The impetus that informs the drive for developmental state that promotes growth and development centres on the local capacity of the local sphere of the government to effectively discharge its responsibilities. The essence of this study is to evaluate the training of officials in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality and assess the extent to which service delivery has impacted on the lives of the community within this area.

Nursing lecturers are faced with the challenge to adapt their teaching styles and attitudes to accommodate the new nursing student that enters the nursing field. These students have expectations and demands which differ highly from past students. Another challenge for lecturers is the demands of a nursing curriculum. The students that commenced with the four year course during 2005 at the Port Elizabeth Nursing Campus experienced negativity with regards to their training. The objectives of the study are to explore and describe the training experiences of the fourth year student nurses of the Port Elizabeth Nursing Campus and to co-construct guidelines to assist nursing lecturers to gauge the understanding of students during their four years of nursing training. The participants used for the study were all fourth year nursing students. They had positive and negative experiences of their training during the four years. The negative experiences related to the demands of the curriculum, lecturers’ poor subject knowledge and insufficient material resources needed for their studies. Regardless of the negativity experienced, students encountered positivity with regards to lecturers’ attitudes. The researcher focused on a qualitative study using an explorative, descriptive, contextual and phenomenological approach. A semi-structured approach was adopted to obtain data. Once consent was obtained from the relevant authorities, four fourth year nursing students were interviewed. The interviews were conducted by an independent role-player within the Department of Health to ensure an unbiased approach. Guba’s model was used to assess trustworthiness and data was analysed. Ethical considerations were ensured throughout the research process. Themes and sub-themes were identified. Based on the research findings, guidelines were co-constructed to assist nursing lecturers to better understand nursing students during their training. The findings of the study will be brought to the attention of nursing lecturers and management personnel of the campus. It was concluded that nursing students need to be consulted on issues concerning their training and development before implementation, and that they be respected and cared for as students based on their human rights.

South Africa has undergone major social and political changes over the past two decades. In addition, new legislation in the form of the Employment Equity Act (No. 55 of 1998), which regulates employment practices in an attempt to make the workplace a true reflection of the South African population, was introduced to employers. The implementation of this Act has a major impact on organisations in South Africa and definitely influences the way in which they do business. Organisations, large and small, in every sector are being squeezed in all dimensions. They compete for customers whose expectations of quality, price and service are constantly increasing. Throughout the world, education, training and equitable working practices are recognised as essential ingredients to compete successfully and to ensure high performance practices. This research paper investigates whether the employee development strategies at Medscheme (the organisation selected for this study) are aimed at meeting employment equity objectives. An important reason for the investigation is that globalisation and the need for organisations to gain sustainable competitive advantage require new and different approaches for the recruitment, training, development and retention of employees with key skills. The key to success will, however, be for organisations in South Africa to find a middle way between ensuring equity, while remaining competitive. In order to achieve the objective of the research, the following approach was followed: Firstly, a comprehensive literature study was conducted to determine the legislative basis for equity and employee development; Secondly, a survey of literature dealing specifically with employee development initiatives available to organisations was conducted; Thirdly, the views of the employees within Medscheme were obtained to determine to what extent the organisation implemented the Employment Equity Act and what development strategies are used to facilitate the Abstract iv development of individuals from the previously disadvantaged designated groups to equip them for future positions in senior and top management; and, Lastly, the responses to the questionnaire were analysed to determine the extent to which Medscheme’s employee development strategies support the objectives of the Employment Equity Act.

This research takes place in a South African multinational automotive industry, which needs to be on the forefront for being globally competitive and sustainable to remain viable in the country. A strategic initiative was embarked upon to identify talent within their staff population, through the psychometric assessment of learning potential. The objective was to identify high potential employees and provide them with the requisite training and development to meet the demands of the rapidly advancing technology. The primary purpose of this study is to investigate the usefulness of the Ability, Process of Information and Learning Battery (APIL) as a psychometric assessment tool for identifying talent, within a heterogeneous workforce. This research adopts a cross-cultural approach as it is comparative in nature and addresses the adequacy of a psychometric instrument in a multicultural context. The Employment Equity Act has transformed the landscape of the use of psychological measurement in South Africa, in that it stipulates that no psychological test that is biased against any cultural group can be used. A sample of 841 heterogeneous staff employees was assessed with three major research objectives: (a) to ensure that the instrument could stand scientific scrutiny thereby complying with the Employment Equity Act; (b) to recommend ways the organisation can identify and understand employees’ talent more holistically; and (c) to manage talent more effectively. The heterogeneous sample was divided into six homogeneous subsets for statistical analysis. This research attempted to answer the first objective through the examination of internal consistency, bias and equivalence of the APIL. Results showed good internal consistency, very good construct equivalence and low item bias, demonstrating the APIL can be applied fairly in a multicultural industrial setting. The second objective was determined by investigating whether significant difference in mean learning potential scores occur among the identified subsets in the sample. Statistical analyses provide clear trend lines indicating that sociopolitical and socioeconomic factors of advantagement and disadvantagement, age and education influence learning potential. However it is also evident that there are individuals across all subsets that demonstrate strong cognitive potential. This supports the rationale on which the APIL was developed, in that it distinguishes people with high learning potential despite the fact that there may be gaps or limitations in skill repertoire due to past disadvantagement. Recommendations to address the third objective is provided by aligning learning potential with the performance management system to provide a holistic overview of the talent composition. This will assist in the identifying of strategic training and development interventions needed at the individual, functional and organisational level, which is key for the South African automotive industry to remain competitive and viable.

The research problem in this study was to identify how successful the methods are that organisations use within the Manufacturing Engineering and Related Services Education and Training Authorities (MERSETA) chambers to develop, implement and maintain learnerships. To achieve this aim a literature examination to determine the aspects of workplace learning were explored, including the various perspectives of learning, together with an investigation into workplace learning. Further, apprenticeships, traineeships, learnerships were discussed; including the concepts vocational education and training standards, and competence explored. Finally a process model for effective learnership implementation was presented based on international approaches together with the South African models and current practices. - v - The process learnership model served as a basis for drawing up a survey questionnaire to establish the extent to which organisations agreed or disagreed with the learnership model developed. The survey was limited to the “automobile” and “new tyre” chambers of the MERSETA. The results obtained from the empirical study indicted a high degree of agreement with the process model for effective learnership implementation. The results obtained from the quantitative data, and qualitative data were used to adapt the learnership process model, and produce a six-phase integrated learnership model. From the survey it become evident that organisations needed to be sensitised and educated as to learnerships before considering more seriously learnership implementation. Further, it emerged that learnerships cannot only be effective within a process approach, and that it should also take place within a positive “organisational learning culture”. Organisations and Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) can now use the six-phase integrated learnership model with confidence, as there was a high degree of agreement with the learnership model that was developed as part of this research study. The six-phase integrated learnership model has been comprehensively developed and surveyed by organisations that are currently implementing learnerships on a large scale. Organisations and SETAs can now give effect to the Skills Development Act No. 97 of 1998, and contribute to the National skills Development Strategy of 2001, which aims to improve the workplace skills of all South Africans.

The current shortage of artisans in the Nigerian house construction sector has constrained the productivity of the sector and exacerbated the nation‟s housing problem. The persistent neglect of the artisan training system has negatively impacted on the stock of artisans available for house construction projects. Nigeria‟s large and fast-growing population of over 140 million with an estimated growth rate of 3.2 percent has engendered increased investment in shelter provision; especially by individuals and families due to fast rising housing rentals- mainly in the urban centres. Past policies have not adequately addressed the realities of the skills crisis occasioned by inadequate and neglected apprenticeship training and poorly developed vocational education and training systems. The fallout of this is manifested in the difficulties faced by developers in sourcing suitably qualified and experienced artisans for house construction projects. In response to this challenge, an upsurge of migrant artisans and craftsmen from neighbouring West African nations like Togo, Benin Republic and Ghana to Nigeria has occurred in the recent times. They were attracted by building contracting firms to fill the gap created by inadequate artisan supply that is currently being experienced locally. This development is totally unacceptable as it exacerbates the overarching socio-economic problems in Nigeria, especially the already high unemployment rate which is estimated to be 23.9 percent. This study has consequently investigated the inadequate training of house construction artisans in South Western Nigeria; evolving interventions and developing a strategic model for improving the artisan training system to ensure an adequate and sustainable artisan supply in the house construction sector. The model incorporates best practices, rethinking strategies and integrated approaches in mitigating the identified challenges. The model is underpinned by reviewed literature and empirical findings. Quantitative surveys and interviews were utilised as the data sources. The research findings show that the factors which negatively impact on the artisan training system in the house construction sector include: the poor image of artisans in society; lack of recruitment strategies for attracting potential artisans; inadequate policy framework for training and employment; a faulty and rigid National Qualification Framework (NQF); the non-participation of employers in training; a poor funding mechanism; a weak regulatory framework and corrupt practices in training administration. Recommendations for addressing the inadequate training of artisans include education policy reforms to give priority to vocational education; a new regime of funding for vocational education and training; a review of the National Qualification Framework to integrate the vocational colleges with the university system; a reform of the regulatory framework; public re-orientation on the societal image of the artisans; adoption of a new approach of public- private partnership in artisan training; the provision of incentives schemes to attract potential artisans and the appropriation of the proposed model for an integrated approach to addressing the challenges.

La inducción al personal es un proceso en el cual la empresa brinda orientación que al nuevo colaborador sobre su puesto y funciones que desempeñará, incluyendo también un panorama general sobre la organización. Sin embargo, existe una tendencia a aprovechar este proceso para comprometerlo con la empresa, sus objetivos, y transmitir la cultura corporativa, además de la simplificación del contenido y los materiales entregados. Esto debido a que el contexto laboral actual comienza a exigir nuevas prácticas que fidelicen al colaborador desde el primer día de trabajo, es así que la comunicación torna un rol muy importante en cada parte del proceso buscando que los mensajes lleguen y sean interiorizados de la manera esperada. Este trabajo se llevó a cabo a partir de una investigación estrictamente cualitativa, en la cual se realizaron treinta y dos entrevistas a los encargados del proceso de inducción al personal de empresas del sector privado de distintos rubros llegando a encontrar que se está comenzando a incorporar a las charlas de inducción: talleres y detalles de bienvenida que involucran emocionalmente al nuevo ingreso, así como se está optando por reducir el material impreso, entregando la información en dispositivos de almacenamiento y plataformas digitales. / Trabajo de investigación

This thesis explores thoughts, observations and theoretical research associated with work-related career shifts, adult learning and education. In contemporary society, work-related values are changing. Workers need to be flexible, adaptive and in terms of skills, up-to-date. Since an individual may experience a variety of career shifts during the course of her working adult life, learning and education are essential. But how should work-related learning occur and what avenues are available for those who require it? Workplace learning occurs in many forms and settings, and since learning is a personal process, it is difficult to ascertain ideal learning situations for each employee. The purpose of this study was to reflect on and analyze the just-in-time learning experience of one individual who underwent a career shift in the high tech industry. This thesis recounts the learning journey of the author, a high school English teacher and graduate student, who embarked on a new career as an education consultant. It is a multifaceted and multidisciplinary narrative that explores three distinct areas: the narrative and personal observations central to the author's learning and work experience; theoretical perspectives relating to the contemporary workplace and adult learning; the characters, themes and metaphors from The Tempest that illuminate the author's learning journey. Principles of adult education and theory pertaining to workplace and other settings for learning, along with characters from The Tempest, are invoked to deepen the author's understanding of what occurred during her high tech adventure. The author highlights contradictions between corporate jargon and educational theory, and dwells on dilemmas problematic for protean workers and others destined for corporate education and training. Concepts relating to knowledge management, organizational learning and elearning are challenged in conjunction with issues of power and knowledge. Caught between the demands of the continuously changing corporate world and protected realm of academia, the narrator is forced to combat a storm. Her survival is testimony to her capacity to learn, adapt and rely on previous skills garnered from years as a graduate student and English teacher. Survival does not come easy—there are fumbles, frustrations, and follies along the way. This narrative provides a personal account of what it means to learn and work in the high tech industry. Although this is one person's story, the insights developed and theory invoked have utility that extends to other workers and settings. / Education, Faculty of / Language and Literacy Education (LLED), Department of / Graduate

M.Ed. (Higher Education) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.A. (Industrial Psychology) / The professionalization of the training profession In South-Africa requires that the training of trainers should be goal-orientated and needs-directed. In order to ensure this goal-orientated training, it is Imperative that specific areas for the training of trainers be Identified, based om the training needs within the South-African industry. It Is also important that the contribution made through purposeful training of trainers should permeate the South-African industry through measurable results and eventually culminate In higher Quality training. A prerequisite for this, however, should be measurable and noticeable Improvements In trainers' behavioural outputs. The identification of specific competencies necessary in specialized roles in a particular functional area, (e.g. instructor, training officer, training manager, etc.) has therefore much more value than simply identifying subjects or contents typical of a particular function. The trainer, however, functions in a multi-dimensional environment In which a variety of external as well as behaviour variables or individual-orientated factors Influence his/her performance. EXternal factors such as the socio-political situation, economic climate, certain organizational variables as well as technological growth and development play an important part whi Ie behavioural sciences aspects such as andragogy, the psychology of learning and the competency level of the individual trainer also contributes to the complexity of the training situation.