M.A. / This study focuses on the development of an affirmative action strategy for a group of companies within the retail sector in South Africa. The reasoning behind the study is that enough has been said and written about affirmative action, about what it is and about what it should be. The time has now come to develop an appropriate strategy which will be accepted within the given company. The strategy must be one which can be successfully implemented in the business environment of the company concerned. A strategy has been developed around the selected company's organisational structures, people, geographic spread, culture and need to implement such a strategy. The study acknowledges that the strategy developed is relatively conservative, especially when compared to other radical or aggressive affirmative action strategies. Ultimately, the company's culture, readiness to accept affirmative action policies and resistance thereto have dictated the contents of the strategy, and the manner of its implementation. In the study, an overview is presented of literature on affirmative action as well as of current and imminent labour legislation. Cognisance is also taken of the views of other role players. The overview of the literature and the legislation form the core around which the strategy has been developed. Finally, a strategy acceptable to the company studied has been presented. The conclusions drawn from the study are that an affirmative action strategy and its implementation: remain controversial and create fears at all levels of employment; will only succeed if the strategy has the support of all role players; should be developed and assessed in accordance with the organisational culture and needs of the company wishing to introduce the strategy. The company decided that the inequities of the past should be eliminated and that discrimination at all levels of employment should be removed. Simultaneously, essential skills and experience has to be retained. The company's strategy should not involve and may not be perceived as discrimination in reverse.

M.Comm. / South African society is currently experiencing a period of rapid transformation. These sociopolitical changes taking place in the external environment is posing unique challenges to South African business. Salient to these challenges is how the politically powerful, but poor majority will be integrated into an environment that previously excluded them. It is commonly accepted that this integration and the eradication of the economic backlog can not only be achieved through formal education and training, but that it should be supported by programmes aimed at the accelerated development of blacks. As such, the primary role that South African business has to play in the transformation of society as a whole, is the effective integration of marginalised groups into position from which they were previously excluded. In order to ensure that this integration is managed effectively several factors need to be taken into account. Of these, white resistance against affirmative action and the negative attitudes held by them towards blacks in general, pose the greatest threat. The negative impact of the aforementioned on the affirmative action process is heightened when these traits are exhibited by the supervisors of black employees taking part in affirmative action programmes. In order to determine the effect these attitudes have on the job involvement and job satisfaction of black employees, factors inhibiting the occupational mobility of blacks and the role of the immediate supervisor in this process were analysed from literature. It was found that the supervisor plays a distinct role in the upward mobility of his/her subordinates and that this is especially the case where he/she has black subordinates. In chapter 3 the theory underlying job involvement and job satisfaction is discussed. From this discussion it is clear that the job involvement and job satisfaction of the individual influence his/her behaviour within the organisation to a large extent. It was further found that the immediate supervisor influences these variables to a large extent. In the empirical part of this dissertation a sample black employees, currently occupying positions previously reserved exclusively for whites, completed job involvement and job satisfaction questionnaires. Their supervisors completed a questionnaire that measured their attitude towards affirmative action. From the empirical study it was found that subordinates with supervisors who exhibit negative attitudes towards affirmative action do not necessarily have lower levels of job involvement and job satisfaction than those subordinates with supervisors who exhibit positive attitudes. This finding is not consistent with the theorising that supervisor attitudes towards affirmative action should influence the job involvement and job satisfaction of their black subordinates, and could be attributed to a number of factors, amongst others the nature of their jobs. From the study it became clear that urgent attention needs to be given to the determining of those factors that influence the job satisfaction and job involvement in Afro-centric populations. Almost all available research on these concepts focuses exclusively on Eurocentric populations and very little empirical data regarding the study of these concepts among Afro-centric populations exit.

The United States is a nation of peoples with highly stratified degrees of healthcare access and coverage, including many individuals with none at all. Exacerbating the problem of widespread health disparities is a persistent shortage of physicians over recent decades. Of most urgency is the need for doctors within already underserved minority communities. Extant research demonstrates that a more racially diverse student body can effectively address the nation's physician shortage and gross health disparities. Yet, the pool of future physicians of color relative to the increasingly racially diverse U.S. population remains incongruent. For medical school admissions committees, this is a formidable challenge, made ever more difficult by legal affronts to affirmative action in postsecondary admissions. Accordingly, the "disadvantaged status" prompt was inserted into the U.S. medical school application as a race-neutral mechanism with potential to help cull a more racially diverse medical student body. This project addresses the interface of minorities with the "disadvantaged status" essay, as there is a relative paucity of literature on the point of entry to medical school, particularly exploring the voices of applicants of color. Utilizing a Critical Race Theory (CRT) framework, this study expands the existing literature involving: (a) the history of minorities in U.S. medical school and the medical community's response to the stark and persistent absence of diversity among medical students and practitioners; (b) affirmative action in higher education and the race-neutral admissions trend; and (c) the enduring construct of "disadvantage" in regard to minorities within the U.S. education system.

No abstract available / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Business Management / unrestricted

Across the globe, Affirmative Action broadly understood as a preferential redistributive policy intended to redress socio-economic inequalities created by past discriminatory labour policies, has been fraught with controversy and immense opposition from those who do not benefit from it. South Africa’s version has faced similar challenges to the extent that it is generally believed that non-beneficiaries’ reluctance to support it is based on their need to protect their long-standing economic advantage. The purpose of this study was to explore issues underlying the enduring stakeholder conflict over Affirmative Action in the South African context. In doing this, it focused exclusively on non-beneficiaries, investigating their perceptions of the policy. Additionally, the study sought to establish whether non-beneficiaries think Affirmative Action had any implications for the creation of a workplace environment in which all employees feel valued. The study was conducted following an exploratory approach and a qualitative design. In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 non-beneficiaries ranging from business practitioners to public representatives in parliament. Purposive sampling techniques were used to sample participants from organisations that had publically declared their views in opposing Affirmative Action. Findings showed that non-beneficiaries viewed Affirmative Action as a racist policy with a strict focus on numerically-representative outcomes. The study found that non-beneficiaries view Affirmative Action as a policy whose impact extends beyond workplace recruitment processes. It also showed that the policy is considered to have created negative externalities for the society and hampered business efficiency. The study revealed a belief that the policy has failed to correct socio-economic disparities. It also established that non-beneficiaries were unlikely to support Affirmative Action as they considered it an extractive economic policy. Furthermore, the study revealed that lack of good-quality economy-relevant education and skills were critical binding constraints to effective implementation of any measures to eradicate persistent socio-economic inequalities. An alternative input-based, socio-economic focused framework is proposed to address the fissures identified in the existing policy. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / lmgibs2015 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

No description available.

No description available.

I examine the effect of television viewing and ideological orientations associated with “modern” racism such as minimization of the impact of racial discrimination and individual attribution on opposition toward preferential hiring of Blacks. Using cross-sectional General Social Survey (GSS) responses from U.S. adults between 2004 and 2010, I estimate ordered logistic regression models predicting attitudes toward preferential hiring of Blacks. Additionally, I compare agreement with key tenets of abstract liberalism to the findings of previous policy reasoning studies to determine the importance of these attitudes in predicting support for affirmative action policy. In this study, I aim to address the potential real-world implications of television exposure and abstract liberalism in influencing minority group incorporation, acceptance, and societal integration.

The researcher was invited by the CSIR (formerly known as the Council for Industrial and Scientific Research in South Africa) to investigate the work opportunities for persons with disabilities (PWD) in a rural area in the Eastern Cape in which they were planning to implement their Integrated Rural Development Project (IRDP). The community development committee had requested assistance with the plight of the unemployed PWD in their community. The aim of the study was to investigate work opportunities for PWD in rural developing communities. The study allowed the researcher to also explore possible means to maximise current services to reach into areas that are underserved in terms of professional rehabilitation services. A participatory research approach was used for the study in which the research team consisted of the author, members from the community development committee including the sister in charge of the community clinic and three research assistants from the community. In a two-phase disability survey in the 475 household of the area, adults with disabilities in the working age group were identified and their abilities assessed. Five development projects from nearby communities, similar to projects planned by the community were analysed. A scale had been developed that would allow a direct comparison between the abilities of the PWD and the work abilities required for the projects. The data were plotted on a spiral graphic, the Work Abilities Web (WAW), to illustrate compatibility and components for which adaptations might be needed. Taking the PWDs' level of motivation and aspirations into account job matches were made. The intellectual process of making such matches was investigated and described. Because of a lower disability prevalence found in the area than expected from international projections the data were presented as 12 case studies. In the feedback to the community three scenarios were provided for the employment of PWD in their midst for implementation by the community. A committee of PWD was established, which would have representation on the development committee to drive the process and to ensure that disability issues would be considered in all future community planning. The study contributes the following innovations to the knowledge base of health and social sciences theory, in terms of disability and development issues: <ul> <li>A refinement of a participatory research model, the Mutual Benefit Research model (MBR), for research projects with communities. </li> <li>A functional assessment format, developed for possible use by community health workers. </li> <li>The recording and comparison method used for the WAW.</li> <li>An analysis of the job match process used by occupational therapists in vocational rehabilitation. <br></li> </ul> In conclusion the study and the results were critically evaluated and recommendations made for the integration of PWD into the workplace in rural communities, as well as for further investigation into the methods proposed for vocational rehabilitation in underserved areas. / Thesis (PhD (Occupational Therapy))--University of Pretoria, 2004. / Occupational Therapy / unrestricted

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Arts in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master Of Administration in the Department of Psychology at the University of Zululand, 2017 / Equality is a constitutional provision which grants some people with disabilities opportunities of employment. The law that effects the constitutional provision is the Employment Equity Act (1998) where affirmative action measures are prescribed and to be implemented by designated employers. Many years have passed since the promulgation of the equity legislation in South Africa it is therefore justifiable to evaluate its implementation practices. In line with the central argument, the aim of this study was to evaluate the implementation of Employment Equity Act at UThungulu District Hospitals for people with disabilities. Findings revealed that the implementation of Employment Equity Act in public hospitals is self-contradictory; that is, hospitals are thriving to obtain and retain health professionals with the skills that will assist in combatting diseases whereas people with disabilities are characterised by the low levels of literacy. The implementation of the Occupation Specific Dispensation (OSD) in the public health system is an indication of the nature of skills that are a priority in public hospitals. In line with the transformation agenda, positions that do not require high levels of literacy such as cleaning, security, catering and laundry were outsourced thus decreasing opportunities of people with disabilities to be employed. On the other side of the continuum, penalties imposed by the National Department of Labour for failing to submit Employment Equity Plan against the set quota in the public service confirms that the equity legislation was not contextualised in the South African setting during its formulation phase. Budgetary constraints were reported to be one of the contributing factors for the lack of implementing the equity legislation. However, presence of misappropriation of funds and corruption were reported to be some of the major causes of lack of policy implementation in the public service. The results revealed that district hospitals are not ready to socially and economically integrate people with disabilities based on lack of official accommodation, outsourcing of jobs where people with disabilities can be gainfully employed, lack funds to transform the physical environment and the conflicting priorities of the health sector that seeks to prioritise the employment of health professionals with scarce skills in order to combat diseases.