3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item The relationship of labour relations on entrepreneur’s firm’s performance in Gauteng South Africa(2019) Lecage, Themba SebolaoThis study looks at labour unrest at automobile manufacturing plants in Gauteng South Africa. It is a qualitative study whereby management representative’s, workers and trade union representatives were interviewed about their challenges about their relationship in the workplace. Solutions are then discussed amongst the various stakeholders and a futurist view is then given to the researcher about the relationship. The idea of this topic came because of the high labour unrest in South Africa and the worry was its impact on private companies especially in the motor manufacturing industry where global markets play an essential role in terms of demand. Trade unions in South Africa have played a pivotal role in dismantling apartheid injustices in the workplace. Trade unions now in a democracy have to find their new sense of purpose in a democratic South Africa while protecting worker’s rights at the same time. This balance becomes very difficult especially with the current economic climate in South Africa. Entrepreneurs in South Africa are sceptical about hiring large amounts of labour in South Africa due to the threat of trade unions at their workplace. All of this becomes the fear of the unknown and a balance of power then erupts at the workplace and entrepreneurs fear the worst in investing in factories in the country because of this. This study finds the balance between these two powerful forces on how best can they work together so that ultimately more jobs can be created and the economy can benefit in the long run. This study opens the stereotype mind-sets people have of each other as a country and helps us find the common goal in achieving the best results for our companies and country.Item A computational model to predict the organisational performance of startups in South African incubators(2018) Chengalroyen, Jarryd JermaineThere have been several changes to the global economy in recent history. These are due to numerous factors such as globalisation, advancement in technology, accelerated innovations, and changing trends in demographics. These changes have resulted in the need to improve levels of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship plays a crucial role in the improvement of economic growth and development. It also plays a vital role in facilitating poverty reduction, creating employment and structural changes. Entrepreneurship is a tool which can be utilised to improve living standards and general well-being. Failure rates for new businesses, however, are extremely high. The success of new businesses is a necessary factor to grow the economy. Business failures, particularly for new businesses, are a waste of valuable resources which could be used to grow the economy. Business incubators have been created in order to solve this problem. Incubators add value by combining the entrepreneurial drive of a startup with a plethora of resources usually not available to these under resourced startups. There have been several models developed to predict the success of startups. For this research, rather than measuring only success or failure, organisation performance was measured. This study creates a computational model, using machine learning, which will be able to predict the organisational performance of start-ups within incubators, based on specific factors. The organisational performance has been defined as a composite of both turnover and number of staff employed. In order to create the model, a literature review was performed, in which 15 factors were determined as being significant in terms of predicting organisational performance. This was used to create a survey, which was distributed to incubators. There were 103 respondents to this survey. When doing statistical analysis on the results of the 103 respondents, only five factors were found to have statistical significance - age, number of founders, capital rating, professional advisors and education level. Statistically, the predictability of the initial statistical model proved to be low at 23,8% for turnover and 25,4% for number of staff employed. Using the random forest machine learning algorithm, the predictability was improved to 35,92% for turnover predictability and 40,78% for number of staff employed.Item The influence of competitive bidding on entrepreneurial orientation and business growth of quantity surveyors in South Africa(2018) Diko, SakhumziAfter the Competition Commission of South Africa condemned and put a stop to the mandatory use of government gazetted fee scales for Professional Quantity Surveyors (PrQS), competitive bidding was introduced as a procurement system for professional services. The South African quantity surveyors are now competing on bid price for contract appointments in the public sector (competitive bidding). Discounts offered have increased exponentially over the years, especially in periods of work scarcity. This study investigates the influence that competitive bidding has on business growth. Secondly, the study assesses how the entrepreneurial orientation of quantity surveying practices is influenced by competitive bidding. A review of relevant literature identified the challenges that are brought about by competitive bidding. The study also focused on entrepreneurial orientation and identified similarities between what is required for competitive bidding and what dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation a quantity surveyor should possess. The research methodology is quantitative in nature and the data collection method used is a web-based questionnaire which explored the three variables, competitive bidding, business growth and entrepreneurial orientation. The results suggest that quantity surveyors who possess entrepreneurial orientation are less influenced by competitive bidding and that competitive bidding does have a negative influence on business growth. Key findings made included that bid price alone should not be used to determine the suitability of a firm. Rather, the quality of work, experience and qualifications must form the basis of the criteria for determining a firm’s suitability. It is further recommended that the competition law be amended to exclude quantity surveying practices and other professional service providers from competitive bidding.Item Organisational factors fostering corporate entrepreneurship: a study of state owned entities in South Africa and Zimbabwe(2016) Musara, Diana MarcellinThe purpose of this research is to investigate how organisational factors such as management support, reward/reinforcement and work discretion fosters corporate entrepreneurship at State Owned Entities (SOE) in South Africa and Zimbabwe. Several studies have been conducted on corporate entrepreneurship in the private sector with limited research on the same factors in the public sector, especially in Africa. The Corporate Entrepreneurship Assessment Instrument (CEAI) was used in measuring managers’ perception on management support, reward and reinforcement and work discretion. Four hundred on-line questionnaires were distributed, with a response rate of 169 managers from South African and Zimbabwean state owned entities. An hierarchical multiple regression model was used to analyse the results, which showed that there was a positive and significant relationship between management support, reward/reinforcement and work discretion with innovation, confirming results from previous studies. Occupational level was found to moderate the relationship between management support and innovation and the relationship was found to be strongest at junior management level. No moderation effect was found when reward/reinforcement and work discretion was tested with innovation. Further evidence from the survey results also indicated that Zimbabwean SOEs had higher levels of reward /reinforcement and work discretion than South Africa, but both countries had the same level for management support and innovation. However Zimbabwe had implemented more projects than South Africa, indicating that its SOEs were more entrepreneurial. Finally, when occupational levels were considered, Zimbabwe had higher scores for all the three independent variables, except for innovation, which South Africa was leading at junior management levels. However, the levels at middle and senior management was the same for both countriesItem The role of organisational antecedents in driving entrepreneurial orientation and firm performance(2017) Verachia, AbdullahThe aim of this study was to analyse and investigate the link between organisational antecedents that enhance corporate entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurial orientation, followed by entrepreneurial orientation’s impact on firm growth and performance. The study focused primarily on recent graduates in companies operating in South Africa. The organisational antecedents analysed were management support, work discretion, rewards and reinforcement, time availability, and organisational boundaries. The entrepreneurial orientation factors used were proactiveness, risk-taking, and innovativeness. The impact of entrepreneurial orientation was measured against firms’ growth and performance. A sample of 193 recent graduates, employed in an array of sectors in South Africa was analysed. The findings reveal that recent graduates place a particular emphasis on management support, and rewards and reinforcement as particular enablers for creating the context for corporate entrepreneurship. A significant positive relationship between these antecedents and entrepreneurial orientation, and a strong association between entrepreneurial orientation and firm growth and performance was found. Population trends reflect that 58.13 percent of South Africans are under the age of 29 (Stats SA, 2016), reflecting that young people, under the age of 30, will serve as the dominant demographic in the workforce in South Africa, over the next 15 years. This study was thus particularly relevant as it aligns the changing external environment that compels companies to become more entrepreneurial, with the perspective of a new generation of workforce that will be primarily responsible for driving this change.Item Leadership and talent development at the Mbombela local municipality(2017) Qhibi, TinyikoLiterature, which has been drawn for this research, defines talent development as a prime responsibility for leaders in an organisation to help achieve organisational goals and gain a competitive advantage. Further, talent development should be regarded as a collective approach which will encompass the other two parts of talent management, which is talent attraction and talent retention. Also, the integration of processes like change management, organisational culture and performance management has been outlined as beneficial factors to both employees and the company at large. While much has been written about talent management and talent development in particular, this study outlines what leadership can contribute towards a talent enriched organisation for future sustainability. Job satisfaction, visionary leadership and performance management are the three themes which emerged from this research. These themes require organisations to pay attention to them in order to achieve good results. What is also addressed is whether the focus of developing employees should be on the strengths or weaknesses of employees at individual level. However, the point not to be missed when dealing with the development of individuals in the workplace is to focus on TED (Total Employee Development). This helps the organisation to ensure that its workforce is equipped in all areas which is essential to achieve success and excellence. While organisations begin to accelerate talent development matters, they need to further focus on developing teams and this should be guided by the following principles: 1) to continue with the development of talented and experienced individuals to keep up with the changes in their respective fields; 2) paying attention to employees who are absolutely new and inexperienced in the field to help them develop interest in their work. The SRPD model (Specification, Raw Material, Production process and Distribution) has been drawn in as one of the tools which can be applied for the attainment of the desired 100% talent in the workplace rather than anything less which will be inadequate.Item The results of flow efficiency methodology in a labour-intensive, South African operation(2016) Bodill, ChrisThe research project aimed at determining employees’ experiences of the application of the flow efficiency methodology. The flow efficiency methodology was the selected management methodology from the broader scope of process-focused methodologies. The significance of the flow efficiency approach is that it’s an alternative approach to the traditional management approach of optimising resource efficiency, but rather focuses on improving the flow of the process in which the resources work. The research was conducted in the context of the labour-intensive, South African manufacturing sector using a case study approach. The purpose of the research was to understand front-line employees’ and supervisors’ perceptions during the application of the flow efficiency approach. The assessed perceptions came from four selected change factors that stemmed from the Lean change iceberg model commonly found in literature. The motivation for research was two-fold: (1) prior research of the flow efficiency methodology in the socio-technical environment focused on operational improvement impact, and not on the impact on people; and (2), most research of improvement approaches and methods in South Africa tended to focus on success factors and pre-requisite maturity levels of various methods. The chosen flow efficiency approach required no pre-requisite culture requirements. The researcher was of the view that gaining an insight (through a case study) into employees’ perceptions of change factors during a flow efficiency approach, could lead to benefits of development and empowerment of employees and management in the labour-intensive, manufacturing sector of South Africa. The case study selected was a flow efficiency-based, improvement initiative in a multinational dairy plant in South Africa. The researcher used an unstructured, group-administered questionnaire to assess operational and supervisory employees’ perceptions of the selected change factors after process changes were made in the process where they work. The four selected process-improvement change factors derived from the Lean change iceberg were: Leadership Behaviour; Social System Change; Effectiveness of Change; and Employee Involvement & Empowerment. Content validity was conducted with external and internal experts to refine the questions and sequence of the questionnaire. A trained research assistant facilitated the multiple questionnaire sessions. Thematic content analysis was used to categorise participant’s responses into themes and sub-themes for each question. The occurrence of themes and sub-themes per question was tallied up and discussed for operational and supervisory employees with respect to the research objectives. The research did not yield a broad-based view on the impact of the flow efficiency management approach on employees’ perceptions in the greater industry context. However, it did give an insight, through the case study, into some universally applicable perceptions of changes experienced by South African, front-line and supervisory employees when the flow efficiency management approach was used. Perceptions of: leadership commitment and coaching, improved teamwork, simplification of jobs, improved flow, and improvements in individual performance, and employee empowerment were prevalent perceptions felt by most employees at both levels.Item Determining organisational structures that encourage employee involvement: case of large construction companies in South Africa(2016-07-14) Mnyani, XolisaThis 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