The present research investigated the challenges and problems facing the public sector institutions regarding the processes, procedures, practices, steps and methods used for human resource recruitment and selection. The South African government outlawed unfair discrimination to promote equality and equity in the labour force. This state of affairs has direct implications for employment practices such as recruitment and selection in the public service. Without a comprehensive recruitment and selection model, public service departments could contravene legislative requirements. As a result, these public service departments then may not succeed in attracting and appointing the best candidates for vacant positions. The intension of this study was to determine the extent to which functions of human resource management (HRM) reflect the spirit and stipulations of the statutory and regulatory framework. These functions include job analysis, job evaluation, job design, job profiles, and human resource planning, as well as induction and orientation. The aim is further to verify to what extent these functions influence recruitment and selection practices. A qualitative research design was used to construct a comprehensive human resource recruitment and selection model. This model is the result of a thorough analysis of comparative recruitment and selection theories, approaches, international best practice, and of existing models. A case study was undertaken within the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (DOJ&CD). Data was collected by using a questionnaire from a representative sample. The target population comprised senior and middle managers from the National Office in Pretoria and North West Province responsible for human resource functions. They are divided into five sub-clusters. Based on the core findings of this research it was established that the DOJ&CD experiences inefficiencies as far as the following aspects of human resource management are concerned: alignment, development and implementation of appropriate human resource strategies, systems, processes, procedures and methods. This also includes the approaches for recruitment and selection. The DOJ&CD mainly utilises traditional processes of recruitment and selection that do not adequately reflect international best practice and, furthermore, do not adhere to all the stipulations of the myriad forms of legislation that are governing human resources in the public service. A comprehensive model for recruitment and selection was thus of the utmost importance to guide the Department in its recruitment and selection endeavours. The model that is designed as the main contribution of this research is aimed at addressing these challenges. The comprehensive model is intended to guide the DOJ&CD‟s human resource practitioners on recruitment and selection. This is done by means of a processmap and a flow-chart approach. Based on the literature review and empirical study, best practice is proposed that can be associated with each phase or step in the recruitment and selection process. The criteria for the development of the model was based on the theoretical relationship among elements and variables such as strategy, structure, job analysis, job description, job specification and job evaluations, and how these elements are linked to recruitment and selection processes. Such a comprehensive human resource recruitment and selection model can assist practitioners to align all human resource activities and functions within public service departments. This will help to realise their organisational objectives and to operationalise their strategic imperatives successfully. / PhD (Public Management and Governance), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

The aim of the study was to determine the extent of the psychological influence that human cadaver dissection has on Homoeopathy and Chiropractic students. Changes in axiety levels, appraisals (of the self, the situation and the environment), coping strategies and behavioural changes were investigated during the following four dissection phases: (i) before the dissection started (preparation); (ii) the first dissection period (exposure); (iii) two weeks after dissection started (development of resources) and (iv) three months after dissection started (stabilisation). Anxiety levels were measured using the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale and the Templer Death Anxiety Scale. The remaining sections of the self-administered questionnaire included open and closed ended sections. Anxiety levels were found to be low, possibly due to students being previously exposure to the dissection hall, during peer tutoring sessions. Although active coping strategies were used most often, no clear pattern emerged with regard to which coping strategy was more effective in dealing with dissection anxiety. / Psychology / M. Sc. (Psychology)

Text in English, summary in English and Afrikaans / The purpose of this research was to investigate the effect of a performance management training programme on the attitudes of managers towards performance management. The research question was whether a performance management training intervention would change managers' attitude towards performance management. The respondent group consisted of 101 managers who responded to an advertisement and willingly participated in a performance management training programme. A quasi-experimental research design was used in which a pre-test and post-test was applied to the respondent group. The managers in the respondent group completed the same assessment instrument (or questionnaire) before and six months after the performance management training. The results of the empirical analysis indicated that female managers felt less positive about performance management than their male counterparts. No statistically significant change in the attitude and competency of managers towards performance management was found after they had attended the performance management training programme. / Die doel van die studie was om die impak van 'n prestasiebestuuropleidingsprogram op die houdings van bestuurders ten opsigte van prestasiebestuur te ondersoek. Die navorsingsvraag was of 'n opleidingsintervensie in prestasiebestuur, bestuurders se houdings ten opsigte van prestasiebestuur sou verander. Die respondentegroep het uit 101 bestuurders bestaan wat op 'n advertensie gereageer het en vrywillig deelgeneem het aan 'n prestasiebestuuropleidingsprogram. 'n Kwasie-eksperimentele navorsingsontwerp is gebruik waartydens 'n voor- en na-toets op die respondente toegepas is. Die bestuurders in die respondentegroep het dieselfde evalueringsinstrument voor en ses maande na die prestasiebestuuropleiding ingevul. Die resultate van die empiriese ontleding het getoon dat vroulike bestuurders minder positief oor prestasiebestuur gevoel het as hul manlike kollegas. Geen betekenisvolle statistiese verandering in die houdings en vaardighede van bestuurders ten opsigte van prestasiebestuur is gevind nadat hulle die prestasiebestuurprogram bygewoon het nie. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.A. (Industrial Psychology)

The study has established that modernisation development paradigm is currently governing the contemporary world of conventional development. Globalisation is the tool currently in use for modernisation, drummed up by the North, largely targeting the resources of the Southern hemisphere, through Structural Adjustment Programmes. Social welfare development interventions have been devised to provide safety-net for the poor, social casualities of modernisation process. The short cut has been to bail them out through relief handouts. Participatory development concept, is built on the belief that the world had the means to improve the situation of the poor through fair redistribution of wealth, technology, knowledge, and ideas accruing from modernisation. But this calls for the political will to address the issue of inequality, power imbalance and social injustice as a primary goal. Achieving economic growth and ensuring equitable distribution should, of necessity, be compatible. Participatory development approach is to be preferred as it is accommodative, open and creative, drawing heavily from life experiences of those involved. It also puts people at the centre of development process. It is a paradigm that seeks to empower people to assume full responsibility for their own development including the consequences of their decisions and actions. It has been established that management boards and staff are the main prime movers of strategic planning activities in an organisation. Strategic planning was appreciated by the organisational staff as an opportunity to converge their views and towards influencing organisational policy, a precious window of opportunity for them to participate in causing organisational change. Notably, donor partners generally played a minimal role in this regard. Ironically, community constituency played the least role in the planning activities owing to their often marginal disposition among stakeholders. The most satisfactory outcome of participatory strategic planning was the clarity in the future direction of an organisations and more refined planning with sense of collective responsibility. It can authoritatively be declared here that participatory strategic planning is significantly efficacious as a tool for organisation building, but under certain conditions discussed in the concluding Chapter of the thesis. / Development Studies / D. Litt et Phil. (Development Studies)

The main aim of this study is to extend our current understanding of the linguistic characteristics of student-centred distance education texts. This aim links directly with the shift in South Africa from an objectivistic, content-centred teaching approach towards an outcomes-based, studentcentred one. Partly because few guidelines exist as to what the linguistic characteristics of student-centred texts are, developers of such texts in a distance education environment face many challenges and thus, a secondary, more indirect aim of this study is to benefit developers of distance education study materials. In view of the educational context in which the study is situated, a brief overview of some of the most relevant pedagogic perspectives underlying the notion of student-centredness is provided. Student-centredness is then interpreted in terms of Biber's (1988) construal of `involvement' and also in terms of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL): more particularly, the interpersonal discourse semantic metafunction of SFL and on insights developed in Appraisal Theory. The focus of the study is thus on `involvement' and the expression of evaluative stance, and consequently on attitudinal language through `involvement' features. Of particular interest to the present study is how learning is advanced through the use of attitudinal language. The data for the study include six print-based distance education teaching texts (study guides) from three different academic departments at the University of South Africa. Two guides from each department are analysed and compared: one developed by way of a content-centred approach to teaching and the other by way of a student-centred approach. The linguistic construal of evaluative stance in these guides is analysed and interpreted in interpersonal terms. The thesis develops a theoretically motivated explanation of the linguistic characteristics of student-centred distance education texts, and in the process provides evidence of the interpersonal and pedagogic relevance of evaluative stance in the context of distance education. Some of the main conclusions reached are that student-centred texts differ from contentcentred ones with regard to: the extent to which the social presence of discourse participants is signalled in such texts; the extent to which solidarity is negotiated with students; the participation of students in the knowledge construction process; the relationship that prevails between lecturers and students; and the identity developed for both students as well as lecturers. / Linguistics / D. Litt. et Phil. (Linguistics)

The purpose of this study was to look at how principals and educators managed and experience the implementation of Quality Assurance policies in secondary schools in KwaZulu Natal focusing on the bttegrated Quality Management System that is currently in place. This study was designed as a qualitative exploratory and descriptive survey. Data was collected in 2007 by visiting schools and conducting interviews with the principals and educators. School managers fell into two groups. One group was positive about Integrated Quality Management System and other group negative. Even though there were differences, all agreed that lntearated Quality Management System was good if it was to be introduced at a pace suitable to the educators. Educators preferred Integrated Quality Management System to systems that were not transparent. They then recommended that Integrated Quality Management System should not be linked to the educators' remuneration as this destroys what could be good about IQMS / Educational Studies / M.Ed. (Education Management)

This study comprises an introduction and six chapters. The introduction presents a chronological synopsis of the development of Arabic language teaching up to now. Chapter One presents a broad framework for this study as well as the problem and associated questions whose resolution is being sought, namely treating shortcomings relating to the teaching of Arabic to non-Arabic speakers as regards reading. Chapter Two is a survey of the theoretical study that classifies the most psychological, pedagogic, cultural, linguistic and reading competence principles needing compliance in the compilation and simplification of texts. Chapter Three comprises texts that have been simplified by this researcher. Chapter Four analyses and appraises simplified texts by providing mechanisms used for that purpose. Chapter Five comprises a model lesson, based on the principles outlined above. Chapter Six reviews the most important findings in terms of the ideal time needed for realising the hypothesis of the research and provides other proposals and concluding comments. / Religious Studies and Arabic / M.A. (Arabic)

The annual budget cycle in urban road/transport authorities by implication requires transport infrastructure projects to be ranked in terms of their relative value, to enable project selection by starting from the most deserving proposal. This follows from the fact that the total cost of feasible projects practically always exceeds available funds, signalling the need for some kind of selection protocol. Cost benefit analysis (CBA), when applied in a narrow sense, is not suitable for this purpose as it focuses on economic efficiency only. Attempts to broaden it have been criticized by some scholars. Although the diversity of impacts points to a multi-criteria analysis (MCA) approach, this is considered unscientific in certain quarters; at best, its practical value needs to be demonstrated. In the case of the City of Tshwane (CoT), problems with current project appraisal are evident in that different methods – none of which is defensible – are used, sometimes resulting in rankings that are contradictory. This thesis therefore attempts the following: (a) to develop a basic approach that combines the best elements of traditional methods; (b) to customize this approach to the specific context and needs of road authorities in the municipal sphere of government, using CoT as an example; and (c) to demonstrate the application of the resulting appraisal framework, utilizing appropriate decision-support software for this purpose. Recommendations include the following: An appraisal framework should combine CBA and MCA by adopting an overall MCA approach with economic efficiency – focusing on the optimal allocation of scarce resources – as one of the decision criteria. For completeness‟ sake, three additional decision criteria are deemed necessary: equity (focusing on income distribution impacts); sustainability (focusing on environmental impacts); and compatibility (focusing on the alignment of projects with stated goals and objectives). This framework may well apply to road authorities in other spheres of government – the optimum application in each case will depend on the composition of the relevant decision-making team. The inherent nature of project appraisal requires a two-phased approach in all cases: the evaluation of mutually exclusive alternatives, followed by the ranking of independent projects. State-of-the-art decision support software is indispensable for implementing this framework. / Transport Economics / D. Com. (Transport Economics)

The study examines the effectiveness of the implementation of Developmental Appraisal (DA) within the Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS) in selected secondary schools in Matlosana, North West Province. The methods used to gather information includes the literature review and the empirical investigation, based on the qualitative research approach, which involved six focus group interviews from the six sampled secondary schools in Matlosana Area Project Office, in the North West Province. The review of related literature revealed that there are roles and responsibilities officials are tasked with; processes; challenges; and effective strategies when implementing DA. The empirical investigation revealed that there are challenges that hamper the effective implementation of DA in schools. The challenges include: inadequate support from the Area Project Office; lack of resources for educator development; inadequate time frames for implementation; disruption of normal teaching and learning; lack of honesty on the part of the appraisee and appraiser; and conflict. At the end, the study recommends some strategies that can be used to overcome some of these challenges. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Educational Management)

The purpose of this research has been to investigate the relationships between team building, salutogenesis and performance. Team building was investigated by focusing on the directive and interactive dimensions of • climate • supervisory support • team work. Salutogenesis was investigated by focusing on the concepts of • sense of coherence • locus of control • self-efficacy. Work performance was investigated by focusing on • performance measurement criteria • self-appraisal as a cognitive mediator between performance and salutogenesis. In the literature survey a performance model was postulated to explain the relationships between team building, salutogenesis and performance. The personality profile of the optimal functioning individual in the context of the performance model was compiled from the personality profiles of the optimal functioning team member, the optimal functioning individual and the optimal performing individual. In the empirical investigation a sample (N = 245) of mine employees completed a battery of questionnaires using computerised data collection. The battery was subjected to item-test correlations, Cronbach alpha coefficient measurements and factor analyses, to establish the reliability and structure of each questionnaire. lntercorrelations were calculated and analysed to test the relationships between the dimensions, and concepts. Following this, the factor analysis of a five factor model established the relationships between the dimensions and concepts of team building, salutogenesis and performance. Finally, LISREL-analyses were performed to test the conceptual structure of the relationships. The empirical findings indicate that team building forms a construct based on directive and interactive dimension of climate, supervisory support and team work. Salutogenesis forms a construct and it includes the incorporation of work performance as a concept of salutogenic orientations. The relationship between the constructs was confirmed using LIS REL-analysis, thus validating the integration of the dimensions and properties within each construct into the properties of a performance model; and the personality profiles within each construct into the personality profile of the optimal functioning individual. The empirical results were integrated with the literature review. Team building and salutogenic orientations are integrated into a performance model which explains the relationships between the work environment, the behaviour of the individual and his/her performance within the context of the work environment. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / D.Litt. et Phil. (Industrial Psychology)