Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management (ETDs)

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    Leadership styles and performance of teams in underground South African coal mines
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Smith, Corne; Stacey, Anthony
    The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between leadership styles and team performance in underground South African coal mines. The mining industry, particularly in South Africa, is critical to the country's economic development, therefore excellent team performance is essential to guaranteeing safety, productivity, and long-term prosperity. To collect thorough data, the study adopted a rigorous literature review combined with a quantitative survey issued to underground mining supervisors. The study investigated the various leadership styles used in different mining situations and examined their impact on team performance measures using this method. The study investigated the effectiveness of various leadership styles in building team overall performance by identifying prevalent leadership styles such as situational and transformational leadership styles. The quantitative survey analysed team performance using key variables such as productivity rates. The obtained data was then statistically analysed to uncover relationships between leadership styles and team performance outcomes. The findings of this study have important implications for both the mining industry and leadership theory. This study helps mining businesses adopt more targeted and meaningful leadership development programs by providing insights into the most effective leadership styles and productivity improvement for developing high- performing teams. Furthermore, the study added to a broader understanding of leadership practices in challenging and high-risk contexts, giving insight into the complex relationship between leadership styles and team success. Finally, this study shed light on the relationship between leadership styles and team performance in the particular environment of South African underground coal mines. It provided practical ideas for optimizing leadership methods to improve team performance, and overall productivity in this essential industry through its methodology and analysis
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    Hybrid work model plan for non-frontline employees in South Africa’s oil industry
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Serache, Tsholofelo
    The study explored experience and perceptions of the hybrid work model plan and its impact on employee productivity and performance, company performance, and collaboration in the South African oil industry. The study focused on oil industry employees who were non-front line workers in South Africa. The research explored both high and low perceptions in order to capture how the employees really felt about the hybrid work model plan's (HWMP)impact on employee and company performance. Literature found that some other flexibility models and hybrid models contributed to employee happiness, where employees were able to manage family dynamics as well as be productive, while other literature also detailed that the hybrid work model was not effective in driving collaboration and networking amongst employees. The research study also gives suggestions and recommendations on how many days employees prefer to be in the office to drive both productivity, performance, and collaboration while managing family dynamics in between and ultimately being happyemployees
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    Assessing the effectiveness of the employee health and wellness programme in Gauteng department of education
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2021) Mhangwani, Chrisen Eddie; Malindini, K.
    Employee Health and Wellness Programmes (EHWPs) were initiated in the public service since 2009 following the Department of Public Service Employee Health and Wellness Strategic Framework 2008 which was later reviewed in 2019 with the idea to proactively enhance the productivity of employees by providing health enhancing preventive strategies which if not provided, may contribute to ill-health absenteeism which have been identified as having significant direct and indirect costs to organisations. Therefore this study sought to assess the effectiveness of the Employee Health and Wellness Programme (EHWP) in Gauteng Department of Education Head Office by exploring the perceptions of GDE employees towards the programme in averting ill-health absenteeism behaviour. The study adopted the qualitative case study to collect data using investigative in-depth qualitative survey targeting hundred (100) GDE employees to explore and understand their perceptions as described by their responses towards the programme. The sample consisted of participants who had experience in utilising the services provided by the employer sponsored EHWP. The idea of using qualitative survey interviews were informed by its strength to collect rich and dense information from multiple sources which in the context of this study were fifteen GDE Districts and Head Office. As theoretical saturation of information is the guiding principle in collecting qualitative data, the researcher ended up interviewing forty (40) participants as there were no divergent views from the survey interview responses. This was done to ensure the reliability of the study by ensuring that the variability of the responses is maintained. The findings of the study reveal the varying perceptions towards the EHWP in averting ill-health absenteeism behaviour showed that it is good in advancing employees’ health and productivity while others hold the view that its implementation is not tractable. Moreover, the lack of employing monitoring and evaluation strategies in implementation and the ethical dilemmas in the provision of this service, have been cited as hindering the effectiveness of the programme
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    Investigating the relationship between automation and productivity in a South African firm
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2021) Zvoushe, Nobert
    South African manufacturing industry productivity has been declining over the last 10 years. Automation intervention driven by advancement in manufacturing technology is becoming increasingly popular and is being touted as critical to reversing this trajectory and ensure the competitiveness of the manufacturing industry is sustained. However, in South Africa where high levels of unemployment and low-level of skills, automation interventions in the labour- intensive manufacturing industry draw mixed views due to the fears that it will lead to massive job displacement. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between automation and productivity in a South African manufacturing firm. It does so by critically evaluating the automation intervention of a production process by a manufacturing company. The study interrogated firm level production data looking at performance before when manual production was in use and after automation was implemented. The literature review by the researcher found that there are limited studies in South Africa evaluating automation of manufacturing process. As a result, the success of automation in South Africa has been constrained by the limited empirical evidence demonstrating the effectiveness and merits of such an intervention. Hence, an experimental study like this one is a valuable contribution to literature and addressed the contextual knowledge gap. The manufacturing industry is critical to the country and very labour-intensive. As such, understanding how automation of the manufacturing processes in the industry relates to issues such as productivity and costs is critical. The study draws from the secondary data from the company data base. The study showed that automation is an effective strategy to improve productivity, quality and reduce production costs. In addition, the immediate displacement of workers was notable, and this would have negative implications on the drive to create employment in the country
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    Changes in Organizational Architecture of SME Manufacturers incorporating Smart Manufacturing Systems within Gauteng
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Radebe, Bongmusa; Maier, Christoph
    The South African Manufacturing SME is a thriving industry that has one of the biggest contributors to employment and impact in GDP contribution. The aim of the study is to understand the importance of Organizational Architecture and how adopting Smart Manufacturing Systems is imperative for improved Manufacturing SMEs overall performance. To skillfully contrive this inquiry, a quantitative approach was adopted, recording key driver responses to their perception of Organizational Architecture. These responses were captured through a survey questionnaire that was distributed using the desktop method of distribution. The results displayed insights on the perception of Organizational Architecture and reasons why key drivers of Manufacturing SMEs seldomly adopted Smart Manufacturing Systems to advance the manufacturing industry in Gauteng, South Africa. The insights brought forth from the research suggests that policy makers revise existing structures to cultivate activities that cultivate and protect the growth of Manufacturing SMEs. The research makes a significant contribution by identifying some of the insights on why the adoption of Smart Manufacturing Systems in Gauteng is lagging
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    The impact of leadership on productivity at Harmony Kalgold operation
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022) Montshonyane, Ramosiako; Matshabaphala, Manamela
    Background: The significance of good leadership styles in respect of productivity cannot be overemphasised in the modern world of global change. The change in leadership and their diverse styles has affected the rate of production at Harmony Kalgold Operation. Aim: The aim of the study was to investigate the impact of leadership styles on productivity in the case of Harmony Kalgold Operation in Mahikeng-Kraaipan, South Africa. Setting: The research study was undertaken in South Africa and particularly focused on the Northwest Province. Only a quantitative research method was employed with a sample size of 50 members selected from the organisation of study. Methods: The positivist and quantitative approach through a questionnaire survey was employed to collect data for the research study. A quantitative research methodology was adopted through a random sample of 50 employees. Results: Within the company, there are four main types of productivity. Democratic leadership is directly correlated with productivity. Authoritarian leadership style has a strong negative correlation with productivity. Charismatic leadership style has a positive correlation with productivity. Similarly, transformational leadership style was found to relate more with productivity and the leadership style should be developed by modern leaders. Transactional leadership style had a little negative relationship with productivity and entails a carrot and stick method to accomplish organisational goals. Conclusions: There are at least five most common leadership styles which influence Harmony Kalgold operation 's productivity. These are autocratic, democratic, laissez- faire, transactional, and transformational leadership. There are at most four measures of productivity at Harmony Kalgold. These are capital, physical, labour, and total productivity. Indeed, leadership styles influence productivity in diverse ways. Each situation requires each own leadership style to improve productivity. However, the situational theory of leadership suggests that no single leadership style is best.
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    Rail infrastructure developments and their productivity impact with special reference to institutions in five Southern African development community countries
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Dzawanda, Bernard; Ferddeke, Johanes W.; Mahonye, Nyasha
    This thesis investigates the determinants of rail infrastructure investment and its impact on productivity growth in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe for the period 1960 to 2018. The descriptive analysis of rail infrastructure data covers the period from 1939 to 2018. With the exception of South Africa, data availability limited the study analytics to start from 1960. The five Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries share a common history in terms of development, and their rail networks are interconnected. The focus of the study is on the quantity of rail infrastructure. Based on the augmented Bond, Mairesse, and Mulkay (1997) investment model, we apply the Pooled Mean Group estimator of Pesaran, Shin and Smith (1999) on novel datasets of rail infrastructure measures to estimate the drivers of rail infrastructure investment and efficiency in Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Estimation results suggest that economic, geostrategic and institutional factors drive rail infrastructure investment, efficiency and productivity growth in the four countries. GDP is found to have an insignificant impact on rail infrastructure investment. South Africa being distinctly different from the other four countries provides a different contextual setting to investigate the determinants of rail infrastructure investment and efficiency, and its impact on productivity growth. We separately apply time series analysis in the case of South Africa using the Bounds Test technique of Pesaran, Shin and Smith (2001). Estimation results suggest that GDP has a significant negative impact on rail infrastructure investment in South Africa. Government investment has a significant negative impact on rail infrastructure investment. Research results suggest that geostrategic factors have a significant positive impact on rail infrastructure investment in the four countries, and insignificant on rail infrastructure efficiency except in the case of passenger rail infrastructure investment where the impact is negative. In contrast, geostrategic factors have an insignificant impact on rail infrastructure investment in South Africa except for mixed rail infrastructure investment where the impact is negative. The impact of geostrategic factors on rail infrastructure efficiency in South Africa is found to be positive.