners to design or redesign their organisations according to best practices. The framework incorporates the influence of IT on the business environment and the organisation, the concept of a "healthy" hierarchy, the commitment of the key stakeholders to organisational change, and tests to design an organisation according to four fit drivers (product-market strategies, corporate strategy, people, and constraints) and five good design principles.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die 21ste eeu is gekenmerk deur ongekende veranderinge in tegnologie, politiese en ekonomiese stelsels, en sosiale eise. Leiers moet dus 'n organisasie se menslike kapasiteit, struktuur en funksies kan ontwikkel om effektief in 'n hoogs dinamiese omgewing te kan opereer. AI hoe meer organisasies word vereis om operasionele effektiewiteit met strategiese buigsaamheid te kombineer, en organisasies met hierargieë, burokrasieë, en baie vlakke van hersiening en goedkeuring blyk nie in staat te wees om vinnig te reageer op die nuwe besigheidsvereistes nie. Informasie tegnologie (IT) bied addisionele veranderlikes wat kan help om beter reagerende organisasies te ontwerp met inagneming van struktuur, mense, en werk. Min leiers weet egter hoe om die situasie te verbeter wanneer hulle organisasie nie goed presteer nie. Hierdie studie stel IT voor as dié grootste drywer van organisatoriese en sosiale verandering. Informasie tegnologie ondersteun verskillende vorms van organisatoriese ontwerp wat voldoen aan die stygende kompleksiteit en teenstrydige vereistes van vandag se dinamiese besigheidsomgewing. Die onus rus egter op die bestuur om die struktuur van die organisasie in lyn te bring met sy strategie van verhoogde prestasie. Organisasies en werksplekke verskil, en gevolglik sal die toepaslike tegnologieë vir die organisasie van werk ook verskil. Die veranderinge in IT en markstrukture het kompetisie verskuif van 'n enkelorganisasie na 'n netwerk toe, wat 'n behoefte vir nuwe organisatoriese strategieë en strukture tot gevolg gehad het. Tradisionele vorms van organisasie word gereeld as ondoeltreffend bestempel, maar hierdie studie stel voor dat leiers moet gewillig wees om uit die verlede te leer, soos die aard van beheerkwessies by die werk, die belangrikheid van infrastruktuur en ontwerp, en dat beide tradisionele en nuwe vorms nodig is om aan te pas by die teenstrydige vereistes van vandag se besigheidsomgewing. Die meeste organisasies is vandag steeds in een of ander vorm hierargies gestruktureerd van bo na onder, maar dit bly nietemin noodsaaklik dat sekere mense leiers is en ander volgelinge om anargie in 'n organisasie te vermy. Deur slegs hierargiese strukture te verwyder sal nie tot 'n meer responsiewe organisasie lei nie, en dus behoort "gesonde hierargieë" ontwerp te word om buigsaamheid binne 'n hierargiese struktuur toe te laat. Opkomende konsepte en modelle van organisasie vervang gevolglik selde die voriges, en probeer eerder 'n ryker konteks te skep, waarbinne die vorige konsepte en hulle rol in 'n breër, meer komplekse raamwerk geherinterpreteer kan word. Organisasies kan nie as "suiwer" vorms voorgestel word nie, maar eerder as dinamiese stelsels bestaande uit groepe segmente, waar elke segment 'n suiwer vorm van organisasie verteenwoordig. Organisasies behoort dus 'n mededingende voordeel te trek, as die bestuur in staat is om moeilik kombineerbare eienskappe te kombineer, en 'n organisasie met verskillende vorms te kan ontwerp wat interne en eksterne uitdagings trotseer. 'n Praktiese raamwerk word voorgestel om organisasies te ontwerp en te herontwerp volgens beste gebruike. Die raamwerk inkorporeer die invloed van IT op die besigheidsomgewing en die organisasie, die konsep van 'n "gesonde" hierargie, die verbintenis van alle sleutelinsethouers tot verandering van die organisasie, en toetse om 'n organisasie te ontwerp volgens vier pasdrywers (produk markstrategieë, besigheidstrategie, mense, en beperkinge) en vyf goeie ontwerpbeginsels.

There have been extensive explorations of organisational climate (OC) and performance in large organisational contexts but predominantly in western economies. Despite the rich and growing body of literature on the topic, there is considerable lacuna in the understanding of how the composites of organisational climate factors coalesce into business enablement and performance outcomes especially in economically resurgent African economies of which Nigeria is one. More fundamentally, the dimension of High Growth Small and Medium Enterprises (HGSMEs) exemplify the dearth of knowledge of the intricate role of OC in reconfiguring strategic positioning and performance of organisations, especially the genre of SMEs attributed as the main driver of economic growth. Against this backcloth, this study explores the dynamic interaction between OC and HGSME performance in Nigeria with a view to providing situated understandings of how organisational performance is moderated by variabilities of OC. This relationship is investigated empirically using as conceptual prisms four principal constructs distilled from the extant literature; leadership, organisational strategy, HRM practices and entrepreneurial orientation. Methodologically, a triangulation procedure was applied in order to afford both rich-context and scaled datasets. From a sample of HGSME drawn from the national database maintained by Small Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), the mixed method approach used encompassed data gathered through (a) in-depth interviews conducted with senior executives of sample organisations and (b) survey questionnaires administered to 300 employees within two Nigerian HGSMEs. Qualitative data was analysed through thematic analysis. The quantitative data treatment rigour was achieved through descriptive statistics; correlation and multivariate regression analysis. OC was measured at the firm level using the validated instrument (Organisational Climate Measurement instrument, OCM, Patterson et al., 2005), while the organisational performance was measured subjectively using efficiency and quality as performance proxies. Results show direct effects of organisational factors (leadership, strategy, HR practices and entrepreneurial orientation) on organisational climate configuration. The relationship between organisational climate and performance is significantly positive while the direct effect of some HR practices on organisational outcomes such as efficiency (training vs. efficiency, employee involvement vs. efficiency) was negative. The results are robust in indentifying the nature of internal organisational systems and networks that triggers growth and sustainability of HGSMEs.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2003.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The Beehive Model (Figure 1.1) of organisational renewal is a theoretical model and analytical tool, in a honeycomb formation as developed by Nel (2001), which is used to obtain a 'snapshot' of organisational compliance with the application of either best or poor practices associated with seven individual workplace practices within the contemporary economic climate. Each of the seven workplace practices has eight pairs of indicators, in a questionnaire format (Appendix A), used to obtain the 'snapshot' of how an evaluated organisation/department/business unit performs regarding the application of either poor or best practices. The workplace practices, namely Strategy, Change Leadership, Stakeholder Commitment, Pay and Incentives, Talent Creation, Business Disciplines, and Structures, are suggested to be strongly related to and critical for entrenching change and high performance in organisations if best practices are applied correctly as driven by strategy. It is suggested that the application of poor practices within the organisational environment is likely to result in inertia and poor performance. The study project endeavour to determine the rationale behind the Beehive Model of organisational renewal for the entrenchment of change and high performance in organisational culture, as justified by recent academic literature, using a literature review as research design. The correlation of entrenched change and high performance with the application of best practices, and entrenched organisational inertia and poor performance with the application of poor practices, is in both cases assumed to be positive and no attempt is made to empirically test the correlations within this study project. The Beehive Model and the literature reveal a synthesised environment that culturally and structurally integrates workplace practices and questionnaire indicators, reinforcing and causing high performance, and endeavouring to create and explain the following scenario: All employees are enabled and empowered to achieve their maximum capability and potential through formal and informal workplace practices and processes that are integrated throughout the organisation and structured in such a way that makes them clear and simple to understand and easy to use, channels information flow purposefully, encourages and forces active information flow, and delivers relevant and useful information within specific contexts as underpinned by competent employees that are actively involved in the design, implementation, usage and ongoing adjustment of the workplace practices. This encourages contextual business understanding, and commitment to and participation in performance enhancing problem solving through effort that is aligned with strategy. The findings suggest that the Beehive Model's structure and purpose and the associated questionnaire indicators are soundly supported by recent academic theory as well as the limited available empirical research on related topics. It is therefore possible to conclude with a reasonably high level of confidence, as viewed against the backdrop of trends in the literature, that high compliance with the correct and holistic application of best practice, as associated with the seven workplace practices' indicators, is likely to result in the entrenchment of change and high performance within an organisation's culture. The literature reviewed also strongly suggests the industry independence of the effective application of the Beehive Model's questionnaire indicators.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die 'Beehive'-model (Figure 1.1) van organisatoriese vernuwing is 'n teoretiese model en analitiese werktuig, in 'n heuningkoekformaat soos ontwerp deur Nel (2001), wat gebruik word om 'n 'kiekie' te verkry van organisatoriese nakoming ten opsigte van die toepassing van goeie of slegte praktyke binne die kontemporêre ekonomiese klimaat. Elkeen van die sewe werkplekpraktyke het agt pare aanwysers, in 'n vraelysformaat (Aanhangsel A), wat gebruik word om die 'kiekie' te verkry van hoe die geëvalueerde organisasie/afdeling/besigheidseenheid presteer ten opsigte van die toepassing van óf slegte óf goeie praktyke. Daar word te kenne gegee dat die werkplekpraktyke, naamlik Strategie, Veranderingsleierskap, Verbintenis van belanghebbendes, Vergoeding en Aansporing, Talentskepping, Besigheidsdissiplines en Strukture, sterk in verband staan met en kritiek is vir die vaslegging van verandering en hoë prestasie binne organisasies indien goeie praktyke korrek toegepas word soos gedryf deur strategie. Daar word te kenne gegee dat die toepassing van slegte praktyke binne die organisasie-omgewing waarskynlik traagheid en swak prestasie tot gevolg sal hê. Die studieprojek poog om die rasionaal van die 'Beehive'-model van organisasievernuwing vir die vaslegging van verandering en hoë prestasie in die organisasiekultuur te bepaal soos geregverdig deur onlangse akademiese literatuur deur die gebruikmaking van 'n literatuuroorsig as navorsingsontwerp. Daar word aangeneem dat die korrelasie van vasgelegde verandering en hoë prestasie met die toepassing van goeie praktyke, en vasgelegde organisasietraagheid en swak prestasie met die toepassing van swak praktyke in beide gevalle positief is en geen poging word aangewend om die korrelasies empiries te toets as deel van hierdie studieprojek nie. Die 'Beehive'-model en literatuuroorsig toon 'n saamgevoegde omgewing wat kultureel en struktureel die werkplekpraktyke en vraelysaanwysers integreer en daardeur hoë prestasie versterk en veroorsaak, en wat poog om die volgende scenario te skep en te verduidelik: Alle werknemers word in staat gestel (bekwaam) en bemagtig om hul volle vermoë en potensiaal te bereik deur formele en informele werkplekpraktyke en prosesse wat regdeur die organisasie geïntegreer is en wat duidelik en eenvoudig gestruktureer is om dit maklik te maak om te verstaan en te gebruik, informasievloei doelgerig te kanaliseer, aktiewe inligtingsvloei aan te moedig en te forseer, en wat toepaslike en nuttige inligting binne bepaalde verband lewer soos ondersteun deur bekwame werknemers wat aktief betrokke is by die ontwerp, implementering, gebruik en deurlopende aanpassing van die werkplekpraktyke. Dit moedig die kontekstuele begrip van die besigheid, asook verbintenis tot en deelname aan prestasieverhogende probleemoplossing aan deur inspanning wat strategiegerig is. Die bevindings dui daarop dat die 'Beehive'-model se struktuur en doel en die gepaardgaande vraelysaanwysers sterk ondersteun word deur onlangse akademiese teorie asook beperkte beskikbare empiriese navorsing ten opsigte van verwante onderwerpe. Daarom is dit moontlik om met 'n redelike hoë mate van vertroue tot die gevolgtrekking te kom, soos gesien teen die agtergrond van tendense in die literatuur, dat 'n hoë mate van nakoming van die korrekte en holistiese toepassing van goeie praktyke, soos geassosieer met die sewe werkplekpraktykaanwysers, waarskynlik sal lei tot die vaslegging van verandering en hoë prestasie in die kultuur van 'n organisasie. Die literatuuroorsig dui ook redelik sterk op die begryfsonafhanklikheid van die doeltreffende toepassing van die "Beehive'- modelvraelysaanwysers.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2002.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: For the past two decades or so we have been witnessing the dawn of the information age. The technological revolution that typifies this era is proceeding at a rate unparalleled by the advances of previous eras. This technological advancement has spawned what is called the New Economy, where the currency is information and the watchword is speed. The New Economy is global, knowledge-driven, and highly competitive. It has forever changed the competitive landscapes of many industries, combined others into new industries, and has even created entirely new industries. The New Economy poses many new challenges for organisations that strive for excellence. Amongst other things, globalisation and rapid advances in technology are constantly raising performance level benchmarks on all fronts. This means that organisations striving for excellence have to be stable yet agile, lean, responsive, innovative, efficient, customer-focused, and profitable. In addition, the pressure on organisations to democratise the workplace brings its own challenges. One such approach for organising for excellence is the Beehive model where minimum levels of performance have to be attained in each of seven interdependent areas: strategy, structures, people capacity, business disciplines, stakeholder commitment, pay and incentives, and change leadership. Taken out of context, these practices will not produce the desired improvements in performance. They need to be treated as a system where the practices fit with and support each other.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Vir ongeveer die afgelope twee dekades ervaar ons die aanbreek van die informasie tydperk. Die tegnologiese revolusie, wat 'n kenmerk is van hierdie era, gaan voort met 'n tempo ongeewenaard met die vooruitgang van vorige eras. Hierdie tegnologiese vooruitgang het voortgebring wat die Nuwe Ekonomie genoem word, waar die geldeenheid informasie en die wagwoord spoed is. Die Nuwe Ekonomie is wereldwyd, kennis aangedrewe, en hoogs kompeterend. Dit het die kompeterende landskappe van baie industriee vir ewig verander, ander in nuwe industriee kombineer en selfs geheel en al nuwe industriee geskep. Die Nuwe Ekonomie lewer vele nuwe uitdagings op vir organisasies wat na uitmuntenheid streef. Om maar een te noem veroorsaak globalisasie en vinnige vooruitgang in tegnologie 'n konstante styging in prestasie vlak hoogtemerke reg deur die industrie. Dit beteken dat organisasies wat na uitmuntenheid streef stabiel, tog ook behendig, reagerend, vernuwend, effektief, klient gefokus en winsgewend moet wees. Daarmee saam bring die druk op organisasies om by die werkplek te demokratiseer sy eie uitdagings. Een so benadering vir organisering vir uitmuntendheid is die Beehive model waar minimum vlakke van prestasie in elke sewe interafhanklike areas behaal moet word: strategie, strukture, menslike kapasiteit, besigheids dissipline, insethouer toegewydheid, betaling en prestasielone, en oorgangsleiding. Uit konteks sal hierdie praktyke nie die gewensde verbeterings in prestasie behaal nie. Dit moet as 'n sisteem behandel word waar die praktyke mekaar pas en ondersteun.

Tendencies such as the increasing spread of market globalisation, new technological developments, the reduction of product life cycles and aggressive competition, are generating high levels of environmental changes and uncertainty for organisations of all types (Volberda, 1996; Sanchez, 1997). These circumstances require rapid responses through adaptations of organisational attitudes and capabilities, which lead to innovative management approaches and organisational methods (Bueno, 1996: 262).
Traditional sources of competitive advantages are changing and it is imperative to deploy new strategies to successfully compete under changing external conditions. For example, flexibility is emerging as a competitive weapon that allows organisations to counteract current market evolution and competitive levels (Ahmed et al., 1996; Volberda, 1996). Flexibility is a broad concept that can refer to operational issues such as manufacturing flexibility, or to strategic decisions such as alterations in the organisation's product-market combinations. All these factors are associated with the organisation's efforts to adjust available means to external challenges. Regardless of the specific response adopted by organisations, it is broadly believed that environmental dynamism forces managers to pay increasing attention to the management of the organisation's social issues (Wright and Snell, 1998).
From a managerial point of view, human resource management activities used by organisations in the new competitive landscape are changing. This can be seen, for example, in job descriptions. Nowadays individual contributions to organisational goals are being substituted by team accomplishments. Furthermore, technological advances (e.g. the introduction of Internet in companies) are making it difficult to assess and manage employee performance in the workplace. As a result High Commitment Management (HCM) is emerging as the optimal system to manage the employment relationships in modern organisations. HCM is a particular approach to human resources management characterised by certain features such as the emphasis on the development of employee skills, job enrichment and the provision of equitable incentives. A number of authors in recent decades have demonstrated the impact of HCM on organisational outcomes.
From an employee-based perspective, organisations require a new type and level of contribution from their workforce. In order to successfully compete under dynamic conditions, people's performance of a fixed set of prescribed tasks is no longer considered adequate. Instead, competitive advantage comes from employees who are engaged in broad open-ended and interdependent roles (Campbell, 2000; Parker, 2000). In sum, from an individual perspective, human resource flexibility is a key success factor in current competitive environments. However, to date no accepted definition of human resource flexibility has been put forward; attempts should be made to provide this concept with a more solid theoretical background (Looise et al., 1998). In this study, I propose a conceptualisation of HR flexibility based on the premises of the Resource-Based View of the firm (RBV) (Wernerfelt, 1984; Barney, 1991; Amit and Shoemaker, 1993). Similarly to the role that value, rareness, inimitability and non-substitutability play in the consideration of resources as strategic assets (Barney, 1991), flexible resources are characterised by certain features, such as their applicability to a variety of uses or the ease with which they can be modified (Sanchez, 1995). One of the aims of this research is to apply these concepts to the conceptualisation of human resource flexibility.
All things considered, social factors are essential to the successful deployment of organisational flexibility, as are the activities used to manage employees (Dyer and Shafer, 1999). Not only are individual responsibilities different in dynamic environments, but also the human resource activities used by organisations to manage their workforce will alter. The present study focuses on these two questions and analyses their interrelationships.
The general purpose of this research is to examine the contribution of HCM to organisational performance by considering the role that human resource flexibility plays in this relationship. That is, I question whether a high commitment approach is important to determine the workforce's flexibility and to what extent a flexible workforce enhances organisational outcomes.

This aim of this thesis was to critically examine the features of an elite performance centre in facilitating coaches’ professional learning experiences. In response to existing coach development literature that is negative about the formal education experiences coaches encounter, contemporary research has suggested a conceptual and practical shift towards professional learning (e.g. learning as form of social practice), which in turn has led to a greater focus on the workplace as a legitimate site for the development of professional knowledge. A focus on workplace learning requires an understanding of the social, structural, and cultural factors that facilitate or inhibit coach learning. Drawing on an ethnographic case study approach, 6 professional coaches and 3 administrative staff within an Olympic High Performance centre participated in the project over an 8 month period. Utilising a constructivist version of grounded theory, the findings build upon current understandings of coach education, suggested learning experiences are a condition of the interrelationship between negotiated personal engagement, workplace structures, and contextual mediating conditions. This relationship is captured within the model ‘Negotiated Community Transitions’, characterising coaches’ as individuals that move and participate across communities, each with its own distinct culture. As such, the coaching workplace is portrayed as a contested and fluid landscape.

Chinese presence in Africa has been rapidly increasing in the past few years and has been speculated to be mainly due to China seeking Africa’s political alliance and access to Africa’s natural resources and growing consumer markets. The growing presence of Chinese organisations in Africa, however, has not been without its challenges. In particular, Chinese multinational corporations (MNCs) in search of consumer markets in Africa have been cited as facing human resource (HR) challenges which may affect their organisational performance. In this regard, literature on human resource management has already established the important role of organisational culture, HR practices and organisational commitment in enabling organisations to achieve superior organisational performance. Given the fact that there is currently little research knowledge of Chinese presence in Africa at the organisational level, this research aimed to contribute empirical knowledge to the growing body of research in this area. Specifically, the main purpose of this research was to examine how the organisational culture of a Chinese MNC’s South African subsidiary has shaped the nature of its high commitment work system (HCWS) and to assess the consequences thereof on organisational commitment. In alignment with the phenomenological paradigm, the research applied a descriptive and explanatory case study methodology in order to generate rich, qualitative data which was required for in-depth descriptions and to uncover the underlying interactions of the researched phenomena at the subsidiary. The selected case for the research was, therefore, a Chinese MNC operating in the personal computer (PC) industry, which had expanded its operations to South Africa in order to reach Africa’s growing consumer markets. In particular, the South African subsidiary served as a PC sales and distribution organisation for the Chinese MNC. There were about 40 employees at the subsidiary who were all South African employees. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with twelve employees from different job functions and across different job levels. Data collection was guided by the theoretical frameworks by Cameron and Freeman (1991) for organisational culture and Xiao and Bjorkman (2006) for the HCWS and organisational commitment. The data collected from interviews was then analysed through a qualitative, content analysis process. The findings of the research thus pointed to the market culture as the dominant organisational culture type at the South African subsidiary of the Chinese MNC; characteristics of the adhocracy and clan cultures were also discovered. The externally oriented market culture was found to be the most relevant for the high performance and market leadership aspirations of the subsidiary. The market culture also appears to be the most appropriate organisational culture that would enable the subsidiary to deal with the competitive nature of the PC industry. Furthermore, it was found that certain cultural values emphasised by the Confucian and Ubuntu value systems could have had a part to play in the formation of the subsidiary’s organisational culture. The market culture was also found to have had the greatest influence in shaping the primarily performance oriented HCWS practices. Of the investigated HR practices at the subsidiary, all were found to be consistent with HCWS practices, with the exception of ownership practices and the performance appraisal system. Finally, although there were generally high levels of organisational commitment reported at the subsidiary, other job and organisational context factors besides the HCWS practices were found to be the major contributors to those feelings of organisational commitment. By investigating the organisational culture, HCWS and organisational commitment of a Chinese MNC in South Africa, this research has added to the body of knowledge concerning the growing presence of Chinese organisations in Africa. Based on the empirical findings of this study, several recommendations have been made in an attempt to assist the Chinese MNC manage the organisational commitment of its South African employees towards superior organisational performance.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2008.
ENGLISH ABSTACT: The research seeks to investigate the progress of an indigenous group of companies in the advertising industry in Nigeria, in its bid to transform from unsustainable organisational practices to more sustainable and progressive practices that promote increased operational efficiency and organisational performance. The study made use of the Beehive Survey of High Performance Organisation TM and the Evolution to Excellence Framework (EEF), tools that were used by permission of the owners, The Village of Leaders Consulting, as well as interviews with staff of the company. The research objectives were firstly, to identify positive and negative influences on organisational culture change, secondly, to assist the subject company in identifying necessary steps to take in its bid to become world class and finally, to test the questionnaire model, the Beehive Survey, in an environment other than South Africa where it had been extensively used. The research further aimed to identify how far Nigerian companies had been able to achieve their bid to become truly world class with sustainable organisational practices, what type of leadership and cultural challenges they might face and what they needed to do to overcome these challenges. The major findings of the research were that indigenous companies need to reduce authoritative hierarchy and control, increase participation and interaction at all levels, increase transparency and information dissemination and clearly define the organisational vision and get the buy-in of all stakeholders.

Thesis (MBA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2010.
The world is constantly changing, creating a new environment and challenging businesses, societies and countries with unpredictable and volatile economic currents on a global scale. The new economy is the big second wave of change that will stay with us for the next century. People and organisations that want to participate in the new economy have to adapt to the new rules of the game or become extinct. Speed, agility, reliability, knowledge and networking globally are some of the skills necessary to survive, in this changed world. Values and strategy execution are critical elements in the quest to become a high-performing organisation in the new economy. Strategy in organisations is the creation of a unique and valuable position, involving a different set of activities. Whilst a brilliant strategy can put you on the map, only a solid execution process will keep you on the map and competitive. Most organisations set the vision and strategy, but do not set the operational requirements executing the strategic objectives. The new economy represents a historic shift in values, a new paradigm from which people in organisations cannot separate themselves if they want to stay relevant in the new economy. Transforming organisational values from the old economy to the new economy is a challenge – primarily a leadership challenge. Absa (Amalgamated Banks of South Africa), a leading financial services organisation in South Africa and part of the global financial service group, Barclays, offers life insurance to its customers, through its subsidiary Absa Life. Absa Life is the target audience for this research study. In the group, Absa Life contributes almost six per cent to the total earnings of the Absa Group. The organisation embarked on a strategy, in 2008 to become a top-five life insurer in South Africa by 2012. ‘Big hairy audacious goals’ (BHAG’s) were set and the 230 members of the Absa Life team at the time bought into the vision and strategy. For Absa Life to reach the stretched goals the leadership team has to take note of important elements of a high-performance organisation. This research study assesses the current value profile of Absa Life, the organisation. The researcher utilises an instrument, the Beehive questionnaire, developed by the Village Leadership Consulting for the value profile assessment. A valid sample, including all job levels and divisions in Absa Life formed the target audience for this questionnaire. The questionnaire (electronic survey format) benchmarks the Absa Life value profile against the old and new economy value profiles. The researcher uses the results of the Beehive questionnaire and the Evolution to Excellence framework, to highlight the organisational and leadership challenges and recommend best practices for Absa Life leadership team. The Absa Life leadership team will determine their readiness, embracing these challenges and will be the team that is responsible for the survival of Absa Life in the 21st century or not.

À l’heure où les entreprises, confrontées à de nombreux bouleversements, sont plus que jamais en recherche de performance, et à l’heure où les salariés, dénonçant les conditions de travail et les pratiques managériales, n’ont jamais été aussi demandeurs de bien-être au travail, réconcilier le bien-être des salariés et la performance de l’entreprise est un sujet d’actualité et un enjeu stratégique pour les entreprises.La revue de la littérature et les résultats d’une analyse qualitative exploratoire menée à l’aide d’entretiens semi-directifs auprès de 55 salariés du groupe RESSIF (Réseau des Services Sociaux Interentreprises de France) nous amènent à envisager le « bien-être au travail » et la « performance de l’entreprise » en termes de méta-perspective paradoxale et à proposer des voies de résolution de ce paradoxe organisationnel.Pour ce faire, nous avons mené deux études quantitatives. La première étude est basée sur 5300 observations issues de l’enquête « conditions de travail » du Ministère français du travail. La deuxième est basée sur les réponses de 270 entreprises à un questionnaire en ligne portant sur les pratiques de gestion des ressources humaines.Finalement, nos résultats empiriques concluent que les facteurs permettant de concilier le bien-être au travail et la performance de l’entreprise sont, parmi les conditions de travail, la lutte contre l’intensité et l’insoutenabilité du travail et, parmi les pratiques de ressources humaines, le développement de la participation des salariés aux décisions de l’entreprise, la formation, les promotions et perspectives de carrière et, dans une moindre mesure, l’évaluation de la performance.Pour conclure ce travail, sont présentées les contributions théoriques, méthodologiques et managériales, ainsi que les voies futures de recherche
At a time when companies, faced with many upheavals, are more than ever in search of performance, and when employees, denouncing working conditions and managerial practices, have never been so demanding of well-being at work, reconciling employee well-being and company performance is a topical issue and a strategic challenge for companies.The literature review and the results of an exploratory qualitative analysis conducted using semi-directive interviews with 55 employees of the RESSIF group (Réseau des Services Sociaux Interentreprises de France) lead us to consider "well-being at work" and "company performance" in terms of paradoxical meta-perspective and to propose ways to resolve this organizational paradox.To do this, we conducted two quantitative studies. The first study is based on 5300 observations from the working conditions survey of the French Ministry of Labor. The second is based on the answers of 270 companies to an online questionnaire on human resources management practices.Finally, our empirical results conclude that the factors that make it possible to reconcile well-being at work and company performance are, among working conditions, the fight against work intensity and unsustainability and, among human resources practices, the development of employee participation in company decisions, training, promotions and career perspectives and, to a lesser extent, performance evaluation.To conclude this work, theoretical, methodological and managerial contributions are presented, as well as future research paths

Dissertação apresentada para o cumprimento dos requisitos necessários à obtenção do grau de Mestre em Gestão Estratégica de Recursos Humanos
O presente estudo tem como objetivo geral analisar as práticas de gestão de recursos humanos como fatores de influência no desempenho de uma empresa do setor segurador, do ramo não vida, especializada em seguros de saúde. Como objetivos específicos pretende-se caracterizar as práticas de gestão de recursos humanos da empresa, identificar se as práticas de trabalho de elevado desempenho (PTED) estão presentes no seu contexto organizacional, identificar quais as PTED que contribuem para o elevado desempenho, analisar se existe uma diferenciação de práticas de gestão de recursos humanos, dentro da mesma empresa, para grupos funcionais distintos e identificar se a gestão dos recursos humanos está articulada com a estratégia da empresa. Do ponto de vista metodológico foi utilizada a metodologia do estudo de caso. As técnicas de recolha de informação sustentaram-se no inquérito por questionário aplicado aos trabalhadores da empresa, na realização de entrevistas aos responsáveis de Recursos Humanos e na análise documental. Os resultados obtidos indiciam que o setor de atividade em que a empresa está integrada promove a adoção de práticas de trabalho de elevado desempenho, nomeadamente no que refere ao acesso à informação, às oportunidades de participação, avaliação de desempenho e ao desenvolvimento de competências dos trabalhadores. Adicionalmente, verificou-se que os trabalhadores que exercem funções de coordenação assumem um papel importante na implementação da estratégia e na consecução dos objetivos da empresa. Este estudo contribuiu para evidenciar as práticas de gestão de recursos humanos de elevado desempenho utilizadas no setor segurador, bem como sustentar que as mesmas práticas, desde que articuladas com a estratégia da organização, podem estar associadas ao desempenho organizacional.
Abstract: The general aim of this study is to analyse human resources management practices as factors influencing the performance of a company in the insurance sector, in the non-life branch, specialising in health insurance. The specific aims are to characterise the human resources management practices of the company, to identify if high performance work practices (HPWPs) are present in the organisational context, to identify which HPWPs contribute to high performance, to analyse if there are different human resources management practices in the same company for different functional groups and to identify if human resources management is linked to the company strategy. The methodology used was the case study methodology. The information gathering techniques were based on administering a questionnaire to company employees, holding interviews with Human Resources managers and document analysis. The results obtained indicate that the business setor the company operates in encourages the adoption of high performance work practices, in particular with regard to access to information, opportunities for participation, performance assessment and the development of employee skills. In addition, it was found that the employees with duties of coordination play an important role in the implementation of the strategy and in achieving the company’s objectives. This study contributed to showing the high performance human resources management practices used in the insurance sector, as well as to proving that these practices can be associated with organisational performance, provided that they are linked to the organisation strategy.

Vad är hemligheterna bland världens bästa och mest framgångsrika verksamheter? Vad gör dessa högpresterande företag, organisationer och idrottslag för att skapa framgångsrika kulturer som efterlever den vision, mål och värderingar som utformats? I en förstudie som gjordes till detta examensarbete av studiens författare på det undersökta fallföretag Skanska Sverige AB år 2019, bedömde de intervjuade nyckelpersoner behovet av att ”nå ändå ut” med sina riktlinjer och få sina medarbetare att följa vision, mål och värderingar vara en högst central och betydelsefull kunskap. Denna problematik förekommer inte enbart i det undersökta fallföretaget Skanska, utan forskare såsom Schein (2004) och Wadström (2014) påpekar att det är bland de största utmaningarna och svårigheterna i dagens organisationer.  Syftet med denna studie är att öka kunskapen och förståelsen hur företag kan få sina medarbetare att efterleva företagets vision, mål och värderingar. Examensarbetet ingriper en omfattande litteraturstudie som undersöker vad tidigare forskning visar hur företag kan få sina medarbetare att efterleva företagets vision, mål och värderingar. Från litteraturstudien utvecklas en analysmodell vilket används som teoretisk referensram till den kvalitativa intervjustudie som görs på 18 stycken medarbetare på Skanska Väg och Anläggning Norr Umeå. Den kvalitativa intervjustudien görs semistrukturerad i syfte att fånga åsikter och erfarenheter från respondenternas eget perspektiv. Resultatet från intervjustudien jämförs sedan och analyseras med stöd av litteraturen från tidigare forskning.   Studiens resultat visar att både tidigare forskning och medarbetarnas perspektiv från intervjustudien åskådliggör att företag kan skapa gynnsammare förutsättningar för sina medarbetare att efterleva företagets vision, mål och värderingar genom att medarbetarna får uppleva ansvar och en delaktighet i sin arbetsroll. Även ledarnas fysiska och psykiska närvaro visar sig i tidigare forskning och i intervjurespondenternas perspektiv vara väsentligt i företags strävande att få sina medarbetare att efterleva företagets vision, mål och värderingar, detta eftersom ledarna är en förebild och symbol för de agerande och beteenden som gäller i företaget. Tidigare forskning och studiens intervjuresultat visar likaså att ett företag som verkligen har ambitionen att ens medarbetare ska leva efter sina löften måste bryta ned vision, mål och värderingar till något konkret, vad människor ska göra, det vill säga beteenden, och dessa måste kontinuerligt följas upp. En nyckel för att få sina medarbetare att efterleva företagets vision, mål och värderingar visar studiens litteratur vara i ökningen av antalet kvalitativa uppföljningsmöten, återkopplingsmöten och erfarenhetsåterföringsmöten gentemot planeringsmöten. Vid sidan om en väl genomarbetad strategi gäller det att titta på det faktiska resultatet, ta reda på vad som kan göras bättre och utifrån detta korrigera och ta fram ett idealläge som gör den påtagliga skillnaden. Följaktligen, hade det varit intressant att se framtida forskning studera hur implementering och effektivisering av uppföljning och erfarenhetsåterföring kan genomföras i en organisation.
What are the secrets among the world’s best and most successful businesses? What do these high-performing companies, organisations and sports teams do to create successful cultures that live up to the vision, goals and values ​​that have been designed? In a pilot study carried out for this thesis by the study’s author at the investigated case company Skanska Sverige AB in 2019, key interviewees assessed the need to “reach out” with their guidelines and get their employees to follow vision, goals and values to be a highly central and significant knowledge. This problem does not only occur in the researched case company Skanska, but researchers such as Schein (2004) and Wadström (2014) point out that it is among the biggest challenges and difficulties in today’s organisations.  The purpose of this study is to increase knowledge and understanding of how companies can make their employees live up to the company’s vision, goals and values. The Master thesis involves an extensive literature study that examines what previous research shows how companies can make their employees live up to the company’s vision, goals and values. From the literature study, an analysis model is developed, which is used as a theoretical frame of reference for the qualitative interview study conducted on 18 employees at Skanska Väg och Anläggning Norr Umeå. The qualitative interview study is semi-structured in order to capture opinions and experiences from the respondents’ own perspective. The results from the interview study are then compared and analysed with support of the literature from previous research.  The results of the study show that both previous research and the employees’ perspective from the interview study illustrates that companies can create more favourable conditions for their employees to live up to the company’s vision, goals and values by allowing employees to experience responsibility and participation in their work role. The leaders’ physical and mental presence also proves in previous research and in the interview respondents’ perspective to be essential in companies’ efforts to get their employees to live up to the company’s vision, goals and values, as the leaders are a role model and symbol for the actions and behaviours in the company. Previous research and the study’s interview results also show that a company that really has ambitions to live up to its promises must break down vision, goals and values ​​into something concrete, what people should do, namely behaviours, and these must be continuously followed up. A key to getting their employees to live up to the company’s vision, goals and values is shown by the literature study to be in the increase in the numbers of qualitative follow-up meetings, feedback meetings and experience feedback meetings in relation to planning meetings. In addition to a well-developed strategy, it is important to look at the actual result, find out what can be done better and based on this, correct and develop an ideal situation that makes the tangible difference. Consequently, it would have been interesting to see future research study how implementation and streamlining of follow-up and experience feedback can be carried out in an organisation.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2015.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The research assignment was conducted to evaluate the influential dimensions for building high performing teams in virtual organisations. The new business unit, Middle East and Africa has the challenge of operating globally for the first time. The leadership has the daunting task of getting the virtual team to become a high performance team. An intensive literature review was conducted to draw on the knowledge of previous theory for both high performance teams as well as virtual organisations. A representative sample of the organisation’s leadership was interviewed by means of an online questionnaire, whilst employees were survey by means of both physical and online surveys. The results provided insights into the dimensions that strongly influence high performance teams in virtual global organisations. A deeper understanding of success factors that influence team performance and virtual organisations were learnt and recommendations was made to the company.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2004.
Some digitised pages may appear illegible due to the condition of the original hard copy
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Performance in the Marketplace is what business is all about. Organisations are measured by their results and their stock exchange prices reflect their performance and the perception that the market has of them. The acronym 'Look at the Score board' is heard in passages of every organisation doing business in the market place. The question is: How can any organisation perform while looking at the scoreboard? Relate it to tennis players. How would tennis players perform if instead of keeping both eyes on the ball, they always had one eye on the scoreboard? In sports they talk of being in the zone. The harder athletes try to win, the less likely it becomes that they will. When people are in their zone, all of their attention is on what they are doing, and not on what they are accomplishing. Results then flow from their focus. Many organisations only watch the scoreboard - the bottom line. In doing so they take their eyes off the ball - their relationships with people. This gets them out of their zone and leads to long-term disaster. When organisations keep their eye consistently on the ball, operating their businesses by aligning with their core values, the scoreboard does in fact take care of itself. The research problem as addressed by this study is that of: 'how does an organisation change to become value based and how does an organisation use its values as a base to create a high performance culture within the organisation?' The study is a case study and the organisation used is Grootegeluk Coal Mine, a business unit of KUMBA Resources. The main objective of the study is to investigate the critical success factors for the establishment and management of a high-performance culture within organisations. The role of leadership in the establishment and management of a collaborative environment to ensure commitment and creativity and as a result a sustainable performance culture is investigated in depth. The field of leadership principles was researched and it was found that the conditions, which serve to minimise interference with potential so that it might be more fully expressed in performance, are conditions that encourage collaboration, commitment and creativity. The system is based on the Competence theory. Collaboration is a way for people to work together which requires, by definition, the fullest exploration and identification of their various resources. Such a process increases the number of ideas and amount of information available for planning and making work related decisions. Collaboration is the leader's primary strategy for acknowledging love and work together so that both may be served. It is a means to identifying a" the possibilities. The human desire for productive love, labouring to make something grow, reflects the hunger for commitment. People want to be committed, it is a natural state, which must be realised for people to prosper and be healthy. Commitment is always the result of something; it is a by-product of one's opportunities to experience self-expression and, while often given difficult birth, it is easily lost unless attention is given to its maintenance and care. The seeds of commitment may be sewn through opportunities as in collaborative exchanges, but for its potential to be fully realised, promises must be kept and expectations must be met. Creative power is the first cause of all behaviour, and the basic human instinct for self-realisation, completion and perfection is the driving force of life itself. The principle of creativity simply reflects the grand theme, the nature of people at work. The urge and capacity for creativity are part and parcel of the human condition. The potential of high performance is at hand in organisations and may manifest when the leaders are guided by the principle of creativity. The essential characteristics of the work environment necessary for the release of potential are conditions that encourage: collaboration, commitment and creativity. Workers have little control over such conditions. Leaders, therefore, determine organisational performance because they create - or fail to create - the environmental conditions which minimise interference with available potential. This means that leaders desiring high performance must make sure that collaboration, commitment, and creativity - the conditions in support of competence and its release - are present in their organisation. It is possible to measure the dimensions of collaboration, commitment, and creativity within an organisation through the technique of Organisation culture analysis. Leadership Systems International has studied the relationship of such conditions to performance. In one study high-performing organisations were compared with low-performing organisations and, in every case, it was found that high-performing organisations can be characterised by significantly greater support for collaboration, commitment, and creativity than were lowperforming parts of the same organisations. The major conclusion from this research is that performance varies as conditions for competence vary. Therefore, for those concerned about quality and productivity, the implications are clear: For people to perform well, to do their best, they must be provided with an organisational environment that releases their potential by supporting their natural capacity and need for doing what needs to be done, for working productively. The Organisation culture analysis that was used on Grootegeluk Mine indicates that, despite the improvement in culture, a gap still exist between the Grootegeluk culture and that of the average of benchmarked organisations in South Africa. The policies and practices of the Grootegeluk organisation fall into the quasi-collaboration, quasi-commitment and quasi-creativity range. This means that the value structure, information flow, personal practices of managers and climate combine to encourage but does not facilitate attempts to collaborate and that power dynamics, incentive structures, and work relationships are managed in ways that encourage but fail to facilitate the development of widespread commitment. This also means that the work environment, social dynamics, and problem solving processes are managed in ways that encourage but does not facilitate attempts at creativity. The Organisation culture analysis indicates that the Grootegeluk management needs to make a profound leadership impact to ensure success. It must be remembered that a high-performance culture is part of a broader process of continuous improvement. People are only one part in this model, but people are the enablers, ensuring that the processes and technology changes through creativity. The recommendation is for the Grootegeluk Management to use the current performance culture base to build on a new high-performance culture whereby the organisation can change itself from the current quasicollaborative, quasi-committed and quasi-creative organisation to an organisation where these competence factors are world best. This will ensure that Grootegeluk becomes an organisation that will be able to withstand future storms and an organisation that will outperform the mining and minerals sector.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die hoofdoel van besigheid is om te presteer. Organisasies word gemeet aan die resultate wat hulle vir beleggers gee. Die gesegde vergelyk dit met sport wanneer daar verwys word na die telbord. Die vraag is, hoe kan enige organisasie presteer deur die telbord dop te hou? Vergelyk dit met 'n tennisspeler. Hoe kan 'n tennisspeler presteer deur die telbord dop te hou en nie die oog op die bal te hou nie. Daar word gepraat van 'n sportman wat gemaklik is, en dan presteer. Indien atlete nie gemaklik is nie, kan hulle nie fokus op wat hulle doen nie, en as gevolg daarvan nie presteer nie. Baie organisasies fokus nie op wat hulle doen en hoe hulle dit doen nie, maar op die telbord - hulle resultate. Dit het tot gevolg dat organisasies hulle oog van die bal - hulle verhoudings met hulle werknemers - afhaal. Dit het negatiewe langtermyn gevolge. Wanneer organisasies hulle besigheid belyn met hulle waardestelsel, sorg die telbord vir homself. Die studie ondersoek die vraag: Hoe verander 'n organisasie na 'n waardestelsel gedrewe organisasie en hoe gebruik so 'n organisasie sy waardestelselom 'n prestasiekultuur te vestig? Die studie is 'n gevallestudie van KUMBA Resources se Grootegeluk Steenkoolmyn naby Lephalale. Die hoofdoel met die studie is om die kritiese suksesfaktore vir die vestiging van 'n prestasiekultuur te bepaal. Die rol van leierskap in die proses van hierdie kultuurvesting word bestudeer. Die studie ondersoek spesifiek die Jay Hall teorie van samewerking, toewyding en kreatiwiteit. Hierdie teorie is in diepte bestudeer en daar is bevind dat omstandighede wat inmenging in potensiaal mimimeer, juis samewerking, toewyding en kreatiwiteit maksimeer. Samewerking is in hierdie geval 'n proses wat werknemers dwing om ten diepste te delf in hulle hulpbronne om alle moontlike idees te ondersoek. Toewyding word in hierdie geval gedefinieer as die behoefte om produktief te werk en iets te laat groei uit daardie werk. Kreatiwiteit is die oorsprong van gedrag. Die beginsel van kreatiwiteit is gewoon die natuur van die mens wat werk. Die behoefte om te presteer is dus deel van die mens se natuur en die potensiaal van prestasie is dus deel van enige organisasie en behoort te manifesteer indien die leiers deur die beginsel van kreatiwiteit gelei word. Die beginsels van samewerking, toewyding en kreatiwiteit is nodig om prestasie aan te wakker. Werknemers het egter min beheer oor hierdie omgewingsfaktore terwyl leiers oor die sleutels beskik om die faktore te maksimeer. Dit is moontlik om hierdie omgewingsfaktore te meet. Die metings word deur Leadership Systems International gedoen en is gebaseer op navorsing wat hulle deurlopend doen. Die navorsing wys dat organisasies wat presteer in elke geval beter in die faktore van samewerking, toewyding en kreatiwiteit presteer. Dit wys dat mense beter presteer in 'n omgewing waar hulle potensiaal benut word deur inmenging te minimeer. Die meting op Grootegeluk Myn wys dat ten spyte van 'n verbetering in die organisasie kultuur, daar steeds 'n gaping bestaan indien die organisasie met 'n gemiddelde van ander organisasies in Suid Afrika vergelyk word. Die omgewingsfaktore van samewerking, toewyding en kreatiwiteit ondersteun wel prestasie, maar fasiliteer dit nie. Die studie wys dat die Grootegeluk Bestuurspan 'n groot leierskapsimpak moet maak om verdere sukses in prestasieverbetering te behaal. Die aanbeveling van die studie is dat die huidige prestasie basis en - kultuur gebruik moet word as basis om verder uit te bou aan die faktore van samewerking, toewyding en kreatiwiteit. Dit sal verseker dat Grootegeluk toekomstige storms sal afweer en dat die organisasie beter as die mynbou en minerale sektor sal presteer.

In today’s competitive global environment it is vital for businesses to continuously outperform their competitors, making each business more and more dependent upon product quality and the ability to adjust rapidly to change. To survive, businesses more and more depend on the creativity, initiative and problem-solving abilities of their employees. The research in this treatise will focus on the components of a high performance organisation, when assessing the international high performance strategy of Company A, developed by top management. The implementation of Company A’s strategy relies on how well the organisation fosters an environment which is conducive to high performance. At this stage it is not clear if the chosen strategy will succeed and direct the organisation towards sustainable high performance in the long run. Hence, the research question, which is the crux of this study, is to assess the effectiveness of Company A’s international high performance strategy in creating a sustainable high performance organisation in the long run. To achieve the primary objective of this research study, the researcher compared various prominent models of high performance organisations with one another. Despite the limitations, the researcher believes that the significance of De Waal’s model is that he managed to identify the factors involved in creating a high performance organisation. Based on the quantitative and qualitative comparisons, the researcher decided to use the research conducted by De Waal as the framework for the basis of this study. The Delphi Technique was used to identify the effectiveness of the strategy through a consensus seeking and commitment building process. Contrary to expectations, the empirical results indicated that Company A’s strategy does clearly indicate a high percentage of effectiveness. Although it definitely indicates that there is still a long road ahead of Company A to reach ultimate sustainable high performance, it definitely is on the right track. The research highlighted a few areas of concern, but with continuous adjustment and alignment of their strategy Company A would have a solid framework to work towards high performance in the long run.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2004.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study proves that South African organisations, listed in "Best Organisation to Work For", correlates to high-energy organisations. By implication, these South African leaders acknowledge and implement best practice in their organisations. Three case studies, Absa, SAB and Edcon, listed in "Best Organisation to Work For", were considered in determining whether they meet the characteristics of high-energy organisations. Having determined the correlation, the study meets the objectives set. One objective includes determining any "gap" between high-energy organisations from previous research and South African organisations listed "Best Organisation to Work For". The other objective, namely determining whether the present leadership behaviour of the leaders in the South African case studies considered, correlate to the required behaviour of leaders facilitating a high-energy organisation. As mentioned previously, the study correlates to high-energy organisations. Specifically, leaders are committed to the strategy of developing their intangible assets, namely people. The resulting benefits include an efficient organisation, satisfying the needs of employees, customers and stakeholders. This in turn facilitates delivering the right quantity at the right time, while creating a competitive organisation regarding "Best Organisation to Work for". From the above, it is of cardinal importance that a leader possesses and utilise certain behaviours so as to facilitate a high-energy organisation. This will give an organisation its sustainable competitive advantage.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie ondersoek bewys dat Suid Afrikaanse organisasies wat gelys is in die "Best Organisation to Work For" saamgaan met hoë-energie organisasies. Sy implikasie erken hierdie Suid Afrikaanse leiers "beste praktyke" en implementeer hulle dit dan ook in hulle organisasies. Drie organisasies gelys in "Best Organisation to Work For", naamlik Absa, SAB en Edcon was oorweeg om te bepaal of hulle die eienskappe beskik van hoë energie organisasies. Met die bepaling van die korrelasie is daar vasgestel dat die studie aan die doelwitte beantwoord. Een doelwit behels die bepaling van die "gaping" tussen hoë energie organisasies vanuit vorige navorsing en Suid Afrikaanse orginisasies wat gelys was as "Best Organisation to Work For". Die ander doelwit, naamlik, om te bepaal of die huidige leierskap gedrag van die leiers in die Suid Afrikaanse gevalle studies met die vereiste gedrag in hoë energie situasies korrelleer. Soos voorheen genoem, korrolleer die ondersoek met hoë energie orginisasies kenmerkend van hierdie leiers dat hulle verbind is tot 'n strategie vir die ontwikkeling van hul ontasbare bates, naamlik mense. Die gevolglike voordele sluit in 'n doeltreffende organisasie, bevrediging van personeel, kliente en belanghebbers se behoeftes. Hierdie fasiliteer die lewering van die regte hoeveelheid op die regte tyd moontlik, terwyl dit 'n kompeterende orginisasie skep met betrekking tot "Best Organisation to Work For". Vanuit boegenoemde, is dit duidelik dat dit van kardinale belang is dat 'n leier oor spesefieke eienskappe beskik en dit gebruik om daardeur 'n hoë energie organisasies moontlik te maak. Hierdie sal 'n organisasie 'n houbare kompeterende voordeel gee.

Stringent competition and borderless financial markets necessitate change in ABSA. Pressure from the new major shareholder, Barclays pic, adds to the inevitable drive for change in ABSA Bank. Barclays Bank, as ABSA's brand new partner, brought a new dimension to ABSA Bank and its performance expectations. Although ABSA Bank targets Africa for market expansion, the focus has intensified as Barclays Bank aims to achieve its goal of becoming the largest bank in the world, and in their quest, envisages bringing ABSA Bank into play as their extension into Africa. The question arising is whether organisational practices in the first world are compatible with South Africa and Africa, for that matter, or not; and if so, to what degree? Therefore, for ABSA Bank to align with the goals of Barclays Bank to become the leading financial service provider in the world, it is very important to remain competitive and to gain a sustainable advantage over competitors by becoming the pre-eminent bank in Africa. ABSA Bank should have a strategic plan of excellence at hand to assist the organisation and its people to make the transition to the newly expected level of performance. The purpose of this study is to identify factors that could assist management/leaders in implementing Absa Bank's strategy successfully. The study will elucidate that management alignment is crucial to implement change strategies. It will also indicate that coaching is the key to successful change initiatives. In essence, the study aims to provide answers on the question of: how to move from being a good to a great financial services provider. In the quest from good to great, work ethics should work its way up to the next level, added to making smart decisions and managing polarities effectively. This is more than just creating a climate for change, but rather to ensure that a motivating climate for the workforce is accomplished. Therefore, it is vital that the following elements in ABSA Bank present itself to achieve the proper motivating climate for them to reach their goals: efforts, goals and expectations, unlocking potential of the team members, performance, results as outcomes, the experienced equity of outcomes, and the perceived significance of the outcomes. These elements interact with dynamics leading to the following outcomes: aligned commitment is achieved because of the right level of knowledge, their being informed and empowered, the level of rewards and recognition, and the level of understanding and living the shared vision (goals and value system). The research culminates in a strategic guideline that ABSA Bank personnel can apply to facilitate change and, as such, aligned commitment of the new challenges ABSA Bank is facing.
Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

La restructuration des organisations complexes, comme celles des établissements de santé, est fortement influencée par les récents changements économiques, technologiques et réglementaires. Pour comprendre l'impact de ces mouvements de restructuration, il convient d’analyser les changements influençant fortement les différents niveaux hiérarchiques de l'organisation. Dans le contexte socio-économique français, les établissements de santé subissent actuellement de multiples transformations stratégiques et opérationnelles, qui obligent les professionnels à adapter leurs compétences et leurs capacités en conséquence. En effet, l'impact des innovations médicales, techniques et numériques conduit les structures à s’adapter au changement. Pour une mise en œuvre réussie, il est nécessaire que les différents acteurs interviennent simultanément. Ces derniers sont ensuite encouragés à se concentrer sur la mise à jour de la stratégie de l'organisation, l'amélioration du développement des ressources humaines et l'ajustement des modèles et processus nécessaires. Par conséquent, cette recherche s'appuie sur l'analyse de la performance organisationnelle dans une perspective d’alignement stratégique. Notre objectif est d'examiner les attentes managériales au sein d'un établissement de santé en pleine reconstruction. Les résultats de cette étude qualitative montrent la difficulté des managers dans la mise en place d’un parcours patient performant. Elle montre également que les transformations technologiques peuvent être utilisées pour assurer une très haute performance organisationnelle permettant aux acteurs de profiter de divers services intelligents
The restructuring of complex organizations, such as those of health facilities, is strongly influenced by recent economic, technological and regulatory changes. To understand the impact of these restructuring movements, one must analyze the changes affecting the various hierarchical levels of the healthcare organization. Under the French socio-economic context, healthcare institutions are currently undergoing multiple strategic and operational transformations, which requires professionals to adapt their skills and capabilities accordingly. In fact, the impact of medical, technical and digital innovations is driving the concerned structures to emphasize value in their adaptations. For a successful implementation, it is necessary that concerned parties intervene. These latters are then encouraged to focus on updating the organization's strategy, improving human resources development and adjusting necessary patterns and processes. Therefore, this research relies on analyzing organizational performance from a strategic alignment perspective. We aim to examine the managerial expectations of a study sample of managers, professionals, and staff in a French hospital which are undergoing full reconstruction. The results of this qualitative study show the difficulty of managers to implement a successful patient pathway process. It also shows that technological transformations can be used to ensure a very high organizational performance allowing people to take advantage of various intelligent services

The study is concerned with why some organisations, when dealing with their dynamic external environmental conditions, can achieve high organisational performance, while many others failed to cope. The literature review emphasised the formulation-implementation balance rather than strategy formulation as an important organisational dimension. This dimension has been relatively neglected compared to the emphasis research and organisations have placed on strategy formulation. The literature review also emphasised a receptive culture and proactive capabilities as important organisational dimensions in the pursuit of high organisational performance. The study defined receptive culture to include the organisational factors autonomous orientation and improvement orientation. The study also defined proactive capabilities to include the organisational factors adaptive capability, innovative capability and external intelligence capability. A research model of factors associated with high organisational performance was developed and research hypotheses were advanced with particular emphasis on the importance of the formulation-implementation balance, receptive culture and proactive capabilities. Structural Equation Modelling was used. The research targeted organisations based in Singapore. The study found that a receptive culture, as a particular type of organisational culture, has an important strategic implementation role for high organisational performance. The results showed that autonomous orientation in isolation might not be useful to an organisation, but would help an organisation to perform when working in combination with improvement orientation, adaptive capability or innovative capability. The results also showed that organisations would stand a better chance of achieving organisational high performance when improvement orientation is nurtured. The study also found that proactive capabilities, as a particular set of dynamic capabilities, have an important strategic implementation role for high organisational performance. The results showed that the chance of achieving high organisational performance improves with the employment of adaptive capability. The research found that employing innovative capability in isolation did not affect organisational performance, but innovative capability would help an organisation to perform when used in combination with adaptive capability. The results further showed that the employment of external intelligence capability would need to be coupled with improvement orientation, adaptive capability or innovative capability in order for it to be useful to organisations. However, the study did not support the importance of formulation-implementation balance for high organisational performance. Overall, the study demonstrated that organisational performance can be explained by the type of organisational culture and capabilities on which managers place emphasis. For achieving high organisational performance, organizations need to place an emphasis on nurturing a receptive culture in order to manage a state of readiness that helps them in coping with their changing external environment. Organisations need to emphasise the development of proactive capabilities in order to be adaptive, innovative and to continuously monitor and interpret prospective change-patterns in the external environment.
Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, Business School, 2011

D. Tech. (Business, Faculty of Management Sciences), Vaal University of Technology
Organisational performance in the public sector has emerged as a critical topic in the post-1994 era in South Africa. This could ostensibly be attributed to the inability of the majority of most public organisations in the country to deliver a satisfactory standard of service to the public. An intense controversy has also emerged the world over on the selection of performance measures that are appropriate for use in public organisations. This debate is actuated by the existence of a multiplicity of performance measurement indices as well as frameworks that can be applied to manage performance in organisations. The existence of these multiple measurement mechanisms tends to confound the entire process of managing organisational performance. Another unresolved controversy focuses on the extent to which various organisational resources impact on organisational performance. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between organisational performance and three organisational resources; specifically, the human factor, organisational systems and organisational processes. A quantitative design was adopted in which a survey questionnaire was administered to 272 managers and employees of a South African National Government Department. Respondents were selected using a blend of purposive sampling and convenience sampling approaches. Data were analysed using the Statistical Packages for the Social Sciences (SPSS version 20.0). Reliabilities were measured using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. Exploratory factor analysis was used to identify the human factors, organisational systems and organisational processes. Spearman’s correlation and multiple linear regression analyses were used to investigate the relationship between organisational performance and the sub-elements under each of the three organisational resources. The impacts of each of the three factors on organisational performance were compared using the mean-score ranking technique. Performance of the National Government Department was measured using the four performance yardsticks of the Balanced Scorecard; namely, customer satisfaction, financial performance, innovation and learning, and internal processes The findings of the study revealed that performance of the National Government Department was highest in four strategic areas; which are the promotion of good corporate ethics and values, client satisfaction, service quality and relations with external organisations. However, performance shortfalls were observed in four key areas; namely, organisational speed, attrition of manpower, overloading of employees and the overburdening of divisions with high workloads. Correlation analysis showed that there were positive relationships between organisational performance and the five human factor components; life satisfaction, quality of work life, ability utilisation, creativity and autonomy. Regression analysis indicated that there were significant and predictive relationships between organisational performance and three human factor elements; namely, quality of work life, ability utilisation and life satisfaction. Among the five human factor elements, life satisfaction exerted the greatest impact on organisational performance. Significant, positive and predictive associations were also found between organisational performance and three organisational system factors; quality, innovation and inter-organisational systems, with quality exerting the greatest impact on organisational performance. Significant, positive and predictive relationships were further observed between organisational performance and the four organisational process factors identified in the study; namely, organisational structure, organisational change, team processes and organisational change. Among these, team processes exerted the greatest influence on organisational performance. Overall, the human factor applied the greatest impact on organisational performance, followed by organisational processes with organisational systems having the least impact. Based on these findings, recommendations were made and implications for further studies were suggested. The findings of the study provide empirical confirmation of the effectiveness of the Balanced Scorecard as a tool for the measurement and management of performance in public sector organisations. Additionally, managers in different public organisations may enhance the performance of their organisations by optimising the sub-elements of the three organisational resources examined in this study.

In the global economy of the 21st century, competition is complex, challenging and fraught with competitive opportunities and threats. Strategic leadership is increasingly becoming the main focus for business and academics alike and is the key issue facing contemporary organisations. Without effective strategic leadership, the capability of a company to achieve or sustain a competitive advantage is greatly constrained. More than 30 years of Harvard Business School research have shown that aligned and integrated companies outperform their nearest competitors by every major financial measure. The organisational effectiveness emanating from alignment is a significant competitive advantage. Alignment is that optimal state in which strategy, employees, customers and key processes work in concert to propel growth and profits. Aligned organisations enjoy greater customer and employee satisfaction and produce superior results. Can leadership make a difference? Some leaders do, some do not - and many more could. Effective strategic leadership can thus help organisations enhance performance while competing in turbulent and unpredictable environments. However, there has been little empirical evidence of the effects of strategic level leadership on organisational processes that have distinctive strategic significance. A greater understanding of the criteria that influence success in organisations will enable organisations to take positive action to become more successful. iv This study examines the importance of critical leadership criteria and the degree of alignment in high-performing organisations. A quantitative research design was used in this study to assess the impact of strategic leadership on strategic alignment of business organisations in South Africa. The research instruments to test the research questions comprised two questionnaires. The first was used to establish the value top leadership place on selected critical leadership criteria, and the second to establish the level of alignment in the organisations under investigation. The population selected for this study consisted of the companies included in the 200 top-performing organisations which appeared in the 2007 Financial Mail. Six companies participated in the research. The data was electronically collated into a database and the results were then analysed using the statistical inferential techniques of correlation and linear regression analysis. The study proposes that strategic leadership will positively influence strategic alignment which, in turn, will have a beneficial effect on organisational performance.
Graduate School for Business Leadership
(D. B. L.)

Professional Doctorate - Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)
This study examines the influence employee personality type has on employee and organisational outcomes at one of Australia’s largest financial-services organisations. It is specifically focused on knowledge-based workers who are employed in productivity-centred roles. In the banking and finance industry, the products on offer are a commodity, as customers can obtain the same products and services from each of the main providers, and there is no difference between them from a functionality perspective. So, the one differentiator is the competitive advantage that sets an organisation apart from the next. With every organisation chasing that competitive advantage, companies need to become more creative in how they ascertain that ever-priceless competitive advantage. One of the ways of obtaining competitive advantage is through the implementation and management of an organisation’s talent pipeline. Companies need to determine ways to attract and recruit the best people to help set their business apart from the rest, and, used correctly, the right personality profiling coupled with effective knowledge-based productivity and application of high-performance work systems can be factors that can set a company apart from its competition. Personality profiling is a tool that has been around for some time. Personality profiling provides individuals with insightful information about their preferences and, ideally, tasks they enjoy and do not enjoy. If used correctly, personality profiling can provide insights into how to get the best out of an individual in many different settings. This study has focused on Myer’s Briggs personality profiling (MBTI) as the preferred tool, as the Myer’s Briggs instrument has been around since the early 1920s, it provides 16 different personality types that reflect the entire population and it is detailed enough, but also concise in nature, to accurately reflect the entire population. It is also widely used by business. Historically, productivity has been grounded in the manufacturing or the operational environment, however, in recent times, companies have seen an increased demand for productivity in the knowledge-based environment. The literature tells us that, for organisations to survive in today’s tough market, an organisation needs to know how to use its resources and productivity to differentiate itself, as this differentiation can be the key to competitive advantage. Previous research has argued that organisations need to increase the productivity of knowledge work and knowledge workers, as the demand for employees with an academic education has greatly increased and is still on the rise. This study has reviewed and analysed the concept of high-performance work systems (HPWS), which is said to be the logical focus for building and maintaining competitive advantage. HPWS is underpinned by the Ability, Motivation and Opportunity (AMO) model. Simply put, Ability is the idea that employees will perform because they possess the necessary knowledge and skills to do so. Motivation is that employers need to build the right environment, as the right environment will see employees perform because they are motivated to do so and, finally, by creating an environment which focuses on Opportunity for employees, which is the notion that if the work structure and environment provides the necessary support, then employees will use it. The critical review of the literature has guided the research in the identification of the theoretical framework to examine the research problem, the related research questions and the development of seven groups of associated hypotheses. Adopting a positivist, quantitative research method and approach, a self-administered online survey instrument was developed. The online survey was promoted via e-mail to the productivity community at one of Australia’s largest financial-services organisation, with 288 responses received. After data cleaning and screening, a total of 263 responses were deemed usable for analysis. Respondents were typically full-time employed (91%) and female (55%). The average age (and mode at 42%) was the 36-45-year-old category, most of the sample respondents were university educated (Bachelor qualified 42%, Masters/Doctorate 23%) and had been with the organisation 6-10 years on average. Regarding productivity aspects, most respondents (83%) were Green Belt qualified and had been at that level for several years on average, and most (62%) respondents had an active productivity project at the time of data collection and 76% had completed 2+ productivity projects in their career (33% had completed 6+ productivity projects). Accordingly, the sample was deemed suitable for the purposes of the research. There were several different tests used to understand the relationships and whether there were interactions between the different variables, which included descriptive statistics, chi-square analysis, ANOVA and hierarchical multiple regression analysis. The tests showed that in most of the relationships between the dependent and independent variables relationships were present. Specifically, there were supported relationships seen between MBTI and Ability, MBTI and Motivation and MBTI and Opportunity. In addition, there were partially supported relationships seen between MBTI and organisational citizenship behaviours (OCB), MBTI and affective organisational commitment (AOC) and MBTI and productivity, specifically task enjoyment, which was linked to satisfaction and duration. The findings lead to both theoretical and practice-related implications. Theoretical implications include the contribution of the study to the productivity domain, as operational definitions and terms of operation have now been developed for a highly complex and poorly investigated topic. Next is the contribution to the knowledge-based productivity methodology, which will pave the way for future research through growth and evolution of the productivity domain. The final contribution is to the HPWS domain, coupled with personality profiling and productivity, providing the start of a new stream of research that will allow future researchers the ability to evolve the research domain. Practical implications include the recommendation of a formal community of productivity experts and a means for communication and future talent management, along with defined roles and responsibilities for productivity-based knowledge workers. This can be followed by the development of a mechanism for talent pipeline management through a threefold model that will help manage recruitment and career progression and lastly business knowledge and understanding concerning organisation competitive advantage.

No
Organisational learning is often presented as one way in which firms may respond to increasingly competitive market conditions by managing their knowledge assets in more effective ways. Although theoretically and conceptually plausible, there is limited empirical evidence, particularly from smaller firms, in support of this view. This study aims to provide some evidence that links organisational learning and performance. Extant theory suggests that organisational learning may range from a passive orientation (working within a current paradigm) to an active orientation (questioning a current paradigm) at both the individual and the collective levels. This study examines the learning orientations of 300 smaller manufacturing and service firms in terms of an active¿passive learning construct. The results suggest that higher-growth manufacturing firms have a more active learning orientation. These firms make greater use of knowledge assets than do their lower growth counterparts, and this may have important implications for the management of learning in smaller manufacturing firms.

South Africa is experiencing difficult times on the economic front after the political transition in 1994. The country's average annual economic growth rate (GOP) declined from more than 5o/o in the 1960's to less than 3%> per year during seven years ending. The population growth increased at a relatively high rate with the result that per capita income decreased with unemployment increasing sharply. South Africa requires a GOP growth rate of at least 6 °/o to close the gap. It is pleasing to hear that the Reserve Bank is now starting to predict growth rates of up to 6 °/o in the year to come. The country cannot afford low economic growth given the implications for unemployment, poverty and political and social stability. A fundamental restructuring of the South African economy with the view to increase the growth capacity and actual growth performance of the economy is necessary. Considerable emphasis will have to be placed on the promotion of employment creation. The country's economic problems cannot be alleviated without sustained economic growth. Employment- creating growth to the advantage of all South Africans. Productive investment, higher exports and increased productivity hold the key to the resolution of the country's economic problems. Coherent and viable strategies are necessary, capable of ensuring sustainable growth and an improvement in the quality of life of all South Africans. The crafting and implementation of these strategies is mainly the responsibility of government and business. The focus of this study is mainly on the role of business. Management experts and corporate executives world-wide talk with greater insight about business concepts and goals achieving world-class status and best-in-class performance. The changes that overtook South Africa in 1994 with political transition, allowed a flood of new competition into the South African market whilst the opening of international opportunities took place at the same time. Competition is more intense with less protective barriers, import duties for instance, were dramatically reduced. At the core of the challenges facing South African businesses is the need for exceptional leadership, leaders that can meet the challenges of this new highly competitive environment, leaders to steer a company towards world-class performances. Events in the global business environment have lately turned the spotlight of management attention onto business optimisation. These events have been superimposed onto broad global change drivers to create a far more challenging business environment than we have seen in the history of the world. These change drivers include globalisation of competition, disintermediation and fragmentation along the value chain, commoditisation of products and services, digitisation of products and services, the rapid emergence of the knowledge economy and concentration of capacity in the search for economies of scale. With business optimisation occupying centre stage in many companies, it became appropriate to research the concepts and definitions of a High Performance Value Chain Organisation (HPVCO). The following elements were investigated in order to get further insight into the concepts and definitions of High Performance Value Chain Organisations (HPVCO): • Strategy formulation and implementation as the backbone of High Performance Value Chain organisations (HPVCO), discussed as part of the literature study. • Organisational renewal and what it takes to become a successful organisation. The General Electric (GE) model serves as an example with the focus on boundaryless behaviour which became one of Jack Welch's core strategies during his time at GE. • How companies explore growth opportunities and their funding capabilities with the focus on shareholder value and assessment of company performance. • Shareholder value was defined, calculated and analysed. • Economic Value Added (EVA) was explored as a more progressive measure to assess performance of a listed company and link EVA to the financial perspective of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC). • Value chain concepts and definitions were explored before focussing on the individual value chain elements itself. The research focuses on vertical integration strategies, but more specifically backward and forward integration. • The important value chain elements were identified with the focus mainly on the human element and Information Technology (IT) with a limited focus on processes. • Human talent and how to energise and mobilise this resourceful capacity to the best. • Process re-engineering and supply chain management. • Information Technology and Communication (lTC) with emphasis on Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems and the ERP building blocks. • Value chain performance measures • The Balanced Scorecard as a management control system, an enabler to communicate and implement strategy throughout all the levels of the organisation. The essence of the research was to obtain clarity on above issues, which was accomplished by revealing the concepts of strategy and value chain, defining strategy and value chain and determining what is needed to create High Performance Value Chain Organisations (HPVCO) in order to improve shareholder value. As part of the literature study a theoretical context was used to explain the concepts of the strategy and value chains, which comprise the definitions, and complexity of the various elements involved in creating High Performance Value Chain Organisations (HPVCO).
Dissertation (M(BAdmin))--University of Pretoria, 2005.
Business Management
M(BAdmin)
Unrestricted

D.Comm.
The objective of this study was to explore a group of key employees‟ experiences and perceptions at the Metropolitan Municipality of Tshwane of the service performance of the municipality they work for, as well as to develop a social science tool – a model – that could be used to help this institution play its role of delivering effective services to its residents in the country‟s democratic dispensation. A combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods in the form of a mixed method approach was used in this study. The existing quantitative instrument was buttressed by the empirically derived qualitative insights to form an instrument that was later distributed among employees of the Metro with a view to developing a “mixed model” of a high performance organisational culture for the institution involved. During the qualitative phase of this study interviews were conducted using a grounded theory approach. Two stakeholders and six members of staff were interviewed. The result of the interviews was a qualitatively derived pattern of interrelated concepts in the form of a “shared vision” model, consisting of rich descriptive data which were carefully analysed using a grounded theory methodology,i that is, the development of theory that is derived from an analysis of qualitative data. The computer-assisted data analysis tool, Atlas.ti, was also used to support the qualitative data analysis process. The qualitatively derived model displayed overall groundedness of between 1 and 4 and a density of between 1 and 13. To confirm the trustworthiness of the findings, member checking was done with the research participants. The second phase of the study was effected by distributing a questionnaire to 800 randomly selected Metro employees. Of the 800 questionnaires sent out, 474 were completed and returned, thus constituting a response rate of 59.25%. The returned questionnaires were deemed adequate for conducting a factor analysis. A first-level factor analysis was consequently conducted on intercorrelation matrices of the 14 theoretical dimensions. A second-level factor analysis on a sub-score intercorrelation i Glaser and Stauss (1967). iv matrix followed and resulted in three factors being extracted. Iterative item analyses then yielded acceptable metric properties for each dimension and a Cronbach alpha coefficient ranging between 0.703 and 0.964, which was deemed acceptable scale reliability for the model. To arrive at the desired model, the findings of the two phases of the “mixed method” approach were connected and interrelated such that data from the quantitative phase played a supportive role to data from the qualitative phase. The derived model consists of the inner core and the outer core. The elements of the outer core which were qualitatively derived by means of grounded theory provided a “thick description” of the discourse and gave the research participants a “voice” in the inquiry. The elements of the outer core were identified as good governance, clean and efficient administration, and community involvement. The elements of the inner core, on the other hand, were elicited through deductive reasoning and gave the model a quantitative grounding through the use of factor analysis. These elements included leadership, delivery processes and stakeholder satisfaction. The results of the two methods were thus integrated into a model called the New Empirical High Performance Organisational Culture Model (NEHPOM). To test Metro senior management‟s views of the model, a nominal group session was conducted. This session granted acceptance of the model, indicating, among other things, that the model would help to create synergy between governance, residents and leadership of the Metro.

Text in English with summaries and keywords in English, Afrikaans and Zulu
Bibliography: leaves 294-314
How does an organisation turn good results into great results? What makes one organisation good and another great? What defines high performance organisations? Which aspects within an organisation play vital roles into taking an organisation from good to great? Are some aspects more important than others, if so, which ones? These questions have been explored and researched over the years and various researchers have proposed different theories and models that impact high performance as well as definitions around high performance with mixed results. The general aim of this research was to develop and validate a High Performance Model for an IT organisation. The concept of high performance was explored in terms of how to define high performance, which high performance models and frameworks have been developed within the literature and what sustains high performance. These existing High Performance Organisation (HPO) models and frameworks were evaluated against an identified set of criteria to arrive at a definitive theoretical model of high performance. The theoretical HPO model was developed based on the evaluation of the literature reviews together with the existing HPO model of the participating IT organisation. The main purpose of the empirical research was to gather data by means of three questionnaires, over six years, which were used to statistically determine the organisational and behavioural constructs that influence High Performance in an IT organisation in South Africa. Furthermore, the researcher developed an empirical model to verify the theoretical model. A quantitative empirical research paradigm using the survey method was followed and explanatory and descriptive research was used in this study. An HPO questionnaire was developed and administered to employees. Over the six years and three questionnaire administrations, 3,451 employees participated. A new best fitting HPO model was postulated based on new constructs postulated in the factor analysis. The model indicated that Leadership, Knowledge Management – team, Strategic Focus as well as Job Satisfaction especially contributed to high performance within the participating organisation, as well as that strong relationships exist between the HPO factors. This research should contribute towards longitudinal studies on high performance as well as a comprehensive understanding of the factors that influence high performance, within South Africa but also globally. The new HPO model should assist organisations and practitioners in measuring high performance in any organisation after validation. With increased competition and globalisation organisations struggle to survive, this study can provide a roadmap for organisations to obtain and sustain high performance.
Hoe kan ‘n organisasie goeie resultate in uitnemende resultate verander? Wat maak een organisasie goed en ‘n ander een uitnemend? Hoe word hoë prestasie organisasies gedefinieer? Watter aspekte binne ‘n organisasie speel die belangrikste rol om die organisasie van goed na uitnemend te neem? Is sommige aspekte belangriker as ander, indien wel, watter? Hierdie vrae is al deur die jare heen ondersoek en nagevors. Verskeie navorsers het verskillende definisies, teorieë en modelle wat hoe prestasie beïnvloed word ontwikkel, met gemengde resultate. Die algemene doel van hierdie navorsing was om ‘n Hoë Prestasie (HP) Model vir ‘n IT organisasie te ontwikkel en te bekragtig. Die konsep van hoë prestasie word ondersoek, meer spesifiek, die definisie van hoë prestasie, watter hoë prestasie modelle en raamwerke al ontwikkel is in die literatuur en wat hou hoë prestasie in stand. Die bestaande HP modelle en raamwerke word ge-evalueer teen kriteria wat vooraf geïdentifiseer is om sodoende ‘n beslissende teoretiese model vir hoë prestasie te onwikkel. Die teoretiese HP model was ontwikkel op grond van literatuur evaluasies, tesame met die bestaande HP model van die deelnemende IT organisasie. Die hoofdoel van die empiriese navorsing was om data te versamel deur middel van drie vraelyste, oor ‘n tydperk van ses jaar, wat gebruik is om te bepaal watter organisasie- en gedragsveranderlikes beïnvloed hoë prestasie in die deelnemende Suid-Afrikaanse IT organisasie. Die navorser het ook ‘n empiriese model ontwikkel om die teoretiese model te verifieer. ‘n Kwantitatiewe empiriese navorsingsparadigma, insluitend die vraelysmetode, was gevolg in hierdie navorsingstudie, sowel as verklarende en bevestigende navorsing. ‘n HP vraelys was ontwikkel en geadministreer. Gedurende die ses jaar en drie vraelys administrasies, het 3,451 werknemers deelgeneem. ‘n Nuwe en beter-passende HP model word gepostuleer, gebaseer op nuwe konstrukte gepostuleer in die faktoranalise. Die model wys dat Leierskap, Kennisbestuur—span, Strategiese Fokus, asook Werksbevrediging—veral bydra tot hoë prestasie in die deelnemende organisasie en dat sterk verhoudings bestaan tussen dié HP faktore. Die navorsing behoort by te dra tot longutidinale studies van hoë prestasie, asook ‘n omvattende begrip van die faktore wat hoë prestasie beïnvloed, op globale vlak, maar ook binne die Suid-Afrikaanse konteks. Die nuwe HP model behoort organisasies en praktisyns te help om hoë prestasie te meet in enige IT organisasie, nadat bekragtiging gedoen is. Met toenemende kompetisie en globalisering, sukkel organisasies om kop bo water te hou, dus kan hierdie studie ‘n padkaart bied na die verkryging en handhawing van hoë prestasie.
Ngabe inhlangano ikwenza kanjani ukwenza ukusuka kwimiphumela emihle ibe nemiphumela yezinga eliphezulu kakhulu? Ngabe yini okwenza ukuthi inhlangano ethile ibe yinhle kanti enye ibe sezingeni eliphezulu kakhulu? Ngabe yini okuchaza inhlangano esebenza ngezinga eliphezulu kakhulu? Ngabe yiziphi izinto kwinhlangano ezidlala indima ebalulekile ekwenzeni ukuthi inhlangano isuke ezingeni elihle iye kweliphezulu kakhulu? Ngabe kukhona izinto ezibalulekile ukudlula ezinye, uma zikhona, ngabe yiziphi? Le mibuzo iye yacutshungulwa nokucwaningwa eminyakeni eminingi kanti abacwaningi abehlukene baphakamise amathiyori ehlukene kanye namamodeli athinta umphumela wezinga eliphezulu kanye nezincazelo ngokusebenza kwezinga eliphezulu, ngemiphumela ehlukene. Inhloso enabile yalolu cwaningo bekuwukwenza kanye nokuqinisekisa imodeli ye-high performance model (HPO) ngokwenhlangano ye-Information Technology (IT). Kuye kwahlolisiswa umbono wokusebenza ngezinga eliphezulu ngokulandela indlela yokuchaza ukusebenza ngezinga eliphezulu, nokuthi ngabe yiwaphi amamodeli okusebenza ngezinga eliphezulu nezinhlaka ezenziwe ngaphansi kwemibhalo, kanye nokuthi yini ukuqikelela ukuqhubeka kokusebenza ngezinga eliphezulu. Amamodeli akhona e-HPO kanye nezinhlaka zahlolwa ngaphansi kwama-criteria aboniwe akhona ukuze kufinyelelwe kwithiyori echazayo ngemodeli yokusebenza ngezinga eliphezulu. Ithiyori yemodeli ye-HPO yenziwe ngokulandela uhlolo lwemibhalo ebuyekeziwe kanye nokulandela imodeli ye-HPO ekhona kwinhlangano ye-IT ebingenele ucwaningo. Inhloso enkulu yocwaningo olunobufakazi bekuwukuqoqa idata ngokwenza uhla lwemibuzo emithathu, esikhathini seminyaka eyisithupha, kanti yasetshenziswa ukunquma ngezinto ezihlukene eziphathelene nenhlangano kanye nokuziphatha kwayo okunomthelela ekusebenzeni ngezinga eliphezulu kwinhlangano ye-IT eNingizimu Afrika. Kanti futhi, umcwaningi wenze imodeli yobufakazi ukuqinisekisa imodeli yethiyori. Kulandelwe ipharadayimi yocwaningo lwamanani ngokusebenzisa inqubo ye-survey kanye nocwaningo lwencazelo nengcaciso okusetshenziswe kulolu cwaningo. Kwenziwe uhla lwemibuzo yeHPO yasetshenziswa kubasebenzi. Eminyakeni eyisithupha kusetshenziwswe uhla oluthathu lwemibuzo, kubasebenzi ababambe iqhaza abangu 3, 451. Imodeli engcono kakhulu ye-HPO iye yasetshenziswa ngokulandela uhlelo olusha olwenziwe kwinqubo yohlaziyo. Imodeli ibonise ukuthi Ubuholi, kanye Nokuphathwa koLwazi – ithimba, Ukugxilisa kwinhloso ethile kanye Nokuneliseka Ngomsebenzi ikakhulukazi yikho okunomthelela ekusebenzeni ngezinga eliphezulu enhlanganweni ebamba iqhaza. Imiphumela ibonise nobudlelwane obukhulu obuqinile obukhona phakathi kwezinto eziphathelene ne-HPO, ikakhulukazi phakathi Kwenhlangano Yokuphathwa Kolwazi, okuhambelane kakhulu ngokuqinile nezinto ezinhlano kweziyisishagalolunye eziphathelene ne-HPO. Ucwaningo lungathela esivivaneni ekuqondisiseni okujulile kwizinto ezinomthelela ekusebenzeni ngezinga eliphezulu, kuwo wonke umhlaba kanye neNingizimu Afrika ngokwayo. Imodeli entsha ye-HPO ingasiza inhlangano kanye nabasebenzi ekukaleni ukusebenza ngezinga eliphezulu kunoma yiyiphi inhlangano ye-IT, ngemuva kokuqinisekiswa. Ngokukhula kokuqhudelana kanye ne-globalisation, izinhlangano zikuthola kunzima ukuqhubekela phambili, lolu cwaningo lungahlinzeka ngomhlahlandlela kwizinhlangano ukuthola indlela yokusebenza ngezinga eliphezulu nokugcina lezo zindlela zokusebenza ngezinga eliphezulu.
Industrial and Organisational Psychology
D. Phil. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

碩士
國立成功大學
經營管理碩士學位學程
99
In today’s digitization economy, socio-economic environment changes rapidly, industrial face with uncertainties factors. With the improvement the cross-strait relations, between trades more and more increase, In Taiwans’ business are no longer to stay out of those. Now in Taiwan, what kind of leadership styles can lead the teams to successful, that will be the emphasis of this topic. With the participation of reform open up and communicate, continually under promotion manpower quality. How does the high tech industry string together has both banks talented person? The human resources management will be organize in wearing in the key point, but inducts in the process, will face to these questions, will be this research discussion's key project. Based on the innovative leadership theory in this research, collects by the research entire, implementation motivation of human resources management into the critical success factors, and joined organizational culture. After reviewing the research framework, carries on the research construction and the research variables confirmation, and then proposed the hypotheses. 340 questionnaire samples were issued (accumulate 277 usable copies retrieve, and an 81.47% retrieve rate). This research related suggestion item, that leadership has a type on the success or failure of business, The enterprise leaders must along with the industrial environment and the organization culture, momentarily make the adjustment.However human resources management's induction, must take the choice by the actual operation condition, clear present operation flow whether or not flaw, But after anticipated inducts, can obtain what kind of result, so, only then may bring truely for the enterprise useful, and best result.