Understanding Generation Y : an investigation of how Hilton College can use technology for communication
- Authors: Wyngaard, Richard Clive
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Generation Y -- South Africa -- KwaZulu-Natal Cell phones -- Social aspects Mobile communication systems -- Social aspects Information technology -- South Africa -- KwaZulu-Natal
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: vital:796 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004332
- Description: Background to the academic research. Hilton College is an all boys private school in the Kwa-Zulu Natal Midlands. Since the beginning of 2012 boys have been permitted to carry their phones during the school day, (Thomson, 2012). Wireless internet access was also extended across the campus to allow boys and staff to bring their own devices to class and have access to the internet (Machlachlan, 2012). In the past, communication between staff and boys was either verbal or through the use of a daily notice, called the Daily Routine Order (DRO). The DRO is placed at the dining room tables each day and boys are expected to check for any notices that may pertain to them. These notices are emailed to a secretary who prints them out and places them in the dining room each day at lunch. 2. Objectives to the research. This research sought to establish whether current communication methods were effective or whether the prevalence of mobile phones and wireless devices had presented the school with a more effective method. It was important therefore, to investigate what devices were on campus, how those devices were used and when they were used. In addition to this, the research sought to establish communication preference among staff and boys. 3. Research Methodology. The research was conducted through the use of a qualitative survey that was conducted among both staff and boys. Staff and boys were surveyed to establish generation, device prevalence, device usage and device preference. This data was collected using an anonymous qualitative survey that was administered through the use of Google docs in the school labs. 187 Boys in 3 grades 8 and 9 participated in the survey along with 18 staff members. The data was then analysed and compared to data from similar research that had been conducted elsewhere in the world. Because of significant age differences between boys and staff it was critical to establish whether device usage among staff and boys was tied to their generation. Of particular interest were the device behaviours associated with the Millennial generation, who were born between 1982-2002 (Strauss 2005:10). This generational ‘benchmark’ allowed the researcher to compare the Hilton College cohort to those whose device behaviours and usage had occurred and been discussed in generational research elsewhere. It also allowed for certain assumptions to be made about staff and boys based on their generational profile. 4. Findings It was found that staff and boys exhibited communication traits that were consistent with their generation and consistent with other research in this field. It was also found that staff and boys preferred mobile and digital forms of communication over verbal announcements and the DRO system. For this reason, it was recommended that the Hilton College establish a system that took advantage of technology to improve on communication. Various recommendations were given by the researcher that took advantage of current technologies. These included the use of SMS, Instant Messaging, Social Networks and email. It was also recommended that the school consider prescribing devices that allow for communication between staff and boys.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Wyngaard, Richard Clive
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Generation Y -- South Africa -- KwaZulu-Natal Cell phones -- Social aspects Mobile communication systems -- Social aspects Information technology -- South Africa -- KwaZulu-Natal
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: vital:796 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004332
- Description: Background to the academic research. Hilton College is an all boys private school in the Kwa-Zulu Natal Midlands. Since the beginning of 2012 boys have been permitted to carry their phones during the school day, (Thomson, 2012). Wireless internet access was also extended across the campus to allow boys and staff to bring their own devices to class and have access to the internet (Machlachlan, 2012). In the past, communication between staff and boys was either verbal or through the use of a daily notice, called the Daily Routine Order (DRO). The DRO is placed at the dining room tables each day and boys are expected to check for any notices that may pertain to them. These notices are emailed to a secretary who prints them out and places them in the dining room each day at lunch. 2. Objectives to the research. This research sought to establish whether current communication methods were effective or whether the prevalence of mobile phones and wireless devices had presented the school with a more effective method. It was important therefore, to investigate what devices were on campus, how those devices were used and when they were used. In addition to this, the research sought to establish communication preference among staff and boys. 3. Research Methodology. The research was conducted through the use of a qualitative survey that was conducted among both staff and boys. Staff and boys were surveyed to establish generation, device prevalence, device usage and device preference. This data was collected using an anonymous qualitative survey that was administered through the use of Google docs in the school labs. 187 Boys in 3 grades 8 and 9 participated in the survey along with 18 staff members. The data was then analysed and compared to data from similar research that had been conducted elsewhere in the world. Because of significant age differences between boys and staff it was critical to establish whether device usage among staff and boys was tied to their generation. Of particular interest were the device behaviours associated with the Millennial generation, who were born between 1982-2002 (Strauss 2005:10). This generational ‘benchmark’ allowed the researcher to compare the Hilton College cohort to those whose device behaviours and usage had occurred and been discussed in generational research elsewhere. It also allowed for certain assumptions to be made about staff and boys based on their generational profile. 4. Findings It was found that staff and boys exhibited communication traits that were consistent with their generation and consistent with other research in this field. It was also found that staff and boys preferred mobile and digital forms of communication over verbal announcements and the DRO system. For this reason, it was recommended that the Hilton College establish a system that took advantage of technology to improve on communication. Various recommendations were given by the researcher that took advantage of current technologies. These included the use of SMS, Instant Messaging, Social Networks and email. It was also recommended that the school consider prescribing devices that allow for communication between staff and boys.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
Waste management in the pharmaceutical industry : an evaluation report of Dr Reddy's Laboratories
- Authors: Letsitsi, Ezekiel Tebogo
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Pharmaceutical industry -- Waste disposal -- Case studies Hazardous wastes -- Management -- South Africa Hazardous wastes -- Management -- Law and legislation -- South Africa , Dr Reddy's Laboratories
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: vital:718 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001872
- Description: The pharmaceutical industry must worry about managing pharmaceutical waste as it poses a health risk to human beings and its presence in the environment can also contribute to loss of biodiversity. Ngwuluka, Ochekpe, and Odumosu (2011: 11259) state that “Pharmaceuticals, though used to treat and manage diseases, are poisons, which justify the growing concerns about their presence in the environment.” Various forms of pharmaceutical waste exist, Ngwuluka et al. (2011) identified the following forms of pharmaceutical waste: Expired dosage forms, non-reworkable formulations, spilled pharmaceuticals, rejected active pharmaceutical ingredients, expired active pharmaceutical ingredients, and wastewater resulting from the water used for process operations during manufacturing and could come from the water used to clean equipment, pipes and floors, and would contain amongst other materials, chemicals and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). A review on the pharmaceutical industry and the progress they have made in environmental management by generating health, safety and environmental programs, preventing pollution, waste minimization, recycling and reusing materials, investing in projects and facilities to ensure environmental sustainability have been established (Berry & Rondinelli, 2000). Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories is an Indian based pharmaceutical company which imports, markets and sells medicines in South Africa. Dr. Reddy’s has plans to set up a manufacturing plant in South Africa. The purpose of this study is to research waste management practices at Dr. Reddy’s plant in India and to draw parallels between India’s and South Africa’s waste legislation. This is to enable Dr. Reddy’s to review all aspects of its waste management systems, in order to revise where necessary and to improve the overall achievement of its waste management objectives in order to become a more sustainable organisation and to meet South African Waste legislation before setting up a plant in South Africa. 3 ii. Objective of the Evaluation Report The purpose of this research is to evaluate and analyse the development and implementation of a waste management system in a pharmaceutical company, specifically Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories. This is primarily to enable the company to review and analyse all aspects of waste management pertaining to pharmaceutical manufacturing and to revise or improve where necessary to ensure adherence to waste regulations as outlined by government. The following research goals have been also been identified: To identify and describe waste management practices at Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, on the inherent assumption by the researcher that the company has a successful waste management strategy that would need to be reviewed to identify areas of improvement before expanding manufacturing facilities into South Africa. To evaluate, assess and compare similarities and/or differences between the identified South African Legislation for Waste Management with those identified during research conducted at Dr. Reddy’s iii. Importance of the Research Conducted Waste Management is important in that it not only removes from the environment, substances that can be harmful to humans and animals but it also enables an organisation to be more sustainable. According to Seadon (2010: i) “Integrated waste management is considered from a systems’ approach, with a particular emphasis on advancing sustainability”. The study will provide guidance to senior management, shop floor managers and employees who work in Dr. Reddy’s manufacturing plants as well as overall employees at Dr. Reddy’s on how to successfully implement a Waste Management programme to enhance sustainability at the organisation and realise the benefits to the organisation of being more sustainable. Weybrecht (2010) identified the following benefits that companies could gain by adopting sustainable waste management practices: reduced costs, resource preservation, keeping up with legislation, enhanced reputation, business differentiation from competitors, and attraction and retention of quality employees, and customer need satisfaction amongst many other benefits. This research needs to address the gap in analysing waste management practices (with more emphasis on waste treatment, waste minimisation, re-use, recycling and disposal), and implementation and understanding of waste management in the pharmaceutical industry as prior research was done mostly in other chemical industries and not to a large scale in the pharmaceutical industry. South African Waste Legislation, Indian Waste Legislation (as Dr. Reddy’s is based in India), as well as International Pharmaceutical Waste Management Guidelines, and International Pharmaceutical Good Manufacturing Practices provide a framework and benchmark of leading pharmaceutical waste management practices that can guide Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories’ leadership into integrating their waste management practices into their plans of setting up a manufacturing plant in South Africa. 5. Research Methodology This is evaluation research in the form of a case study and the data collection method employed is the conduction of a survey through questionnaires. The evaluation research also involves a document analysis of the organisation’s 2011 and 2012 annual reports, Dr. Reddy’s 2010 Sustainability Report as well as literature compiled by the organisation’s Corporate Communications Division. The research would also include review of existing literature on waste management. v. Structure of Dissertation This dissertation consists of three sections. Section 1: The Evaluation Report The section introduces the research area, provides the objectives of the research, provides contextual background information and describes the rationale for conducting the research. This section further describes Dr. Reddy’s waste management practice as outlined in relevant company documentation; it is also intended to highlight the specific waste management processes that were followed in the formulation and implementation of the waste management strategy. This section further describes the sample and presents the results of the survey, where the results are collated and reviewed in the context of the criteria set in the South African Waste Legislation, Indian Waste Legislation, as well as in International Pharmaceutical Waste Management Guidelines, and International Pharmaceutical Good Manufacturing Practices. The overall findings of this case study suggest that although management at Dr. Reddy’s are satisfied with waste management practices and results achieved at it manufacturing plant, there is however dissatisfaction amongst employees who believe the organisation has not successfully disseminated information and sufficiently trained them on waste management policies, processes and practices. There is therefore a desire amongst employees to be trained and to see the company improve on its waste management processes, this desire is a very important attribute as it indicates that employees at Dr. Reddy understand and are committed to the importance of waste management. Future research should be conducted to measure the legal impact of non-compliance to legislation governing waste management in the pharmaceutical company. Section 2: Literature Review The objective of the literature review is to provide a critical assessment and evaluation of previous research in the field of waste management in general as prior research was done mostly in other industries and not to a large scale in the pharmaceutical industry. The literature review evaluates the key elements of an effective waste management strategy implementation and is followed by a review of literature pertaining to the description of Pharmaceutical waste. Section 3: Research Methodology This section presents a description of how the work in this research was conducted. It presents the research process followed in compiling this case study, represented by the aims and objectives, research methodology and design, data collection techniques and data analysis.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Letsitsi, Ezekiel Tebogo
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Pharmaceutical industry -- Waste disposal -- Case studies Hazardous wastes -- Management -- South Africa Hazardous wastes -- Management -- Law and legislation -- South Africa , Dr Reddy's Laboratories
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: vital:718 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001872
- Description: The pharmaceutical industry must worry about managing pharmaceutical waste as it poses a health risk to human beings and its presence in the environment can also contribute to loss of biodiversity. Ngwuluka, Ochekpe, and Odumosu (2011: 11259) state that “Pharmaceuticals, though used to treat and manage diseases, are poisons, which justify the growing concerns about their presence in the environment.” Various forms of pharmaceutical waste exist, Ngwuluka et al. (2011) identified the following forms of pharmaceutical waste: Expired dosage forms, non-reworkable formulations, spilled pharmaceuticals, rejected active pharmaceutical ingredients, expired active pharmaceutical ingredients, and wastewater resulting from the water used for process operations during manufacturing and could come from the water used to clean equipment, pipes and floors, and would contain amongst other materials, chemicals and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). A review on the pharmaceutical industry and the progress they have made in environmental management by generating health, safety and environmental programs, preventing pollution, waste minimization, recycling and reusing materials, investing in projects and facilities to ensure environmental sustainability have been established (Berry & Rondinelli, 2000). Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories is an Indian based pharmaceutical company which imports, markets and sells medicines in South Africa. Dr. Reddy’s has plans to set up a manufacturing plant in South Africa. The purpose of this study is to research waste management practices at Dr. Reddy’s plant in India and to draw parallels between India’s and South Africa’s waste legislation. This is to enable Dr. Reddy’s to review all aspects of its waste management systems, in order to revise where necessary and to improve the overall achievement of its waste management objectives in order to become a more sustainable organisation and to meet South African Waste legislation before setting up a plant in South Africa. 3 ii. Objective of the Evaluation Report The purpose of this research is to evaluate and analyse the development and implementation of a waste management system in a pharmaceutical company, specifically Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories. This is primarily to enable the company to review and analyse all aspects of waste management pertaining to pharmaceutical manufacturing and to revise or improve where necessary to ensure adherence to waste regulations as outlined by government. The following research goals have been also been identified: To identify and describe waste management practices at Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, on the inherent assumption by the researcher that the company has a successful waste management strategy that would need to be reviewed to identify areas of improvement before expanding manufacturing facilities into South Africa. To evaluate, assess and compare similarities and/or differences between the identified South African Legislation for Waste Management with those identified during research conducted at Dr. Reddy’s iii. Importance of the Research Conducted Waste Management is important in that it not only removes from the environment, substances that can be harmful to humans and animals but it also enables an organisation to be more sustainable. According to Seadon (2010: i) “Integrated waste management is considered from a systems’ approach, with a particular emphasis on advancing sustainability”. The study will provide guidance to senior management, shop floor managers and employees who work in Dr. Reddy’s manufacturing plants as well as overall employees at Dr. Reddy’s on how to successfully implement a Waste Management programme to enhance sustainability at the organisation and realise the benefits to the organisation of being more sustainable. Weybrecht (2010) identified the following benefits that companies could gain by adopting sustainable waste management practices: reduced costs, resource preservation, keeping up with legislation, enhanced reputation, business differentiation from competitors, and attraction and retention of quality employees, and customer need satisfaction amongst many other benefits. This research needs to address the gap in analysing waste management practices (with more emphasis on waste treatment, waste minimisation, re-use, recycling and disposal), and implementation and understanding of waste management in the pharmaceutical industry as prior research was done mostly in other chemical industries and not to a large scale in the pharmaceutical industry. South African Waste Legislation, Indian Waste Legislation (as Dr. Reddy’s is based in India), as well as International Pharmaceutical Waste Management Guidelines, and International Pharmaceutical Good Manufacturing Practices provide a framework and benchmark of leading pharmaceutical waste management practices that can guide Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories’ leadership into integrating their waste management practices into their plans of setting up a manufacturing plant in South Africa. 5. Research Methodology This is evaluation research in the form of a case study and the data collection method employed is the conduction of a survey through questionnaires. The evaluation research also involves a document analysis of the organisation’s 2011 and 2012 annual reports, Dr. Reddy’s 2010 Sustainability Report as well as literature compiled by the organisation’s Corporate Communications Division. The research would also include review of existing literature on waste management. v. Structure of Dissertation This dissertation consists of three sections. Section 1: The Evaluation Report The section introduces the research area, provides the objectives of the research, provides contextual background information and describes the rationale for conducting the research. This section further describes Dr. Reddy’s waste management practice as outlined in relevant company documentation; it is also intended to highlight the specific waste management processes that were followed in the formulation and implementation of the waste management strategy. This section further describes the sample and presents the results of the survey, where the results are collated and reviewed in the context of the criteria set in the South African Waste Legislation, Indian Waste Legislation, as well as in International Pharmaceutical Waste Management Guidelines, and International Pharmaceutical Good Manufacturing Practices. The overall findings of this case study suggest that although management at Dr. Reddy’s are satisfied with waste management practices and results achieved at it manufacturing plant, there is however dissatisfaction amongst employees who believe the organisation has not successfully disseminated information and sufficiently trained them on waste management policies, processes and practices. There is therefore a desire amongst employees to be trained and to see the company improve on its waste management processes, this desire is a very important attribute as it indicates that employees at Dr. Reddy understand and are committed to the importance of waste management. Future research should be conducted to measure the legal impact of non-compliance to legislation governing waste management in the pharmaceutical company. Section 2: Literature Review The objective of the literature review is to provide a critical assessment and evaluation of previous research in the field of waste management in general as prior research was done mostly in other industries and not to a large scale in the pharmaceutical industry. The literature review evaluates the key elements of an effective waste management strategy implementation and is followed by a review of literature pertaining to the description of Pharmaceutical waste. Section 3: Research Methodology This section presents a description of how the work in this research was conducted. It presents the research process followed in compiling this case study, represented by the aims and objectives, research methodology and design, data collection techniques and data analysis.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013