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Britton, Garth Murray, and garth britton@netspeed com au. "On Reading Lines in Shifting Sands: making organisational culture relevant." The Australian National University. College of Business and Economics, 2007. http://thesis.anu.edu.au./public/adt-ANU20071105.161653.
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Despite the ubiquity of the term organisational culture in both popular and scholarly management literature, it remains an ambiguous concept, whose practical application is recognised as being far from universally successful. Models which seem to be preferred by practitioners are often criticised as being static or mechanistic, while more dynamic scholarly approaches tend to discount the possibility of deliberately influencing organisations at the cultural level. This dissertation, instead of focussing on culture as some sort of objective or unchanging attribute of an organisation, treats it as a phenomenon emerging from social interaction and individual sense-making. It draws on, and extends, George Kellys Personal Construct Psychology to build a framework for understanding the production of meaning by individuals in their social context, and how this contributes to the establishment of the collective boundaries between which cultural effects are observed. This framework is applied to the case of a business school attached to a large university, which is first absorbed into its Commerce Faculty, and then dissolved into a new Department, as the overall university structure is modified. Grounded Theory methodology is used to develop an approach to the description of the cultural interaction and changes that occur, and to generate theory that goes some way to explaining how and why they do. The theory gives insight into how latent cultural distinctions become, or are made, salient and the different means by which divisions may be resolved or superseded, sometimes resulting in conflict. Implications are explored for the management of organisations undergoing change, particularly where this involves merging or restructuring organisational units, and for the training and development of managers who are to be involved in such activities.
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At a theoretical level, building on a constructivist and processual ontological base, the dissertation makes contributions to the understanding of behaviour in organisations and draws on pragmatic epistemologies such as those advanced by George Herbert Mead. It brings concepts from psychology, sociology and management disciplines to bear on the problem of cultural interaction, and suggests that integrating them in this way may enhance their value in this context.
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By focussing on culture as a phenomenon produced at the interface of collective constructions, the dissertation proposes that it be viewed as fundamentally dynamic once eloquently described as multiple cross-cutting contexts but, nevertheless, explains how it may be recognised more through its apparent intractability than its fluidity. Whilst rejecting managerialist approaches which would suggest that culture and, through it, people, can be manipulated at will to reliably produce desired effects, the dissertation suggests ways in which insight into cultural interactions might be generated for those who are participating in them, and options developed to influence these interactions that might otherwise not have been available. It therefore has potentially valuable implications for management practice.
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Communal, Christine Chantal Emilie. "A cultural kaleidoscope : managing the European company." Thesis, University of Northampton, 1999. http://nectar.northampton.ac.uk/2705/.
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This thesis provides a comparative study of managerial practices in Europe. Patterns of behaviour and preferred modes of organisation are identified in four countries, based on an in-depth case study of a chosen/specific European company. While the corporate culture and industry remain constant, national context manifests itself as the essential variable between the different operations. The thesis proposes/argues that this factor — national context — is a powerful variable which frames the activity of management. Europe is a continent of diversity; each nation has unique traditions, particular historical and cultural roots as well as its own institutional framework. This diversity means that managers learn to operate in a manner that suits their particular context. The thesis documents such national divergence in terms of managerial practices and behaviour. The processes of integration of European Union member States and of globalisation also contribute towards the shaping of management. The case study company, as a leading provider of Information Technology services, is among the avant-garde pioneers of a technological, borderless world. Common pressures affecting managers across the board — and thus regardless of national context — are also identified: these include the pressure to achieve profit and efficiency. In addition, a degree of convergence between human resource management policies and practices also makes itself visible. The thesis demonstrates, above all, the influence of national culture and national environment vis-à-vis management; an argument which may be reaffirmed given the context of globalisation. In brief, a European company is a cultural kaleidoscope
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LAAKSO, JOHANNA, and MILLA SALMI. "Apparel and Footwear Environmental Assessment Tool : Understanding how Rapid Design Module is used and if it can contribute to sustainability-oriented organizational culture." Thesis, Högskolan i Borås, Institutionen Textilhögskolan, 2014. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hb:diva-18151.
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The aim of this thesis is to study the usage of an Apparel and Footwear Environmental Assessment Tool, the Rapid Design Module, in Swedish companies in the textile and fashion industry and the tool’s possible impact on the change process of organizational culture towards a more sustainable one. A qualitative study has been conducted via interviewing and observing employees using the focal tool on-site in three different companies. A theoretical framework within organizational culture was developed along with necessary cultural traits a company should nurture in order to change its culture towards a more sustainable one. The most important findings pointed out that companies should develop common guidelines in order to use the tool in question coherently and in unison. The tool was found to act as a change initiator in the employee level of the companies and additionally management support was found to be essential in order to empower employees in taking initiative in their work. Furthermore, the tool showed signs of increased collaboration within the companies’ external and internal environments, i.e. learning from one another, as well as it was observed to encourage interdependent thinking, which both are the necessary traits mentioned earlier.<br>Program: Master programme in Fashion Management
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Manalsuren, Saranzaya. "An ethnographic investigation into Mongolian management in the context of cultural and institutional changes." Thesis, University of Essex, 2017. http://repository.essex.ac.uk/19949/.
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This thesis investigates the understanding and practices of contemporary Mongolian management since the 1990s. In particular, it focusses on the shared experiences of local managing practitioners in Mongolia by exploring the conceptions of a manager, management, and managerial roles from the participants’ perspective and the contextual influencing factors on their understanding. Since the 1990s Mongolia has undergone a series of cultural and institutional changes in relation to its political, economic and societal development. The country has fluctuated between having the fastest growing economy and the world’s worst performing currency. Mongolia itself has become the land of opportunity for many by attracting foreign direct investment, however, the knowledge of local management practice is as yet little understood as there have been no academic or empirical studies conducted in English before. Therefore, this research aims to build an understanding of the concept of management in Mongolia by examining the narratives of thirty five local managers in relation to their experiences during and after the socialist period. Moreover, it investigates the contextual influencing factors from practitioners’ perspectives with an ethnographic approach. This qualitative study draws on interviews with three groups of local managers in Mongolia, who are described as socialist-era, transitional-era and non-native managing practitioners. There are some similarities and differences amongst these identified groups, but each was distinguishable by their formal training, work ethic and management approach. Furthermore, this research found that the intertwining contextual factors of a nomadic cultural heritage, socialist legacy, and the pressures of the current economic and societal changes and political interference influence management thinking in equal measure in contemporary Mongolia. The importance of this study lies in its theoretical and empirical contributions. By evaluating the relationship between classical management literature and indigenous management concepts with a focus on the varieties of contextual factors, this study attempts to provide an original insight into non-Western management practices. It aims to extend the current theories of crossvergence, indigenous management studies, and understand the nature of managerial work in a cross-cultural context. By carrying out the first academic study to examine Mongolian management perspectives in English, it contributes empirically to global management knowledge, and to the local business community.
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Vinardi, Carine. "Les défis du Lean à l’ère de la mondialisation et de l’industrie 4.0." Thesis, Compiègne, 2019. http://bibliotheque.utc.fr/EXPLOITATION/doc/IFD/2019COMP2500.
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Les entreprises multinationales ou transnationales, dont le nombre ne cesse d’augmenter, présentent la particularité d’avoir des salariés présents sur les différents continents, travaillant avec des rythmes et des cultures différentes. Dans le cadre des activités des entreprises, de plus en plus de salariés sont amenés à travailler en équipe multiculturelle et délocalisée. Ces mêmes entreprises sont à la recherche des meilleures performances opérationnelles et le déploiement de la démarche Lean est un levier reconnu d’obtention des meilleures performances de manière pérenne et ce depuis des dizaines d’années. En parallèle, depuis le développement d’internet et des nouvelles technologies, de nouveaux outils deviennent disponibles pour collecter et analyser les données ou encore pour produire. Au sein des entreprises et alors que les impacts sont souvent traités de manière séparés, c’est bien de manière systémique et en même temps qu’interagissent les dimensions culturelles, le déploiement du Lean et la mise en œuvre des outils liés à l’ère numérique. Dans un soucis ultime performance pérenne, c’est bien l’efficacité du système dans sa globalité dont il est question. Ce mémoire propose de faire un état des lieux séparé puis synchronisé et de proposer une aide à l’évaluation et à la mise en œuvre cohérente de l’ensemble des trois éléments<br>Multinational or transnational companies, whose number is constantly increasing, have the particularity of having employees working on different continents, having different rhythms and culture. More and more employees are required to work in multicultural and remote teams as part of their business activities. These same companies are looking for the best operational performance and the deployment of the Lean approach is a recognised lever for obtaining the best performance in a sustainable manner and has been for decades. In parallel, since the development of the Internet and digital technologies, new tools have become avaible to collect and analyse data or to manufacture. Within companies, while the impacts are often processed separately, it is indeed in a systemic way and at the same time that the cultural dimensions, the deployment of Lean and the implementation of tools linked to the digital era. With the ultimate aim of sustainable performance it is the efficiency of the system as a whole that is at stake. This thesis proposes to review of industrial situations, and to propose an support for the evaluation and consistent implementation of all three elements i.e culture, Lean and digitalization
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Paul, Gary William. "Strategies to create a post-merged organisational culture conducive to effective performance management." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1010857.
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Mergers have been described as the most complex business process that an organisation can be faced with, requiring executives and other stakeholders to discharge the promise of a more successful merged organisation. However, several studies have highlighted the factors that led to the demise of the merged organisations. One of the often quoted and frequently blamed aspects related to merger failure has been the lack of effective post-merged organisational culture integration and alignment. Where mergers have been successful, it was attributed to a structured approach to integrating and aligning all aspects related to organisational culture thus ensuring the creation of a high performing organisation, conducive to effective performance management. The main research problem in this study centred around the identification of strategies that could be used to design an integrated model for creating a post-merged organisational culture which is conducive to effectively managing performance. To achieve this objective, the following approaches were adopted: A literature study was conducted with the view to identifying the challenges facing merged organisations in general and post-merged South African Higher Education institutions in particular. The researcher also conducted interviews with senior HR practitioner at the institutions participating in this study to gain insights into their experiences of performance within their merged institutions. The institutions involved in this study were Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU), Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT and Durban University of Technology (DUT). The insights gleaned from these interviews were incorporated into the survey questionnaire. The literature study also concerned itself with the identification of strategies that merged organisations could use in its pursuit of organisational culture alignment and integration. These strategies included conducting critical pre-merger assessments or due-diligence studies, adopting structured approaches to dealing with resistance to change, employee engagement, the design, implementation and communication of monitoring and evaluation of merger success measures as well as several other moderating variables referred to in figure 1.2. In terms of sub-problem six of the study, the findings of sub-problems one, two and five were used to develop an eight-step integrated theoretical model to create an organisational culture conducive to effective performance management in a post-merged environment. The model served as a basis for the design of a survey questionnaire. The questionnaire was used to ascertain the extent to which respondents from the three participating institutions (NMMU, CPUT and DUT), perceived the various strategies as being important in establishing a post-merged organisational culture conducive to effective performance management. The results that emerged from the empirical study showed a strong concurrence with the strategies identified in the literature study and included in the integrated theoretical model. The quantitative and qualitative results from the empirical study where incorporated into the integrated theoretical model, which lead to a refined Eight-Step Integrated Post-merged Organisational Culture Creation Model as depicted in Figure 7.1 with associated details in Figure 7.2.
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Ng, Chi-hong Anthony, and 吳志康. "How does organizational culture interact with change in the implementation of the school management initiative?" Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1994. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31957353.
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Ilyukhina, Oxana, and Anna Stathopoulou. "Cultural effect on the change management." Thesis, Internationella Handelshögskolan, Högskolan i Jönköping, IHH, Informatik, 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-45088.
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AbstractChange is incorporated in our personal and professional lives and there is no argument about that. In today’s era of constant technological and economical evolution, businesses are forced to adapt to the new circumstances by leveraging efficiency, decreasing time of adaptability in order to gain competitive advantage and survive. For this reason, the change management field’s role is considered to be crucial for all organizations in all industries. The change management process obtains multiple components among others, communication, leadership and resistance to be the most significant but at the same time the most challenging and problematic. It is widely recognized that organizational culture does play a substantial role in the overall change management process, however culture is being defined by another attribute too; nationality. Thus, the purpose of this thesis is to investigate which cultural factors influence and challenge change management. Furthermore, this research intends to investigate how masculinity versus femininity as a dimension in Hofstede’s cultural framework is reflected in the change management process.In order to address there two research questions, a qualitative multiple case study took place by obtaining data from two international companies operating in Sweden and Greece. The results of this research indicated that national culture has an impact on the change management process throughout multiple dimensions of Hofstede’s cultural framework. Last but not least, masculinity versus femininity appeared throughout all the examined change management processes. Participation and inclusion are concepts substantial for the feminine cultures whereas competition and individual benefits for the masculine ones. All these concepts for each culture should be taken into account in order to reduce change resistance and enhance the leadership efficiency. Overall, companies should take into consideration the national characteristics of the country they operate when forming strategies and applying processes in order to work an efficient and beneficial way for their employees.
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Ng, Chi-hong Anthony. "How does organizational culture interact with change in the implementation of the school management initiative?" [Hong Kong : University of Hong Kong], 1994. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record.jsp?B13832979.
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Jonsson, Peter, and Peter Hedberg. "Raising environmental awarenessand behavior in and by projectmanagement : An organizational culture and change managementapproach." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Industriell teknik, 2014. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-219027.
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In an increasingly environmentally awareworld, companies are influenced bysustainability thinking and there ismuch talk about certifications,reporting requirements, andenvironmental work. Meanwhile, projectshave become a common way to conductbusinesses, however, without significantenvironmental consideration in theproject process. By using changemanagement in corporate culture andorganizational behavior, we examine howa process of implementation of newapproaches and methods may look like andhow the new work method affects itsusers.This thesis deals with the subject whereenvironmental and sustainabilitythinking is incorporated in projectmanagement. Our ambition is that theresults will lead to greaterunderstanding and awareness in companiesand eventually be developed and fullyutilized. The conclusions first presentthe changes needed to be done in theorganization and its culture and thensome concrete steps to take towards moreeco-friendly project management methodstogether with proposals for reporting.Because the subject is in thedevelopment phase, this is a preliminarystudy and an introduction to a moresustainable project management. Finallythe conclusions present suggestions forfurther studies to get deeperunderstanding in the field.<br>Miljömedvetenheten och arbetet med att spara på våra resurser tar allt mer fart runt om isamhället. Uttryck som återvinning, energismarta lösningar, förnyelsebar elproduktion ochhållbar avfallshantering får alltmer uppmärksamhet. Detta är högst välmotiverat då vårtnuvarande konsumtionssamhälle inte skulle finnas kvar länge till då vi förbrukar allt mernaturtillgångar, produkter och energi på daglig basis. Aldrig förr har väl uttrycket ingen kangöra allt men alla kan göra något känts så aktuellt som nu. Självklart gäller detta hushåll ochprivatpersoner men framför allt företag och större organisationer vilka ofta spenderar ochförbrukar väldiga resurser. Dessutom är det oftast de som både har pengar och makt attverkligen påverka utgången av konsumerandet.Något annat som blir allt vanligare bland företagens arbetsmetoder är att bedriva sinverksamhet i projektform. I vissa fall har själva företagsidén blivit att man nischat sig helt tillatt skapa och leda projekt åt andra företag, så kallade managementkonsulter.Detta visar alltså flera åtskiljda växande intressen på frammarsch, men bedrivs de utan någrasamband? Företagens befintliga miljöarbete består mestadels i att sätta upp mål vilkaförhoppningsvis kan leda till någon form av certifiering eller intyg på att en viss nivå haruppnåtts. Dessa miljömål har ofta bristfälliga uppföljningar samtidigt som det finns en uppsjöav olika rapporteringsmodeller och certifieringar vilket försvårar kontinuerlig uppdatering avaktuell status inom området.Denna uppsats är gjord på uppdrag av företaget CGI Sweden vilket i vår uppstartsfas hetteLogica. I och med namn- och ägarbytet är de numer ett av världens största IT-konsultbolagmed många stora kunder över hela världen. De har identifierat ett behov av att på projektbasiskunna genomföra kontinuerliga uppföljningar av miljörapportering vilket skulle underlätta förföretag att uppnå sina hållbarhetsvisioner. CGI Sweden miljörapporterar enligt GRI-standardvilket vi haft som utgångspunkt när arbetet startades. Uppsatsens huvudfokus behandlarpotentiella vägar att gå när företag skall genomföra kultur- och organisationsförändringarsamt börja med sitt miljöarbete på projektnivå. Tankar som genomsyrar studien är hurorganisations- och kulturförändringar sker inom företag, om och i så fall hur företag beaktarmiljöarbete inom projektledningen idag, hur stort intresset är att integrera hållbarhet i sinprojektledning, hur man med hjälp av GRI kan utveckla en potentiell framtida metod och vaddetta skulle innebära.En stor del av uppsatsens empiriska material är insamlat från ett flertal intervjuer med insattaprojektledare, chefer och miljöansvariga från företagsvärlden för att få en så tydlig bild sommöjligt av rådande situation och branschernas framtida syn på våra tankar.Utifrån en sammanställning och analys av intervjuerna, GRI-rapporteringar samt teorier omhur förändringsarbete går till har flertalet rekommendationer i form av förslag och tänktalösningar till problemet framkommit och presenteras i resultatet. Detta mynnar ut i slutsatservilka belyser några konkreta steg som är applicerbara. Vi har genom detta arbete även kommitfram till flera tänkvärda förslag till vidare studier.
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Vitale, Dean C. Armenakis Achilles A. "Organizational change recipients and choosing an opinion leader a mixed methods investigation /." Auburn, Ala, 2008. http://repo.lib.auburn.edu/EtdRoot/2008/SUMMER/Management/Dissertation/Vitale_Dean_35.pdf.
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Lindmark, Felicia, and Petra Nilsson. "Breaking the glass ceiling : How to change an organizational culture to increase the share of women at executive level." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Företagsekonomiska institutionen, 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-255863.
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This thesis investigates how an organizational change can lead to an increased share of women at top management positions. Based on interviews at Sandvik, an organization that has received extensive attention for its efforts to increase the share of female executives, the study aims to understand how an organizational culture is changed in a way that will lead to more women at top management positions. The study also aims to give an answer to how the change process is implemented and what kinds of changes in content that are needed. The empirical findings are analyzed using a theoretical framework based on change management literature and female leadership literature. The results of the study indicate that actions to increase gender diversity should be integrated in the overarching company strategy. There are further indications that it can be enough to have a personal conviction from a prominent leader within the organization to start the change process. Commitment and support from top management is thereafter vital. A final indication is that the changes in content should be aimed at changing the mindset of the employees throughout the organization.
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Bowa, Mabvuto. "Exploring differences between organisational cultures in a company undergoing change." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006287.
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Change is a common phenomena in business organisations today. The turbulent environment is exerting a significant influence on organisations to make continuous changes in their internal environment in an attempt to improve performance and achieve competitiveness in the marketplace. The human factors which confront organisations undergoing change have not been thoroughly investigated in Sub-Saharan Africa. The present study aimed at investigating human issues affecting the performance ofan organisation located in an Afiican country. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews and focus groups. Twenty interviews were conducted with employees randomly selected from all the levels of the company, namely attendant, operator, supervisory, middle and top management. Five focus groups were carried out with employees from different employee categories. Both sets of data were analysed using grounded theory. The findings showed that there were several problems in the company including insecurity, lack of opportunities for employee development, autocratic management style, lack of participation in decision making, substandard performance, ineffective human resources systems and lack of adaptation to technology. It was suggested that the problems resulted from the clash between organisational cultures in the company. At one level, there was a clash between the local workers' socialist organisational culture and the expatriates' capitalistic organisational culture. At a more deeper level, the clash appeared to be between the local employees' collectivistic sociocultural values and the expatriates' individualistic value system. These findings have significant implications for managing change in organisations with diverse cultures.
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Leung, Wing-chiu. "A case study of a school in the PRC : is the organizational culture prepared for the new goals of national development? /." Hong Kong : University of Hong Kong, 1997. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record.jsp?B18810974.
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Kuceja, Andreas. "Quality management system auditing : a critical exploration of practice." Thesis, University of Gloucestershire, 2017. http://eprints.glos.ac.uk/4949/.
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The introduction of standardized quality systems and their development into quality management systems offers the opportunity to evaluate the organizational quality of business entities, regardless of their industry. For professional purchasers it has become common practice to demand evidence of the successful application of a quality management system-a necessary step in the process of pre-qualifying potential suppliers. It has become common practice to have the introduction and operation of a quality management system as a minimum requirement for contract as part of a value chain of potential clients or contracting authorities as a future or continuous supplier or service provider. Moreover, this has to be approved. To do so, purchasers can perform supplier audits or ask for evidence provided by certificates. Typically, certificates stating conformity to the requirements of a quality management system are issued by professional audit service companies, so called certification bodies. This study helps to remedy the dearth of studies concerning the effectiveness of audits conducted by certification bodies. This qualitative study uses a limited number of case studies to analyse and assess the approaches and techniques used by auditors for certification or re-certification audits. Additionally, this study attempts to understand whether auditors involved have taken into account the paradigm change of the early 2000s. To this end, auditors involved in the case studies were interviewed. The interviews were dedicated to understanding the cognitive processes of data analysis and the resulting judgements which led to the issuance of certificates stating conformance to the relevant standards. The study was completed on quality management system audits founded on the ISO 9001:2008. This standard establishes the foundation for various further industry-dedicated standards, for example the IRIS or the ISO/TS 16949. Cases studies were performed out in small sized companies and recorded through audio tape recordings, as well by notes concerning auditors’ observed actions. These were transcribed and coded. Analysis of the data indicates that auditors have a detailed idea of what is to be found, regardless the type of business an auditee conducts and the aims of a company. The structure, policy, and individual processes of the audited company did not seem to be of interest. Additionally, audits were performed on the results of audited processes more so than on the progress of the process action and their input/output relation. The interviews shed light on auditors’ understandings of the underlying concepts of the ISO 9001:2008. The results show that the auditors examined still have problems with applying these concepts for their audit practices. Furthermore, the study shows the relationship between power and independence of auditors and their impact on effectiveness. Consequently, the study shows that a certificate issued by a professional audit service does not guarantee conformance to the ISO 9001:2008.
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Turton, Katie. "The impact of participative communication on organisational cultural change: Two local government cases of change." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2015. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/1686.
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Managing change is of critical importance in organisations. Communication during the change process has been the subject of considerable and highly contested academic and managerial debate. In this study, The Impact of Participative Communication on Organisational Cultural Change: Two Local Government Cases of Change, communication during the change process was closely examined to see how, if at all, participative processes impact upon the adoption of change. As a result of this research a ‘Ladder of Employee Participation in Change Management’ was developed, to better understand the nature of participative communication and provide clarity for change practitioners who develop change communication plans.
This study asked the question: ‘How does participative communication impact on change management receptiveness?’ It looked at the type and style of communication deployed during change, how it was disseminated, how it impacted on employees, and the overall effectiveness of the change management strategy. The study drew on Public Relations constructs of dialogical, two-way symmetrical communication, as well as participative decision-making processes, and analysed data obtained from two change management case studies in the local government sector. A mixed-methods approach was used for collecting data by means of interviews and a culture-assessment tool.
This research adds to existing knowledge by providing a clearer understanding of the nature of participative communication during the change management process. The ‘Ladder of Employee Participation in Change Management’ will be of particular interest to change practitioners, who will find it a valuable tool for developing communication plans that align with change processes and enable dissemination of unified messages across the entire organisation.
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Wells, Marilyn A. "Perceptions of knowledge gatekeepers social aspects of information exchange in an organisation undergoing change /." View thesis, 2009. http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/45372.
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Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Western Sydney, 2009.<br>A thesis presented to the University of Western Sydney, College of Business, School of Management, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Includes bibliographies.
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Grube, Markus. "The impact of SAP on the utilisation of Business Process Management (BPM) maturity models in ERP projects." Thesis, University of Gloucestershire, 2018. http://eprints.glos.ac.uk/5574/.
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The SAP Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system is a leading software solution for corporate business functions and processes. Business Process Management (BPM) is a management approach designed to create and manage organisations’ business processes. Both promise an improvement of business processes in companies and can be used together. In conjunction with the SAP ERP system and BPM approach, BPM maturity models can be used as diagnostic tools that allow an organisation to assess and monitor the maturity of its business processes. This research analyses the complex relationships between the three topics of SAP, BPM and BPM maturity models and the impact of SAP on the use of BPM maturity models. This study is based on eleven personal interviews that were conducted with participants with many years of practical experience within the three subject areas. Four maturity models, which feature in the interview statements, are examined in more detail. The results of the interviews are then compared with the documentation of the four BPM maturity models for possible dependencies. The connections between SAP and BPM maturity models have not yet been discussed in the literature. This research illustrates that SAP ERP is a dominant system in many companies and has an impact on the utilisation of the BPM approach. To identify and improve the dependencies within an organisation, this research develops ten principles which any organisation can use as management guidelines to use the SAP system in a more optimised way. Collecting data from multiple sources strengthens the validity of the data. For this reason, a web survey is used to examine whether the ten developed principles are supported by SAP users and process consultants. More than 150 participants took part in this web survey and evaluated the developed principles. This research uses the method of triangulation from various data sources to examine the relationship between BPM and BPM maturity models from the point of view of a SAP ERP system, and to develop principles that enhance collaboration.
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Kappo-Abidemi, Omolayo Christiana. "People management factors militating against public servants’ professionalism in Nigeria." Thesis, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11838/2079.
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Thesis (DTech (Human Resource Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016.<br>The Nigerian public service has been perceived over the years as not delivering its services effectively and in most cases leadership has been assumed to be the problem. However, from the perspective of human resource management (HRM) this study seeks to examine the people management practices that could have contributed to this ineffectiveness. It has been observed that the importance of people as the most important element of productivity cannot be underestimated, because machines can be replaced, money can be recovered but diligent, competent and professional employees are an organisational asset that cannot easily be replaced. The professional employee is described as the one with the right skills, knowledge, qualifications and attitudes that support organisational effectiveness.
The study was carried out at the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria where all public servants from Grades 07 or above in Nigeria are expected to attend at least one course before the end of their careers. Questionnaires were administered to about one thousand, one hundred (1,100) randomly selected participants while four hundred and seventy six (476) useable ones were retrieved. Likewise, a focus group discussion was held with three different groups. Quantitative data collected was cleaned and coded appropriately for the Statistical Program for Social Science (SPSS) and used to generate descriptive statistics. Recordings of focus group discussions were also transcribed and organised into themes according to the discussion content.
All research objectives were achieved relying on both qualitative and quantitative data output. Various statistical analyses were used for the quantitative analysis and factor correlation showed that organisational culture, organisational climate, human resource retention and development, employment relations climate and exit management have significant relationship with professionalism at various levels. Other statistical measures (t-Test and Analysis of Variance) were adopted to determine the relationship of demographic variable and it was shown that age, work grade level and work experience have significant relationship with professionalism. Employee resourcing (recruitment and selection) was also found to have a significant effect on professionalism, having been statistically analysed using ANOVA. Likewise, all qualitative themes acknowledged the significance of the people management role in public servants’ professionalism.
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Butcher, Allen Richard. "A critical evaluation of a leadership and culture change strategy : with specific reference to Thabazimbi Iron Ore mine." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/49814.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2004.<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Early in 2001, Thabazimbi Iron Ore mine embarked upon a Leadership and Culture
Change strategy. This program was one of the five strategic goals decided upon as
part of the strategic drive to improve the performance of the business.
A formal, structured implementation plan was crafted in house to approach the
initiative. The plan was based on the literature of a number of prominent authors in
the fields of leadership, competence theory and change management. The plan is
built around a model known as the "Thabazimbi Thumbprint" which is primarily
based on the work of Bernard Bass and Bruce Avolio in the field of
Transfomational Leadership, and Dr Jay Hall's research and literature on the
Competence Process.
The primary aims of the implementation of this strategy at the mine were to:
• Address the damage done to morale and commitment levels by repeated
downsizing and the threat of mine closure.
• Establish a high performance team culture.
• Remove blockages to performance and the development of human
potential.
The strategy and implementation plan of the mine is compared against current
literature within the fields of leadership and change management and significant
similarities are observed.
Even though the implementation of this initiative has only been running for some 2
years and is far from complete, a number of significant improvements have been
made in terms of collaboration, commitment, trust in management and the
reduction of conflict. In addition the performance of the mine in the field of safety
and health has vastly improved, the production process is currently stable and
targets are met, operating costs have reduced by 4% year on year and the current
life of mine has been extended to 10 years.
The writer has been the Engineering Manager at the mine from December 2001
and has been responsible for the implementation of this strategy within the
Engineering department of the mine. The strategy and implementation plan serves
as an example of a fully integrated and comprehensive approach to implementing
such an initiative, while remaining simple and practical.
The author identifies a number of deficiencies within the strategy used by the mine
and makes some recommendations to improve the process that should be
considered with respect to the future implementations of this type of initiative.<br>AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Thabazmbi Ysterertsmyn met 'n Leierskap en Kultuur veranderingstrategie aan die
begin van 2001 begin. Die program was deel van vyf strategiese
besigheidsdoelwitte wat daarop gemik was om die kern te vorm van die strewe na
'n verbeterde prestasie van die besigheid.
'n Formele, gestruktureerde implementeringsplan is deur die myn ontwikkel vir die
daarstelling van die inisiatief. Die plan was op die literatuur van prominente
skrywers in die leierskap, bevoegtheidsteorie en veranderingsbestuur rigtings
gebaseer. Die plan is gebou op 'n model bekend as die "Thabazimbi Thumbprint"
en is gebaseer op die werk van Bernard Bass en Bruce Avolio in die veld van
Transformasie Leierskap, en op Dr Jay Hall se navorsing en literatuur oor die
"Competence Process".
Die primere mikpunte van die implementeering van die strategie op die myn was
die volgende:
• Om die skade wat herhaalde afskalings en dreigemente van toemaak aan
die moraal en toegewydheid van die werksmag gedoen het, aan te
spreek.
• Om 'n hoe presterende spankultuur te vestig.
• Om die blokasies wat onderprestasie veroorsaak en die onderontwikkeling
van menslike potensiaal uit die weg te ruim.
Die strategie en implementeringsplan is met huidige literatuur in die leierskap- en
kultuurveranderingsrigtings vergelyk. Daar is 'n groot mate van ooreenstemming
waargeneem.
Hoewel hierdie inisiatief maar slegs twee jaar aan die gang is en nog ver van
klaar is, is daar al reeds 'n merkwaardige verbetering te bespeur in terme van
samewerking, toewyding, die vertroue in bestuur en die vermindering van konflik.
Bo en behalwe eersgenoemde pluspunte is daar ook 'n groot verbetering wat
betref die gesondheid- en veiligheidsfaktore op die myn. Die produksieproses is
stabiel en doelwitte word behaal. Die operasionele kostes is met 4% per jaar
besnoei en die huidige lewe van die myn is verleng tot 10 jaar.
Die skrywer is die Ingenieursbestuurder van die myn vanal Desember 2001 en
was verantwoordelik vir die implementering van die strategie binne die ingenieursafdeling
van die myn. Die strategie en implementeringsplan dien as 'n voorbeeld
van 'n volledig geintegreerde benadering tot implimentering van so 'n inisiatief,
terwyl dit prakties en eenvoudig bly.
Die skrywer identifiseer 'n aantal leemtes binne die strategie soos deur die myn
gebruik en maak aanbevelings vir die verhetering van die proses wat in die
toekoms in ag geneem behoort te word in die implimentering van hierdie tipe
inisiatiewe.
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Mannonen, Lotta, Aleksi Ojala, and Martinus Vorstenbosch. "Aligning CSR Values to change Corporate Social Behavior : Utilizing Management Control Systems to create Shared Values." Thesis, Mälardalens högskola, Akademin för ekonomi, samhälle och teknik, 2018. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mdh:diva-39352.
Full textAbstract:
The aim of this study is to investigate how explicit CSR values are implemented in the organizational culture of companies through MCS. The focus is on which elements of MCS affect the tacit CSR values of employees, so that employee and corporate values can be aligned. Additionally, the role that shared values play on corporate social behavior is explored. To answer the research question both primary and secondary data were collected and analyzed by conducting multiple case studies. The primary data was collected through qualitative, semi-structured interviews. Secondary data was collected from the case companies’ official reports, codes of conduct and statements. A model was created to create a visualization of the concepts used in the theoretical framework. This study found that companies from nine different industries utilize MCS to align CSR values in their organization, and realize green marketing behavior. Shared values are created through four MCS; a belief system, a diagnostic control system, a boundary system and an interactive control system. These are the building blocks upon which positive corporate social behavior is grounded on. This study’s results provide managers tools to affect their company’s corporate social behavior. Additionally, on a broader level, this study indicates that green marketing and greenwashing behavior can be viewed as choices that companies can deliberately make. Managers can affect the corporate social behavior of their company and are therefore responsible for the path they choose regarding CSR.
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Chan, Tsui-kum. "The impact of change of principal on organizational culture : a case study of teachers' perception in a Hong Kong secondary school /." Hong Kong : University of Hong Kong, 1997. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record.jsp?B1881105X.
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van, der Spek Titus. "Exploring the crux of social entrepreneurship : the pursuit of blended value creation." Thesis, University of Essex, 2018. http://repository.essex.ac.uk/23696/.
Full textAbstract:
How can social enterprises harmonise social and commercial value logics? This thesis examines the challenge that social enterprises face to create social and commercial value in an integrated, complementary and harmonious manner. Preliminary research has highlighted that efforts to harmonise these two seemingly opposing value sets, referred to in this thesis as Blended Value Creation (BVC), are on the rise. However, while preliminary research highlights an increased interest in BVC, it also highlights that respective research efforts remain conceptual, scattered and lack consensus. In an attempt to contribute to the study of BVC, this thesis starts by examining and clustering existing works within the social entrepreneurship research domain that discuss BVC within the last fifteen years (see chapter 2). This examination has led to a more synthesised overview of BVC, thus contributing to social enterprise management theory. Having examined BVC from existing theory (in chapter 2), this thesis goes on to contribute to a more applied understanding of BVC by examining four cases of social enterprises in Bangladesh using a grounded theory approach (see chapter 3, 4 and 5). In-depth interviews were conducted with 4 social entrepreneurs for 4 months. Respective field data has helped to further explore the social entrepreneurship process through the lens of organisational identity theory and legitimacy theory. Research has contributed in a number of ways to the social entrepreneurship research domain. Firstly, it proposes a seven-themed framework to aid social enterprises in efforts to embed BVC in their management practices. Secondly, through the application of organisational identity theory, new findings have been unearthed regarding stakeholder management practices for social enterprises. Furthermore, by applying legitimacy theory, this thesis provides novel insights into the relationships that social enterprises form with non-governmental organisations to enhance BVC. Most significantly however, research for this thesis has furthered existing research efforts to understanding a pivotal management challenge for the social entrepreneurship process; harmonising social and commercial value.
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Burger, Petrus Frederik. "A high performance work system : making human capital the differentiating factor." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/50252.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2005.<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Workplaces around the world have recently experienced a wide variety of formal
and informal changes in the organisation of work. The pace of change appears to
have accelerated since the early 1990's with increased organisational
restructuring efforts. New forms of work organisation, popularly labeled "high
performance work systems' are reported in the academic and business literature.
These workplace systems are characterised by more flexible job designs and
work arrangements, team/group work, performance related compensation,
greater information sharing and employee involvement in decision-making and
cooperative labour-management relations to foster a participative enterprise
culture.
The general objective of the study is to define the work, organisational culture
and human resources management processes and practices that will enable an
organisation to make it's human capital the differentiating factor compared to it's
competitors or similar organisations in the same industry.
The research design consists of a literature study and the formulation of a
strategy and implementation plan to transform the leadership behaviour and
organisational culture of the organisation, based on experience with the
implementation of leadership and culture interventions described in the literature.
A clinical-descriptive approach was followed with data being collected to enable
the researcher to propose a process to implement a high performance culture in
the organisation.
Recommendations for further research are made.<br>AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die werksomgewing het verskeie veranderinge ondergaan in die afgelope jare.
Dit wil voorkom asof die tempo van verandering versnel sedert die begin van die
1990's met 'n toenemende aantal organisasie-herstrukturering wat plaasvind.
Nuwe vorme van werksplekherstrukturering, onder 'n populere beskrywing van
"hoogs presterende werksplekstelsels", word rapporteer in die bestuurs- en
akademiese literatuur. Hierdie werksplekstelsels word gekenmerk deur meer
buigsame posbeskrywings en samestelling van posinhoud, groter klem op die
deel van inligting oor alle vlakke in die organisasie, groter werknemer
betrokkenheid in die neem van besigheidsbesluite, asook samewerkende
verhoudings tussen georganiseerde arbeid en die bestuur van die organissasie
wat lei tot 'n meer deelnemende organisasie kultuur.
Die doelstelling met hierdie studie is om die werkspraktyke, organisasie kultuur
en mensbestuurpraktyke te definieer wat 'n organisasie in staat kan stel om sy
menskapitaal te kan omskep in 'n onderskeidende element, in term van
organisasie prestasie, in vergelyking met kompeterende maatskappye in
dieselfde industrie.
'n Kwalitatiewe navorsingsontwerp is gebruik om verskeie klimaatstudies wat
reeds binne die organisasie gedoen is, te ontleed en aan die hand van die
literatuurstudie, is 'n voorstel gemaak van 'n implimenteringsprogram om die
leierskap-gedrag en organisasie kultuur in die organisasie te verander.
Aanbevelings vir toekomstige navorsing word aan die hand gedoen.
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Joubert, Melanie. "An empirical analysis of the culture in DHL Global Forwarding and concrete suggestions on how to develop the culutre into strategic example." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/96209.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2014.<br>Since 2006, DGF struggled with a diverse and disjointed corporate culture. In this industry, the diversity did not bring about a competitive advantage – on the contrary, it was a negative influence on the organisation’s sustainable performance. It was clear that there were many different cultures, different sub-cultures and different ways of working within DGF, which affected the overall company’s effectiveness, efficiencies and performance.
The core research question for the purpose of this research assignment was, “What is the existing culture within DGF, how did this culture evolve and what can be done to change the culture into a strategic example?”
The empirical analysis made use of quantitative research, where the majority of the research outcomes were based on the findings from two types of questionnaires. The first questionnaire, “Beehive 2.0”, was used as an analytical tool to analyse DGF’s culture and the second questionnaire was the DGF Employee Opinion Survey (EOS). This survey allowed a safe environment in which the employees voiced their opinions in terms of the organisation.
Initial informal one-on-one interviews, open forum Senior Leadership Team discussions and group discussions were held to determine the team’s general approach, how individuals felt towards the organisational culture at the time of the research and whether there was a real opportunity for an improved culture. The Senior Leadership Team identified organisational needs in terms of trust building, changing the culture and improving staff moral.
It was clear through the discussions that people were cautious to speak up about organisational culture issues in a group environment. A lot of hurt came to light and without the ability to ensure confidentiality and privacy, a true reflection of how people perceived the culture would not have surfaced. As a result, the quantitative data gathered formed only a small part of the total data gathered for this research.
It became apparent through the initial informal discussions as previously referred to, that there was a lack of trust and collaboration, and a culture of fear amongst the employees. The series of acquisitions DGF has been involved with over the years, without solid change management to ensure a unified culture, resulted in many different cultures and sub-cultures within the company. Change management coupled with a unified culture was promised to the employees prior to the acquisitions, but it never materialized. This left the employees uncertain and weary to trust their leaders.
Communication throughout the organisation was poor and there was a top down approach to strategy creation. Through this, employees did not feel empowered to make their own decisions and this negatively influenced their trust in the organisation. There was little focus on talent creation, managers did not take the time to impart knowledge or develop employees and in general, employees felt neglected, under-valued and unappreciated. Employee engagement was very low.
Most of the results obtained from the EOS and Beehive survey research confirmed the initial needs identified by the Senior Management Team and confirmed the reason for the low morale and negativity in DGF. Employees have lost confidence in a better tomorrow within DGF, and felt that it will not help to speak up anymore. No solid action plans came from making their voices heard in the past, they were concerned about their job security and previous EOS survey results has shown that less than a third of employees felt that positive change could still happen.
There was, therefore, a dire need to identify a cultural framework for DGF. Once the new economy leadership culture was selected as the most optimal framework, the existing DGF culture needs to transition into the selected framework. The change of culture was therefore needed to restore the trust of the employees and achieve sustainable competitiveness in DGF, since employee satisfaction and performance are directly linked to organisational culture.
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Danks, Shelby. "Measuring Culture of Innovation: A Validation Study of the Innovation Quotient Instrument." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2015. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc848105/.
Full textAbstract:
The ability for an organization to innovate has become one of the most important capabilities needed in the new knowledge economy. The research has demonstrated that an organization’s culture of innovation in particular predicts organizational innovativeness across multiple industries. To provide support to these organizations in their abilities to understand the culture of innovation, researchers have developed instruments to measure culture of innovation, and while many of these instruments have been widely used to inform organizational opportunities for improvement, few of these instruments have been validated or replicated beyond their initial use. The current study employs multiple factor analytic methods to validate the factor structure of the Innovation Quotient instrument developed by Rao and Weintraub and assess the extent to which the instrument is reliable for multiple organizational groups. The results of this study, as well as implications for researchers interested in culture of innovation, are presented.
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Ludidi, Vathiswa Lungelwa. "The impact of culture on the successful implementation of quality management systems." Thesis, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11838/1214.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (MTech (Quality)--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2009<br>Irrespective of the nature of organisations, they all face a certain amount of uncertainty and risk. In order to maintain resilience, competitiveness and performance, organisations must have a system in place to manage the risks associated to their organisations. The challenge is to determine how much risk and uncertainty is acceptable, and how to cost effectively manage the risk and uncertainty while meeting the organisation‟s strategic and operational objectives. For many large organisations, quality or so called „customer perceived quality‟, has become an issue of survival. Furthermore, increased competitiveness is necessary in order to become the obvious choice for the customer.
Corporations must have long term goals and Quality Management Systems serve as organised mechanisms to manage quality, effectiveness and competitiveness involving every one at all levels of the organisation. An understanding of culture in organisations can thus offer insight into individual and group behaviour, and leadership. Furthermore, it can help to explain not just „what‟ happens in an organisation, but „why‟ it happens. Companies view culture as something to be influenced to achieve organisational goals of productivity and profitability. Attempts to change the culture of an organization, may meet with varied levels of success.
The emphasis on quality building products, have been the focus of the construction industry in South Africa. As a supplier of extruded aluminium profiles to the building industry, Hulamin Extrusions is also faced with typical challenges representative of the industry and as a result, the following aspects would be subjected to research scrutiny:
Introduction of a Quality Management System.
The challenges of organisational culture.
The need for change management.
Facilitating the implementation of the system.
Continuous Improvement.
The researcher anticipates finding ways to improve organisational culture, which in turn would facilitate quality improvement within the organisation.
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Alabani, Hanan M. "An exploration of leadership from the perspectives and experiences of Libyan female leaders in senior positions." Thesis, University of Gloucestershire, 2010. http://eprints.glos.ac.uk/2793/.
Full textAbstract:
Research about Libyan female leadership is scarce. This thesis is the first qualitative study to explore, describe and explain the experiences and perspectives of Libyan female leaders in senior positions, within the Ministries of Education and Health. It introduces a deep study, rich in information which reflects the female leadership phenomenon that has been never done before in the Libyan context. A qualitative methodology, semi-structured interviews and a narrative approach were selected. This provided the researcher with a deep insight into the individual's stories. This research also used Multifactor questionnaire as a supporting instrument. One of the contributions of this thesis is its investigation of the role of `Glass Ceiling', `Glass Cliff concepts among Libyan female leaders. Both concepts in practice work slightly different, because of the Arabic concept of Wasta. Wasta relates to social relationships can have a negative impact making the glass ceiling harder to break and glass cliff more risky. However it can also have a positive impact making the glass ceiling more easily breakable and glass cliff less risky. A further contribution is the application of a feminist and constructiyist research philosophy which currently appears to be unique in Libyan studies. In addition, this thesis illustrated the support of Islam and Libyan leader Muammer AlGaddfi for women. This makes Libya different from other Arabic and Muslim countries. This thesis challenged the perception in Western literature that Arabic women are invisible in many Arabic countries; by providing evidence of senior women leaders and their experiences or voices being recorded. The Libyan female leaders stated that they tend to apply different leadership styles which could be interpreted as being in the transactional transformational distribution and authentic leadership traditions. Concepts of power, leader -manager differences, situations such as family circumstances and national cultures were explored to help the researcher to interpret and understand the stories of Libyan female leaders.
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Sohler, Stefan A. "Owner-manager learning in small firms : a study of technology-rich firms in the Rhine Valley region." Thesis, University of Gloucestershire, 2014. http://eprints.glos.ac.uk/2917/.
Full textAbstract:
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with fewer than 250 employees are the category of firm which accounts for the majority of businesses worldwide. In spite of their strategically important role as 'engines of economic growth', scant research has been devoted thus far to the underlying owner-manager learning processes in SMEs. In the literature on learning, little distinction is made between micro, small and medium-sized businesses in terms of company size or ownership structure. The literature also provides few reference points for the question of how ownermanagers learn in start-ups and small family firms as their businesses develop. The investigation of both types of owner-managers in small firms enriches the research context. The research main aim is to explore the learning of founding owner-managers ('founders') and initial successor owner-managers ('successors') in small family firms in greater depth, focusing on both content and process which lead to the growth of start-ups and small family firms, taking into account the development of Human Capital (HC). The social and contextual integration of owner-managers into the business environment is also considered. The research interest and emphasis are directed at analysing the learning of owner-managers on the basis of their understanding and interpretation of critical events during the development of the firm within its business and social environment. In order to capture these learning processes of the individual owner-managers, a phenomenological research paradigm is adopted. To fulfil the research aim, extensive literature research was carried out on the themes of entrepreneurial learning, learning at the workplace, Intellectual Capital (IC) and HC as well as the development of small and family firms. In order to explore these themes in the context of entrepreneurial development in the Rhine Valley, the research topic was extended to include regional business and training development in this geographical area (with its bordering countries Austria, Liechtenstein and Switzerland). The research sample with a multiple-case study design encompasses six owner-managers, founders and initial successors of technology-based small firms with fewer than 50 employees in the Rhine Valley region. The empirical data collection was based on a pilot interview phase with the owner-managers, followed by two interview phases in autumn 2008 and spring 2010 as part of a longitudinal study. The iterative data analysis integrates several systematic approaches to code, analyse and compare these six case study firms to identify the learning approaches of the owner-managers. The key findings obtained are described with the aid of the developed 'Hexagon Framework'. This model visualises the dynamics of continuous learning for ownermanagers, founders and successors in small firms. The knowledge contribution of the thesis lies in the identification and analysis of the different learning trajectories of the owner-managers, who either founded a start-up or took over a firm as initial successor. The findings make a significant contribution towards an enhanced understanding of the dynamics of continuous learning processes for ownermanagers in small firms during development phases. In addition, the developed framework of the owner-manager learning continuum contributes to entrepreneurial learning theory.
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Dhir, Saloni. "The changing nature of work, leadership, and organizational culture in future ready organizations." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2019. https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/2064.
Full textAbstract:
Abstract
The relationship between individual and organizational performance is a key challenge for leaders in modern organizations, especially with the current disruption in technology and innovation. This thesis is a literature review and compilation of the relevant empirical evidence on various processes of industrial groups and organizational characteristics such as the changing nature of work, leadership, and company culture in detail. I investigate the complex challenges that millennials and organizations are facing in the current VUCA work environment as well as their potential responses to these changes. I map out the evolution of the concept of work and compare changes in the workplace environment of the past, present, and future. Additionally, this thesis reviews the literature on organizational culture models, cultural fit and clash. I explore the intertwined differences and commonalities between management and leadership and also consider a gradual shift to a model of managerial-leadership in 21st century organizations. Furthermore, the research closely examines cultural change management through the lens of mergers and acquisitions. It also discusses next steps, like job redesign, team reorganization, and cultural reconciliation, to increase job satisfaction, employee motivation, and performance in future-ready organizations.
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Radwan, Ali R. A. "An investigation into the approaches to the evaluation of training in Libyan Iron and Steel Company (LISCO)." Thesis, University of Gloucestershire, 2014. http://eprints.glos.ac.uk/2970/.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis investigated the approaches concepts and techniques concerning Training Evaluation within organisations as a means of contributing to the assertion that training and development can provide added value for an organisation in a non-western context. In light of this the HRD policies and strategies available and the barriers which can exist to these strategies in those countries in the Arab world, like Libya, where considered. Additionally the paradigm that in transitional countries emphasise should be placed on encouraging training and improving performance is investigated. An interpretive research philosophy was applied and led to a qualitative design being chosen for this research as it required the creation of researchable questions which were salient to target respondents. The case chosen to be studied is the Libyan Iron and Steel Company (LISCO). An exploratory study was carried out involving a review of documentary evidence acquired from LISCO which included a survey of employees’ views on training within the company. The questioning of respondents to this study involved the use interviews managers of departments and professional training staff in the company were asked for their views to compare with those of the employees. In this study certain factors were grouped into themes, Arab Culture and the difficulties facing many transitional economies given the nature of the national and organisational culture in countries like Libya show that Western developed models of training and training evaluation cannot be universally applied. Organisations in Libya are typically state controlled and operate on strict hierarchical basis. This study proposes that in the current level of economic development Libyan organisations would benefit from a training evaluation model that focuses on a performance improvement perspective. The Training evaluation for transitional countries model proposed contributes to knowledge because it comes from the Libyan context. Any model of training evaluation considered for Libya or any transitional economy must combine the positive attribute of Western theoretical models with new elements specific to countries environment. This thesis is unique as it contributes to our understanding of models of HRD, and Evaluation practice by exploring their implementation and barriers to their use in an Arabic country that is in transition from a centralised economy to a more privatised one. Furthermore it investigates the transferability of western training evaluation practices to the Libyan environment A conclusion reached from this study is that any national policy that is introduced by the new Libyan government needs to include some radical reforms at national, sectoral and local levels. The Training evaluation for transitional countries model, although only a theory will serve as a guide to others embarking on similar research.
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Chan, Tsui-kum, and 陳翠琴. "The impact of change of principal on organizational culture: a case study of teachers' perception in aHong Kong secondary school." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1997. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31959283.
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Fatsha, Litha M. "Leveraging leadership factors to drive culture change in the Department of Health, Eastern Cape : a case for improved service delivery." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/21379.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2012.<br>Leadership has always been, and always will be, central to human affairs, whether from a
political, societal, religious, business or any other view. Both the need for leadership in
managerial jobs and the difficulty of providing effective leadership in these jobs has grown
considerably more, to include even lower level managerial, technical and professional
employees. An important objective of this research report was to investigate the Eastern
Cape Department of Health’s (ECDoH’s) current business practices and culture, as
perceived by its leadership and management. The aim was to understand and document
reasons for perpetual underperformance and to suggest ways of transforming the
organisation’s culture and practices into a high performing organisation on a sustainable
basis.
To achieve the above objectives, this research report uses the Beehive Model of
Organisational Renewal, developed by Christo Nel of the Village Leadership Consulting,
which looks at seven elements of workplace practices that are benchmarked against
international best practices. These seven elements are strategy execution, change
leadership, structure, business discipline, talent creation, rewards and recognition and
stakeholder value. The Beehive Model of Operational Renewal assumes that it is possible
for any organisation to achieve greatness, to be a high performing organisation based on the
conditions that success is by choice and not by accident; it is a long and winding journey and
requires full executive acceptance, commitment and resolve to achieving a high performance
organisation (HPO) status.
The reviewed literature shows that cultures within successful organisations have
characteristics of adaptability, alignment with external factors and the organisation’s vision
and mission, and are biased towards action. It also suggests that when people are listened
to, respected, supported and appreciated, in exchange they tend to go the extra mile in
executing their jobs, even lifting the performance of individuals previously written off as
mediocre. Depending on the desired type of culture, people behaviours, organisational
symbols and systems will have to be modified to suppport and entrench the values of that
organisation. Establishing a culture in an organisation is primarily a leadership role and
culture and leadership are viewed as two sides of the same coin which cannot be separated.
Literature suggests that long-term organisational change in the public sector is complex and
problematic, because of the many stakeholders and short-term orientation of many political
stakeholders. Change is particularly difficult because it has to overcome a longstanding
tradition, uncertaintly and doubt amongst many people, fear of job loss and inertia and much
Stellenbosch University http://scholar.sun.ac.za
iv
resistance, both visible and subdued. Healthcare staff all over the world face the challenge
of a rapid introduction of technology in the form of electronic patient records, computerbased
decision support tools and hospital information networks which are changing the
traditional ways of doing things. Managing organisational culture is viewed as an essential
part of the health system reform in most countries, where evidence shows that it will be a
complex, multi-level, and uncertain process, requiring strategies unfolding over a period of
years.
For any change to be successful, it requires leadership – in fact, it is argued that leaders
drive change from the top, through people and with people. Successful change is about
leadership getting involved in driving the change at grass roots level, being authentic, honest
and transparent. Leaders must balance the natural resistance people have to change with
the time and space people need to reflect and accept the change and the directives that the
leaders use to put pressure on the employees. In healthcare, many techniques have been
employed to bring about changes to quality healthcare delivery. These include total quality
management (TQM), lean management, learning organisation, business process reengineering
and some leaders have used external consultants to influence change. None of
these techniques was found to be successful without good leadership and a culture that
embraces these changes.
Arguably, people are the only competitive advantage any organisation has. Given that
people are the executors of strategy, it is imperative that they get involved in its
development. The use of systemic ways of developing strategy and making sure of its
implementation using the balanced score card and strategy maps, is recommended. Linking
company values and culture to the strategy leads to far greater organisational success. In
most organisations human resources (HR) practices are still in the traditional back office. In
the new economy, HR practices need to be transformed to deliver a new proposition, which
adds value to the bottom line of the business by satisfying all stakeholder requirements,
aligning people to performance and increasing organisational capabilities for sustainable
performance.
In the last decade, New Public Sector Management (NPSM) has emerged as a major reform
strategy applied in varying degrees in a growing number of public sector organisations. Its
main focus is to improve service delivery and to give rise to new management practices in
the public sector. It emanates from a continued dissatisfaction with the performance of
traditional public sector leadership and bureaucracy, reinforced by claims that the private
sector is more efficient. Three building blocks for NPSM are described to reform public
sector and these are responsibility, accountability and performance. In transforming public
Stellenbosch University http://scholar.sun.ac.za
v
sector organisations, managers have to explicitly introduce policies within each building
block – these policies contain leverage to influence clarity of purpose, agreements, power
over decision-making, individual and team performance, and customer accountability.
There are strong arguments to encourage clinicians to change their mindset and be retrained
to lead the healthcare reform around the world. Some of the arguments are that
clinicians are in the frontline, making decisions that determine quality and efficiency of care,
having the technical knowledge to make sound strategic choices about longer-term patterns
of service delivery. Clinicians are typically intelligent, well-trained and caring people who
expressly choose this career to cure and comfort. A growing body of research supports the
assertion that effective clinical leadership lifts the performance of health care organisations,
as evidenced in a study which found that hospitals with the greatest clinician participation in
management scored about 50% higher on important drivers of performance than hospitals
with low levels of clinical leadership did. In another study, it was found that in 11 cases of
attempted improvement in services, organisations with stronger clinical leadership were
more successful, while another found that Chief Executive Officers (CEO) in the highestperforming
organisations engaged clinicians in dialogue and in joint problem-solving efforts.
The research findings show that the ECDoH is entrenched in the old economy values,
meaning that business practices that were examined using the Beehive Model are rated in
the risk/poor class. All seven elements scored in this poor class, with changed leadership,
structures and talent creation constituting the poorest performers. This implies that the
organisation is led from the top, leaders use power over others, there is widespread
compression and incompetency at all leadership levels. It is unlikely that a single political
head in the form of the Member of Executive (MEC) or a change in the head of department
(HoD) will bring about the required astronomical transformation of the ECDoH. Only when
the collective begins to accept the current predicament, can a total buy-in and commitment
to high performance status begin.
Finally, it is recommended that the ECDoH leadership transform their mindsets and adopt
the new economy values of leading the organisation. They need to leverage on their
positions of power to co-create a new culture, learn and adopt new change leadership skills,
and transform the organisation’s HR proposition inside out. The executives are urged to
consider funding a three to five year project of organisational renewal, using the Beehive
Model and its related tools, to bring about sustainable change in the ECDoH.
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Tresselt, Christian H. "The management of complexity in project management : a qualitative and quantitative case study of certified project managers in Germany." Thesis, University of Gloucestershire, 2015. http://eprints.glos.ac.uk/2924/.
Full textAbstract:
With the increased globalization and expansion of the markets worldwide, companies have to struggle with increased competition. Therefore, organisations have begun to offer advantages such as a personalisation of products to potential customers. Market conditions and legal policies can make it challenging to predict whether those ad-vantages can be realized. Project managers are often in the position of having to fulfil these requirements; in continuously changing influencing factors that make tasks diffi-cult to manage. These circumstances create complexity. Frequently, managers are una-ware that complexity has created problems in a specific project. Often, the traditional standards of project management no longer provide a sufficient support to managers of complex projects. This research investigates how current standards of project management address com-plexity, and whether a supplement is necessary. Complexity strengtheners are investi-gated. One standard Project Management Institute (PMI) is selected as an example to analyze the influence of strengtheners on PM-processes. A funnel model is developed based on these research findings. This is aimed to help managers in their daily practice and support them in categorizing the complexity of their projects. Based on this model, managers should be able to recognize the actual strengtheners of complexity and which processes of their project are affected. Finally, a possible adaption of the standard is re-searched. A proposition for a new comprehensive guide is designed to support manag-ers carrying out complex projects. The key managerial implication of this research is the development of a five-step model for handling complexity in projects: forming, storming, norming, performing, and ad-journing. Furthermore, the intent of this thesis is to make a valid contribution to the management literature. For handling complexity the new funnel model should close the gap between the recognition of complexity in a project and underlying causes. The new five-step model thus provides project managers helpful guidelines for handling complex projects. This research applies a mixed method, consisting of a survey (quantitative method) and focus interviews (qualitative method) with experts of project management (PMI) in Germany. There are approximately 4.900 PMI certified project managers in Germany; more than 170 participated in the survey (3.6%). This is considered sufficient to provide reliable results for this research. Further, three focus interviews deepen the knowledge and validate the results of the survey: Complexity is an actual problem in project man-agement. Existing standards are sufficient for project management, but complexity can-not be standardized. This thesis proposes to help project managers to resolve project complexity by providing guidelines for navigating through complex projects.
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Hancocks, Matthew A. "Disclosing new worlds? : strategic management, styles and meaning." Thesis, University of Essex, 2017. http://repository.essex.ac.uk/19468/.
Full textAbstract:
The philosopher Martin Heidegger argued that the truthful life was at risk of being lost in Western technological culture in the name of increasing control, efficiency, and agility. As the risk is actualised, so the human essence as truth maker is obscured and life itself feels poorer. This thesis draws on Heideggerian philosophy to demonstrate the loss in two dominant styles of contemporary strategic management: the world-picturing and, more recent, agile style. It builds a theory of post-agile strategic practice, which I call adaptive, to address this loss. Consistent with Heideggerian philosophy, I utilise a transformative disclosure methodology and a literary, paradigmatic case reading method to address the questions: Why is agile strategic management so unsatisfying? How do Heideggerian scholars shed light on this dissatisfaction? How do Heideggerians understand the emerging style and what strategic management practices can I propose for the future? After introducing agile strategic management and the impoverishment of life that it fosters, I set out how Heidegger’s philosophy of truth, thinking, and the sacred both sheds light on the problem and suggests a remedy for it. I closely read paradigmatic texts of the world-picturing and agile strategic management styles to demonstrate how business strategy theorisation lines up with extraordinary closeness to Heidegger’s philosophical assessment. I then analyse three Heideggerian prototypes for an adaptive style of strategy practice, concentrating on one paradigmatic text to identify their principal weakness: the omission of the sacred. I illustrate and contrast paradigmatic cases of both the agile and adaptive styles drawn from the beer industry and draw on the adaptive case to construct a theory of adaptive strategy practice, which addresses the problem of the loss of truth, suggesting pedagogical and strategic management practices. I conclude by summarising its findings and contributions, noting some limitations and connections to other studies and suggesting further lines of research.
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Holtzhausen, Natasja. "Die rol van die openbare bestuurder in die ontwikkeling van 'n organisasiekultuur : 'n normatiewe beskouing (Afrikaans)." Diss., University of Pretoria, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/26956.
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AFRIKAANS: Die Suid-Afrikaanse owerheid het 'n verantwoordelikheid in die lewering van dienste ter bevrediging van bepaalde behoeftes van die samelewing. Openbare bestuurders in die Suid-Afrikaanse staatsdiens behoort oor besondere vermoëns en kwaliteite te beskik om die staatsdiens doeltreffend in 'n vinnig veranderde omgewing te bestuur ten einde gemeenskapsbehoeftes te bevredig. Dit is die verantwoordelikheid van elke open bare bestuurder om die toegekende organisasie-eenhede doeltreffend te bestuur. Die openbare bestuurder kan nie na willekeur die administratiewe en openbare bestuursaktiwiteite uitoefen nie. Die normatiewe rigsnoere van eerbiediging van die oppergesag, openbare aanspreeklikheid en verantwoordelikheid, openbare doeltreffendheid, die toepassing van die administratiefreg, eerbiediging van samelewingswaardes, hoe etiese norme en standaarde, asook sosiale gelykstelling en geregtigheid moet deurentyd deur die openbare bestuurder gehandhaaf word. Die doel met hierdie verhandeling is om die rol van die openbare bestuurder in die ontwikkeling van 'n organisasiekultuur te bepaal. Die woorde "organisasie", "organisasie-ontwikkeling" en "organisasiekultuur" het 'n direkte invloed op die verhandeling en daarom is genoemde woorde duidelik omskryf en betekenisse daaraan gekoppel. Die openbare sektor is dinamies en die departemente word aan voortdurende veranderinge blootgestel wat tot herorganisering lei wat weer 'n invloed op die organisasiekultuur uitoefen. Organisasies kan nie op dieselfde wyse hervorm word nie en daarom verskil kulture van organisasie tot organisasie. In die organisasie vorm daar soms subgroepe wat oor sterk subkulture beskik en openbare bestuurders behoort hierdie subgroepe tot voordeel van die organisasie aan te wend deur byvoorbeeld gesonde kompetisie tussen die onderskeie subgroepe aan te moedig. Daar bestaan geen “beste” tegniek vir die bestuur van kultuurverandering nie. Elke openbare bestuurder behoort dus die tegniek te kies of tegnieke te kombineer wat die beste by sy of haar spesifieke omstandighede sal inpas. Openbare bestuurders behoort 'n positiewe ingesteldheid rakende die organisasiekultuur aan die res van die organisasielede oor te dra. Die openbare bestuurder in die Suid-Afrikaanse konteks funksioneer in 'n milieu wat verskeie eise stel. Omgewingsfaktore in die staatsdiens bly nooit konstant nie en veranderinge, in byvoorbeeld, die politieke, sosiale, ekonomiese en tegnologiese omgewing het teweeg gebring dat die kultuur van die organisasie beïnvloed word en moet op so 'n wyse bestuur word dat dit tot voordeel van die organisasie en die samelewing is. Die veranderde omgewing waarbinne die openbare bestuurder optree, vereis die bestuur van die organisasiekultuur. Openbare bestuurders behoort 'n bewuswording in die organisasie rakende die organisasiekultuur te skep en tot die besef kom dat die organisatoriese, kulturele en strategiese veranderingsprosesse bestuur moet word ten einde gestelde doelwitte te bereik. ENGLISH: The South African government has a responsibility in the rendering of essential services to satisfy certain needs of the community. Public managers employed by the South African civil service ought to possess specific abilities and qualities to manage the civil service effectively in a rapidly changing environment. It is the responsibility of each public manager to manage the allocated organizational unit under his authority. Public managers may not conduct the administrative and public management activities in a random way. The normative guidelines of honouring the political supremacy, public accountability and responsibility, application of the administrative law, honouring community values, upholding high ethical norms, as well as social equality and justice should continuously be maintained by the public manager. The objective of this paper is to determine the role of the public manager in developing an organizational culture. The meaning of the word “organization”, “organizational development” and “organizational culture” has a direct influence on the objective of this paper and therefore these words have been clearly defined and explained. The civil service is dynamic and the departments are subjedt to change. This leads to re-organization, which in turn will influence the organizational culture. Organizations can not be reformed in a similar manner, and therefore, cultures vary among different organizations. Groups with strong subcultures may develop within the existing organizational culture and the public manager should utilize these subcultures to the advantage of the organization by establishing, for example, healthy competition among these groups. A “best” technique to manage an organizational culture does not exist, and each public manager should select a technique or combination of techniques appropriate to the specific situation. Public managers should convey a positive attitude towards the organizational culture and towards his/her subordinates. The public manager in the South African civil service functions in a milieu that holds many challenges. Environmental factors in the civil service constantly change, and changes in the political, social, economic and technological environments influence the organizational culture and has to be managed in such a way that it is advantageous to the organization and society. The changing environment, in which the South African Public Service operates, demands the management of an organizational culture. Public managers should develop a cultural awareness and realize that organizational, cultural and strategic change processes should be managed in order to reach the set objectives.<br>Dissertation (MA (Public Administration))--University of Pretoria, 2006.<br>School of Public Management and Administration (SPMA)<br>Unrestricted
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Paro, Pedro Ernesto Pereira. "Sistemática de transformação: desenvolvimento teórico para o alinhamento entre estratégia e cultura organizacional nos projetos de Lean." Universidade de São Paulo, 2016. http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/18/18156/tde-05072016-102816/.
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Desde o final do Século XX e início do Século XXI, estudos analisam a elevada taxa de insucesso ou insatisfação com os Programas de Lean. Esta taxa tem se demonstrado demasiadamente elevada, variando entre 66% e 90%. Como efeito deste insucesso, tem-se o desperdício de tempo, dinheiro, recursos e, talvez o pior, tem-se a propagação do medo nos agentes de mudança em empreitar novas iniciativas de mudança. Estudos apontam a falta de alinhamento de tais projetos com a Cultura Organizacional como uma das questões fundamentais deste insucesso. Partindo desta temática de pesquisa, este ensaio teórico pode ser caracterizado como uma abordagem qualitativa de análise do problema, de natureza básica de pesquisa buscando gerar conhecimentos novos e úteis às organizações, sem aplicação prática prevista neste primeiro estágio de pesquisa. A fonte de evidências para sustentar o modelo proposto foi revisão dos estudos de caso encontrados na literatura, sendo utilizadas tanto uma Revisão Bibliográfica Sistemática (RBS) quanto Exploratória, de tal maneira a buscar o \"estado da arte\" no campo de estudo. A Fundamentação Teórica do trabalho é baseada na literatura de quatro grandes campos de estudo: (i) Estratégia, (ii) Lean, (iii) Cultura Organizacional e (iv) Gestão de Mudanças. A RBS tem foco nas interseções destes grandes campos, agregando 190 trabalhos internacionais. Por sua vez, a Revisão Exploratória traz algumas das principais referências dos três campos de estudo, como: Edgar Schein, John Kotter, Kim Cameron, Robert Quinn, David Mann, dentre outros. Desta maneira, este trabalho estudou a influência da cultura organizacional nos projetos de transformação e, a partir da ruptura com a teoria atual, construiu e propôs uma sistemática teórica, intitulada de \"Sistemática de Transformação\" (ou simplesmente \"Sistemática T\"), a qual propõe o alinhamento entre três dimensões: Estratégia, Projeto de Transformação e Cultura Organizacional. Fazendo uso desta sistemática, é esperado que os agentes de mudança consigam ter um planejamento mais eficaz do processo de diagnóstico, avaliação e gestão da cultura organizacional alinhado à Estratégia e também ao Projeto de Transformação da organização, com ênfase nos Programas de Lean. A proposição e uso desta sistemática pode favorecer tanto a discussão acadêmica na área de Gestão de Operações sobre o tema, quanto fornecer subsídios para aplicações práticas mais eficazes.<br>Since the late twentieth century and early twenty-first century, several studies have analyzed the Lean Continuous Improvement Programs high rate of failure or dissatisfaction. This failure rate is too high, ranging between 66% and 90%. Because of this rate, companies have lost money, lost time, wasted resources and, perhaps the worst: this failure can spread the fear in the change agents of making new change initiatives. Studies indicate that a key issue for this failure is the lack of alignment between such improvement programs with the organizational culture. Based on this research theme, this theoretical essay can also be characterized as basic research nature seeking to generate new and useful knowledge to organizations without practical application set forth in this first stage of research. The source of evidence to support the proposed systematic will be based on case studies of literature, being both used one Systematic Bibliographic Review (RBS) and Exploratory Review, seeking to achieve the \"state of the art\" in the field of study. The Theoretical Foundation of the work bases on the literature of three major fields of study: (i) Strategy, (ii) Lean, (iii) Organizational Culture and (iii) Change Management. The RBS focuses on the intersections of these great fields, adding 190 international studies. The Exploratory Review brings some of the main references of the three fields of study, such as Edgar Schein, John Kotter, Kim Cameron, Robert Quinn, David Mann, among others. Thus, this paper studied the influence of organizational culture in transformation projects and, from the disruption with the current theory, this research work built and proposed a theoretical systematic, titled \"Transformation Systematic\" (or simply \"T Systematic\") proposing the alignment of three dimensions: Strategy, Transformation Project and Organizational Culture. Making use of this systematic, it is expected that change agents can have a more efficient planning process of diagnosis, evaluation and management of organizational culture aligned to the strategy and also the Transformation Project, with emphasis on Lean programs. The proposition and use of this method can both facilitate academic discussion in Operations Management on the topic, as also provide support for applications best practices.
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Alberts, Rasmus Stephanus. "The effect of organisational restructuring at Xstrata Coal South Africa and its impact on the business culture at the Tweefontein division." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/6097.
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Thesis (MBA (Business Management))--Stellenbosch University, 2008.<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Xstrata Coal South Africa (XCSA) embarked on a restructuring exercise towards the end of 2005 to enable the organisation and its management to adapt to the pressures and requirements of an ever-changing South African coal industry. The executive team of XCSA felt that some of the business units were too large to be effectively managed by one general manager and his/her management team. The Tweefontein and Impunzi business units fell into this category. Further, the executive team felt that the existing organisational structures on the mines were unable to effectively manage the demands coming from an ever-changing coal industry. Most such demands emanated from sustainable development issues: workplace safety, environmental management, health-related concerns to do with the employees and community development around the mines. The restructuring took place towards the end of 2005, not long after the restructuring of the business performance went into decline. The author of this thesis, as the General Manager of the Tweefontein Complex from the beginning of 2006 until mid-2008, was responsible for the day-to-day management of the division at the time. After explaining the need for restructuring, as well as how the structure was changed, the author will describe a comprehensive literature research study. The aim of such a study is to create a common understanding with the reader of the principles relating to culture, leadership and change management. The author then compares the two climate assessments of the organisational culture of the Boschmans Colliery undertaken during 2005 prior to embarking on the restructuring exercise, and of the Tweefontein Complex undertaken during 2007, on completion of the restructuring. Boschmans Colliery employees now constitute most of the underground and surface operations areas of the Tweefontein Complex. The organisational culture of the Tweefontein Complex was found to have been influenced by the restructuring exercise. The author concludes with recommendations on how the organisational culture of XCSA as a whole could be aligned. Chief among the recommendations are that: • A cultural alignment programme should be implemented to create a common organisational culture across XCSA. • A leadership development programme should be implemented to promote the desired organisational culture. • A communication strategy should be implemented to support the cultural alignment programme. • A branding campaign should be launched to strengthen the image of XCSA within the surrounding community.<br>AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Xstrata Coal South Africa (XCSA) het aan die einde van 2005 besluit om die besigheid te herstruktureer om aan te pas by die veranderende aard van die Suid-Afrikaanse steenkoolindustrie. Die gevoel van die uitvoerende komitee was dat sekere van die besigheidseenhede te groot was om effektief deur een algemene bestuurder, bestuur te word. Die Tweefontein- en Impunzi-besigheidseenhede het in die kategorie geval. Verder het die uitvoerende kommitee gevoel dat die bestaande bestuurstruktuur per myn nie voldoende was om al die verwagtinge vanuit 'n vinnig veranderende steenkoolindustrie effektief te kan bestuur nie. Die vernaamste verwagtinge van die vinnig veranderende industrie was die vanuit die veld van Volhoubaarheid, naamlik veiligheid op myne, omgewingsbewustheid, gesondheid van die werknemers, sowel as die opbou van die gemeenskap. Die herstrukturering het aan die einde van 2005 plaasgevind en nie lank na die herstrukturering nie het die prestasie van die besigheid drasties afgeneem. Die skrywer was die Algemene Bestuurder van die Tweefontein Complex vanaf die begin van 2006 tot die middel van 2008, en was verantwoordelik vir die dag-tot-dag-bestuur van die afdeling. As deel van die studie sal die skrywer eerstens poog om die redes vir die herstrukturering te gee en ook hoe die nuwe struktuur daar uitsien. Tweedens sal die skrywer 'n deeglike literatuurstudie verskaf om 'n gemeenskaplike verstandhouding tussen die skrywer en die leser oor die beginsels van kultuur, leierskap en veranderingsbestuur te skep. Derdens sal die skrywer die resultate van twee klimaatstudies ontleed wat op die besigheidskultuur van die Boschmans-steenkoolmyn in 2005 voor die herstrukturering gedoen is en een wat in 2007 op die Tweefontein Complex na die herstrukturering gedoen is. Die werknemers van die Boschmans-steenkoolmyn maak tans die grootste gedeelte van die Tweefontein Complex se ondergrondse en aanleg- en logistieke afdelings uit. Na aanleiding van die analise van die twee klimaatstudies, bevind die skrywer dat die herstrukturering 'n daadwerklike invloed op die kultuur van die Tweefontein Complex gehad het. Die skrywer maak dan na gelang van sy bevindinge aanbevelings oor hoe die kultuur van Xstrata Coal South Africa (XCSA) as 'n geheel belyn kan word. Sy belangrikste aanbevelings is as volg: • Die implementering van 'n kultuurbelyningsprogram om 'n gemeenskaplike besigheidskultuur regoor Xstrata Coal South Africa (XCSA) daar te stel. • Die implementering van 'n leierskapsontwikkelingsprogram wat belyn is met die verlangde besigheidskultuur. • Die implementering van 'n kommunikasiestrategie wat die kultuurbelyningsprogram ondersteun. • Die loodsing van 'n Xstrata Coal South Africa (XCSA) bemarkingsveldtog am Xstrata Coal se beeld in die gemeenskap te bevorder.
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Lee, Shu-Yir. "Impact of cultural factors on transnational teams: Diversity, adaptation, communication quality, and trust." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2007. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/3284.
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The present research proposes a general model of Transnational Teams (TNTs) to investigate how value placed on cultural diversity, cultural adaptation, communication quality, and trust affect the performance of TNTs and their interaction to each other. TNTs contribute to decisions about a firm's total portfolio of transnational interests, global brands and products, organizational configuration, and global sourcing strategy. Qualitative and quantitative methods are applied in this study of thirty members of TNTs from diverse teams. Based on the qualitative and quantitative analysis, relationships between theory and practice are examined. The analysis shows that there is a strong relationship between trust and performance of TNTs.
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梁永超 and Wing-chiu Leung. "A case study of a school in the PRC: is the organizational culture prepared for the new goals of nationaldevelopment?" Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1997. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31959611.
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Pulliam, Wheeler D. "Negotiating Work-life Balance Within the Operational Culture of a Chaebol in the Southeastern United States." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2014. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc699879/.
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The purpose of this study is to examine the work life balance negotiations of three distinct culture groups employed by South Korean conglomerates located within the southeastern United States. These three cultural groups are: Korean nationals, Korean Americans, and non-Korean Americans. It is proposed that each culture will negotiate work life balances in their own manner based upon their specific inherent cultural understandings. This study is a cross-cultural examination through thirty-two open-ended interviews of employees working for large multinational Korean companies with facilities in the southern United States. Korean nationals, Korean Americans, and Americans implement different work-life balance negotiation tactics in the workplace based upon each one’s cultural association. While all three cultural groups experience difficulty in obtaining a work-life balance working for a Korean company, the Korean Americans seem to suffer the most.
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Hopeck, Janell Marie. "Face-to-face communication versus memo communication to announce mergers and acquisitions the importance of media richness." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2011. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/140.
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The purpose of this study was to examine the current research on mergers and acquisitions which includes organizational factors, such as communication processes, and their impact on employee reactions. The current study addresses this issue through a simulated M&A announcement laboratory experiment with 156 CSUSB undergraduate students.
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Valenzuela, Francisco. "Public Servant identity at work in Chilean State bureaucracy : a Lacanian interpretation." Thesis, University of Essex, 2016. http://repository.essex.ac.uk/17349/.
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This thesis inquires over the process through which public servants construct an identity during the organisation of bureaucratic work. Using a qualitative approach, this process is observed empirically in the case of the Chilean State, where the implementation of neoliberal policies is commanded by policy-makers. In particular, drawing from a Lacanian theoretical framework, this study analyses the inconsistent fashion in which identification unfolds discursively. On the one hand, public servant subjectivity is viewed as articulating and enacting cohesive self-meanings during the conscious coordination with bureaucratic objects. On the other hand, however, the experience of public servants during the articulation of their identity is seen as driven unconsciously towards achieving excessive amounts of embodied, affective satisfaction or what Lacan calls jouissance. Overall, from this standpoint, the construction of identity within the bureaucratic realm is appreciated as a paradoxical and un-determined project, featuring interrupted yet sustained narrations of self and/or distorted yet committed narratives on workplace reality. The main finding of this study is that public servants develop a strong affective attachment to bureaucratic labour while attributing contradictory and inconsistent meanings to their own professional self and to the experience of ‘translating’ policy into bureaucratic work. In short, public servants enjoy their commitment to policy-commanded-bureaucracy, even though and precisely because they cannot articulate why consistently. In some instances experience is narrated as promising in its effectivity yet fragile and hindered, while in others it narrated as self-developing yet at the same time wearing and insufficiently effective. The main contribution of this study is to introduce a gendered, critical understanding of the ethos and vocation sustaining subjectivation and work within public sector bureaucracy, one that needs but at the same time subverts assumptions about the primacy of rational reflexivity in subjective self-experience and about the hegemonization of State administration by neoliberal, entrepreneurial discourses or ‘governmentalities’.
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Awarab, Erwin Ronald. "An investigation into the organisational culture at an academically successful secondary school in Namibia." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003494.
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The appreciation by leadership of the culture of an organisation plays an important role in the success of that organisation. Leadership and organisation culture are an inextricable part of the life of an organisation. The shared assumptions and beliefs of the individual within an organisation shape its culture. My study investigates the aspects of school culture and, further, looks at its link to the success of an organisation, and at the leadership style that influences such an organisation. My research, conducted in the interpretive paradigm, is a case study which was carried out at a public secondary school in the capital city of Windhoek, in Namibia. Since the school was built during South African rule, it was intended mainly for white children. Since independence, it has undergone transformation and is currently integrated, accommodating learners from different cultural backgrounds. It is a successful school, with a good reputation for its discipline and academic excellence. I chose this school deliberately, for those reasons. My findings are that there are aspects of culture which maintain its creation and perpetuate the existence of a particular culture at the school. This school’s culture is embedded within the Christian faith, and there are deliberate rituals and ceremonies put in place to enhance the creation and maintenance of the values that inform its culture, and the school leadership, management, teachers and student council members have a central role in this regard. My study shows that the creation, understanding and appreciation of beliefs and values of the individual within the organisation enable the consequent creation of the shared vision and values that ultimately lead to the foundation and maintenance of a strong culture.
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Roveda, Vanessa. "As inter-relações entre liderança, comunicação e cultura nas organizações." reponame:Repositório Institucional da UCS, 2010. https://repositorio.ucs.br/handle/11338/523.
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Acompanhando a tendência dentro do campo das Ciências Sociais de entender a relação entre os processos que a compõem, este estudo visa analisar as inter-relações entre os estilos de liderança, a comunicação do líder e a cultura organizacional. Para este fim, foi realizada uma ampla revisão bibliográfica das teorias de liderança, de comunicação e de cultura. O estudo destas inter-relações foi desenvolvido através de pesquisa quantitativa com uma amostra de 268 indivíduos trabalhadores. Os participantes responderam um instrumento para medir as dimensões de cultura organizacional, do estilo de liderança, da competência de comunicação do líder e da satisfação do subordinado com a comunicação do líder. Estes dados foram analisados através de técnicas de correlação, regressão linear e análise de variância, mostrando significativas relações entre o estilo de liderança, a comunicação do líder e as características da cultura presente nas organizações. Comprovando que os comportamentos do líder orientados ao relacionamento geram maior influência na comunicação e na cultura, que os comportamentos do líder orientados a tarefa<br>Submitted by Marcelo Teixeira (mvteixeira@ucs.br) on 2014-06-02T18:50:36Z
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Dissertacao Vanessa Roveda.pdf: 2174254 bytes, checksum: 06ebfa647afd6bf71370c2ea9de34a7b (MD5)<br>Following a tendency within the social sciences to understand the relationship among the processes that compose it, this study aims to examine the interrelationships among leadership styles, the leader communication and the organizational culture. To this end, an extensive review of leadership, communication and culture theories was conducted. The study of interrelationships was developed through quantitative research with a sample of 268 employed individuals. The participants answered to an instrument to measure the dimensions of culture, leadership style, and communication competence of the leader, as well as the subordinate satisfaction with the leader communication. These data were analyzed by correlation techniques, linear regression and ANOVA, showing significant relationships between leadership style, communication of the leader and the characteristics of this culture in organizations. Proving that the behavior of relationship-oriented leader generate greater influence on communication and culture, the conduct of the task-oriented leader
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Mabuza, Linda Tengetile. "The influence of organisational culture on a high commitment work system and organisational commitment : the case of a Chinese multinational corporation in South Africa." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017768.
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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.
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Gutierrez, Raquel Dolores. "Life-Affirming Leadership: An Inquiry into the Culture of Social Justice." [Yellow Springs, Ohio] : Antioch University, 2008. http://etd.ohiolink.edu/view.cgi?acc_num=antioch1226609058.
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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Antioch University, 2008.<br>Title from PDF t.p. (viewed March 26, 2010). Advisor: Carolyn Kenny, Ph.D. "A dissertation submitted to the Ph.D. in Leadership and Change program of Antioch University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2008."--from the title page. Includes bibliographical references (p. 147-153).
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Jones, Joanna Dawn. "Improving workforce environmental behaviour : a case study of the construction industry." Thesis, University of Northampton, 2010. http://nectar.northampton.ac.uk/8863/.
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Babaheidari, Persheng, and Geer Hans De. "Corporate foresight in Sweden : A quantitative comparison between Swedish and European companies." Thesis, KTH, Skolan för industriell teknik och management (ITM), 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-210576.
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Studies show that the average lifespan of large companies is decreasing and that companies of today face a higher degree of market-saturation caused by globalization. In order for companies to stay alive, they need to scan for trends outside their business scope, which can be done by adopting corporate foresight. This thesis investigates the uniqueness of corporate foresight in large Swedish companies when compared to a European sample. The focus lies on measuring differences with regards to need, capabilities and maturity of corporate foresight. This thesis establishes that there is an ever-growing interest in studying corporate foresight from a Swedish perspective due to the high rate of innovation in the country. Based on a theoretical framework, a method is established for measuring the three main dimensions of need, capabilities and maturity. The data for the Swedish companies is empirical data from 11 Swedish companies gathered using a survey provided by the collaborator Rohrbeck Heger GmbH. The Swedish data is then compared to a European sample by using an existing database. Through the use of a quantitative method with two statistical tests, one non-parametric test (Mann-Whitney U-test) and one parametric test (Welch’s t-test), several interesting differences were found. For need, it was found that Swedish firms act in a less dynamic environment than its European counterparts, but that Swedish firms’ environment is more complex. For capabilities, Swedish firms have stronger internal capabilities with regards to culture, method sophistication and information usage. Finally, for maturity, Swedish firms have stronger perceiving abilities but weaker prospecting abilities than European firms. In summary, it is not possible to say that the overall need or maturity with regards to corporate foresight is greater or more advanced for Swedish firms. However, a conclusion is that Swedish firms have stronger capabilities for corporate foresight than its European counterparts.<br>Studier visar att genomsnittslivstiden för stora bolag minskar, samt att dagens företag möter en högre grad av marknadsmättnad orsakad av globalisering. För att företag ska överleva behöver de skanna efter trender utanför deras nuvarande verksamhet, vilket kan göras genom att arbeta med affärsförutseende. I detta examensarbete undersöks unika egenskaper gällande affärsförutseende i stora svenska bolag jämfört med stora europeiska bolag. Fokus ligger i att mäta skillnaderna i behov, färdigheter samt mognadsgrad av affärsförutseende. Detta examensarbete konstaterar genom flertalet källor att intresset och behovet av att utforska affärsförutseende för svenska bolag finns, eftersom Sverige är ett av världens mest innovativa länder. Från litteraturstudien etableras en metod för att mäta nivåer på de tre dimensionerna behov, färdigheter samt mognadsgrad. Empirisk data har samlats in på 11 stora svenska bolag genom en enkätbaserad intervju, där tillgång har erhållits till en granskad enkät genom samarbetspartnern Rohrbeck Heger GmbH, samt tillgång till deras databas med europeiska bolag. Den svenska datan jämförs därefter mot ett europeiskt dataset, där en kvantitativ metod används för att jämföra dessa grupper; ett icke-parametriskt test (Mann-Whitney U-test) samt ett parametriskt test (Welch’s t-test). Genom dessa tester erhålls flera intressanta skillnader mellan svenska och europeiska bolag. Gällande behov, visade resultatet att svenska bolag har ett lägre dynamiskt affärsklimat, men där affärsklimatet är mer komplext. Gällande färdigheter skiljer sig svenska bolag på de interna färdigheterna kultur, metodraffinering samt informationsanvändning. Slutligen, gällande mognadsgrad för affärsförutseende, är svenska bolag starkare på att uppfatta trender men svagare på att analysera trender. Sammanfattningsvis är det inte möjligt att dra någon slutsats överlag huruvida behov och mognadsgrad gällande affärsförutseende är mer avancerat bland svenska bolag. Däremot kan slutsatsen dras att svenska bolag har starkare färdigheter för affärsförutseende än dess europeiska motsvarigheter.
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Van, Heerden Vicky. "Local government reform in Western Australia: a case study on change readiness." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003897.
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The Western Australian State Government’s local government reform programme, initiated in February 2009, provides the context for this research. Nedlands, a local government in Perth’s western suburbs, resolved to participate in this reform programme and signed a Regional Transition Group Agreement with Subiaco local government in August 2010. The purpose of the Regional Transition Group was to prepare a business plan to investigate the potential benefits and viability of a Nedlands and Subiaco amalgamation. Whilst the local government of Nedlands is currently investigating the more operational and technical aspects of local government reform in the merger feasibility study, this research focused on employee readiness, more intangible but no less important. The difficulties of achieving success with organisational change initiatives are well documented. A number of models of planned organisational change have been developed to address these difficulties and support successful change and are outlined. This research highlights the value of the first phase of planned change, namely readiness for change, where organizational members are prepared for and become supporters of change. It also highlights the importance of change communication with respect to developing employee readiness. Definitions and some of the dimensions of ‘readiness for change’ are outlined. The five dimensions of readiness for change - discrepancy, appropriateness, principal support, efficacy and valence - provide the ‘lens’ through which readiness for change at Nedlands is explored. From this perspective, the documentation communicating local government reform at Nedlands was analysed. These dimensions were also used to ascertain, from the perspective of the Nedlands' managers, their level of readiness and the readiness of the employees of Nedlands for local government reform. The findings suggest that Nedlands local government has not consciously planned to ‘ready’ employees for local government reform. A number of management recommendations are made to strengthen the change readiness message communicated by the Nedlands local government and to support the development of the Nedlands employees’ readiness for change.