M.B.A. / A detailed, history of Skills Development has been presented by the Researcher in the literature review (Chapter 2) in order to provide readers, unfamiliar with South Africa's history, more perspective should they require it. The technical detail of the Skills Development Act as well as the myriad of acronyms used in the field is elaborated in detail in order to provide the reader with a more detailed understanding of the mechanics of the Act. This provides a framework for understanding why resistance is encountered by senior management and company owners with regard to committing their companies to the national skills drive. The objective of this study is to firstly to place the current status of Skills development in context by providing the historical perspective of Skills development in South Africa. Secondly, with the aid of questionnaires, the Researcher attempts to focus on the impact of the SDA on Courier companies, particularly in relation to past training habits and the current status quo. In this process, the extent of Senior Management knowledge and commitment is also uncovered. Finally, recommendations are submitted and then triangulated, by means of a focus group. This select group of current managers in the industry will assist by corroborating the findings and recommendations of this study. This was done, as there is a lack of published literature and research material on this subject in South Africa at present. The broader goals of the Act are firstly to create a prosperous and equitable society through economic growth and social development. The creation of employment requires a larger skills base and development of skills especially among previously disadvantaged individuals. Secondly, an increase in productivity is a priority for the South African Government, as it is widely known that South Africa does not rank highly on the global countries productivity scale. 4 Research will show that the impact of the Skills Development legislation has been most noticeable in the larger Courier companies. These large companies, previously invested substantial amounts of money in HR and training infrastructure, and now reap the financial rewards of that investment. As the large companies have the HR infrastructure to adhere to the detailed requirements of the Act, they capitalise on the rebates and discretionary grants available. Small to medium (SMME) courier companies are not adapting to the new processes and in many cases, are not complying with Skills legislation at all. SMME's lack the infrastructure required to introduce, implement and monitor the legislation in their organisations, they either don't comply, or hire consultants to window-dress the process in order to recoup a portion of the levies paid. The following solutions are proposed: A simple, uncomplicated administrative process allowing SMME's to register for the Skills Development Levy rebates. A sustained marketing drive (or awareness campaign) from Government (SETA's), focusing specifically on SMME's, is required in order to educate owners of SMME's with regard to the benefits of legislative compliance. Inclusion of Non-Governmental (NGO's) role-players, such as the Courier Associations, Bargaining Councils and training organisations, in a campaign to focus on the SMME's. Fewer administrative delays with regard to rebate payments from South African Revenue Services to the Levy payers which will further enhance the attractiveness of the process to SMME's

D.Phil. (Personal and Professional Leadership) / For most graduates, entry into the working world is the start of everything they have aimed for through school and university. (Holden & Hamblett, 2007). They arrive with an intense desire to prove themselves, along with often unrealistic expectations of what the organisation will deliver. The organisation, driven by deadlines, profits, and promises to shareholders, has its own aims, and all this is situated “in a time of vast changes – changes so epochal that they may dwarf those experiences in earlier eras… changes that call for new educational forms and processes.” (Gardner, 2006, p.11). Add to this South Africa’s specific issues around quality of education, historical inequalities, and culturally disparate workforces, and you have multiple reasons for why both business and graduates could “fail to achieve their real goals” (Schein, 1964, p. 68). In order to better support graduates, it is necessary to more deeply understand the nature of the graduate transition from university to the world of work. As identity is critical to the process of adapting to new professional roles, I focused on the graduate identity journey in the first year of work (Ibarra, 1999). Using constructivist grounded theory, I tracked a group of 20 graduates over a one-year period, in a graduate development programme in a financial insitiution in Johannesburg, South Africa. Comparing the data I collected to Holmes’s (2001) Claim-affirmation Model of Emergent Identity, I provide insight into the identity issues that graduates need to overcome during this first year, how these issues impact their self-esteem, personal agency, and self-efficacy, and which coping methods they choose to employ during this time. The results suggest that by providing graduates with a liminal temporary identity, the graduate identity, they are better able to manage the transition from student identity to professional identity. The temporary graduate identity allows them to play with their identity rather than work at their identity while on the graduate programme (Ibarra & Petriglieri, 2011). In order to create the temporary graduate identity it is suggested that graduate development programmes need to be reconceptualised as rites of passage, filled with ritualised activities that enable graduates to experience communitas with other graduates on the programme (Turner, 2008). Various graduate rituals are suggested to this end. Within the graduate rite of passage, graduates need to be supported in developing their interpersonal, intrapersonal and technical skills. To help graduates develop deeper insight into self and others, a graduate self development model is proposed. In order to support the development of technical skills, rotational technical skills programmes and fixed role programmes are explored. A framework is suggested for how to develop rotational programmes that maximise the pros and minimise the cons of rotational programmes. In order for the graduate programme managers to best support graduates during their time on the programme I recommend that they need to become more sensitive to the needs of the graduates, I adapt the graduate self development model and offer this as a tool for programme managers self development. This model will help graduate programme managers to begin to uncover some of their own stereotypes and unconcious biases, and more deeply develop their coaching, mentoring and supporting skills. Many of the graduate issues that arise while on the graduate programme involve graduates and managers leaping to conclusions based on faulty assumptions about each other. This often results in an impasse between graduates and their managers. I suggest that graduate programme managers take on the added role of mediator in order to point out to graduates, and their managers, how they might be misconstruing each other, therefore helping to avert some of the issues graduates experience. The findings of this study therefore have implications for graduate programme managers, and provides insight into how to better design and develop future graduate programmes.

M.Comm.

D.Ed. / You all know about population growth. When Oxford University was founded in the 13th Century there were about 500 million people in the world. When the Open University was set up there were 3 billion and when we celebrate our thirtieth anniversary at the end of this century there are likely to be 6 billion. To situate the same phenomenon ... in Africa you only have to note that in 1960 there were only three African cities with populations of over half a million. Now there are 28. In many countries population is increasing faster than gross national product. The conclusion is simple. By the next century the world will not possibly be able to train and educate its people by conventional means. We shall face the challenge of mega-education and mega-training. By the year 2000 half of the world's population will be less than 25 years old and half will live in the cities. In the developing world one third of the population will be under 14. The response to this challenge will determine the future of the world and we, as distance educators, have the nearest thing to a solution for educating and training the people of the 21st century" (Daniel, 1992:4). Seligman (1992:13) continues the above line of thought when he states: "We need a class of modern educators who are Ghandian in their commitments and concerns but who are at the same time highly modern in their technological competence and sophistication in the field of communication. This means they combine social sensitiveness with the technical capability to bend modern technology for a mass orientated education". The researcher in this study is therefore of the opinion that within the context of South African education, training and development of the workforce conventional training methodology as well as conventional delivery of programmes would futuristically not be appropriate if we consider the changing nature of local and global economies.

M.A. (Social Work) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Ph.D. (Leadership Performance and Change) / Organisations worldwide have made substantial investments in the training of their employees even though it is generally understood that only a small amount of learning is usually transferred to the work environment. The knowledge of the extent of employer investments in training compared to the benefits that accrue from this training for the organisation underlies the continuous debate concerning the return on investment and the effectiveness of the transfer of learning. Learning Transfer is defined as the application of knowledge, skills and attitudes learned from training and the subsequent maintenance of it over a period of time. This paucity of learning transfer, in spite of the substantial investment in training by employers, must be considered against the reality of organisations continuously being confronted by demands emanating from developments such as globalisation. Equally, technological developments necessitate change in the nature of work and consequently in the knowledge and skills required by employees to perform the work, as well as for organisations to remain globally competitive. The aim of this study is to determine whether a causal relationship exists between management support for learning and the effectiveness of learning transfer. In pursuance of finding causes for the lack of learning transfer, the study has the further objective of determining whether management support could be elevated above other differentiators, such as motivation of the trainee, training design and the workplace or organisational climate factors. The study is premised on the perception that management exercises a great deal of influence over their employees and that they determine organisational outcomes because of their decision-making authority. This gave rise to the presumption that management plays a leading role in ensuring that effective learning transfer is achieved and that the nature and extent of management‟s influence determines whether effective and efficient learning transfer is realised.

Magister Administrationis - MAdmin / This study investigated the extent to which skills development is implemented within the naval dockyard Simon's Town within the context of the NSDS and the various forms of legislation. In March 2001 the Department of Labour embarked on an initiative called the National Skills-Development Strategy to address unemployment, and thus enhancing the economy. One of the areas that were identified to address the above concerns was the skills-development of its people. It is against this background that this study investigated the implementation of the NSDS within the Naval Dockyard. / South Africa

The purpose of this research project was to explore the English communicative competency of management and supervisory level employees within the South Mrican hospitality industry. The Pro lit English Written Assessment, a competency-based assessment tool, was used to establish a relatively objective measure of the English communicative competency of nineteen managers and supervisors. Thereafter thirteen of these respondents were interviewed to determine their perceptions of their English communicative competency and the impact thereof on their work situation, as well as their perceptions of their learning needs and recommendations for intervention. The researcher selected a multi-method approach to the investigation and sought both quantitative and qualitative data. The assessment revealed that the English reading and writing ability of the respondents is distinctly lower than their recorded education level and inadequate in relation to the tasks they are expected to perform at work. The interviews indicated that the respondents are not aware of their lack of English communicative competency or the implications thereof. However, the respondents expressed important insights into the factors that should be taken into account when planning an educational intervention III an organization. These included the need to incorporate English second language learning principles, to treat the learner as an individual, to involve the learner in the decision-making process, to consider the practical concerns of the learner and to ensure that the programme content is appropriate. Recommendations for human resource practices and research in the hospitality industry are presented.

The paradigmatic shifts in development approaches epitomised by contemporary discourses about development confer a prominent role on localised and territorial development. A growing scepticism on the efficacy of traditional development approaches provides the impetus for a strong understanding of the need to reconceptualise development theory and practices and to manipulate policies so as to remedy the imbalances of antecedent development approaches. This dissertation investigates the extent to which the existing training interventions can build skill capacity for Local Economic Development (LED) projects in the Cape Winelands municipalities. This will improve our understanding about how, and under what conditions, capacity building for LED can contribute to more inclusive economic and social change. In discussing the theoretical perspective of the study, the relationship between development, LED and capacity building is conceptualised through the lens of contemporary development theory of human development and capability approach. This will improve our understanding on how the capability approach aspires to re-orient approaches to socio-economic development and public policy, away from welfare, which is based on income and expenditure to well-being. The dissertation applies these ideas triangulating diverse research methods and data sources. It combines a literature review and documentary analysis, observation, surveys conducted with municipal authorities in Cape Winelands District Municipality. In addition, semi-structured interviews were held with LED Portfolio Councillors in the municipality as well as with key Officers from Local Government Sector for Education and Training Authority, Department of Economic Development and Tourism in Western Cape, South African Local Government Association and Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs. The methodological findings reveals the following pitfalls: Flaws in LED enabling policy framework for capacitating municipal staff; poor policy implementations; training fund difficult to access; lack of competent staff in local municipalities to effectively and efficiently implement LED policies and strategies; and lack of supportive environment in workplace to enhance transfer of trained skill to the job. Various recommendations resulting from the outcomes of the empirical study, namely the responses made by the respondents during the empirical survey, are proposed in the final chapter. It is shown that this research has, as a result, contributed to the body of knowledge of development theory and practices by improving our understanding of how, and under which conditions, capacity building training can support processes of social change in localised and territorial development.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the implementation of the Education, Training and Development Policy of the Eastern Cape Department of Health: A Case Study of Cacadu District. The Cacadu Health District as with all Districts is the Eastern Cape Department of Health experiences a few challenges with the implementation of the Education, Training and Development Policy. Through observation these problems seem to be stalling progress in the implementation of this policy. The study seeks to investigate whether there can be an improvement in the implementation of the Education, Training and Development Policy. The focus of the study will be the Cacadu Health District. Provision of Education, Training and Development is key to any organisation especially if performance of employees needs to be of high standard. If the performance of employees is of high standard service delivery will improve. Chapter one provided an introduction which gave a brief overview of the study, problem statement, research objectives and questions, preliminary literature review and research methodology to be employed by the study. Chapter two provided a literature review of education, training and development framework and legislative framework for guiding the development and provision of education, training and development in an organisation. The chapter also looked into mentoring and mentoring strategies. Chapter three looked into detail on the training evaluation strategies and what training evaluation entails. It looked at the different approaches that can be used in evaluating training in an organisation. Chapter four provides proposals for the approaches and strategies to improve the implementation of the Education, Training and Development Policy of the Eastern Cape Department of Health in the Cacadu District. The chapter will also provide an analysis of participants’ responses from the questionnaire. Chapter five will give a summary with concluding remarks and recommendations. This chapter came up with conclusions about the study and gave recommendations and way forward on how best to improve the implementation of the education, training and development policy in the Eastern Cape Department of Health: Cacadu District.