Management and Marketing Dissertations and Theses

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    An exploration of the factors influencing the success and failure of rural micro-business in Choiseul Province, Solomon Islands
    (2021) Willie, Daniel Deriel; Unitec Institute of Technology
    RESEARCH QUESTIONS Main questions: How do the challenges and opportunities that face rural micro-businesses in Choiseul Province, Solomon Islands, influence their performance and longevity? Sub-questions: 1. How do these challenges inhibit the growth of rural micro-business? 2. How do these opportunities stimulate the growth of rural micro-business? ABSTRACT In both developed and developing countries, SMEs are the driving forces in job creation and revenue growth. This means that the SME sector is a significant contributor to developing a country's socio-economic status. This research explores current and former local business owners' experience regarding the challenges and opportunities that affect their rural micro-businesses’ success or failure in Northeast Choiseul Province, Solomon Islands. A case study approach using semi-structured interviews was employed to generate an in-depth, multi-faceted understanding of factors affecting rural businesses in their real-life situation. Data analysis followed a thematic analysis using coding techniques to generate themes. The research findings indicated that the main reasons for rural business owners in Northeast Choiseul to operate their businesses is to support their family's wellbeing, rural peoples' livelihoods, and to support their children's education. The study also found that the main constraints facing these businesses was unreliable shipping services, poor telecommunication, and the kaon(loan or debt) system. The study further revealed that factors such as lack of working capital, kaon (debt) system, and the influence of local culture contribute to rural businesses' failure. Contrastingly, the study showed that factors such as past working experience, customer relationship, marketing (location), and social business network contribute to the success of rural businesses. The interpretation drawn here is that operating a micro-business is one of the primary sources of income for the people of Choiseul, and that there is a need to support the growth of such small-scale businesses. The research therefore recommends that relevant authorities need to assist rural business owners to improve their business performance and longevity.
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    Impacts of installation of smart automated teller machines (ATMs) on frontline banking staff in India: A change management perspective
    (2021) Sood, Dinesh; Unitec Institute of Technology
    The banking sector in India has embarked upon computerization and automation on a vast scale in the last decade. The most notable one is the introduction and progressive application of information and communication technology (ICT) related automation in the form of multifunctional Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) installed in the retail banking branches. Banks gradually reduced the number of frontline staff because there is less need to interact face-to-face with the customers due to automation. Bank management applied organisation development (OD) interventions such as job redesign and training to handle the consequences of these changes. The literature review revealed numerous studies on the impact of ICT on the banking sector. However, limited empirical literature exists regarding the impact of the introduction of SAM (semi-automated machines) on frontline banking staff in India. This research study analysed the impact of the introduction of ATMs in bank branches on the frontline banking staff in a public sector bank (G) and a private sector bank (P) in India from a change management (CM) perspective. The age-old question of whether machines can replace human resources is also explored. A qualitative research approach was applied, with an instrumental case-study method in which a semi-structured interview technique was used to collect data from six respondents from banks G and P. The findings revealed that the installation of ATMs resulted in job enlargement for the frontline staff with horizontal job loading. While the frontline staff offered meagre resistance to this technological change, they had concerns about the top management's lack of a proactive approach towards implementing effective HRM policies for managing this change effectively. The fear that the introduction of smart ATMs would altogether dispense with the need for frontline staff is unfounded as the value of ‘human touch’ in retail banking was recognized,especially in rural and semi-urban branches. The findings also indicated an increased level of stress, out-of-sync recruitment policies, and vague training programmes for frontline staff, indicating a lack of participative decision-making. The recommendations suggest various ways to manage this technological change by designing and implementing focused HRM policies with effective OD interventions mechanisms.
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    Wāhine Māori and private business: Why are the participation rates for wāhine Māori so low in leadership positions within the private sector?
    (2021) Pukepuke, Michelle; Unitec Institute of Technology
    This thesis examines wāhine Māori in leadership and specifically, their engagement with positions in the private sector. The main purpose of this research was to understand the influences on their decision-making in terms of leadership choices, which in turn would identify a rationale for the disproportionately low levels of leadership participation in the private sector when compared to those of the public sector and self-employment. Qualitative research methods were utilized in this study including interviews, recordings and researcher/participant correspondence. This was conducted with ten wāhine Māori all holding current leadership positions, with five from each sector of private and public. Participants discussed their early influences and upbringings, factors that had shaped their career choices and provided insight into their experiences and challenges within their leadership positions. The overarching research philosophy encompassing this study was kaupapa Māori methodology, honouring the values of whānau, wāhi haumaru, whakaaro, kaitiaki and hononga. From the findings it is suggested that wāhine Māori are identifying the public sector space as providing them the vehicle to meet their career objectives, which were overwhelmingly focused on making a positive impact and valuable contribution to te ao Māori. It appears the private sector is not considered conducive with these values and aspirations and is therefore being overlooked. One matter definitively identified throughout this study is that lack of participation in the private sector is not due to factors such as a lack of competence and capabilities, but rather due to the personal choice of wāhine Māori and decisions made to disregard this sector. This research identifies significant issues for wāhine Māori when engaging in leadership roles in the private sector, predominantly related to a sense of compromising cultural identity and values. Also presented in this study is an opportunity for an evaluation of the private sector to determine its value to the capacity building of te ao Māori and to develop strategies for participation of wāhine Māori to be reprioritised. To be successful this must be positioned from a Māori perspective as the factors identified within this research are specifically te ao Māori issues and cannot be addressed adequately without this valuable discernment.
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    An investigation into motivating and demotivating factors affecting employees’ productivity in the Lao banking industry
    (2021) Sayyavong, Naphalay; Unitec Institute of Technology
    RESEARCH QUESTIONS: What are the significant motivating and demotivating factors which influence employees of the state-owned commercial banks in Laos? Sub-research questions: 1. From the employees’ perspectives, what are the potential factors that motivate employees in the Laos state-owned commercial banks? 2. From the employees’ perspectives, what are the potential factors that would demotivate employees in the Laos state-owned commercial banks? 3. What are the desired practices or factors that would increase employee motivation in the Lao state-owned commercial banks? ABSTRACT: The banking sector in Laos, be it state-owned or private banks, remains reliant on their employees for excellent customer service and positive outcomes. Since the Lao economy's new development system emerged, many new private banks from both domestic and international origins have been established throughout the country. The Lao state-owned commercial banks' management faced a challenging time to maintain their dominant market share in the banking sector. Employee motivation is the critical key to enable the state-owned commercial banks in Laos to maintain their competitive advantage and achieve their goals. This research project aimed at investigating the factors that motivate and demotivate employees in the Lao state-owned commercial banks as the public sector is the dominant player in the Lao banking industry. The study was conducted through the three leading state-owned commercial banks under three main objectives; being: (1) to identify motivating factors (2) to investigate the factors that cause demotivation to employee productivity and (3) to discover the desired practices that would increase motivation and decrease demotivation of the bank employees. To achieve these objectives of the research, semi-structured interviews, with a qualitative approach, were used to obtain the data through online video conferencing via Zoom. The data collecting process involved interviewing a total of 15 employees of three state-owned commercial banks in Laos. Based on the empirical findings, it was found that these study participants are motivated by both intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors. However, extrinsic motivation was shown to be a more potent motivating factor than intrinsic motivation among these fifteen participants. This is because extrinsic factors, such as employee benefits and financial rewards, gained the two highest scores for motivating factors. Meanwhile, career advancement, training programmes, good relationships with co-workers, challenging tasks, and recognition were intrinsic motivations that have potentially influenced this study’s participants’ motivation. The demotivating factors identified in this study were mainly related to inequality practices, fairness and transparency in the workplace. The results also suggest three important areas that need to be improved by the bank to increase motivation and decrease demotivation of employees, being: (1) people management (HR practices) such as effective job rotation and individual career path, (2) effective culture and management styles that focus on equality, and fairness, and (3) employee welfare and benefits that are more reliable and in relation to the economic condition that meets the standard of living of employees.
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    Practices of diversity management in international non-governmental organisations in Laos
    (2019) Vongxaysana, Chanthala; Unitec Institute of Technology
    RESEARCH SUB-QUESTIONS: 1. How do managers within INGOs in Laos perceive diversity in the local workplace? 2. What are the current approaches of INGOs in Laos to manage diversity? 3. How does diversity affect INGOs’ diversity management practices and processes in Laos? 4. How do managers in INGOs in Laos solve difficulties in managing diversity? ABSTRACT: Diversity management is a topic that has gained in popularity as the world has seen an increase in globalised brands and supply chains. Diversity management has been said to be a crucial factor to achieve success through people. While most research on diversity management has been focusing on commercial organisations, this research will look at diversity within nongovernmental not for profit organisations. It attempted to investigate how HR managers and Project managers working at managerial positions for International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs) in Laos perceive diversity management and their organisations practice of diversity management in Laos. The effects of diversity and potential solutions to address diversity problems are also examined. To address the research objectives, the researcher employed a qualitative approach and an interpretivist paradigm employing a data collection method of semi-structured interviews undertaken with ten senior managers from five INGOs in Laos. The participants’ perspectives provided a broad understanding on the perceptions of diversity and diversity management practices within the sector in Laos. The choice of INGOs in Laos was a deliberate one, firstly Laos is a less researched country allowing this research to add knowledge about an area where there is less literature and because Laos does not see many multinational enterprises (MNEs) hence INGOs in Laos provide a particularly important role in introducing modern management practices. The empirical finding discovered that the majority of senior managers were aware of the term diversity in the workplace they only had a partial understanding of the concept. It was also noted that there was no specific diversity training undertaken within INGOs in Laos despite participants noting that there were cultural concerns and communication issues present. This research concludes that presently INGOs in Laos recognise the importance of diverse workforces, but there is a lack of diversity management practices implemented within the INGOs.