Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Organisation-public relationships'

To date, limited means of accurately measuring the communal organisational public relationships between an organisation and its various publics have been developed. Researchers and practitioners have acknowledged the need for a more accurate measurement tool. Previous analysis of communal relationships has typically been done in an anecdotal or non-quantifiable way. This study explores a new method of quantifying the relationship between an organisation and its publics and identifies the key themes and components that are important to a successful organisation-public relationship (OPR); this method allows organisations to more accurately measure their OPRs, diagnose their strengths and weaknesses and quantify changes in the relationships over time. In so doing, organisations will be able to improve their relationships with their stakeholders and work more effectively to achieve mutually beneficial goals. The study's findings contribute to defining the components that can be used to develop a tool that can be used by the public relations profession to more accurately reflect the status of communal relationships, and, perhaps more importantly, the changes in the status of the relationships over time. Increased objectivity in reflecting the status of the relationships between an organisation and its publics is likely to enable the profession to elevate its perceived status by providing a better service to organisations and their publics. This, in turn, will allow senior management teams to see clearly the value that public relations can provide to maximise the success of the organisation. The data obtained from this research provide insights into the priorities and expectations that external stakeholder groups have of organisations and how these expectations can be grouped into three key areas - how they are treated, the value that the relationships represent to them and how effective the communication is. The results provide practitioners with a valuable insight into ways of improving these OPRs, which in turn could assist organisations in achieving their goals.

The premise that the continued existence of organisations in a democracy depends on both the tacit and the explicit approval and opinions of their many publics is fundamental to public relations theory. Furthermore, the challenge of coping with the potential constraints and opportunities of public opinion as an aspect of the organisational environment is essential to contemporary public relations practice. While the term "public opinion environment" appears intermittently in scholarly and trade publications, the dimensions and characteristics of this aspect of organisational environments remain largely unspecified. This thesis explores two challenges--the first is to conceptualise and measure variation in an important aspect of contemporary organisational environments, the public opinion environment, and the second is to investigate the influence of that environment on the critical and often highly exposed relationships between organisations and activist publics. In suggesting a relationship between variation in the environment and the evolutionary pathways of organisational relationships, the perspective underpinning this thesis is both ecological and evolutionary. Ecological analyses of organisations assume that members of a population are affected similarly by environmental change and share a common dependence on the material and social environment. Consistent with this perspective, this thesis explores the public opinion environment and the organisation-activist relationships therein longitudinally at the population level of analysis. The focal organisational population is Australia's major banks, and the period of interest extends from 1981 to 2001. An evolutionary model of organisation-activist relationships (EOAR) is developed, and the propositions derived from this model are explored using a comparative case study approach. These propositions anticipate and specify associations between variations in dimensions of the public opinion environment of an organisational population and the evolution of organisation-activist relationships in the population. Central to understanding the public opinion environment of an organisational population are the issues around which activist publics organise, public opinion develops, and organisation-activist relationships emerge. Then, the public opinion environment is conceptualised as a set of issues that concern Australia's major banks and their publics. Variations in this "issue set," are described using four dimensions: stability (turnover of issues), complexity (the number of issues in the issue set), intensity (volume of media coverage), and direction (favourability of media coverage for the focal population). To explore the propositions of the EOAR model, I have analysed the variations in these four dimensions in relation to the evolution of organisation-activist relationships. To observe and describe this evolution, I have located the state of these relationships on a conflict continuum using relationship-signalling statements made by organisations and activists and published by the media. Three cases studies from the same organisational population, Australia's major banks, are compared over three different but consecutive seven-year periods from 1981 to 2001. The case studies involved the extensive review of industry reports, submissions and other documents from several government inquiries, and scholarly articles, as well as the content analysis of more than 6, 500 newspaper articles published during each of the three case study periods. The findings of this comparative case study suggest that variations in some dimensions of the public opinion environment of an organisational population are associated with the evolutionary ecology of organisation-activist relationships in that population. However, the associations are more complex than was anticipated by the original propositions of the EOAR model; thus refinements to the model are advanced for further investigation. A primary contribution of this study is that it provides the theoretical apparatus and tools to systematically explore, interpret, and measure variation in the issues comprising the public opinion environment and to track the evolving organisation-activist relationships organised around those issues. Because the population level of analysis and a longitudinal lens are applied, this conceptualisation of the public opinion environment effectively captures and specifies the overlapping and persistent nature of issues. The evidence of this study suggests that when issues have emerged in the public opinion environment at the population level of analysis, they are likely to persist as a hub around which publics organise, providing a focus for discussions and debates for years to come. This persistence, "issue-set inertia," has important implications for organisational relationships. Given these conditions, organisations can monitor and manage their responses to issues. However, it is naïvely optimistic at best to accept the contention of issues management consultants and other pundits that organisations can manage the issues themselves. Furthermore, the findings of this study call into question the value of advice that encourages organisations to deal with issues by seeking to avoid engaging with their activist publics and by downplaying the issues in the media.

In recent years, there has been an increased demand by the South African communities and society at large for public institutions to become more accountable. The literature seems to support the view that managerial trust and organisational trust in the public sector is globally acknowledged as a strategic goal. It is imperative for leaders in the public sector to recognise the nature of the business leadership that is required in the South African context. Servant leadership was identified as a leadership style that is most likely to achieve the objective of a trusting public sector.The paper examines the relationship between servant leadership and interpersonal trust, as well as organisational trust in a public sector organisation in South Africa. The sample consisted of 54 employees of the City of Johannesburg Property Company (SOC) Ltd who participated in a survey designed around the Servant Leadership Behaviour Scale developed by (Sendjaya, Sarros&Santora, 2008) along with the Organisational Trust Indicator (Nyhan&Marlowe, 1997).The results of the investigation confirmed what the literature says on servant leadership and trust. It revealed a statistically significant relationship between the opinions of servant leadership with both interpersonal trust and organisational trust. These findings will be discussed in terms of their implications for establishing what kind of leadership model might work in public sector organisations and how this approach might build trust among employees as key stakeholders.
Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012.
Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS)
unrestricted

Can interorganisational relationships be managed for effective functioning? This is the problem investigated in this research. Organisations world-wide are adopting co-operative relationships with other organisations. These interorganisational relationships are viewed as a way to enhance their own business performance (Williamson 1985, 1991; Dyer 1997; Gulati 1998; Barringer & Harrison 2000; Das & Teng 2000; Quinn 2000; Stuart 2000; Johnson, Korsgaard & Sapienza 2002). Despite this, the success rate for interorganisational relationships is not high (Hutt, Stafford, Walker & Reingen 2000; Quinn 2000; Hitt, Ireland & Vaidyanath 2002) with many of them failing to achieve their objectives. Understanding how to manage these boundary-spanning arrangements is important to realising the objectives of the business strategy. The research setting is a large private hospital in Australia. It works with a network of external service organisations that provide the Hospital with a range of clinical and non-clinical support services including: Diagnostic Imaging, Pathology Pharmacy, Food Services, Environmental Services, and Human Resources support. This research explores how these different relationships were managed in their operating period: 1998 to 2002. It reveals the dynamic and often ad hoc way, in which managers made sense of the collaborative service context, and how managers influenced the process of interorganisational relationship formation. Extant research about interorganisational relationships comes from a variety of fields. For this research it is most relevant to draw from the research fields of organisational theory, organisation behaviour, sociology, psychology and management. These fields contribute findings that provide useful knowledge upon which to build further understanding about how managers contribute to construct interorganisational relationships functioning (Ring & Van de Ven 1992, 1994; Walsh 1995; Chikudate 1999a, 1999b; Boddy, Macbeth & Wagner 2000; Hutt, Stafford, Walker & Reingen 2000; Lasker, Weiss & Miller 2001). This research uses an interpretivist methodology that enables the researcher to explore the dynamic nature of the Manager's sense-making in the construction of six interorganisational relationships. For the purposes of this research, interorganisational relationships are defined as new structures that emerge through the social interaction of actors involved in shared service delivery. The collaborative context of interorganisational relationships stimulates managers' sense-making by challenging institutionalised ways of behaving. This sensemaking process builds new knowledge stores and contributes to emerging, new management routines. The process is transformative and enables the emergence of interorganisational relationships. It emerges from this research that managers take cues from their context. These cues are used to interpret and make assessments that enable decisions about those actions that they take to construct the interorganisational relationships. A manager's processing of contextual cues, through interpretive frames and dispositional sense-making filters, is an inter-subjective, socially constructive process. The 'self' is a dimensional influence in the managers' sense-making and management behaviours and is implicated through the notion of contextual interpretive frames and dispositional sense-making filters. A model of interorganisational relationship management as a transformational process is developed. The association between contextual influences and managers' behaviours will raise awareness for professional practitioners of the challenges involved in managing across organisational boundaries and in turn, may contribute to more successful implementation of interorganisational business relationships.

This doctoral research explores the implications for the employment relationship of the intersection between employment relations and customer relations. The context for the research is Australian higher education - specifically those university workplaces which are strongly market focused and where resourcing is inadequate to meet customer expectations. Traditionally, serving one's customer has meant providing goods or services (as requested by the customer) and doing so with courtesy (as defined by social custom). The customer was clearly outside the traditional employment relationship between employer and employee, although a focus of its output. However, in the context of post-Fordist production systems and post-modern values including the rise of consumption, there has occurred an intersection of product and labour markets which has led to changes to the employment relationship and the labour process. The thesis answers the questions: In higher education, does the student-as-customer have significant influence on the organisation of work? If so, does this constitute a reconfigured model of the employment relationship? The rationale for re-examining the employment relationship in the context of changing consumption patterns lies in the search for more extensive explanations of factors which influence the labour process with the suggestion that consumption is of increasing relevance for industrial relations theory and practice (see for example Heery 1993; Frenkel, Korczynski, Shire and Tam 1999a). The growth of a culture of consumption and changing consumption patterns are symptomatic of change which is central to the Australian economy as a whole and to higher education in particular (Usher, Bryant and Johnson 1997; Scott 1995a). In this context the doctoral research explores the social relations involved in the process of Australian higher education as a service encounter. It examines the implications for the organisation of work in particular, and the traditional bipartite employment relationship in general (between employer and employee although it is noted that the state has a peripheral role), of the student's newly constructed status of customer. The research focus is on flexible delivery which is seen as a key strategic response by higher education institutions to meet their perceptions of their customers' needs and wants. Flexible delivery is a pedagogy, a marketing tool and a form of work organisation and is a fertile domain within which to seek the intersection of employment relations and customer relations. In keeping with the labour process ethnographic tradition, this research employs Burawoy's (1991) methodology of Extended Case Method. This doctoral research raises critical issues related to the incongruence between current Australian national research ethics regimes and long established ethnographic methods employing participant observation. The practical consequences of the national research ethics regime for empirical research are explored in the concluding chapter. The data identifies that university managements' preoccupation with customer relations has undermined the traditional employment relationship between employing institution and academic. While the academic employee in the service encounter is engaged in the primary relationship of the bipartite employment relationship, management's incorporation of the student-customer into formal organisational processes which may lead to control over the organisation of work, potentially brings into being a tripartite employment relationship between employee/employer/customer. In such a model, customer relations is no longer merely the output of the employment relationship but a process within it, with customers acting as management's agents of control. This thesis introduces the concept of the customer as partial-employer. The thesis findings challenge the current management paradigm of customer focus as a 'win-win' situation. In Australian higher education customer focused strategies have emerged from managerial assumptions about student-customer needs and wants, specifically those of flexibility and value-for-money. The unintended consequence of these assumptions on the academic labour process has been a significant shift in the balance of power between academic educator and student at the level of the service encounter, with the subjugation of traditional academic authority to the power of the consumer in what has become a market relationship.

Tourism has come to be recognised as a major contributor to national economies. In a knowledge-based economy (that emphasises the benefits of industry/government and academic research), a strong research base must underpin management of a tourist destination if it is to realise its full potential. The establishment of collaborative networks between industry, academia, and government in the strategic planning and management of cities and towns is becoming increasingly popular. However, the way in which the processes underlying these settings facilitate or inhibit eventual outcomes is poorly understood. If knowledge is to drive innovation and economic growth optimally, it is important not just to develop an understanding of the processes underlying the creation, diffusion and utilisation of knowledge in cooperative research settings, but also the relationships among them. Accordingly, the aim of this investigation is to examine the relationships among knowledge creation, diffusion and utilisation occurring in the Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) Program, specifically, the Gold Coast Visioning Project, with a view to identifying the most efficient means for formulating and disseminating research designed for industry and/or government application. Knowledge is defined as information that is imbued with meaning or relevance. However, this definition says little of the ways that individuals, groups and organisations acquire knowledge. While cognitive psychologists have produced several theories suggesting the structure and mechanisms of individual cognitive processes underlying the acquisition and use of knowledge, social scientists have sought to describe and explain the process by investigating the influence of social factors. Recent contributions to group learning have examined group composition, group size, familiarity among group members, and communication processes in an attempt to understand the ways in which groups acquire knowledge. Research shows that knowledge utilisation in organisations results from the interdependent influences of organisational processes and the control opportunities and control problems that arise through organisational structure. These frameworks provide accounts of how knowledge is utilised within an organisation, but not of how organisations learn. Recent research suggests that organisations learn through knowledge networks where organisational focus moves from the consideration and protection of boundaries to the management of (and care for) relationships. Therefore, organisations contain static (rules, norms and procedures) and dynamic (social relationships) elements that mutually influence the degree to which organisations learn. A synthesis of the available literature resulted in the development of a series of models that served not only to inform, but also be informed by the analysis of this investigation. A single case study, namely the Gold Coast Visioning Project, was used to examine the ways in which knowledge was created, disseminated and utilised in a CRC setting. This ethnographic investigation considered the process of knowledge creation through to utilisation at individual, group, organisational, and inter-organisational levels, while simultaneously examining the interrelated influences of social, cognitive, affective and communication factors. Throughout the project, data were collected through stakeholder interviews, various documents and participant observation of stakeholder meetings and workshops. Data were analysed using a grounded theory approach and methods of thick description. The results show that researchers and industry stakeholders bring different frames of reference, different expectations, and different knowledge bases to the exercise. This inhibited communication, and gave the appearance of dissension when, in fact, what was being sought was a common frame for understanding and communication. Additionally, the gap between industry and researcher worldviews generated the sense that industry was resisting or failing to understand what the research was seeking to achieve. Consequently, in order to manage the relationship, research plans and findings were communicated to industry in a teacher-to-student fashion, which fostered single-loop learning, and reduced industry stakeholders' sense of ownership in the process and findings. During the project, industry stakeholders frequently sought to have research come pre-packaged with "meaning", but researchers lacked the contextual knowledge necessary to specify the relevance of their research. The results also show that research findings need to be integrated and diffused to industry over time, and specific applications need to be formulated (and reformulated) in response to particular and changing needs of industry. As a result of this investigation, a model of 'best practice' has been developed with detailed recommendations for the design, implementation, and reporting of CRC-sponsored research to optimise its utility for end-users of such research. From a theoretical perspective, the findings of this study challenge the ways that current theories account for the ways in which knowledge is acquired and utilised since the results show that knowledge is constructed both socially and emotionally. Any investigation that seeks to understand how knowledge is acquired and utilised must consider social and affective influences. To ignore the role of emotion and values in the process of knowledge acquisition is to ignore a key component of an individual's reasoning capacity.

In the past decades, the public sector has undergone important organisational policy changes, referred to as New Public Management. These management strategies focus on continuous cost improvements and rationalisation of operations. In the aftermath of these policy changes, we have seen reports of increased work demands and less professional autonomy amongst welfare workers. Against this background, the thesis sets out to explore welfare workers’ relationship to their organisation. This was done by investigating how psychosocial and organisational factors related to a number of outcomes assumed to be indicators of the quality of the relationship. Theoretically, the thesis was inspired by psychological contract theory, but also relates to other concepts and theories found in organisational research. The thesis is based on four empirical studies, all of which relate to how welfare workers have perceived their relationship to their organisation. Study I aimed to qualitatively investigate how turnover processes evolved amongst statutory social workers who voluntarily had resigned from their jobs. The results showed that dismissive/admonishing organisational responses to the social workers’ perceived work-related dissatisfactions reinforced their beliefs in psychological contract violation, which led to resignation. Study II and III employed national web-based questionnaire data collected from employees and managers in the social services. The results of Studies II-III showed that if organisations want welfare workers to stop considering exit, want to counteract silence, want to reduce stress-related ill health and want to improve organisational commitment and job satisfaction, management strategies need to be developed that lead to fewer conflicting demands, a reasonable workload and a greater professional autonomy. The results also showed that the organisation’s open climate and attitude towards employees was of great importance for the studied outcome variables. Study IV was based on questionnaire data from different occupational groups in two municipal organisations. The results showed that organisational resources explained additional variance in organisational identification and organisational pride, beyond the contributions of workgroup resources. From the findings of this thesis, it can be concluded that the psychosocial demands need to be balanced with organisational resources in order to (re)build a trustworthy employee-organisation relationship. Further, organisations need to reconsider their human resource management strategies and practices, e.g., by enabling a continuous and open dialogue between the strategic and operational levels. Such changes may lead to balanced psychological contracts between welfare workers and the organisation that can improve the organisation’s stability, continuity and, ultimately, the quality of the welfare services.

In 2006, the Swedish government established the gender equality policy "women and men should have the same power to shape the society and their own lives", together with six sub-goals. This thesis has examined the governments sixth equality sub-goal "men's violence against women should cease". There is a national strategy to prevent and combat this violence, where collaboration is highlighted as an important factor. The thesis also elevates how men´s violence against women in close relationships is currently a global societal problem that extends beyond categories such as social class, ethnicity, age et cetera.  The aim of this thesis was to investigate how the local collaboration is structured and worksbetween the police, social services and the women's shelter in Västerås, regarding the implementation of the governments sixth equality sub-goal. A qualitative method was used in form of semi-structured interviews to answer the purpose and the questions of the thesis. Two employees from each authority and a non-profit organization were selected as informants, determined through three categories. The theoretical framework was based both on a collaborative theory and an implementation theory.  The result showed that collaboration is necessary as a method while working for women who are vulnerable to violence in order for them to receive adequate support and assistance. It´s also important for the employees, since no individual authority or organization can be responsible to solve men's violence against women. Currently, the collaboration between the three actors in Västerås work relatively well. However, this thesis shows that more resources need to be invested in the collaboration. Communication needs to be improved and clearer goals that formulates the legitimacy of everyone participating in the collaboration work need to be set. The conclusion partly shows that collaboration needs, not only to exist, but also be prioritized at all levels of the institutions working with this issue. Even politicians need to prioritize and invest resources that may enable a well-functioning collaboration which is vital for the work against men’s violence against women.

Cette thèse propose d’étudier la collaboration entre acteurs gouvernementaux et associations pour la conduite de l’action publique, conçue comme un processus de transformation des modalités relationnelles conduit par les pratiques des acteurs et leurs interactions. Un cadre théorique néo-institutionnaliste centré sur les concepts de Champ d’action stratégique, de travail institutionnel et d’interactions est mobilisé afin d’articuler le niveau micro des pratiques collaboratives, la collaboration émergeant à l’échelle inter-organisationnelle et le niveau macro de la gouvernance publique. La méthodologie adoptée est une ethnographie organisationnelle, avec une immersion de trois années dans un champ réunissant acteurs publics et associatifs autour des politiques publiques d’égalité entre les femmes et les hommes dans une région française. La doctorante a utilisé une double entrée académique et associative pour observer les dynamiques relationnelles entre acteurs gouvernementaux et associatifs. Elle a occupé des responsabilités administratives et exercé des activités bénévoles dans une association de formation à l’égalité professionnelle. Elle a aussi été membre d’une structure de collaboration ouverte entre l’État et des acteurs de l’Économie sociale et solidaire dont l’objet est de promouvoir l’égalité entre les femmes et les hommes par et dans la vie associative. L’enquête combine une perspective longitudinale rétrospective en retraçant l’évolution des relations gouvernements-associations depuis les premières politiques publiques régionales en 1981 et une étude de la collaboration gouvernements-associations comme processus en cours de 2016 à 2020. Trois résultats sont exposés. Premièrement, il existe une diversité de stratégies associatives et gouvernementales adoptées à l’égard de la collaboration, explicables par les positions des acteurs au sein des champs et les impacts organisationnels de la collaboration. Nous en proposons une typologie. Deuxièmement, la gouvernance d’une collaboration doublement encastrée dans la logique hiérarchique et la logique de marché soulève des difficultés et des paradoxes pour les acteurs. Nous décrivons le travail qu’ils mettent en œuvre pour articuler la collaboration aux logiques préexistantes dans l’environnement institutionnel. Troisièmement, l’avènement d’un paradigme collaboratif de l’action publique distinct du New Public Management apparaît conditionné à une transformation du rôle, des responsabilités et des modes de fonctionnement des acteurs publics, des outils de gestion des relations gouvernements-associations et des modes de financement de l’action publique. L’éthique du management public collaboratif à construire devrait être centrée sur la valorisation et la préservation des différences des partenaires associatifs et la redéfinition de la dialectique consensus/conflit
This thesis proposes to study the collaboration between governments and non-profit organizations in policy-making, conceived as a process in which existing intersectoral relationships are transformed by the actors' practices and their interactions. A neo-institutionalist theoretical framework, focusing on the concepts of Strategic Action Field, institutional work and interactions, is used to articulate the micro-level of collaborative practices with collaboration emerging at a meso-level, and with public governance at a macro-level. The adopted methodology is an organizational ethnography, with a 3-year immersion in a field bringing together public and non-profit actors around gender equality public policy making in a French region. The doctoral student has used a double academic and non-profit position to observe relational dynamics between governmental and non-profit actors. She has held administrative responsibilities and has volunteered in a professional equality training association. She was also a member of an open collaboration structure between the State and the Social and Solidarity Economy actors whose aim is to promote equality between women and men through and in associative life. The study combines a retrospective longitudinal perspective by tracing the evolution of government-association relations from the first regional public policies in 1981 with a study of government-association collaboration as an ongoing process between 2016 and 2020. Three results are exposed. First, there is a diversity of associative and governmental strategies adopted with regards to collaboration, explained by the positions of actors within the fields and the organizational impacts of collaboration. A typology of these strategies is proposed. Secondly, the governance of collaboration is doubly embedded in a hierarchical and a market logic, which raises difficulties and paradoxes for the actors. Their work to articulate collaboration with preexisting logics in their institutional environment is described. Thirdly, the advent of a collaborative paradigm of public action separate from New Public Management appears to be conditioned by the transformation of public actors’ role, responsibilities and working methods, of intersectoral relationships management tools, and of public policies funding. The construction of a collaborative public management ethic should focus on valuing and preserving the diversity and differences of associative partners and on the redefinition of the consensus/conflict dialectic

Avhandlingen består av två studier som utgår från projektet ”Det goda arbetet”. Det överordnade syftet med projektet Det Goda Arbetet var att använda tandvård som ett exempel på ett arbete där relationerna med patienterna utgör arbetets kärna. Denna typ av arbete (även kallat människovårdande arbete) har speciella psykosociala arbetsmiljövillkor och känslomässiga krav som måste tas hänsyn till vid organisering av arbetet. Syftet med den första studien var att beskriva bakgrunden och utvecklingen av frågeformuläret ’Svenska och Danska tandläkares uppfattning av ’Det Goda Arbetet’ och att skapa ett mått för generell arbetstillfredsställelse, applicerat på fyra organisatoriska miljöer. Syftet med den andra studien var att introducera konceptet emotionellt arbete i tandvård genom att ge en teoretisk överblick av de emotionella aspekterna av arbetet, villkoren under vilka arbetet utförs och de potentiella effekterna på tandläkarnas välbefinnande. I kappan har kompletterande resultat från projektet Det Goda Arbetet inkluderats i syfte att ge en empirisk illustration av hur tandläkare upplever de emotionella faktorer som relaterar till patient-interaktionen och deras arbetsglädje. Data från 1226 danska och svenska verksamma tandläkare samlades in i November 2008 med en svarsprocent på 68 %. Ett additivt index skapades för att mäta generell arbetstillfredsställelse, och resultaten visade statistiska skillnader i tandläkarnas uppfattning mellan de olika organisatoriska miljöerna (Svenska offentliga/privata och Danska offentliga/privata). De danska offentliga tandläkarna hade den högsta graden av generell arbetstillfredsställelse medan de svenska offentliga hade den lägsta graden. En möjlig förklaring till detta kan vara att danska offentliga tandläkare skiljer sig från de andra tre grupperna i karakteristika vad gäller både tandläkare och patienter. Den låga graden av generell arbetstillfredsställelse hos de offentliga svenska tandläkarna kan möjligtvis vara en effekt av New Public Management-tänkande i sättet att organisera tandvård. Tilläggsresultaten visade att de svenska offentliga tandläkarna hade mycket mindre energi till sina privatliv i jämförelse med de andra tre grupperna och bara hälften av dem förväntade sig att fortsätta arbeta som nu fram till pensionen. Att arbeta med eller på människor handlar mycket om att skapa goda interaktioner och relationer mellan vårdgivaren och patienten. Goda patientrelationer kan vara ett primärt- och/eller sekundärt mål för att göra andra saker, som t.ex. den kliniska behandlingen, lättare. För många vårdgivare är relationerna med patienterna en arena där de kan leva ut sin potential som människor och kan upplevas som en bestående inre glädje av arbetet, kallat eudaimonia. I patientrelationen utför tandläkaren emotionellt arbete som ett sätt att intervenera med patienten för att vägleda denne i en bestämd riktning. Tandläkare har uttalade emotionella arbetsuppgifter i sina interaktioner med patienterna, emellertid har dessa emotionella aspekter av arbetet hitintills varit ett försummat forskningsområde inom odontologin. De emotionella arbetsuppgifterna är betingade eftersom att tandläkarens incitament inte är endimensionella och därför kräver de en hel del emotionell flexibilitet, uppmärksamhet och reflektion av tandläkaren. Påverkan från marknadskrafter och managerialism på de professionella värdena inom tandvård kan av tandläkaren uppfattas som motstridande och utmana villkoren för emotionellt arbete och tandläkarnas välbefinnande. Denna forskning syftar till att starka och uppmuntra olika nivåer av tandvård till att ytterligare undersöka, förstå och stötta dynamiken i de emotionella aspekterna av arbetet för att skapa en hållbar arbetsmiljö där värden och logik kan uppfattas som kompatibla med tandvårdens professionella värden.
The thesis consists of two papers which are based on a research project called ‘Good Work’. The overall aim of the Good Work project was to use dentistry as an example of work which has close relations with patients at its core. This kind of work (also called human service work) has special psycho-social work environment considerations and emotional requirements, which need to be considered when organizing work. The aims of the first study were to describe the background and development of the questionnaire ‘Swedish and Danish Dentists’ Perceptions of Good Work’ and to create a measure of overall job satisfaction, applying the measure in four organizational settings. The aim of the second study was to introduce the concept of emotion work in dentistry by giving a theoretical overview of the emotional aspects of work, the conditions under which it is performed and the potential effects on the dentist’s wellbeing. Additional results from the Good Work project have been included in the thesis with the purpose of giving an empirical illustration of how dentists experience the emotional factors related to patient interaction and their job satisfaction. Data from 1226 Danish and Swedish practising dentists was collected in November 2008, with a 68% response rate. An additive index was created to measure overall job satisfaction showing statistical difference in the dentists’ experience according to affiliation (Swedish public/private, Danish public/private). The Danish public dentists had the highest degree of overall job satisfaction and the Swedish public dentists had the lowest. A reason for this difference might be that Danish public dentistry differs from the other three groups in the characteristics of both dentists and patients. However, the lower job satisfaction for the Swedish public dentists could be an effect of New Public Management thinking in organizing dentistry. The additional results showed that Swedish public dentists had substantially less energy left for their private lives compared with the other three groups and only half of them expected to continue working as they do now until retirement. Working directly with or on people is very much about creating good interactions and relations between the health professional and the patient. Good patient relations can be a primary aim and/or a secondary aim, to make other things, e.g. the clinical treatment, easier. To many health professionals their relations with the patients is an arena in which to activate their human potentials and can be experienced as a lasting intrinsic joy from work, called eudaimonia. In the relation with the patient the dentist performs emotion work as an intervention toolkit to direct the patient in a specific direction. Dentists have extensive emotional work tasks in their patient interactions, however this emotional part of dentists’ work is, so far, a neglected research area of odontology. The emotion work tasks are conditioned because the dentists’ incentives are not one-dimensional and require a great deal of emotional flexibility, attentiveness and reflection by the dentist. The influence of the market and managerialism on the professional values of dentistry may challenge the conditions for these tasks in the patient interaction and the wellbeing of the dentist if they are experienced as contradictory. This research aims to encourage and empower different levels of dentistry to further investigate, understand and support the dynamics of the emotional aspects of work with the aim to constitute a sustainable work environment where values and logics can be experienced as compatible with professional values.

Cette étude analyse les différents angles de vue qui permettent de comprendre l’état des politiques internationales d’atténuation du changement climatique au début du XXIème siècle. Dans un contexte réellement inquiétant au regard des données scientifiques actuellement à disposition sur le sujet, elle interroge la capacité d’action de la communauté internationale dans la gestion de la crise environnementale en cours. Alors que la plupart des études et des mesures adoptées tendent à se concentrer sur les capacités d’adaptation au changement climatique, il importe de savoir dans quelle mesure les politiques d’atténuation de ce dernier gardent une forme de légitimité et d’intérêt. S’appuyant sur un grand nombre de publications du monde universitaire et de rapports publics nationaux ou internationaux, cette étude bibliographique dresse un bilan sur l’état des connaissances relatives à la gestion internationale de la crise environnementale contemporaine, sur les enjeux fondamentaux que cette dernière soulève pour les prochaines décennies par rapport à nos modèles de sociétés (politiques, économiques, sociaux, éthiques…), sur les difficultés qu’elle ne manque pas de rencontrer dans le cadre des négociations internationales (atteinte aux souverainetés nationales, défense d’intérêts particuliers, répartition des rôles entre les différents acteurs, organisation et mise en place de moyens complexes…), puis enfin sur les différentes perspectives qu’elle pourrait voir émerger au cours des décennies à venir en fonction du degré d’action ou d’inaction de la communauté internationale à court terme (ampleur du réchauffement et de ses conséquences, modèles politiques et économiques associés, forme et niveau de la coopération internationale…). Le travail s’intéresse dans un premier temps au processus du changement climatique lui-même ainsi qu’à son contexte par l’intermédiaire de l’évolution de la société contemporaine (Partie I). Il met ensuite en évidence l’existence des difficultés importantes auxquelles est confronté le politique aujourd’hui, dans sa capacité notamment à prendre en charge la gestion de la crise environnementale en cours (Partie II). Il analyse en outre l’incapacité systémique du modèle économique mondialisé à assurer seul l’atténuation du changement climatique (Partie III). Il met enfin en avant certaines pistes de réflexion démontrant la nécessité de l’établissement sur la scène internationale d’un développement mondial durable et équitable (Partie IV)
This study analyses the different points of view that lead to a better understanding of international public policies addressing climate change mitigation in the beginning of the XXIth century. In a truly worrying context according to current scientific data, it questions the international community’s ability to act upon the current environment crisis. Many studies and policies about climate change are focusing on the ability to adapt to climate change; but it is important to know how policies that mitigate the climate change still remain legitimate and gather interest. Based on a large number of research publications and national or international public reports, this bibliographic study produces a review of the international management of the current environment crisis; an evaluation of the most important issues it reveals for the next decades about our society’s models (political, economic, social, ethical...); an assessment of the difficulties it creates for international negotiations (threats to national sovereignties, protection of specific interests, roles sharing between various stakeholders, organization and logistics of complicated means...); and finally an analysis of the different outlooks for the next decades depending on the international community’s level of action in the near term (magnitude of temperature warming and its consequences, associated political and economic models, form and extent of international cooperation...). First, this study addresses the climate change process itself and its context within the evolution of our contemporary society (Part I). Second, it exposes the great difficulties facing today’s politicians to tackle the environmental crisis (Part II). Then, it analyses the systematic inability of the global economic model to assume by itself the full responsibility of climate change mitigation (Part III). Finally, this study presents a number of considerations regarding the need to establish an equitable and sustainable economic development at the global scale (Part IV)

Le pacte d'actionnaires se place dans une forme de dépendance unilatérale au contrat de société qui n'est pas sans rappeler le rapport juridique d'accessoire à principal.En effet, s'il est fondamentalement distinct du contrat de société qu'il complète, tout pacte conclu par certains actionnaires, en dehors des statuts, afin d'organiser leurs relations interindividuelles d'actionnaires, trouve nécessairement sa matière et puise sa raison d'être dans le pacte social. Ainsi, la dépendance du pacte au contrat de société se manifeste-t-elle, de la manière la plus évidente, par la caducité qu'entraîne pour le pacte l'arrivée du terme du contrat de société ou la perte de la qualité d'actionnaire d'un partenaire.Dès lors, par analogie avec la règle selon laquelle l'accessoire a vocation à suivre le sort du principal, cette dimension d'accessoire du contrat de société justifie que le pacte subisse l'influence du cadre juridique auquel le contrat de société est lui-même soumis, à savoir le droit des sociétés et, en particulier, l'ordre public sociétaire.Cette dépendance au contrat de société, par essence commune à tous les pactes d'actionnaires en raison de leur objet matériel et de leur cause, est à géométrie variable. Elle repose en effet sur divers facteurs de rattachement au contrat de société que sont l'exercice du droit de vote, la détention des actions ou la qualité d'actionnaire des partenaires, lesquels impriment, selon qu'ils s'immiscent plus ou moins profondément dans le fondement, la structure ou encore le fonctionnement de la société, différents degrés de dépendance dans la relation pacte - contrat de société.Malgré l'hétérogénéité du régime des pactes d'actionnaires, il est alors possible de dégager,à l'aune de cette dimension d'accessoire, une tendance fondamentale qui anime, en droit positif, la jurisprudence relative aux pactes. Cette ligne directrice réside dans la variabilité du degré d'emprise des règles qui encadrent le contrat de société sur le régime des pactes d'actionnaires.La jurisprudence se révèle être, en effet, d'une manière générale et par-delà la casuistique, en cohérence avec cette influence proportionnelle de l'environnement sociétaire à l'intensité du degré de dépendance que présente chaque type de pacte en fonction du facteur qui le rattache au contrat de société. Les pactes caractérisés par une dépendance marquée au contrat de société bénéficient ainsi d'une marge de liberté à la mesure de celle dont bénéficie le contrat de société pour l'aménagement de l'exercice du droit de vote ou de la perte de la qualité d'actionnaire. Au contraire, les pactes caractérisés par une dépendance modérée au contrat de société, qui organisent des cessions ou des acquisitions d'actions,sont plus largement libérés des contraintes auxquelles est soumis le contrat de société au regard du principe de libre négociabilité des actions. Quant à l'influence sur les pactes de certains autres principes d'ordre public sociétaire, tels que la prohibition des clauses léonines ou l'expertise de l'article 1843-4 du Code civil, elle demeure incertaine en droit positif. Toutefois, la jurisprudence tend à reconnaître le particularisme de ces règles et à leur retirer, en conséquence, tout caractère impératif en dehors du cadre des relations entretenues collectivement par les actionnaires avec la société.

Abstracts in English, Afrikaans, Zulu and Arabic
The Middle East has a rising demand for public relations (PR) professionals because many of the oil-producing countries in the region are implementing radical transformational strategies to develop their non-oil sectors to safeguard future generations. PR professionals in the region are challenged by volatile environments in which there are on-going conflicts and wars. However, PR in the Middle East is key to engagement in its complex social, economic and political climate. Information and communication technology has captured the attention of organisations in the Middle East, by contributing to the evolution of PR practices from monologue to dialogue and from control to engagement. Against this background, the study explored critical PR and PR activism in the Middle East. Critical PR radically changes the traditional approach of PR, from asking how it can assist organisations to be more efficient, to asking what its role is in society? It advocates that the PR professional act as the facilitator of debate, dialogue and even dissent, and to encourage public input, thereby influencing public policies to develop long-term, transformational programmes that benefit society. This study explored the theoretical characteristics of critical PR elements and the principles of online organisation–public relationships. These characteristics and principles were further explored and measured by a quantitative self-administered web-based survey and one-on-one interviews with PR professionals in the Middle East Public Relations Association and from leading listed Middle Eastern organisations.
Die Midde-Ooste het 'n toenemende behoefte aan professionele persone in die gebied van openbare betrekkinge en PR. Baie van die olieproduserende lande in die streek implementeer radikale transformasiestrategieë om hul nie-oliesektore te ontwikkel en om so toekomstige geslagte te beveilig. Professionele PR-personeel in die streek het groot uitdagings in die vorm van vlugtige veranderinge in die verskillende gebiede waarin konflikte en oorloë alomteenwoordig is. Openbare betrekkinge in die Midde-Ooste is egter die sleutel om die verskillende partye te kan bereik en betrek, weens die komplekse sosiale, ekonomiese en politieke klimaat. Inligting- en kommunikasietegnologie het die aandag van organisasies in die Midde-Ooste gevang weens hulle bydrae tot die evolusie van PR-praktyke, van monoloog tot dialoog, en van beheer tot betrokkenheid. Dit is teen hierdie agtergrond dat die studie kritiese openbare betrekkinge en openbare betrekkings aktivisme in die Midde-Ooste ondersoek. Kritieke openbare betrekkinge verander die tradisionele benadering van openbare betrekkinge radikaal. Dit stel vrae: hoe kan dit organisasies help om meer doeltreffend te wees, en watter rol kan dit in die samelewing speel? Dit bepleit dat die professionele PR-praktisyn as fasiliteerder vir debat, dialoog en selfs verdeeldheid kan optree, sowel as openbare bydrag aan te moedig. Sodoende kan hy of sy openbare beleid beïnvloed om langtermyn transformasieprogramme, wat die samelewing bevoordeel, te ontwikkel. Hierdie studie het die teoretiese eienskappe van kritiese openbarebetrekkingselemente en die beginsels van aanlyn-organisasies se openbare betrekkingspraktyk ondersoek. Hierdie eienskappe en beginsels is verder ondersoek en gemeet aan die hand van 'n kwantitatiewe, self-geadministreerde web-gebaseerde opname en deur persoonlike onderhoude met professionele PR-persone in die Middle East Public Relations Association en toonaangewende en genoteerde Midde-Oosterse organisasies.
IMpumalanga Ephakathi inesidingo esikhulayo sochwepheshe bezobudlelwano bomphakathi ngoba amazwe amaningi akhiqiza uwoyela esifundeni asebenzisa amasu amakhulu ezinguquko ukuze athuthukise imikhakha yawo engenawo uwoyela ukuvikela izizukulwane ezizayo. Ochwepheshe bezobudlelwano bomphakathi esifundeni babhekene nenselele yezimo eziguquguqukayo lapho kukhona izingxabano nezimpi eziqhubekayo. Nokho, ubudlelwano bomphakathi eMpumalanga Ephakathi buyinto esemqoka ekubhekanani nesimo sawo senhlalo esiyinkimbinkimbi, nasesimweni sezomnotho nesezombusazwe. Ubuchwepheshe bolwazi nobezokuxhumana buye badonsa ukunaka kwezinhlangano eziseMpumalanga Ephakathi, ngokufaka isandla ekuguqukeni kwemikhuba ye-PR isuke ekubeni imiyalelo iye ekubeni ingxoxo nasekulawuleni iye ekubambisaneni. Ngokumelene nalesi sizinda, ucwaningo luhlole ubudlelwane obubucayi bomphakathi kanye nentshisekelo yobudlelwano bomphakathi eMpumalanga Ephakathi. Ubudlelwano bomphakathi obucayi buguqula kakhulu indlela yokwenza yendabuko yobudlelwano bomphakathi, kusukela ekubuzeni ukuthi bungazisiza kanjani izinhlangano ukuba zisebenze kahle, kuya ekubuzeni ukuthi iyiphi indima yabo emphakathini. Igcizelela ukuthi ochwepheshe bezobudlelwano bomphakathi basebenze njengomxazululi wempikiswano, izingxoxo ngisho nokungavumelani, futhi bakhuthaze nomphakathi ukuba ubambe iqhaza, ngaleyo ndlela bathonye izinqubomgomo zomphakathi zokuthuthukisa izinhlelo zesikhathi eside, zezinguquko ezizuzisa umphakathi. Lolu cwaningo luhlole izici zemibono yezinto ezibucayi zobudlelwano bomphakathi kanye nemigomo yenhlangano eku-inthanethi-ubudlelwano bomphakathi. Lezi zimpawu kanye nemigomo yahlolisiswa kakhudlwana futhi yalinganiswa ngenhlolovo esuselwa kuwebhu esebenza ngobuningi kanye nokuxoxisana nomuntu ngamunye nochwepheshe bezobudlelwano nomphakathi Enhlanganweni Yobudlelwano Bomphakathi YaseMpumalanga Ephakathi kanye nasezinhlanganweni ezihamba phambili ezisohlwini lwaseMpumalanga Emaphakathi.
Communication Science
M. Communication Sc. (Organisational Communication)

The objective of this study was (i) to determine the relationship between sense of coherence, work engagement and burnout; and (ii) to determine whether, in terms of the various socio-demographic groups, namely, gender, age, race, marital status, number of years in current position and number of years in public service, the sample differed significantly in terms of their levels of sense of coherence, work engagement and burnout. A quantitative study, using primary data, was conducted using a convenience sample (N = 172) of middle managers in a public service organisation. The psychometric properties of the Orientation to Life Questionnaire, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale and the Maslach Burnout Inventory Scale were investigated before the hypothesis was tested. The statistical analysis of the data included descriptive statistics as well as inferential statistics. The Kaiser-Meyer Olkin and Bartlett’s test of sphericity techniques were used to determine the exploratory factor analysis of all three measuring scales. A correlation analysis between the one-factor sense of coherence, one-factor work engagement and the three burnout sub-dimensions (exhaustion, cynicism and professional efficacy) was conducted. The Pearson product-moment correlation was used to determine the strength of the relationships between the variables. The level of significance was set at a 95% confidence interval level (p 􀀂􀀁0,05). Standard multiple regression analysis was used to establish whether there is a significant relationship between sense of coherence, work engagement and burnout. The Wilk’s lambda technique was used to test the results for significance, while Levene's test of equality of error variances technique was used to test the results for significance on the sense of coherence and work engagement scales with regard to the demographic groups. The results showed that there was a significant relationship between the participants’ sense of coherence, work engagement and burnout levels. Significant differences were also found between respondents in the marital status group and the burnout dimension, depersonalisation or cynicism. The results also reflected the wellbeing status of middle managers and indicated that the respondents were flourishing (feeling good as they scored a high sense of coherence and functioning well as indicated by a high score for work engagement). It is anticipated that the findings of the study will contribute valuable knowledge to employee wellbeing programmes in public service. The study concludes by making recommendations for future research practice.
Industrial and Organisational Psychology
M. Com. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

The objectives of this study were to (1) establish whether a relationship exists between individuals’ perception of organisational culture, measured by the South African Cultural Instrument (2005) and lifelong learning, measured by the Dimensions of the Learning Organisation Questionnaire (2003); and (2) determine whether the participants differed with regard to these variables in terms of sociodemographic contextual factors such as age, race, gender, education, years of service, disability status and job level. A quantitative study, using primary data, was conducted on a convenient sample (N=257) of full-time public service officials in a South African public service organisation. Correlational and inferential statistical analyses revealed statistically significant positive relationships between individuals’ perception of organisational culture and lifelong learning. Significant differences were found in the perception of these variables for individuals with different years of service and for individuals of different age groups. The findings should contribute valuable knowledge to the field of organisational behaviour, which could be used to promote a lifelong learning culture in public service organisations. The study concludes with recommendations for future practice
Industrial & Organisational Psychology

The growth and expansion of the Haven Night Shelter Welfare Organisation has been accompanied by a pattern of emotional and negative dismissals and resignations of senior managerial personnel. The research project explores how the management capacity of the managers could be enhanced through training, development and maintenance functions of human resource management. The literature study focused on reviewing outcomes-based education, training and development methodology. The empirical study involved examining the biographical information of the research participants. It also sought to explore the organisational culture by identifying managerial competencies of skills, interpersonal relationships, management style, attitudes and beliefs. Investigating the knowledge base of participants, included exploring human resource management practices, training and development legislation and labour relations. The conclusions and recommendations are based on the findings of the survey as completed by the participants. The guidelines for a training programme include outcomes-based learning principles to raise morale, skill and knowledge.
Social work
M. Diac. (Social Work)

The purpose of the study was to investigate the perceived lack of empowerment of registered nurses in the Mpumalanga Province. To determine the reasons for the perceived lack of empowerment and the effect thereof on professional conduct after which empowerment guidelines would be developed which managers can apply in order to enhance the empowerment of registered nurses in their service, and in turn cultivate confident nurse leaders. The main study objectives were to describe what empowerment entails, and its effect on professional conduct in the workplace; explore the level of empowerment among nurse managers and registered nurses; ascertain the effect of perceived powerlessness on the professional conduct and behaviour of nurse managers and registered nurses; establish the reasons for the perceived lack of empowerment among nurse managers and registered nurses; determine if there is a difference in the way in which nurse managers and registered nurses perceive the existing empowerment in their public hospitals and to develop empowerment guidelines for nurse managers and registered nurses. Kanter’s Theory of Structural Empowerment formed the basis of the study and guided the structure of the report. This theory contains three components, each with several dimensions resulting in 14 factors to be tested. A quantitative research approach, with an exploratory and descriptive design was used. Using a researcher-developed questionnaire as the data collection instrument. The site population consisted of one randomly selected district containing eight public hospitals in the Mpumalanga Province. All nurse managers and registered nurses in these hospitals were invited to participate in the study. The researcher delivered the questionnaires to the respondents of the eight hospitals that met the inclusion criteria. Two hundred and sixty seven (267) completed questionnaires were collected upon completion resulting in a response rate of 30.2%. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data. Generally, the results indicated that the majority of the respondents felt empowered with the dimensions contained under the structural empowerment, psychological empowerment and positive work behaviours and attitudes components of Kanter’s Theory. However the respondents noted that they had limited resources. According to the results those nurse managers and registered nurses who felt empowered, scored strongly in the areas of structural and psychological empowerment. The empowerment guidelines were developed for dimensions which were found to be non-empowering to assist nurse managers and registered nurses in creating workplace environments that could enhance the empowerment of registered nurses in their hospitals.
Health Studies
D. Litt. et Phil. (Health Studies)

A dominant focus on organisational stakeholders is currently evident in both the literature and in practice since it is argued that the success of organisations is predominantly dependent on stakeholders’ perception of the organisation. This stakeholder emphasis is evident in the inclusion of a chapter on governing stakeholder relations in the King III report and the development of various stakeholder standards in South Africa, including corporate social investment, corporate governance, corporate citizenship, corporate sustainability and the triple bottom line. Despite the recognition of the importance and necessity of building and maintaining stakeholder relations in the literature, there is a dearth of research on how to actually build these relationships. The aim of this study was to address this shortcoming by proposing a generic, integrated approach to sustainable organisation-stakeholder relationship (OSR) building with strategic stakeholders whereby strategic stakeholder identification, OSR development and OSR maintenance, which are often studied independently, would be integrated in order to constitute a new unified model. This model will promote a sustainable OSR-building process for organisation-stakeholder partnership (OSP) development.The following three building blocks for such a model were proposed: a strategic communication foundation that promotes the integration of specific corporate communication functions that is practised from a two-way symmetrical communication perspective as the basis for effective OSR building; a theoretical foundation, which is an integration of Freeman’s stakeholder concept (1984) from a normative, relational viewpoint, Ferguson’s relational paradigm for public relations (1984) and Ledingham’s (2003) theory of relationship management, encapsulated by Grunig’s (1984) excellence theory, of which the proposed OSR-building model would be a pragmatic representation; and a conceptualisation of the OSR-building model where the actual phases of the OSR-building process would be proposed to provide step-by-step guidance for OSR building. This model promotes a partnership approach with strategic stakeholders, which is based on the proposition of an OSR development continuum, which implies that an OSR could grow in intensity over time, from a foundational OSR, mutually-beneficial OSR, sustainable OSR, to ultimate organisational-stakeholder partnerships (OSPs). This model was built from a corporate communication perspective, and subsequently highlighted the contribution of corporate communication in the organisation as an OSR-building function to ensure organisational effectiveness. This study provided an exploratory literature review to constitute a conceptual framework for OSR-building of which the principles of the framework would be further explored and measured in leading listed South African organisations, by means of a quantitative web-based survey and qualitative one-on-one interviews to compose an OSR-building model that provides guidance on the process of OSR building on the basis of insights from theory and practice.
Ingevolge die argument dat die sukses van organisasies hoofsaaklik afhanklik is van die persepsies wat belangegroepe oor organisasies het, word ‘n dominante fokus tans op organisatoriese belangegroepe in die literatuur en praktyk geplaas. Die fokus op belangegroepe is sigbaar in die insluiting van ‘n hoofstuk oor die bou van belangegroepverhoudings in die King III verslag asook die ontwikkeling van verskeie belangegroepstandaarde in Suid Afrika, wat korporatiewe sosiale verantwoordelikheid, korporatiewe burgerskap, korporatiewe volhoubaarheid en drievoudige eindresultaat insluit. Ten spyte daarvan dat die belangrikheid en noodsaaklikheid van die bou en behoud van belangegroepverhoudings erken word in die literatuur, is daar ‘n tekort aan navorsing oor hoe om die verhoudings te bou. Die studie poog om dié tekortkoming aan te spreek deur middel van ‘n generiese, geϊntegreerde benadering vir volhoubare organisatoriese-belangegroepvershoudings (OBV) met strategiese belangegroepe voor te stel, waar strategiese belangegroep identifikasie, OBV ontwikkeling en OBV instandhouding, aspekte wat dikwels afsonderlik bestudeer word, geintegreer word in ‘n nuwe, verenigde model. Hierdie model sal ’n volhoubare OBV verbouiingsproses voorstel vir die ontwikkeling van organisatoriese-belangegroepvennootskappe. Drie boustene word vir die model voorgestel naamlik; ‘n strategiese kommunkasie fondasie wat die integrasie van spesifieke korporatiewe kommunikasie funksies vanuit ‘n twee-rigting simmetriese kommunikasie perspektief as basis vir die effektiewe bou van OBV insluit; ‘n teoretiese fondasie wat ‘n integrasie van Freeman (1984) se belangegroepkonsep van ‘n normatiewe, verhoudingsstandpunt, Ferguson (1984) se verhoudingsparadigma vir openbare skakelwerk en Ledingham (2003) se verhoudingsbestuursteorie insluit, omhul deur Grunig (1984) se uitnemendheidsteorie, waarvan die voorgestelde OBV model ‘n praktiese voorstelling sal wees; en ‘n konseptualisering van OBV-verbouing wat die fases van die OBV proses sal stipuleer om stap-vir-stap riglyne vir die bou van OBV voor te stel. ‘n Vennootskapsbenadering met strategiese belangegroepe word voorgestel deur die model, wat gebaseer is op die proposisie van ‘n OBV ontwikkelingskontinuum, wat impliseer dat ‘n OBV oor tyd in intensiteit kan groei van ‘n basiese OBV, wedersydse voordelige OBV, volhoubare OBV tot ‘n uiteindelike organisatoriese-belangegroepvennootskap. Die model is gebou uit ‘n korporatiewe kommunikasiestandpunt, wat gevolglik die bydrae van korporatiewe kommunikasie in die organisasie as ’n OBV-verbouingsfunksie om organisatoriese effektiwiteit te verseker, beklemtoon. Die studie bied ‘n verkennende literatuurstudie om ’n konseptuele raamwerk vir OBV-verbouing daar te stel, waarvan die beginsels van die raamwerk verder verken en gemeet is in gelysde Suid-Afrikaanse organisasies deur middel van ‘n kwantitatiewe web-gebaseerde opname en een-tot-een onderhoude om ’n OBV-verbouingsmodel te ontwikkel wat riglyne vir die proses van OBV-verbouing bied, gebaseer op beide teoretiese en praktiese insigte.
Communication Science
D. Litt. et Phil. (Communication)