3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions

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Subject: search.filters.subject.Organizational behavior--South Africa

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    Entrepreneurship and the interrelationships between trust-in-leader-member exchange, work engagement and innovative work behaviour
    (2018) Roos, Johan
    This study focused on corporate entrepreneurship involving the interesting but complex dynamics of the workplace, characterized by various relationship levels between managers and subordinates. It examined leader activities and characteristics, engagement and trust relationships between employees and their managers. The study further intended to measure the impact that these factors have on each other as well as on the activities of individual intrapreneurs, where it attempted to measure the level of innovativeness in the workplace. The interrelationships between trust-in-leader (TIL), leader-member exchange (LMX), work engagement and innovative work behaviour (IWB) were investigated from a corporate entrepreneurial perspective. In the process two types of mediation were investigated. Firstly, to what extent did trust-in-leader (TIL) mediate the effect of leader-member exchange (LMX) on innovative work behaviour, leader-member exchange (LMX) on work engagement, and work engagement on innovative work behaviour (IWB)? Secondly, it also investigated to what extent work engagement mediated the relationship between LMX, as the predictive, and IWB as the criterion variable. The research instrument consisted of 37 questions related to four constructs, each with its own relevant factors. The trust-in-leader scale is uni-dimensional, and consisted of one factor only as described in the literature. The leader-member exchange multi-dimensional scale also included four factors: Affect, professional respect, loyalty, and contribution. The scale measuring work engagement consisted of three factors, namely vigour, dedication, and absorption. The innovative work iii behaviour scale included four factors: Idea generation, idea exploration, idea championing, and idea implementation. Five demographic questions were included in the instrument: Gender, race, tenure, education and age. A total of 245 responses were collected, of which 48 were found to be incomplete. The study targeted seven corporate companies in Johannesburg, South Africa. Two of the companies provided 67 and 60 complete responses respectively, and a third company provided 31 complete responses. The remaining 39 complete responses came from the other four participating companies. The research data was firstly subjected to an exploratory factor analysis (EFA), to determine how the data responded to factor loading and compared to the factors retrieved from literature. A structural equation modelling (SEM) approach was used to analyze the research data in testing the hypotheses. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) results were assessed to determine (1) how innovative work behaviour (IWB) was influenced by leader-member exchange (LMX), (2) how leader-member exchange (LMX) influenced work engagement, (3) how work engagement influenced innovative work behaviour (IWB), (4) the relationship between leader-member exchange (LMX) and trust-in-leader (TIL), and (5) to what extent work engagement mediated the relationship between leader-member exchange (LMX) and innovative work behaviour (IWB). The analysis also determined (6) the extent that trust-in-leader (TIL) mediated the proposed relationships between leader-member exchange (LMX), work engagement, and innovative work behaviour (IWB) respectively. The study intends to shed some light on the complex relationships encountered in the work environment that directly influence intrapreneurial behaviour in employees.
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    Individual identity, organizational identity and racial transformation in the market research industry in South Africa
    (2016) Vilakazi, Sibongile Deborah
    The market research industry prides itself on providing accurate and reliable information and solutions to varying business problems. However, the industry has been faced with the challenge of racial transformation at senior decision-making positions of the organisations. The pace of upward mobility of black researchers is slow and this is a threat for the industry because the senior level positions are often tasked with the analysis of research data and formulation of the strategic insights and business solutions to communicate to clients and stakeholders to meet their business needs. Therefore, it is difficult to be confident that the data about the black market does not get lost in translation and interpretation due to cultural nuances that may not be accessed. What is unique about the market research industry is that promotions to senior level positions are based on training on the job and the mastering of relevant skills on the job rather than specific prior training at college or university level. This opened theoretical and practical questions about the individual and organisational qualities that made it difficult for black researchers to progress to senior level positions. A phenomenological research approach was implemented to explore the lived experiences of the black researchers and the organisations, which could explain the slow upward mobility pace. In-depth semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with four CEOs of prominent organisations in the industry and 14 black researchers at various levels in these organisations. These interviews identified the organisational identity espoused by the leadership and the organisational identity lived by the black researchers. Narrative identity research approach and Erikson’s (1956) stage developmental model guided the process of understanding the individual identity of the black researchers at the point of the interview. The results suggest that there are three categories of black researchers in the industry. It is those who are not promoted within a specified timeframe promised by the leadership who leave the organisations, those who are not promoted but stay in the organisations for longer periods than would have been expected and those researchers who are promoted to senior level positions. Each of these categories shows unique individual qualities that potentially shape their experience in the organisations. A framework for understanding the interplay between the various lived experiences and outcomes has been developed. The slow pace of racial transformation at senior levels of the organisations can be traced to the responses of organisational management to change and the types of social exchange relationships between the black researchers and management. Future research may quantify the findings and validate the framework developed in this study to establish generalisability in the industry and in contexts outside the market research industry. A case study research methodology focusing on all the demographics of the organisations could also enrich the framework.
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    Organisational culture challenges of the National Prosecuting Authority
    (2017) Msomi, Sinothile Purity
    Every organisation has a good or bad culture. One of the key factors in stable institutions is culture within organisation which plays a critical role in organisational operations. Culture affects most aspects of the organisations' planned life, such as how decisions would be made, who would make them, how would people be treated and how the entity would respond to its environment. This research report examines the nature and extent of the organisational culture, and the link between the organisational culture, leadership and problem solving practices within the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). The report presents with the assumptions and ideological influences contained in the public sector reform, which remained entrenched by its legacy systems. This study has revealed that there is a lack of congruence between the organisational culture, leadership and problem solving practices in the NPA. The observed incongruence may inhibit performance and unconsciously remain the barrier of the effectiveness of the reformed institutions. The study concludes that the organisational culture should be one of inclusiveness, participation in decision making, and acquisition of new knowledge and skills which is more aligned to the reformed state institutions expectations. It is recommended that all organisations should diagnose desired organisational culture in order to establish gaps between current and future organisational culture.
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    Determining organisational structures that encourage employee involvement: case of large construction companies in South Africa
    (2016-07-14) Mnyani, Xolisa
    This research study sought to explore typical organisational structures that are prevalent in South African large construction companies, and investigate their behaviour towards employee involvement. The study proceeded by providing an understanding of the relationship between organisational structures and employee involvement, and draws general deductions of the influence of employee involvement on organisational performance. The aim of this research was to investigate the level of employee involvement on various organisational structures as employee involvement was felt as one of the contributing factors towards the success of any construction company. It was acknowledged that inappropriate organisational design leads to poor involvement of employees. The scope of this research is limited to the selected five large construction companies in South Africa. The research approach to the study was quantitative in nature, collected data was statistically analysed and presented through appropriate means. Research techniques employed for data collection were surveys and interviews. Surveys were completed by employees, while interviews were conducted with management level staff using a selfadministered questionnaire. A sample population of 71 respondents was obtained from a study response rate of 33%. The research findings confirmed the existence of a relationship between organisational structures and employee involvement. It was also revealed that from the large construction companies investigated, 60%, use hybrid (a combination of divisional and geographical) structures as their organisational structure. Two of the three (67%) hybrid structured companies achieved the best organisational performance measured over a period between 2008 and 2012. In conclusion, hybrid structures have proven to be the most appropriate organisational structures that are encouraging to employee involvement. From the findings, companies structured in this manner achieved the best financial results by becoming the first and second achievers in the overall financial assessment. Companies can be similarly structured, but may differ substantially in their effectiveness because organisational success lies in employee involvement and the quality of the human resources at its disposal. When implemented properly, employee involvement impacts the customer experience and subsequently, the overall organisational performance by means of high productivity and profitability. This study makes a modest contribution to the understanding of the relationship between employee involvement and organisational performance in the South African construction industry. Similarly to the previous studies in other sectors and countries, the findings of this study provided empirical evidence that employee involvement has an influence on organisational performance. The implications of this study to the South African construction industry are as follows: construction companies must constantly seek for opportunities to participate on projects outside the country. There are substantial work opportunities that are available in other developing economies such as: Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Congo, etc. At this point in time, the South African construction industry is not able to sustain all its role players. The South African government has to finally unlock the infrastructure expenditure plans that have been on the pipeline for a long time. This country as a developing economy still reflects huge infrastructural backlogs, and this expenditure could ignite the much needed growth and development for the entire economy. South Africa’s large construction companies are to expand and show real growth in as far as competing at global stage with some of the biggest construction firms in the world. This would lead to growth and expansion of all construction companies and effectively the development of the entire construction industry. The attempt to attain best practise international standards will also lead to improvements in poor performances that have constantly plagued the industry in the recent past. Keywords: Organisational Structures, Employee Involvement, Organisational Performance, Construction Industry, South Africa
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