Exploring the Employee-Supervisor relationship in the Credit Recovery Department of a Financial institution
- Authors: Ndamse, Asanda Vuyo
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Financial institutions -- South Africa -- Leadership Collection agencies -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MCom
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/49975 , vital:41966
- Description: This study aimed to investigate and understand employee-supervisor relationship working in the credit recovery department of a large South African financial institution. The focus of the investigation, through qualitative research, was on numerous issues relating to their experiences working within a financial institution. The Credit Recovery Department which had nine separate divisions were particularly concerned about three main areas from survey results that they conduct yearly. The respondents to the survey were the call centre agents and team leaders. The employees surveyed felt that there was insufficient recognition for their contribution, the supervisor did not facilitate productive team engagements, and there was a lack of provision of formal and self-directed learning opportunities. These aspects were viewed as highly critical aspects of the employee-supervisor relationship and important to achieving set departmental objectives. Due to a lack of understanding of the cause of the perceptions captured by the survey, the main purpose of the study was to explore the employees’ attitudes, feelings, beliefs, experiences, reactions and concerns about the way their contributions were recognised, team engagements were facilitated, and the lack of formal and self-directed learning opportunities. From the ten questions that were asked, the three lowest scored questions were then put to the focus groups. The questions were tailored as open-ended, conversational questions with a specific focus on the three concerning areas. The first major theme that emerged from all focus groups is leadership and the style of leadership. Secondly, growth and development were a concern again for both call centre agents and team leaders, and issues were raised throughout the sessions, not only in response to the question on selfdirected learning. Further major themes that emerged were rewards and benefits, and lastly workload and systems. The findings from this study are anticipated to have important policy implications while meeting set standards for the employee-supervisor relationship status.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Ndamse, Asanda Vuyo
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Financial institutions -- South Africa -- Leadership Collection agencies -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MCom
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/49975 , vital:41966
- Description: This study aimed to investigate and understand employee-supervisor relationship working in the credit recovery department of a large South African financial institution. The focus of the investigation, through qualitative research, was on numerous issues relating to their experiences working within a financial institution. The Credit Recovery Department which had nine separate divisions were particularly concerned about three main areas from survey results that they conduct yearly. The respondents to the survey were the call centre agents and team leaders. The employees surveyed felt that there was insufficient recognition for their contribution, the supervisor did not facilitate productive team engagements, and there was a lack of provision of formal and self-directed learning opportunities. These aspects were viewed as highly critical aspects of the employee-supervisor relationship and important to achieving set departmental objectives. Due to a lack of understanding of the cause of the perceptions captured by the survey, the main purpose of the study was to explore the employees’ attitudes, feelings, beliefs, experiences, reactions and concerns about the way their contributions were recognised, team engagements were facilitated, and the lack of formal and self-directed learning opportunities. From the ten questions that were asked, the three lowest scored questions were then put to the focus groups. The questions were tailored as open-ended, conversational questions with a specific focus on the three concerning areas. The first major theme that emerged from all focus groups is leadership and the style of leadership. Secondly, growth and development were a concern again for both call centre agents and team leaders, and issues were raised throughout the sessions, not only in response to the question on selfdirected learning. Further major themes that emerged were rewards and benefits, and lastly workload and systems. The findings from this study are anticipated to have important policy implications while meeting set standards for the employee-supervisor relationship status.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
The role of empathy in emotionally intelligent leadership: an integrative review
- Greyling, Candice, De Jager, Marina
- Authors: Greyling, Candice , De Jager, Marina
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Emotional intelligence -- Leadership
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/22123 , vital:29842
- Description: Empathy is regarded as a fundamental interpersonal skill. Interpersonal skills are the life skills that we make use of every day to communicate and interact with other people, both individually and in groups. In this study, empathy is given prominence as a component of emotional intelligence. The concept emotional intelligence has enjoyed great popularity in recent years. In this study leadership denotes any person in a leadership position within an organisation. Extensive research has been done on the impact of emotional intelligence on organisations and leadership. Therefore, the aim of this study is to critically analyse the available evidence and to provide a clear review and synthesis of the role that empathy plays in emotionally intelligent leadership. The methodology used in this study will be that of an integrative review. An integrative review summarises the best-quality empirical evidence of the benefits and limitations of a specific practice to provide recommendations for future research. Data to be reviewed include articles in scholarly journals, books, theses and computerised databases. International and national literature involving both quantitative and qualitative research studies will be reviewed. As both qualitative and quantitative research studies will be of focus in this integrative review, rigour in both research methods was considered. The reviewer also considered four ethical considerations, namely: quality, transparency, honesty and plagiarism.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Greyling, Candice , De Jager, Marina
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Emotional intelligence -- Leadership
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/22123 , vital:29842
- Description: Empathy is regarded as a fundamental interpersonal skill. Interpersonal skills are the life skills that we make use of every day to communicate and interact with other people, both individually and in groups. In this study, empathy is given prominence as a component of emotional intelligence. The concept emotional intelligence has enjoyed great popularity in recent years. In this study leadership denotes any person in a leadership position within an organisation. Extensive research has been done on the impact of emotional intelligence on organisations and leadership. Therefore, the aim of this study is to critically analyse the available evidence and to provide a clear review and synthesis of the role that empathy plays in emotionally intelligent leadership. The methodology used in this study will be that of an integrative review. An integrative review summarises the best-quality empirical evidence of the benefits and limitations of a specific practice to provide recommendations for future research. Data to be reviewed include articles in scholarly journals, books, theses and computerised databases. International and national literature involving both quantitative and qualitative research studies will be reviewed. As both qualitative and quantitative research studies will be of focus in this integrative review, rigour in both research methods was considered. The reviewer also considered four ethical considerations, namely: quality, transparency, honesty and plagiarism.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Microcystin enhances the fitness of microcystin producing cyanobacteria at high light intensities by either preventing or retarding photoinhibition
- Authors: Phelan, Richard Reginald
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Microcystins , Microcystis , Cyanobacterial toxins
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:10354 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1020957
- Description: Several genera of cyanobacteria produce microcystin, a monocyclic peptide, with a unique chemical structure. To date, there have been over a 100 different structural variants of microcystin which have been identified. Microcystin production is affected by numerous environmental factors. However, the primary modulating factor for intracellular microcystin quota is the intracellular N:C ratio. No clearly defined biological role has been described for microcystin. Proposed roles for microcystin include defence against plankton grazers, metal chelation, an infochemical and a protectant against oxidative stress. There is sufficient evidence to support a biological role for microcystin in photosynthesis: microcystin is predominantly located in the thylakoid membranes, the microcystin gene cluster is differentially expressed as a function of light and a growth advantage for the microcystin producer in saturating light intensities. The purpose of this study is to investigate a possible biological role for microcystin in preventing photoinhibition and thus explaining the growth advantage observed in toxin-producers over non-toxin-producers. The uptake of exogenous microcystin was observed in Synechocystis PCC 6803 which was internalized and located in the thylakoid membranes and caused the inhibition of photosynthesis. Microcystin variants and increasing concentrations of microcystin-LR had no effect on the fluidity of the thylakoid membranes. The exposure of thylakoid membranes from Synechocystis PCC 6803 to physiologically relevant concentrations of different microcystin variants resulted in the inhibition of photosystem II activity but not photosystem I activity. The inhibition of photosystem II was variant dependent and concentration dependent for microcystin-LR and microcystin-RR. Chlorophyll a fluorescence data showed that photosystem II inhibition was caused by the inhibition of the oxygen evolving complex. Furthermore, a completion study revealed that the microcystin-producing Microcystis PCC 7806 had a competitive advantage over the non-microcystin producing ΔmcyA mutant of Microcystis PCC 7806 at high light intensities. The data indicates that microcystin protects the toxin-producer by either retarding or preventing photoinhibition and thus identifying the first data supported function for microcystin in cyanobacteria.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Phelan, Richard Reginald
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Microcystins , Microcystis , Cyanobacterial toxins
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:10354 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1020957
- Description: Several genera of cyanobacteria produce microcystin, a monocyclic peptide, with a unique chemical structure. To date, there have been over a 100 different structural variants of microcystin which have been identified. Microcystin production is affected by numerous environmental factors. However, the primary modulating factor for intracellular microcystin quota is the intracellular N:C ratio. No clearly defined biological role has been described for microcystin. Proposed roles for microcystin include defence against plankton grazers, metal chelation, an infochemical and a protectant against oxidative stress. There is sufficient evidence to support a biological role for microcystin in photosynthesis: microcystin is predominantly located in the thylakoid membranes, the microcystin gene cluster is differentially expressed as a function of light and a growth advantage for the microcystin producer in saturating light intensities. The purpose of this study is to investigate a possible biological role for microcystin in preventing photoinhibition and thus explaining the growth advantage observed in toxin-producers over non-toxin-producers. The uptake of exogenous microcystin was observed in Synechocystis PCC 6803 which was internalized and located in the thylakoid membranes and caused the inhibition of photosynthesis. Microcystin variants and increasing concentrations of microcystin-LR had no effect on the fluidity of the thylakoid membranes. The exposure of thylakoid membranes from Synechocystis PCC 6803 to physiologically relevant concentrations of different microcystin variants resulted in the inhibition of photosystem II activity but not photosystem I activity. The inhibition of photosystem II was variant dependent and concentration dependent for microcystin-LR and microcystin-RR. Chlorophyll a fluorescence data showed that photosystem II inhibition was caused by the inhibition of the oxygen evolving complex. Furthermore, a completion study revealed that the microcystin-producing Microcystis PCC 7806 had a competitive advantage over the non-microcystin producing ΔmcyA mutant of Microcystis PCC 7806 at high light intensities. The data indicates that microcystin protects the toxin-producer by either retarding or preventing photoinhibition and thus identifying the first data supported function for microcystin in cyanobacteria.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
Finite element analysis of the heat transfer in friction stir welding with experimental validation
- Authors: Vosloo, Natalie
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Finite element method , Heat -- Transmission , Friction welding
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:10511 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1019981
- Description: Friction stir welding is a relatively new joining process. The heat transfer involved is crucial in determining the quality of the weld. Experimenrtal data, though important, does not provide enough information about the heat transfer process and experiments can be costly and time consuming. A numerical model, using the finite element method, was developed to stimulate the heat transfer in the workpiece in which the heat generation due to friction and plastic deformation was modelled as a surface heat flux boundary condition. This model was applied to Aluminium AL6082-T6 and Titanium Ti6A1-4V for different welding condiitions. Results were validated with experimental results. The model was shown to give better predictions of the maximum temperatures at locations in the workpiece than the overall temperature trend. A parametric study was also performed on the Aluminium model in order o predict temperature fields of the workpiece for welding conditions that were additional to those undertaken experimentally. It was found that rotational speed had a larger effect on the change in temperature than the feed rate. From the parametric study it was also clear that lower rotational speeds (300 to 660 rpm) had a greater effect on the change in temperature than the higher rotational speeds (840 to 1200 rpm). It was concluded that the model was well suited for the estimation of temperatures involved in the FSw of Aluminium Al6082-T6 but was not as accurate when applied to the FSW of Titanium.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
- Authors: Vosloo, Natalie
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Finite element method , Heat -- Transmission , Friction welding
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:10511 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1019981
- Description: Friction stir welding is a relatively new joining process. The heat transfer involved is crucial in determining the quality of the weld. Experimenrtal data, though important, does not provide enough information about the heat transfer process and experiments can be costly and time consuming. A numerical model, using the finite element method, was developed to stimulate the heat transfer in the workpiece in which the heat generation due to friction and plastic deformation was modelled as a surface heat flux boundary condition. This model was applied to Aluminium AL6082-T6 and Titanium Ti6A1-4V for different welding condiitions. Results were validated with experimental results. The model was shown to give better predictions of the maximum temperatures at locations in the workpiece than the overall temperature trend. A parametric study was also performed on the Aluminium model in order o predict temperature fields of the workpiece for welding conditions that were additional to those undertaken experimentally. It was found that rotational speed had a larger effect on the change in temperature than the feed rate. From the parametric study it was also clear that lower rotational speeds (300 to 660 rpm) had a greater effect on the change in temperature than the higher rotational speeds (840 to 1200 rpm). It was concluded that the model was well suited for the estimation of temperatures involved in the FSw of Aluminium Al6082-T6 but was not as accurate when applied to the FSW of Titanium.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
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