Electrical contractors are evolving though a challenging phase in the maturing democratic South Africa. Government has allocated funding and has mandated skills development to the Sector Educational and Training Authorities (SETA), however, this strategy has lost its focus. With the golden thread lost in the maze of institutional bureaucracy. Implementation strategies at government and industry level should overlap each other, compliment and reinforce one another and form the core of South Africa’s Skills Development Strategy. Whilst it is true that there is a severe skills shortage in all technical fields, the reasons behind these shortages is not clear. The aim of this study was to determine what challenges electrical contractors in KwaZulu-Natal faced that prevented the development of skills in the industry. The lack of actual sector skills intelligence transfer from industry to government departments resulted in incorrect statistics of the electrical contracting sector. The objective of distributing the survey to all electrical contractors that were registered with the Electrical Contractors Association SA (ECA SA) in KwaZulu- Natal Durban and surrounding areas including Richards Bay was to conduct a study amongst the total population and then establish a simple random sample. An electronic questionnaire was mailed to all contractors registered with the ECA SA KwaZulu-Natal. A total of 540 respondents viewed the survey and 269 completed it. This translates to a 50% completion rate. It has been proven that 58% of electrical contractors were training electricians. Further analysis revealed that there was a relationship between the age of a business and the man hours invested in training. Older businesses conducted more training. There was also a relationship between the number of man hours invested in training and the number of qualified electricians employed. The greater the man hours of training the larger the number of qualified electricians employed. Whilst there was no relationship between man hours invested in training and accessing SETA funding, electrical contractors believed that the full reimbursement for training would accelerate the skills development processes. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

This paper presents the outcome of two case studies and a survey of manufacturing and engineering industries in the Eastern Cape, to explain their environmental education and / or training needs. The methods involved in case studies were interviews, observation and document analysis and for the survey a postal questionnaire. Respondents were generally able to identify their companies' environmental impacts and most thought that education and/training has a role to play in helping them deal with those impacts. While respondents identified environmental awareness for workers as the main role that education and / or training can play, it also has to help management understand its environmental role in dealing with environmental management systems and legislation, as well as supporting education and training. Education and/or training should take both managers and workers beyond the superficial understanding of the concept of environment. In-house and external trainers were identified as potential trainers as this would both overcome a current lack of capacity and make continuity possible when external trainers cease training. Trainers should be environmentally qualified. Respondents have mostly shown support for learning-on-the-job but less so on special environmental courses or including an environmental component in all training programmes. Some training sections consider their sections as already overladen and unable to accommodate other training programmes. The problem is therefore more logistic than environmental.

Thesis (MTech(Human Resource Management)-- Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2011 / While the relationship between training and organisational commitment has to some extent been widely researched, most of the information available in literature is based on studies done in western countries. The aim of the study was to determine the relationship between the research variables of employee perceptions of training (measured by perceived availability of training, perceived supervisor support for training and perceived co-worker support for training) and organisational commitment (measured by affective and continuance commitment) an their impact on turnover intentions among employees of SMMEs within the hotel sector of the Cape Metropole area of the Western Cape Province of South Africa.A quantitative descriptive approach to research was adopted through the use of survey questionnaire to elicit relevant information from the respondents. In the absence of a sample frame (comprising only small hotels within the Cape Metropole area) and in order to meet the criteria laid down by the National Business Act for small business, non-probability judgemental sampling was deemed appropriate and was used to identify 10 SMME hotels to participate in this study. A total 127 respondents were drawn from across the 10 hotels. The research variables were measured using validated instruments from prior studies.

M.A (Public Administration) / Training in local authorities in South Africa is seen against a background of development problems which include insufficient management skills and, inferior education. These are typical problem of black people in South Africa. It is against this background that, in the present day South Africa, there is a greater sensitivity to the importance of good local government management than ever before. Where skilled local government officials are scarce, as they were in the former black local authorities, they should be developed. Training and development are perhaps the first steps towards that end, though obviously they alone are not enough to solve all the human resource deficiencies within these local government structures. This dissertation identifies the priority training and development needs, describes current training and development efforts in local government and proposes further steps that local government should take to encourage, develop and support appropriate human resource development. Taking cognisance of lessons learned in training and developing elected councillors and appointed officials in local government, a need for a more scientific assessment of participants (councillors/officials) under going training and development was identified thereby ensuring that training becomes more targeted and effective. The original sample targeted for the assessment was 200 participants, being a little more than 20% of the total of potential partic.ipants. Eventually 107 respondents (11.2%) participated in the assessment. The sample is however enough to draw conclusions and make generalisations. The assessment was carried out in five centres: Germiston, Vanderbijlpark, Randfontein, Johannesburg and Pretoria. It was done largely using focus group discussions where open-ended questions gave participants enough opportunity to express themselves in an informal environment this proved to be very effective. The most pressing need identified by the participants was for training on the budgetary processes.

M.Ed. / South Africa needs to spread its available and required competence, skills and educational basis among its broad population (Valchanges, 1992:23). This is reflected in South Africa being rated 43rd out of 47 countries in the human development and skills level, or put differently, 14th out of 15 Group II countries in the World Competitiveness Report of 1992 (Gerber, Nel and Van Dyk, 1995:6). The South African educational system also ranked 14th of the 15 Group II countries in the same report (Gerber, et al, 1995:7). The situation is even worse if the World Competitiveness Report of 1995 is taken into consideration. South Africa ranked. 44th of 46 countries regarding its human resource development (Buffington and Associates, 1996; Rossouw, 1996:3; Pretoria News, 29 May 1996). If the above is taken into consideration it is clear that the start of the National Training Board (NTB) process that began in 1993 was necessary. The initial debates in the process were located within the vocational training context (HSRC, 1995:34). Four stakeholders entered the initial NTB process; namely: The government of the day with official representation by the departments of Education and Labour (called the Department of Manpower at the time); Representatives of different employers organisations; Representatives of organised labour; and Providers of learning. Different concerns from each of the above stakeholders caused a shift in the debate from a concern about vocational training to a broader concept of vocational education and training. This lead to the argument of an integrated approach. Thus: The field of education, training and development should adopt an integrated approach to all activities and systems currently classified as education and training and, unlike the past concentrate on vocational training only (HSRC, 1995:35). As part of such an integrated approach, education, training and development should not be seen as separate entities, but as one unit within the larger field of human resource development, i.e. the development of all those involved in Education, Training and Development (ETD), must be ranked as one of the biggest priorities in South Africa (National Training Board, 1995a:5). In November 1993, Working Committee 3 of the NTB submitted a report on "Trainer Development", under the title of "Education, Training and Development Practitioner" (NTB Annexure A, 1995c:2) thus starting a process of integrating the ETD field. Those involved in ETD were referred to as Education, Training and Development Practitioners (ETDP). The original task given to Working Committee 3 reads as follows: "Develop a South African competency-based model for trainers. Identify requirements for registration, certification, accreditation and recognition of existing qualifications and experience or competency in a national integrated certification/qualification structure." The ETDP competency model must be based on outcomes/outputs as a central focus, that will link the ETDP competency model with the National Qualifications Framework (NQF), thus ensuring registration, certification, accreditation and recognition of existing qualifications and experience (NTB, 1995c:21. To ensure that the ETDP Model complies to the requirements of the NQF (NTB, 1995a:5) it must be described in terms of: Roles; Outputs/Outcomes; Quality Standards; Competencies linked to outputs/outcomes; Range variables; and Levels of complexity.

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

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.

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.

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.

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