Faculty of Management Sciences
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Item The influence of organisational change on organisational culture and employee engagement at a retail distribution centre in KwaZulu-Natal(2024) Ndlovu, Thobeka; Murwirapachena, GeniusOrganisational change remains one of the most critical challenges facing organisations. It is imperative for employee engagement and organisational culture to be incorporated into the organisational strategic goals to enhance employee performance and organisational success. Generally, organisational change can be triggered by factors including the business, political, economic, and cultural environments, competitor initiatives, technological innovations, globalisation, or restructuring. The riots that happened in several parts of Durban and Johannesburg in July 2021 affected several businesses. In the aftermath, studies have emerged detailing the impact of the riots, yet very few studies, if any, exist on the impact of the unrests on organisations across the retail distribution sector. This study aims to close this gap by investigating the impact of organisational change on organisational culture and employee engagement within the retail distribution sector. The study fulfils three main objectives to achieve this aim. The first objective is to examine the Influence of organisational change on organisational culture. Secondly, the study seeks to examine the Influence of organisational change on employee engagement, and lastly, the study aims to determine the role of demographic factors, if any, on the influence of organisational change on organisational culture and employee engagement.Item Assessing the influence of organizational culture on small, medium and micro enterprise’s business sustainability in the eThekwini Municipal area(2024) Khoza, Ntokozo Thanks-LordThis research accepted that the government of South Africa supports the development of Small, Medium, and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) due to their potential to grow the country’s economy. The research then aimed to ascertain the extent to which the influence of organizational culture on SMMEs can influence business sustainability in the eThekwini Municipal area of South Africa. The study scrutinized the ability of SMME managers and operators on how they can through organizational culture ensure business sustainability in a way that contributes to sustainable economic growth. Additionally, the factors that influence the development and the performances of SMMEs in the eThekwini Municipal area were observed. The study follows the human behaviour of SMME managers, operators, and business owners as to how they can contribute to economic development and survive in the competitive market. Using simple random sampling, data was collected from various SMMEs in the eThekwini Municipal area. A total of 250 entrepreneurs responded to the questionnaire. This data was captured and analyzed on SPSS (version 26) and yielded descriptive statistics. The key findings were that the entrepreneurs revealed that business awareness; transparency; market capturing; opportunity recognition; market intelligence; clarity of purpose; business risk; creativity; self-motivation; and team spirit were all significant in founding and operating a successful business. A challenge that emerged from the respondents was that a high number of entrepreneurs did not give much significance to assuming responsibilities. However, they were taking good care of their environments and using their cultural values to reform the environment. The main objective is that entrepreneurs, operatives and managers must learn to assume responsibly if they are to build their businesses and environment that renounces incorrigible act. This could also be an avenue for further research.Item The influence of ethical leadership and organisational culture on employee commitment in the City of Johannesburg(2023-03) Ndou, Joseph Mbulaheni; Agbenyegah, Albert TcheyThe key driver of this study was to explore the influence of ethical leadership and organisational culture on employee commitment in the City of Johannesburg. The study employed a quantitative research approach, and simple random sampling was used to select research participants. This study entailed a cross-sectional study. Four hundred online questionnaires were distributed to research participants, of whom 234 were returned, giving an initial response rate of 58.5%. Of the 234 online returned questionnaires, 14 were found to be invalid and were omitted from the study analysis. This resulted in a valid response rate of 55%. The study’s findings have revealed that ethical leadership is key in positively influencing employee commitment. Therefore, the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality employees should be trained to increase their knowledge of ethical leadership, apply it and be empowered to enhance employee commitment. Moreover, the study has also revealed that organisational culture contributes substantially to employees’ commitment to the City of Johannesburg. Therefore, the City of Johannesburg's leadership should create a strong culture that will result in a positive environment. This would assist in retaining employees and thus reduce employee turnover. Moreover, the study has also revealed that organisational culture contributes substantially to employees’ commitment to the City of Johannesburg. Therefore, the City of Johannesburg's leadership should create a strong culture resulting in a positive environment. This would assist in retaining employees and thus reduce employee turnover. Therefore, the study recommends that the City of Johannesburg recruit ethical employees and create a conducive organisational culture to foster employee commitment.Item An evaluation of the diversity management training programmes of eThekwini Municipality(2023) Mbatha, Nondumiso Lilian; Govender, SathsIn terms of gender, ethnicity, religion and unique sexual orientation, today's workforce is becoming increasingly diversified each day. As a result, there has been a need to formulate and implement diversity management programmes in all organisations to manage diversity effectively. Diversity management concerns itself with practices, programmes and policies directed at incorporating the combinations of multiple social identity groups with the view of ensuring maximum organisational output. The eThekwini Municipality has formulated programmes to equip managers with the right skills to manage diversity. Such programmes, including workshops and seminars, have improved awareness about diversity management. However, these interventions have still not had the desired impact in significantly contributing to equipping managers with the necessary skills to manage diversity to the maximum advantage of the organisation. There is still the need to provide effective programmes with the relevant content that would provide managers with skills and information to manage a diverse workforce. Managing diversity is an ongoing process that needs collaboration from all departments within an organisation. The unavailability of a steering committee of employee representatives and management to monitor and evaluate diversity management programmes, contributes to ineffective diversity programme implementation in organisations. If there is a lack of implementation, then there is a lack of employee morale. Therefore, there is a need to assess the effectiveness of the existing programmes in the eThekwini Municipality to ensure continued employee performance for increased organisational productivity and improved service delivery. The study's overall objective is to identify and analyse the effectiveness of diversity management training programmes at the eThekwini Municipality, with specific reference to disability and sexual orientation. The researcher sees the need to focus on these two categories because she is of the belief they are often not taken into consideration during the formulation and implementation stages of training programmes. The research methodology used in the study was the qualitative research method. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 12 participants from the target population of human resource employees from the Department of Human Resources at the eThekwini Municipality. The position of the participants ranged from management to graduate trainees. After the data was collected, it was then analysed using thematic analysis. The participants acknowledged that they had knowledge of diversity management, and that the municipality recognises it. They all also stated that the training programmes are a good initiative but that there still exists ample room for improvement, as there are gaps in the implementation. Most of the responses on discrimination gave the researcher the impression that there was minimal discrimination, and that the municipality takes initiative in ensuring that it stays that way.Item The influence of organisational culture on job satisfaction : a case study of Nkomazi Municipaliy - Mpumulanga(2019-11) Mabuza, Nontuthuzelo M.; Moodley, DiannaOrganisational culture plays an integral part in every organisation, particularly on aspects such as employees’ morale, emotions, satisfaction and performance. Earlier researchers have demonstrated the connectivity between an organisation’s culture and employees’ level of satisfaction. This study attends to probe further on this topic; however, its scope is within the Nkomazi Municipality in Mpumalanga, South Africa. The study’s core goal was to determine factors affecting the relationship between organisational culture and job satisfaction within the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa. To achieve this aim, the study pursued a qualitative research approach by interviewing personnel at the Nkomazi Municipality as a means to gaining deeper insight on their perceptions and opinions. The study revealed that organisational culture did impact on job satisfaction at Nkomazi Municipality; however, this positive note was downplayed by the insufficiency of information flow among different strata of the municipality. In line with this, the study recommends regular meetings as a means to enhancing the communication flow amongst role-players within the municipality. Furthermore, the study advocates training programmes as an agenda towards an efficient flow of communication at different levels within the Nkomazi Municipality; while also adopting capacity developmental programmes for the development of personnels’ communication, interpersonal and cognitive skills.Item Customer centricity in enhancing organisational objectives at a selected government parastatal(2021-10) Swartbooi, Angelique; Bayat, Mohamed SaheedThe selected Government Parastatal is an operating division of a State-Owned Entity, wholly-owned by the South African Government. The parastatal operates 3 800 km of pipeline throughout South Africa, transporting refined petroleum products, crude oil and methane rich gas. The focus of the parastatal is to provide an integrated pipeline service offering to customers, by maximising product volumes, while minimising logistical costs. The parastatal services six of the leading petroleum and gas companies in South Africa through its pipeline service offering. With the assistance of an external service provider, the parastatal conducted a customer satisfaction survey in the financial year 2018/19, with results indicating 70 percent customer dissatisfaction with their current service. The results highlighted areas of concern such as clear and proactive communication, operations and service delivery and delivery on contractual agreements. It is held that being customer-centric means being involved and invested in the organisation, knowing and helping customers to satisfy their needs. Nonetheless, organisations need to develop a new set of operating beliefs that are customer-focussed, with literature proposing customer-centricity as an important factor in the long-term growth and sustainability of an organisation. The parastatal selected for study is a service-driven organisation and its business depends on its customers, thus, it is important to consistently ensure a high-level of customer service. Organisations that focus on a customer-centric perspective have been shown as able to address customer needs. This research project will, therefore, focus on the role of customer-centricity and how it can enhance organisational objectives within a selected parastatal, through an evaluation of the need for a customer centric culture and the significance of employee participation in customer-centricity, in addition to an analysis of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) as a tool in evolving the Government Parastatal as a customer centric organisation. The study will employ a quantitative research design, with a 5-point Likert scaled questionnaire, comprised of closed-ended questions that will be distributed to the targeted population of 400 and a sample size of 199. A web-based survey will be used to distribute the questionnaire and a link emailed to participants, while hand delivering to those without email acces. Responses will be analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 27. At the conclusion of the study, the researcher hopes to recommend the significance of customer-centricity to the Executive Management team of the government parastatal and how it can enhance organisational objectives. The researcher also expects to find a correlation between employee participation in creating a customercentric culture in an organisation and achieving organisational objectives.Item The synergy between human resources and operations commitment at a selected car rental company(2021-11) Sing, Sudheer; Dlamini, Bongani InnocentDue to high staff turnover of the front line staff appointed as Rental Sales Agents, it has been established that this creates disharmony in the work place for the remaining employees that have been in their roles over a long period of time. From observation, employee morale is affected, due to stress, longer working hours and other related factors due to being short of manpower in the relevant business unit. A study by Zheng (2017), asks: Does Staff Turnover Affect Productivity? Zheng (2017), states that in the Corporate World of Business, each company’s productivity is complex and measured differently, but the one factor that remains constant and always hurts productivity is employee turnover. “When employees are constantly moving, it is difficult to maintain the level of output; that’s mainly because new employees need time to train and to get used to the work, before they reach full productivity”. The researcher has confirmed that the organisation in this study is a reputable brand that is a leader in the car rental service industry. It can therefore be argued that in order to remain a leader in the industry, it requires the appropriate resources in order to be able to stay ahead of its competitors. One of the key resources identified in this study is, Human Capital. Human Capital should be equipped with the requisite skills to be able to assist the customer fully. This will enable operations to successfully achieve its goal through its people which is the main function of an effective HRMS, defined as Human Resource Management System. It is alleged that synergy between the Operations and Human Capital Department is not cohesive and is therefore impacting on productivity, satisfaction and organisational commitment at the selected Car Rental Company. In order for this organisation to be in line with its vision, which is to exceed customer expectations at every Interface, it has been established that employee commitment, as brand ambassadors has to be aligned and re-enforced for maximum productivity which can be maintained, hence, according to Dattagupta (n.d), “organizational effectiveness points towards effective, prudent and strategic use of all the organizational resources, namely, Human, Financial and Technological resources for creating a competitive advantage. The organizational effectiveness also calls for creating sustainable growth and development by taking care of not only the senior shareholders' expectations, but also the expectations of the junior stakeholders. It also means that Management makes the right ethical decisions in the interest of all the stakeholders, which includes all the employees of the organisation”.Item Leadership challenges of middle management at Transnet's Durban Container Terminal(2019-08) Nxasana, Nomalungelo Zola; Bayat, Mohamed SaheedTransnet Port Terminals’ Durban Container Terminal (DCT) is the largest and busiest container terminal in Africa and the fifth largest terminal in the southern hemisphere based on container throughput. Middle Managers (MMs) at the DCT are responsible for ensuring that this leviathan of port trade stays afloat and operates optimally. By virtue of their position, MMs find themselves both followers (taking directions from senior managers) and leaders (overseeing subordinates). Striking a balance between these two roles is often associated with many challenges and tremendous amounts of stress. This study aimed to identify some of the structures in place at the DCT geared towards empowering MMs at the DCT cope with the leadership demands of their duties. The research focused on the formal leadership development programmes offered by Transnet Port Terminals and evaluated its effectiveness in enhancing the MM as leader. To understand MMs’ concerns better, a holistic assessment was conducted on the environment and organisational culture in which MMs operated. The specific objectives of the study were to investigate DCT’s organisational culture, to identify the development structures in place for grooming MMs for leadership, to investigate the effectiveness of developmental programmes in enhancing MMs leadership; and to explore the receptiveness of subordinates towards MMs’ leadership. The present study is a descriptive study that used the probability random sampling technique as the results were intended to be generalizable over the entire MM population at Transnet’s DCT. This method has been described as one of the best techniques for collecting data as it highly reflects the population of interest. Research data were collected by means of a self-administered structured questionnaire. Forty-seven invitations were sent to MMs, 35 accepted and were enrolled into the study (i.e. 74.5% participation rate). One of the main findings of the study indicated that the DCT had a dual organisational culture. Middle Managers thus found themselves working in an environment that was both hierarchical and developmental. Middle Managers had all attended at least one of the leadership development programmes offered by Transnet Port Terminals. Moderate monotonic correlations were found between understanding course material and its practical applications; and leadership enhancement. However, a weaker association was observed between course relevance and leadership development. It is also emerged that MMs and subordinates had good working relationships. The main limitation of the study was gaining access to the MMs. This was partially due to the conflicting shifting times. As such, it was not possible to gain the participation of a statistically representative sample of the MMs to generalise findings over the entire MM population at the DCT.Item The influence of leadership styles on organizational team culture in a South Africa mining organization(2018) Govender, Dheren; Lekhanya, Lawrence MpeleThe purpose of this study was to assess the impact of leadership styles on organizational team culture in a South African based mining organization. Senior management of the company has noted different shop floor team cultures which seem to be affecting productivity negatively. This project will give emphasis on the context of leaders of an organization and the amount of influence or non-influence leadership has on shop floor team culture. This study used a quantitative method research design. The research was conducted at the site logistics department of mining company X based in the Northern KwaZulu-Natal (KZN).The aim of this study is to determine the current shop floor team culture using the Organizational Cultural Assessment Instrument (OCAI) developed by Cameron and Quinn (2011) and the current leadership styles governing these teams using the, Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) developed by Avolio and Bass (2004). These measuring instruments have demonstrated proven reliability and validity in previous studies. The analysis of data was done using the Statistics Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) version 24.0, with the results presented by figures and tables. The study seeks to improve team practices and productivity. The target population of the study was made up of the 4 teams that make up the site logistics department and their immediate team leader/ supervisor. The sample size of the study was 114 employees in total i.e., 110 shop floor team members and the 4 team leaders. The findings of the study revealed that the leadership styles of the team leader‟s does have an influence on organizational/team culture within the department. The study further revealed the miss alignment of the overall leadership style of all the team leaders to the to the perceived organizational direction of the senior management with regards to the leadership strategy.Item The influence of culture on marketing communications between South African and German businesses(2012-11-30) Schnalke, Marcel; Mason, Roger Bruce; Ngubane, ZwakeleGlobalization has brought new challenges for companies operating internationally. Various geographic locations, including numerous cultures, enhance marketing operations for an international company. The marketing communications process is influenced by culture and, therefore, it is important to identify the main national cultural factors and variables which influence this process. This study aimed to investigate the influence of national culture on marketing communications between German and South African businesses. The objectives of this study were to identify the main critical national cultural factors/variables influencing marketing communications between South African and German businesses and to develop a cultural framework to support marketing communications between German and South African firms. In order to accomplish the objectives, the study was undertaken as a quantitative survey combined with qualitative in-depth interviews to provide better understanding of the information obtained from the survey. The quantitative study was conducted from marketing staff selected from a population of 250 companies. Six in-depth interviews discussing the findings and results obtained through the quantitative study completed the qualitative part of the study. Language, value system, religion, level of education, attitude towards time, marketing communication style and marketing messages have been identified as the seven main cultural factors/variables to be critical and which have to be taken into consideration for marketing communications. Two cultural frameworks, one focussing on South Africa, the other one focussing on Germany, have been developed to provide South African and German businesses with the essential information and support if they want to implement a successful marketing communications strategy for either the German or the South African market.