1,721,061 research outputs found
Perceptions of organizational politics at a national electricity provider in Southern African Development Community (SADC)
No full textThis paper explores the theoretical perceptions of organizational politics, identifies common factors
and proceeds to empirically measure perceptions of organizational politics at a national electricity provider in the
SADC region. It is important to note that the degree of organizational politics varies from one organization to
another but the reality is that all organizations have some sort of internal political struggle that can rip it apart.
Statistical analysis was done to identify common factors on perceptions of organizational politics. To achieve this,
the “explanatory factor analysis” was used. To scientifically subject the data for factor analysis, the Bartlett test
of sphericity and the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (K-M-O) measure of sampling adequacy were performed to ensure that
the factor analysis was the appropriate statistical tool. The research revealed that managerial behavior, poor
communication of objectives, unexpected employee behavior and unhealthy managerial practices were identified
as problematic perceptions of organizational politics at the national electricity provider. The paper recommends
a continuous organizational renewal wherein the entire workforce engages in effective communication practices
through deliberate training sessions across the board. Such openness in communication will clear out mistrust and
doubt amongst employees and management leading to a healthy organizational life
Factors influencing foreign-owned micro businesses: a case study of Durban.
Full text linkDoctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.The study investigated the factors influencing foreign-owned micro businesses in Durban. The study developed a conceptual framework which will help to indicate various factors that impact on foreign-owned micro businesses of African extraction. As a result, these factors influencing foreign-owned micro businesses were investigated; sociological factors or social culture factors, entrepreneurial psychological characteristics, entrepreneurship innovation factors, and factors that influence the need for high achievement in entrepreneurs that operate foreign-owned (African immigrant-owned) micro businesses in Durban.
The study was approached from a positivist philosophy, employing a cross-sectional research design to investigate the research phenomenon. The deductive approach to research was used to explore the research phenomenon. The study was ultimately quantitative in nature. The study was conducted among African immigrant-owned micro businesses in the Durban Central Business District. The population of the study was 6,238 and out of that, the sample size of 364 participants was drawn using the cluster sampling technique. The study used self-administered questionnaire to collect data from the participants. A pilot study was also carried out first prior to the full-scale research survey.
Data quality control was achieved through reliability and validity tests. Data gathered was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), version 25.0. The analysis of the data was done by employing both descriptive and inferential statistics. The results of the study revealed that sociological factors had a mean score value of 4.592 when compared with a maximum attainable score of 5 on a 1 to 5-point Likert scale. This therefore, suggested that sociological factors positively influenced African immigrant-owned micro businesses in Durban. The results of the study further showed that entrepreneurial psychological characteristics/factors (Mean = 4.622) had a strong significant influence on African immigrant-owned micro businesses in Durban. Findings from the study also indicated that entrepreneurship innovation factors (Mean = 4.644) had a strong significant positive influence on African immigrant-owned micro businesses in Durban. Lastly, it was found that the need for high achievement factors in entrepreneurs (Mean = 4.383) also had a strong significant positive influence on African immigrant-owned micro businesses in Durban. The study therefore, made the following recommendations as measures to addressing the challenges affecting the African immigrant-owned micro businesses, namely: acquisition of managerial skills; education, training and development; identification of business opportunities generating innovative ideas, identification of suitable business locations and creating enabling business environment for African immigrant-owned micro businesses.Acknowledgement by author on page iii-iv
Investigation of the effect of the low learner pass rate in mathematics on unemployment in KwaZulu-Natal Schools.
Full text linkMaster’s Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.ABSTRACT
Unemployment is very high in South Africa. During the last quarter of 2016, unemployment
was more than 25%. At the same time, the failure rate in mathematics in the Grade 12
examinations in South Africa is also very high. The aim of the study is to establish if there is
any relationship between the high unemployment rate and the low rate of learner achievement
in mathematics. Hence, the topic of the research is “Investigation of the effect of low learner
pass rate in mathematics on unemployment in the KwaZulu-Natal schools”. In this study, the
researcher employed both quantitative and qualitative analysis to uncover the facts about the
problem at hand. In this research, the samples were taken at random and consisted of
participants from the Amajuba District, to represent the province. The participants consisted
of circuit managers, high school principals, deputy principals, subject heads of departments,
teachers of mathematics and commerce and mathematics lecturers at Amajuba Technical
College. A total of 156 questionnaires were distributed and 112 were completed and returned.
Based on the questionnaire responses and the literature review, unemployment is caused by
the lack of skills and the scarcity of mathematics qualifications among the workforce.
Accordingly, many students fail mathematics and leave school early. Such students do not
possess the skills that are required by the labour market. Hence, they constitute a considerable
component of the unemployment rate.It was concluded that the low learner pass rate in
mathematics actually contributes to the high unemployment rate in KwaZulu-Natal and in the
whole country. The researcher recommends the establishment of a special school that would
teach entrepreneurship and simultaneously re-teach mathematics to the out-of-school youth
who obtained low symbols in mathematics at the Grade 12 level. The researcher further
recommends the founding of an in-service centre for the newly-appointed mathematics
teachers and for the teachers whose learner pass rate in mathematics is low.Abstract available in the PDF
Understanding of key drivers of improving occupational health and safety performance: a case study of a fast-moving consumer goods manufacturing company.
Full text linkMasters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.The benefits of implementing good occupational health and safety management
systems or programs are well documented. Simple improvements in occupational
health and safety can increase competitiveness, profitability and motivation of
employees. Reckitt Benckiser Group plc is the global leading consumer health and
hygiene company driven by a purpose of providing innovative solutions for healthier
lives and happier homes. The company recognized occupational health and safety
of its employees as a priority and embarked on a number of key initiatives or
programs to drive improvements of its occupational health and safety performance.
The study assessed the impact or effectiveness of the key occupational health and
safety initiatives or programs which have been implemented at the South Africa
manufacturing site over the period Jan 2017 to May 2019. The effectiveness or
impact of the various initiatives or programs was measured using a survey of the
shop floor employees who have seen the transformation of their work environment
brought about by the initiatives as well as participated in the initiatives or programs.
A 100 employees participated in the study out of a total eligible population of 250
employees. Out of the 14 key initiatives or programs reviewed the most effective
health and safety initiatives or programs which were confirmed by both cumulative
analysis and average ratings are; Health and Safety Golden Rules, Permit to Work,
Health and Safety Toolbox talks and Machinery Guarding Improvements while the
least effective initiatives are; SHE Competitions, near Miss Reporting, Engagement
with Team Leaders and SHE Recognition Activities. The study recommended that
the company needs to pursue the implementation of the most effective initiatives or
programs in their current form or reinforce them as they can be attributed to the turnaround
in the recent improvement in occupational health and safety performance
experienced by the company. These initiatives or programs can be adopted in
similar manufacturing environments in turning around occupational health and
safety performance. The company needs to review the least effective programs with
a view of understanding the reason why they have not been very impactful and how
they can be turned around or fine-tuned to be more effective. The continuation of
these programs in their current form will most likely lead to poor participation from
employees and lack of interest as they are perceived to be less effective by
employees
Industrial Clustering as a tool to enhance competitiveness of the economy of the KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa.
Full text linkDoctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.The South African government has in the past 20 years developed various industrial policies that were geared towards industrialisation and making meaningful contributions towards the creation of jobs, dealing with the issues of inequality and poverty. Some provinces including the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) then followed suit in tailoring the national policies and strategies to ensemble their respective provincial imperatives. Subsequently, the Industrial Clustering concept was employed as a special purpose vehicle in order to enhance competitiveness of the various priority sectors. The study interrogated the challenges that were experienced by the KZN Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs supported industrial clusters. It was that discovered that some industrial clusters collapsed and failed to sustain due to governance, inconsistent funding, leadership, lack of co-ordination and government proactive or induced approach in initiating clusters. The study further analysed the regional and international competitiveness of industries, knowledge-based theory of spatial clustering of industries, the dynamic nature of localization, regionally concentrated specialized firms linked vertically by value chains gain from complementary competencies and vertical and horizontal integration of firms showing a critical importance of similar or substitutive competencies, leading to cognitive proximities, innovation and enabling mutual learning processes. In a bid find an everlasting solution, an industrial clustering framework was developed in order to ensure that industrial clusters are guided and supported in terms of the provision of the policy imperatives and financial resources. Further, the five (5) supported industrial clusters (Maritime Cluster, Wood and Wood Product Cluster, Music Cluster, Textile and Clothing Cluster and Fashion Council) by KwaZulu-Natal government unanimously agreed that government should play a facilitation role in developing policies and strategies that are destined to promote industrialization and organisational competitiveness of the industrial clusters. Lastly, the study re-affirmed the relevance of Porter’s Diamond Model as there are unprecedented benefits that are accrued by individual members who join the industrial clusters
Investigating transformational leadership practices and the influence on employees' organisational commitment at Camden Power Station.
Full text linkMasters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.The study was aimed at investigating whether the leadership practices at
Camden Power Station are transformational and employee organisational
commitment centred. Organisations cannot perform successfully if leadership is
not effective and employees are not committed to the organisation. The
objectives of the study were to establish the existence of transformational
leadership practices at Camden Power Station; to investigate if there is a
relationship between these practices and employee organisational
commitment; to establish other transformational leadership factors that affect
employee organisational commitment and to make recommendations to the
organisation about transformational leadership practices and organisational
commitment.
The study approach was quantitative. In this study the sample was identified
from within Camden Power Station, a generation business unit in Eskom. The
sample of 105 employees was scientifically calculated from a population of
employees. A random sample was drawn from a sample frame of employee list
obtained from the Human Resource Department. The study findings revealed
that leaders at Camden Power Station practised transformational leadership
styles and that there is a positive relationship between these practices and
organisational commitment. It is recommended that these practices become a
leadership programme and form part of the organisation’s leadership
performance contract; its implementation must be monitored. The current
leadership practices at Camden Power Station need to be transformational in
order to enhance employee organisational commitment and retain skills while
ensuring adequate generation of electricity for the country. The study also
recommends that other employee behaviours such as job satisfaction,
leadership acceptance and job performance be researched against
transformational leadership, using a larger sample and mixed methods to be
able to obtain richer information from respondents
Presented to the college of law and management studies graduate school of business leadership university of KwaZulu Natal.
Full text linkMaster’s degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.All organisations across the private and public sector serve certain purposes and have a particular set of objectives which they seek to achieve and which is central to the ability of these organisations to effectively achieving their purpose and objectives is leadership. Leadership plays a role in spearheading and steering the organisations’ efforts towards achieving their goals and purposes. The leadership of any organisation directly influences its ability to succeed. Also fundamental to organisations’ ability to succeed are internal controls which serve the purpose of enhancing an organisation’s ability to effectively and efficiently attain their objectives as well as safeguarding the organisations’ assets, ensuring sustainability and success of these entities. Thus, it is apparent that leadership has influence over internal controls within any organisation and this study sought to determine the influence that leadership has on the implementation of adequate internal controls within a public sector organisation, the Department of Transport (DoT) in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), South Africa. This study was based on a qualitative study conducted through the semi-structured interviews upon a sample of 12 purposively selected individuals from a population of 18 employees, of the KZN DoT, who were deemed appropriate for addressing the concerns of this research. The research findings revealed that the leadership of the KZN DoT plays a significant role in the successful implementation of adequate internal controls within the organisation. From the research findings it is clear that internal controls have great impact on the ability of the organisation to carry out its core functions and the successful implementation of these internal controls is highly dependent on the leadership of KZN DoT. The research also revealed that the existing internal controls are sufficient, however, the problem is in their implementation which is as a result of understaffing, poor leadership monitoring and influence over internal controls, a lack of skills among staff, manual systems and processes as well as poor consequence management. Some of the feasible recommendations which were made include lobbying for funds to carry out recruitment of more staff and the automation of systems as well as processes; training of existing staff in order to improve their competencies; and implementing better consequence management throughout the whole organisation. These recommendations, if heeded, will result in improved implementation of internal controls enhancing the ability to achieve organisational goals as well as improved overall performance for the KZN DoT
Rethinking organizational learning using theory U: an ontological approach to strategic leadership.
Full text linkDoctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.This research study embarked on an in-depth inquiry into the strategic thinking of organizations. The study endeavoured on understanding the different ways in which organizations change. This understanding brought to the fore two fundamental contributors that influenced organizational learning. The way organizations think affect the way they strategize.
The ever more challenging and rapidly evolving economic environment in South Africa has put pressure on organizations to look for ingenious ways to survive .The current discourses has reified organizations, regarding them as mechanistic organisms with agency of their own. It is against this backdrop that the research adopted the “Theory U” framework. This theory considered the future as it emerged to address the organizational tussles and challenges during strategic planning and organizational learning .Theory U provided an analytical framework for individuals within organizations. It can be applied as part of a strategic planning process and it forces organizations to learn by appraising both their internal and external situations from an emerged future perspective. This would result in overall competitive advantages.
Strategic leaders in organizations are struggling to formulate effective strategies that match the ever-changing business environment. This has affected their ability to execute their duties effectively, which subsequently affected organizational performance. Organizations are struggling to learn and analyse their current macro-environments.
The research explored the available strategic thinking methods as revealed in the foremost discourse on organizations. Organizational learning received attention, using an ontological perspective .The phenomenon is studied from a positivist pragmatic perspective, which holds that an investigator can acquire various forms of knowledge and from a theoretical perspective. The research population consisted of organizations in the South African context and the inquiry focused on their micro- and macro-contexts. The questions were asked from a strategic leadership.
The research instrument views organizations as systems, organisms, brains, cultures, psychic prisons, and transformers.
Most organizations already show the components and attributes of a learning organization. The research aimed to examine the feasibility of adopting and implementing the organization learning approach to achieve organizational change and transformation
Investigating the perceptions of Westridge low income earners on online forex trading as a business concept.
Full text linkMaster’s Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.ABSTRACT
Online foreign exchange trading has been growing internationally with the advances in technical trading robots and internet technology. The use of online foreign exchange trading as means of creating employment by novice traders was first studied in the seventies by Richard but not many studies have been conducted in South Africa.
The main aim of this study was to determine if it was feasible to train low-income earning members of the Westridge community to participate in the foreign exchange market by studying the perceptions of low-income members of Westridge community on online foreign exchange trading as a business concept.
The research study was conducted in South Africa at the Westridge community west of Durban. Quantitative data was collected using stratified random sampling method and a sample of one hundred participants was selected from the local stokvels. The analysis of the data collected indicated the limitations that the participants had with regards to online foreign exchange trading.
Relevant academic literature indicated that online foreign exchange trading involves mathematical concepts that require participants to understand statistics. Therefore the research study recommended that the participants should have a minimum of grade twelve mathematics and English. The analysis of data collected indicated the monthly income of participants should not be less than 10 000 ZAR in order to participate in the online foreign exchange market. The research study recommended that the training should include basic understanding of financial systems; basic understanding of main pillars of the South African economy; basic statistical concepts; technical analysis of foreign exchange market; basic understanding of tax systems; and lastly how to open a company.
The most pertinent finding of the research study is that the respondents were trainable in mathematical and statistical concepts that enabled them to conduct online foreign exchange trading as a business concept.Abstract available in the PDF
Exploring effectiveness of disaster risk reduction strategies in rural municipalities: a case study of Ndwedwe Local Municipality.
Full text linkMasters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.Local government is at the coalface of service delivery. One of their duties is to ensure the safety of its communities from risks that can occur at any time in their daily lives. Communities can be exposed to disaster risks that usually occur when they are least expected. Hence local municipalities should always be forearmed with effective disaster risk reduction strategies. It has always been found evident that almost all the municipalities do have these strategies in place, however, not much has been studied regarding the effectiveness of such strategies in the rural municipalities. This study will thus explore the effectiveness of disaster risk reduction strategies in rural municipalities using a case study of Ndwedwe Local Municipality.
The theoretical framework of this study looks at the practices from a worldwide point of view that have been looked at in order to prepare, mitigate and most importantly to reduce the risk that disasters impose to the communities, but most importantly rural communities. The literature review delves into an insightful analysis of the models that are utilised in the other countries as well in South Africa but also takes a closer look as to which model can be most suitable for a rural municipality like Ndwedwe. The models that the study looks at are: - The Community-Wide Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment (CVCA) Model, Community-Based Risk Reduction Model and South African Disaster Risk Assessment Model. The study then further looks at the status quo of the municipality in terms of its readiness to different forms of disaster that it periodically faces. The study further explores the existing strategies in juxtaposition to their implementation and feasibility in a rural municipality. And lastly recommends the model that it can employ in order to render its disaster risk reduction strategies effective.
This study employed a qualitative research design. There were 10 semi-structured interviews that were conducted as well as four focus group discussions. The participants comprised of both the administrative senior management employees as well as the political leadership of the municipality. The focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted with the ward committee members from 4 Wards in order to get the feelings of the community members on different aspects of the research study. The face-to-face interviews which were subsequently transcribed and key themes were developed, analysed and interpreted. Secondary data was employed in this study was extracted from relevant journal articles, websites and books.
The findings of this study blatantly show that rural municipalities are vulnerable to the disaster risks because of the lack of resources, both financial and human. They also show that the municipality needs to use a "bottom-up‟ approach by involving the communities in the identification of risks as well as the implementation of the municipal proposed strategies. Findings also show that rural municipalities need to undertake disaster risk assessments in order to allocate the resources accordingly. Most of all, the implementation of the strategies needs to have its own budget allocation, hence political buy-in and senior management willingness are also pivotal
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