Evaluation of a process- and product-innovation framework in decentralised international organisations
- Authors: Van Wyk, Anne-Marie
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: New products , Consumer satisfaction , Customer services , Corporate culture
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral (Thesis)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/293722 , uj:31944
- Description: D.Phil. (Engineering Management) , Abstract: The availability of big data, supported by advanced technologies, has given rise to a more informed and empowered global consumer, resulting in extreme pressure on organisations to continuously find new innovative ways to serve these clients. When operating under tough economic conditions companies tend to challenge the timing of innovative initiatives. The truth is that they simply have no choice. Clients now have more information and more choices than ever and an ever-growing list of demands and expectations. Simultaneously, there is increased competition for the same share of wallet. They must rise to the challenge, gear up for the battle and understand that they need to innovate and operate differently to survive. The journey to client centricity through structured innovation has a beginning but no end. It starts with the conceptualisation of an idea, develops through organisational alignment and iterations of implementation, learning and improvement. Client centricity has proven to be an elusive goal for many organisations. Agile disruptive innovation is required to remain relevant in the areas in which they operate. A paradigm shift is required and organisations need to change the strategies from being product centric to focusing on client centricity instead. The biggest issue and major challenge typically faced by organisations attempting to make this shift, is the organisational culture. Above and beyond client-centric innovation, the organisation needs to enhance more disruptive thinking around the development of radical new client-value propositions that move beyond the traditional confines of their current capabilities and commercial models and address client demands in other industries. Qualitative research, combined with action-based research, was conducted to assess the technical and non-technical enablers required to implement a generic product- and process-innovation framework to establish a client-centric culture in a diverse and decentralised international logistics solutions organisation. The intended contribution of this study to the academic body of knowledge is to create a new paradigm that proves that client-led disruption should be countered by innovation driven by client requirements instead of the traditional product driven innovation...
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- Authors: Van Wyk, Anne-Marie
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: New products , Consumer satisfaction , Customer services , Corporate culture
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral (Thesis)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/293722 , uj:31944
- Description: D.Phil. (Engineering Management) , Abstract: The availability of big data, supported by advanced technologies, has given rise to a more informed and empowered global consumer, resulting in extreme pressure on organisations to continuously find new innovative ways to serve these clients. When operating under tough economic conditions companies tend to challenge the timing of innovative initiatives. The truth is that they simply have no choice. Clients now have more information and more choices than ever and an ever-growing list of demands and expectations. Simultaneously, there is increased competition for the same share of wallet. They must rise to the challenge, gear up for the battle and understand that they need to innovate and operate differently to survive. The journey to client centricity through structured innovation has a beginning but no end. It starts with the conceptualisation of an idea, develops through organisational alignment and iterations of implementation, learning and improvement. Client centricity has proven to be an elusive goal for many organisations. Agile disruptive innovation is required to remain relevant in the areas in which they operate. A paradigm shift is required and organisations need to change the strategies from being product centric to focusing on client centricity instead. The biggest issue and major challenge typically faced by organisations attempting to make this shift, is the organisational culture. Above and beyond client-centric innovation, the organisation needs to enhance more disruptive thinking around the development of radical new client-value propositions that move beyond the traditional confines of their current capabilities and commercial models and address client demands in other industries. Qualitative research, combined with action-based research, was conducted to assess the technical and non-technical enablers required to implement a generic product- and process-innovation framework to establish a client-centric culture in a diverse and decentralised international logistics solutions organisation. The intended contribution of this study to the academic body of knowledge is to create a new paradigm that proves that client-led disruption should be countered by innovation driven by client requirements instead of the traditional product driven innovation...
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The culture of employee learning at the University of Johannesburg : the case of administrative assistants for university academic work
- Authors: Mavunga, George
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: University of Johannesburg - Employees - Training of , Employees - Training of , Corporate culture
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral (Thesis)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/286271 , uj:30975
- Description: Ph.D. (Higher Education Studies) , Abstract: Employee learning has of late become a strategic imperative for both individual organisations and countries. The reasons for this include the role of learning in employee professional growth; job and customer satisfaction as well as the need to enable employees to cope with technological advancements. This has given rise to the question as to how best employee learning can be practised. Attendant to this is the question as to the culture that should characterise such learning which, as pointed out by Garvin, Edmondson and Gino, (2008) is an area in which there is a dearth of studies as publications in most refereed journals, for example, take a generalist approach to either human resource management or adult learning. In addition, as Harrison (2009) points out, this is an area characterised by fluidity of perspectives and thus continuous search for new knowledge. Approaches to employee learning since the 1960’s have largely been premised on Human Capital Theory (HCT) whose main thesis is that investing in human beings guarantees an improvement in production as well as the economic benefits that accrue to them, the organisations which they work for and, ultimately, their countries. The suggestions in HCT and its related theories have several implications for the culture of employee learning. One of these is that its attendant culture is linear as it is solely dependent on government and or employer’s employee learning initiatives, on one hand, and the employees’ responses to such initiatives, on the other. In spite of their appeal, some of the proposals in HCT began to be questioned as early as the 1970’s especially because of evidence that brought to question the link between education, on one hand, and higher earnings for individuals and economic prosperity for nations, on the other (Bowles and Gintis, 1975; Tyack, 1974; Vally and Motala, 2014)...
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- Authors: Mavunga, George
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: University of Johannesburg - Employees - Training of , Employees - Training of , Corporate culture
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral (Thesis)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/286271 , uj:30975
- Description: Ph.D. (Higher Education Studies) , Abstract: Employee learning has of late become a strategic imperative for both individual organisations and countries. The reasons for this include the role of learning in employee professional growth; job and customer satisfaction as well as the need to enable employees to cope with technological advancements. This has given rise to the question as to how best employee learning can be practised. Attendant to this is the question as to the culture that should characterise such learning which, as pointed out by Garvin, Edmondson and Gino, (2008) is an area in which there is a dearth of studies as publications in most refereed journals, for example, take a generalist approach to either human resource management or adult learning. In addition, as Harrison (2009) points out, this is an area characterised by fluidity of perspectives and thus continuous search for new knowledge. Approaches to employee learning since the 1960’s have largely been premised on Human Capital Theory (HCT) whose main thesis is that investing in human beings guarantees an improvement in production as well as the economic benefits that accrue to them, the organisations which they work for and, ultimately, their countries. The suggestions in HCT and its related theories have several implications for the culture of employee learning. One of these is that its attendant culture is linear as it is solely dependent on government and or employer’s employee learning initiatives, on one hand, and the employees’ responses to such initiatives, on the other. In spite of their appeal, some of the proposals in HCT began to be questioned as early as the 1970’s especially because of evidence that brought to question the link between education, on one hand, and higher earnings for individuals and economic prosperity for nations, on the other (Bowles and Gintis, 1975; Tyack, 1974; Vally and Motala, 2014)...
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