The application and outcomes of action research as a team development intervention
- Authors: Kloppers, Paul
- Date: 2021-04
- Subjects: Teams in the workplace , Teams in the workplace|xTraining of , Management -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/51721 , vital:43366
- Description: An action research design was used to develop a team development intervention to determine the effect of the team development intervention on team functioning, as considered within a postmodern paradigm. A team of nine members agreed to participate in this study. For the purpose of this study, the researcher targeted an existing (intact) team who was already operating as a team within the work context. Therefore, convenience sampling (purposive) was used to select the relevant team. Data was collected using focus group sessions. The initial intention was to record these sessions to allow for collecting verbatim data that would aid the process of data analysis. However, due to participant concerns regarding confidentiality, the researcher suggested introducing a co-facilitator who would record proceedings by making process notes. The additional benefit of this approach included observation data that was obtained during the focus group sessions. A nine-step model was used as a guideline to conduct the focus group discussion and an intervention in the form of a team workshop was designed. The workshop, consisting of three integrated sessions, was implemented and the effect thereof determined by conducting a follow-up session with the team. The data collected from the focus group session before as well as after the workshop was processed and interpreted using thematic analysis. Issues of trustworthiness and data authenticity was dealt with during the focus group sessions by means of reciprocal feedback loops. The teambuilding workshop that was informed by the focus group input, focused on creating awareness around communication (interpersonal), behaviours driven by team values (interpersonal), as well as managing focus and energy (team processes). The team reported that the style and content of the workshop was apt and that the process was a good learning experience. This seems to support research suggesting that team building has a positive effect on developing interpersonal relationships, which could then benefit organisational performance. The results are discussed in relation to theory and suggestions are proposed for future research. , Thesis (MCom) -- Faculty of Business and Economic Sciences, Industrial Psychology, 2021
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- Date Issued: 2021-04
The importance of learning agility as a component of sustained business success
- Authors: Hennig, Mark Robert
- Date: 2021-04
- Subjects: Success in business -- South Africa , Management -- South Africa , Experiential learning
- Language: English
- Type: Master's/Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/51523 , vital:43295
- Description: The purpose of this treatise is to determine if learning agility is an important component for business success. With the arrival of new technology, change and information explosion the rate of uncertainty is increasing. Leaders are challenged to present continuous change and need to be able to adapt and develop their competencies to remain relevant. The VUCA world increased the complexity of the environment and provide volatility, uncertainty, complexity and are ambiguous. A significant amount of research has been done to define learning agility. The three drivers of learning agility are change, information explosion and rapid response during a crisis. The concept of learning agility can be defined as the readiness and ability to learn from experience and to utilise the learning competency to perform successfully under new environments. The seven-model framework was developed to assess how leaders cope under change. The three leadership competencies are intellectual intelligence, managerial intelligence, and emotional intelligence. Studies shows that emotional intelligence will be an important competency a leader can have and together with learning agility, will provide success to any organisation. The researcher believes that an individual who is not learning agile will not succeed in the new fast-changing environment. The term learning agile is rather a new concept and the influence it has on the organisation is complex. For leaders to succeed, their mindset needs to be adaptable and willing to change. Training and learning from experience will assist the leader to move forward and be an agile leader. A key success factor for organisations is to identify and recruit learning agile individuals to drive competitiveness and enhance relevance in the market. , Thesis (MBA) -- Faculty of Business and Economic Sciences, Business Administration, 2021
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- Date Issued: 2021-04
The critical implications of Ubuntu for contemporary management theory
- Authors: Mashasha, Tamsanqa Munyaradzi
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Management -- Africa -- Philosophy , Ubuntu (Philsophy) , Corporate governance -- South Africa , Management -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2879 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013116
- Description: Since the dissolution of apartheid, corporate governance in South Africa has evolved from being a soft mainly ethical issue to a hard knowledge-based technological issue, recognised as pivotal to the success and revitalisation of the country’s capital markets and, ultimately, the prospects of the corporate economy. These high stakes have produced a succession of measures aimed at transforming corporate governance in the economy. As such, South Africa’s corporate managers are consistently faced with the seemingly unassailable obstacle of discerning and implementing technologically progressive and culturally/racially unbiased management strategies/systems. The focus of this thesis is the latter of these two obstacles. Ubuntu acts as the scope via which the issues embedded within the incumbent management strategies/systems are viewed. Ubuntu philosophy embodies a socio-cultural framework that applies to all individuals and institutions throughout the continent. It embodies collectivism and teamwork, creation of synergies and competitive advantages, humanist leadership styles and maturity, consensus in decision-making systems, effective communication, and community-based corporate social responsibility. Ubuntu is pervasive in almost all parts of Southern African continent – it is integrated into all aspects of day-to-day life throughout the region. This thesis reviews and analyses some of the lessons that can be learned through the inception of African management, more specifically Ubuntu management, within South Africa’s corporate sphere. This thesis aims to prove that there exists a need for a new South African corporate management system, one which is able to harmoniously integrate the incumbent, western-orientated management strategies and systems with one of African origins.
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- Date Issued: 2014