Papers by Hester Nienaber
This paper reports on a qualitative case study on conflict management in virtual ten the software... more This paper reports on a qualitative case study on conflict management in virtual ten the software industry of South Africa. Virtual teams are common in the software industry, a main contributor to wealth creation. Failure is common, with conflict cited as a contributing factor. A purposive sample was selected, while data were collected through an electronic questionnaire and analyzed by means of content analysis. Empirical evidence suggested that conflict, with positive and negative consequences was managed within the team, preventing disharmony and supporting constructive disagreements between members; thus, facilitating team performance and competitiveness This study contributes to the emerging body of knowledge on the effective functioning of virtual teams
Leadership, risk taking and employee engagement in a South African context
Research note : an author's worst nightmare or a reviewer's lamentations?
Management Dynamics : Journal of the Southern African Institute for Management Scientists, 2012
Academic writing and the publishing of research results are an integral part of any academic'... more Academic writing and the publishing of research results are an integral part of any academic's job. It is important for the individual's academic progression as well as for the creation of knowledge. However, only rigorous research contributes to the expansion of the boundaries of existing knowledge. In South Africa, academic publishing outputs are relatively low, owing to the high rejection rate of articles by scholarly journal editors. The purpose of this paper is to provide some guidelines on typical problems, as identified by editors of scholarly journals, which result in rejection, and how to avoid them. The purpose of the paper was achieved by reviewing recent articles prepared by editors of peer-reviewed business and management journals on typical pitfalls which result in rejection. The value of discussing methodological views on typical errors found in reviewed papers should facilitate the review process and, if these guidelines are followed, should result in a decrease in the number of rejected papers and/or recommendations of major changes to manuscripts.
Strategic management ensures organisational performance by creating and shaping effective strateg... more Strategic management ensures organisational performance by creating and shaping effective strategy to outwit competition. Intended strategy and realised strategy do not necessarily coincide, resulting in a performance gap. Various reasons are advanced for this performance gap. Some researchers are of the opinion that this gap is attributable to formulation aspects, while others blame execution barriers. This paper reports on the perceptions of CEOs of four South African life insurers in connection with the strategy-to-performance gap experienced in their respective organisations. The findings illustrate that these organisations ranked the strategy formulation and execution activities in their organisations similarly. However, they ranked the reasons for the breakdown in strategy execution, as well as the factors that would have the greatest impact on the quality of strategy execution, differently. These rankings were not entirely coherent. This study is situated in the interpretivis...
Southern African Business Review, 2002
The study was sparked by the observation that similar firms, faced with a similar situation and s... more The study was sparked by the observation that similar firms, faced with a similar situation and seemingly applying similar market strategies may achieve very different degrees of success. The question was whether the market strategies applied by these firms adhered to the principles of a sound market strategy put forward in the literature. The study found that the market strategy applied by the firms in question complied with the principles of market strategy, to varying degrees. The firms that adhered to these principles to a greater degree appear to have been more successful than others. It appears that the less successful firms neglected the principle of 'sustainable competitive advantage'. It was concluded that adherence to the principles of a sound market strategy could lead to improved performance.
Journal of Global Business and Technology, 2015
INTRODUCTIONIn this paper, the authors propose that the fundamental purpose of business in societ... more INTRODUCTIONIn this paper, the authors propose that the fundamental purpose of business in society has been eroded, manipulated and re-interpreted to such an extent that the original intent has been lost. This reminds strongly of an event in "Animal Farm" (Orwell, 1945), where the original Seven Commandments composed by the pigs are altered by Squealer and in so doing, the original purpose of the Seven Commandments (to maintain order on the farm by uniting animals against humans and preventing animals from following evil human habits) are lost forever. The revision of the commandments demonstrates how simple a political doctrine can be turned into malleable propaganda.We suggest that in the sphere of management, much the same has happened. Over time, the original intention behind the early pioneers (and here we refer to both industrialists and scholars alike) has been manipulated. Things have been added that were not originally there, important bits have conveniently been ...
International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, 2018
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to investigate the influence of time on the r... more PurposeThe purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to investigate the influence of time on the results of the dimensions of employee engagement; and second, to determine whether there are any significant differences between the levels of engagement of the different demographic groups, so as to determine specific future interventions to improve employee engagement.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopted a quantitative approach employing a survey which used a questionnaire to collect data from the same convenience sample, over a three-year period. The differences were tested by measuring change through an analysis of variance.FindingsThree dimensions, namely, team commitment, team orientation and organisational strategy and implementation were significantly higher in the third than first period. Africans and respondents on lower job grades reported significantly lower levels of engagement than white respondents and top management.Research limitations/implicationsThe limitation ...
Methodological challenges in Social Research: an Exploratory Study
Postgraduate Business Research Methods: Facilitating Learning by Adapting Teaching Strategies to Match Learning Styles
Research note: an author's worst nightmare or a reviewer's lamentations?
Academic writing and the publishing of research results are an integral part of any academic'... more Academic writing and the publishing of research results are an integral part of any academic's job. It is important for the individual's academic progression as well as for the creation of knowledge. However, only rigorous research contributes to the expansion of the boundaries of existing knowledge. In South Africa, academic publishing outputs are relatively low, owing to the high rejection rate of articles by scholarly journal editors. The purpose of this paper is to provide some guidelines on typical problems, as identified by editors of scholarly journals, which result in rejection, and how to avoid them. The purpose of the paper was achieved by reviewing recent articles prepared by editors of peer-reviewed business and management journals on typical pitfalls which result in rejection. The value of discussing methodological views on typical errors found in reviewed papers should facilitate the review process and, if these guidelines are followed, should result in a decrease in the number of rejected papers and/or recommendations of major changes to manuscripts.
Exploring HR perspectives on succession planning as retention aid for engineering professionals: The case of SADRI in 2007/08
European Conference on Management, Leadership and Governance, Nov 12, 2023
Leaders are answerable. Organizational performance is attained by successful strategy execution. ... more Leaders are answerable. Organizational performance is attained by successful strategy execution. Consequently, organizations heavily spend on leadership development to hone leaders' competence aimed at ensuring the organization's competitive success. However, the success of such programs is questioned because of, amongst others, (a) frequently reported strategy implementation failure, allegedly owing to the absence of a competitive advantage and (b) observations that leadership as a mandatory source of competitive advantage has declined, despite leadership development initiatives. Thus, the question arises whether organizations systematically use leadership development foundational metrics (e.g., direction-setting capacity, trust, etc.) for effective strategy implementation. As part of a larger study, this report accounts for organizational use of leadership development metrics in strategy implementation. We followed the guidance of reputable scholars in conducting the empirical study. Limited information on the topic dictated an exploratory approach to gain insights to lay the foundation for future descriptive and explanatory studies. The considerable amount of data required to answer the question necessitated an exploratory survey. We collected data from a purposely selected population with an online questionnaire, based on a literature review and pre-tested with Human Resource professionals, complying with ethical principles. The findings include: The study met norms for exploratory surveys and trustworthiness criteria. More than half of the diverse respondents (concerning demographic variables, strategies applied, and ensuing organizational performance) reported the use of leadership development metrics in strategy implementation. However, few respondents linked the metrics used to competitive advantage. The implications include that the leadership development interventions may not have been optimal in ensuring effective strategy implementation based on competitive advantage. It can be concluded that the leadership metrics the respondents' organizations have used may have been ineffective in ensuring competitive success. The value of this paper stems from its actionable insights based on proven theory and validated by an exploratory survey. However, the main limitation of the study is its cross-sectional nature. Hence, we recommend further descriptive and explanatory research to enable broader generalizations.
Journal of Global Business and Technology, Oct 1, 2015
This paper contributes to the debate on strategy implementation failure. It reports on a qualitat... more This paper contributes to the debate on strategy implementation failure. It reports on a qualitative case study that explored factors that hindered strategy implementation at a South African electronics organisation. A blue-chip organisation whose performance had deteriorated over a period of time, was purposively selected for this study. Data was collected from top, middle and frontline managers of the organisation by means of interviews. Data was qualitatively analysed. Findings include that strategy implementation failed because strategy had not been designed to facilitate implementation. The reasons for the strategy implementation failure originated in the strategy formulation phase, a finding that is consistent with previous research. It is concluded and recommended that strategy formulation should be revisited with a focus on the design of an implementable strategy, as formulation and implementation are inextricably interwoven. The interwoven nature of strategy formulation and implementation contributes to the complexity of the phenomenon, which is poorly understood.
Into the weeds of hotel B2B sales: What contributes to buyer/seller relational exchange success or failure?
What is strategic about strategic marketing management? A tentative study
European Conference on Management Leadership and Governance
Despite unprecedented technological advancement, people remain the most important resource for bu... more Despite unprecedented technological advancement, people remain the most important resource for businesses to execute strategy. Yet, research reports that not all businesses ensure the optimum functioning of their people. This is evident from reports on (a) low levels of employee engagement, (b) deployed positions do not utilise peoples’ ‘competence’, (c) leadership lacks information linking employees to strategy execution and resultant business performance, (d) measuring employees’ contribution to business performance more readily at the tactical and operational levels than the strategic level of measurement, and (e) failure of strategy execution. Neglecting people is an enigma as leadership has long honed tools to make the most of their employees. One such tool is people analytics and another is strategy shaping. Consequently, we explored businesses use of people analytics in strategy execution, the vehicle ensuring business performance. This paper reports on the study. A literatur...
International Journal of Corporate Strategy and Social Responsibility
This study explored the contribution of the different layers of leadership and management in an o... more This study explored the contribution of the different layers of leadership and management in an organisation to organisational performance through teleological action. A qualitative case study was employed with data collected by interviewing incumbents occupying different hierarchical positions. The authors distinguish between three categories of action: 1) transformative -ad hoc and present-based actions; 2) formativepredetermined and past-based actions; 3) rationalist -goal-directed and futurebased. Interviewees indicated that the future was predictable, but were unable to indicate whether meaning was past-or future-based. Both a top-down and bottom-up approach were used to achieve organisational performance, which was formalised in the shape of an organisational performance loop through teleological action. Managerial implications include that organisational members should reflect on the nature of the future, which may be formative, rationalist and transformative at the same time. This research renders support for the view that the harnessing of all talent is more effective in organisational performance. The bottom-up approach is instrumental in 'emergence', which enables autonomy and innovation which foster organisational performance. This research contributes empirical evidence to the ongoing debate about organisational performance, specifically the role of incumbents at the various hierarchical levels of the organisation in performance.
Employee well-being, i.e. a total state of physical, mental and social health, is a prerequisite ... more Employee well-being, i.e. a total state of physical, mental and social health, is a prerequisite for organizational performance. Given its importance, employee well-being is receiving increased attention in the literature from a variety of perspectives. Studies focusing on occupational disease show that occupational stress is on the increase. In this regard the United Nation’s International Labor Organization recently described occupational stress as a worldwide epidemic. Occupational stress cannot therefore exclude complex nuclear facilities. Probabilistic Safety Assessment techniques were subsequently used to develop scenarios for hypothetical accidents that might result in severe core damage and to estimate the frequency of such accidents. The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission places emphasis on a Safety Conscious Work Environment as an attribute of a safety culture within a nuclear plant and the SECY-040111 regulator stipulates that the necessary full attention should be given to...
Immediate manager, performance evaluation and employee engagement: game changer for organizational performance?
Bridging the Academic-Practitioner Chasm: Towards a Model of Hotel B2B Sales
Journal of Global Business and Technology, 2018
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Papers by Hester Nienaber