Thesis (LL. M.)--Judge Advocate General's School, United States Army, 1996. / "April 1996." Typescript. Includes bibliographical references. Also issued in microfiche.

Thesis (M.A. (Research Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references.

The research problem addressed in this study, was to determine what affirmative action policies are being practiced by members of the East Cape Master Builders and Allied Industries Association. To achieve this objective, a literature study was conducted to cite and evaluate relevant literature, in the process of presenting the most theoretical and methodological rationale for the research. The empirical results obtained, indicate that most companies have implemented affirmative action policies. In conclusion, various recommendations have been made with regard to the findings ascertained in the empirical study.

M.Comm. / Affirmative action has been greatly debated as a means of righting the injustices of South Africa's past. Its proponents claim it to be an effective way of providing opportunities to those falling under the definition of previously disadvantaged, while cries of "reverse discrimination" echo from those vigorously opposed to it. One of the ways in which empowerment can be achieved is through encouraging government and businesses to make use of affirmative companies in the procurement of day to day goods and services. The first initiative from government came in the form of the Ten Point Plan from the Departments of Public Works and Finance. This was later encapsulated in the Green Paper on Public Sector Reform and the "Resource Specification for the Targeting of Affirmable Business Enterprises". This allowed businesses quoting for government work to score themselves against certain criteria, viz. either by virtue of their being affirmable business enterprises (ABEs), which are two thirds owned by previously disadvantaged individuals (POls), or by entering into joint ventures of various kinds with ABEs. It is believed that the approach of basing a company's contribution to affirmative procurement purely on two-thirds ownership is limiting, and that more aspects need to be investigated to determine the level of empowerment a company is offering its employees. In addition, the high percentage ownership is a temptation for companies to engage in fronting, where token appointments are made and there is no true management or control by the company's PDI management. Subsequently it is vital that alternative approaches be taken. Corporations need to keep track of their spend with PDI owned companies, but need to know how to determine how effective these are in implementing to true economic empowerment.

M.Comm. / The concept of employee empowerment has been associated with the participation of employees in the decision-making process in organisations. A number of approaches and articles have recently been written to expand and better the concept. Employee empowerment is a strategy that gives an ordinary employee an opportunity to have say in, and contribute to both the internal and external affairs of the organisation. In order for the strategy to be successful, the company executive should also take on the responsibility of ensuring that employees and other stakeholders are committed to the process of empowerment. This report investigates the manner in which employee empowerment could be used as a tool or aid to assist organisations in making better use of employees' thinking skills. The investigation looks into the process that should be followed in the implementation of an employee empowerment strategy. Furthermore, the model investigates affirmative action as a tool that could assist managers and organisations to better understand the concept. The report will also highlight the critical success factors that are important in striving to employee empowerment in an organisation. It will also investigate other available tools that can be used in a successful strategy. The issue of black economic empowerment also pops up as a tool that could empower employees in the process. Lastly, the report recommends guidelines that organisations could follow to succeed. The findings of the study have concluded that employee empowerment could be a powerful tool and is essential for employee development. This model tries to integrate the situational leadership model of Ken Blanchard, Carlos and Randolph with Yen-Yun Lin's conceptual model. The model of Blanchard, Carlos & Randolph looks at the stages that management or organisations should go through before and when engaging in an empowerment strategy. The model follows the situational leadership concept or approach. On the other hand the Yen-Yun Lin model looks into the four key dimensions that are critical in an empowerment strategy, namely empowering leadership, empowering culture, empowering management practices and empowering teams. The model tries to integrate the four dimensions and show the role that they play in the employee empowerment model. The tools developed in this model are a combination of a number of possible tools that could be used in the empowerment process, which I developed. The last part of the model attempts to indicate the beneficiaries of the process and the benefits that could be derived from empowerment. It further looks into how these benefits could impact on the organisation as a whole and their relationship to the process and the key dimensions.

M.Comm. / The aim of this study was, to highlight the qualitative nature of the concept of diversity, with specific emphasis, on the work environment. This is a literature study. There is no empirical research accompanying it. This study defines the concept of diversity, and attempt to correct the misleading perception on diversity management and the related concept, namely affirmative action. A diversity management process goes beyond mere numbers and seeks, to maximise the potential of every individual. It means recognising the unique qualities of people in the workplace. The study also identifies possible barriers to a diversity management process, and possible ways, in which they can be overcome. Furthermore, the study discusses and analyse a diversity management process, highlights the need for fundamental change in attitude and behaviour of all stakeholders if the process is to succeed. Data collected indicates a clear need for a well designed organisation programme designed to value and manage a diversity process. Most of the challenges facing organisations, are dynamic, interrelated and systematic in nature, that is, they are intertwined in the entire organisation. More than any other challenge, perhaps, the diveresity process affects the organisation at all levels. The scope and direction of adding value and managing diversity programs, ideally, must be developed within the context, of broad or challanges facing the organisation, as a whole. Diversity responses, in other words, need to be wellintegrated into the organisations overall strategic responses. Systematic thinking is critical to diversity issues.

M.Com. (Business Management) / The purpose of this study is to determine whether affirmative action can be regarded as ethical, given the circumstances in South Africa. The need for the study arose after various political parties indicated that affirmative action would be introduced in the "New South-Africa". Organisations need to know whether affirmative action is ethical so that these programs can enjoy the support of management. If these programs do not enjoy management support, they will not succeed. The history of South-Africa clearly indicate that whites discriminated against blacks from as early as 1660. The first law that reserved work for whites was introduced in 1911. In 1912 the Native Land Act was introduced. This can be regarded as the beginning of apartheid. Blacks were prevented from starting their own businesses and from participating in the employment market. In the 1970 a start was made to remove these obstacles. A new era began in the history of this country with the appointment of FW de Klerk as state President on 15 September 1989. Today, in 1993 no more discriminatory legislation exists. Affirmative action is a positive step to remove the backlog that was caused by discrimination. The disadvantages of affirmative action are: it is reverse discrimination against whites; it lowers productivity; increases racial conflict; the blacks who need it the least receives the greatest advantages and affirmative action causes blacks to loose pride and self respect. The advantages of affirmative action are: affirmative action rewards blacks for damages caused by apartheid; affirmative action works against discrimination; affirmative action improves and creates wealth; lowers social unrest; lowers the shortage of skilled labour and creates role models. The study concludes that affirmative action is ethical in the South-African context. The personal freedom of whites, which is effected by affirmative action, is a result of their own actions. Affirmative action is necessary to reward the blacks for damages suffered as a result of apartheid. This will lift blacks out of poverty and will work against discrimination.

M.Com. (Business Management) / The recent historical changes in South Africa resulted in an outcry for affirmative action programmes. The concept of affirmative action is foreign to many businesses in South Africa. Corporate South Africa sometimes lacks focus on how to deal with this trend. Workers, with new political freedom, are not prepared to waft for a gradual introduction of affirmative action. In order to avoid crisis management, business needs to accelerate the pace in adapting to the challenge in organisations of absorbing large quantities of personnel. Affirmative action legislation in future may force employers to implement these programmes. This must be done without sacrificing quality and profitability. In order to achieve this goal, this study aims at setting strategic guidelines for implementing affirmative in an effective manner.

Magister Legum - LLM / This paper evaluates s 42 of the South African Employment Equity Act (EEA) with specific focus on the application of the demographic profile of the national and regional economically active population by designated employers. The comparative analysis considers how the law of affirmative action in the United States of America and in Namibia, international conventions and the International Labour Organization (ILO) in relation to South Africa’s Constitution and the EEA promote affirmative action. While international law holds that affirmative action measures should be of a temporary nature with an individualistic focus on formal equity, the EEA granted affirmative action measures which are permanent, group based and substantive in nature.Given South Africa`s discriminatory past, it became an accepted principle that affirmative action needs to be implemented to redress the imbalances caused by apartheid. In broad terms, the EEA provides for the advantage of persons or certain categories of persons who were disadvantaged by unfair discrimination. As a result the EEA focuses on race, sex and people with disabilities to determine those who are to be the beneficiaries of affirmative action. International Law also embraces the notion of affirmative action and place a duty on all member states to act pro-actively to correct the effects of unfair discrimination. The mini-thesis also evaluates the powers of the Director-General of Labour with specific focus on the enforcement of measures and how it relates to the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act (PAJA) in compliance with the provisions of the EEA. It is concluded that s 42 of the EEA (with the exception of s 42(a)(i)) provides sufficient measures to redress the inequalities of the past by providing equal opportunities for suitably qualified people of the designated groups. That the Constitution and the EEA does not provide for differentiation amongst “Black people” (African, Coloureds and Indians). That the application of both the national and regional demographics are compulsory in formulating an equity plan, that the one cannot be ignored in favour of the other, and that the Director-General of Labour is sufficiently empowered to ensure compliance with the provisions of the EEA.

Thesis advisor: M. Utku Ünver / Thesis advisor: M. Bumin Yenmez / This collection of two essays in market design examines the designs of affirmative action policies. In the first chapter, “Affirmative Action in Two Dimensions: A Multi-Period Apportionment Problem”, we study affirmative action policies that take the form of reserved seats or positions and apply at two levels simultaneously. For instance, in India, beneficiary groups are entitled to their proportion of reserved seats in public universities at both university and at department levels. We theoretically and empirically document the shortcomings of existing solutions. We propose a method with appealing theoretical properties and empirically demonstrate advantages over the existing solutions using recruitment advertisement data from India. Our problem also suggests possible extensions in the theory of apportionment (translating electoral votes into parliamentary seats). In the second chapter, “Impartial Rosters for Affirmative Action’’, we present an answer to this question for the case where all positions are homogeneous. Devising methods is particularly necessary when the number of seats is small. For instance, a university appoints at most one assistant professor of economics every year, while the country’s affirmative action policy has more than one beneficiary group. To ensure that, over a period of time, each beneficiary group respects the spirit of an affirmative action policy, India devised a tool called roster. We present a theory of designing rosters to argue that only a few rosters can be considered impartial in that they do not favor some beneficiaries over others. We provide a method that constructs the set of impartial rosters. We show that the existing roster of India is not one of them and favors categories with a larger proportion of seats relative to the smaller ones. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics.