Historically in South Africa, the education and social systems have worked together to deny black people both competencies and opportunities for significant participation.There are over nine million people in South Africa who cannot read or write. (Hutton, 1992) South Africa is not the only country with this problem, newly liberated countries have also had to respond to the problem of illiteracy. In South Africa many progressive organizations have initiated literacy work and have recognized the need for adult basic education. Workplace literacy has become an important national issue. It is of concern to employees, employers, unions, vocational and adult educators. But what does it mean to workers on the shopfloor and how can they benefit from such programmes. In our increasingly technological society, different workplace demands are being placed on workers. Companies try to assist their workers by offering training and retraining programmes. It sounds good, a problem has been recognized and steps are being taken to fix it, but there is something missing. Little mention is being made of the needs and rights of workers themselves. The objective of this study is to identify the literacy skills of workers and the necessity for determining job literacy requirements for employment positions. Research has shown that the level of literacy in the workplace is not determined by a grade equivalent but by the literacy needs of the workplace. In trying to identify the above objective it is important to look at what is meant by workplace literacy as well as significance of workplace literacy and its importance within a social and economic context. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1992.

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Masters Degree in Technology, (Tourism Management) in the Department of Hospitality and Tourism, Durban University of Technology, 2009. / There is a growing demand for professionally educated and trained staff in the tourism sector. However, current literature reveals a significant disparity between the tourism education provided by institutions and the skills required by the industry. A major challenge facing tourism education institutions is the identification of industry needs and requirements and the involvement of industry in curriculum design. The aim of this research is to examine the education, skills and training required of tourism employees and whether the provisions of higher education tourism courses are adequately meeting industry needs. Identifying this „gap‟ will assist in improving the development of tourism education programmes to meet the needs of industry. The research examines the relevance of the tourisms qualification from three stakeholders‟ perspectives, namely, managers from the tourism sector, tourism graduate employees, and tourism academics. Surveys, in the form of structured questionnaires, were used to obtain information from the three groups. The overall findings of the study revealed that gaps do exist in the tourism curriculum according to the perceptions of stakeholder groups that participated in this study. The recommendations are that closer collaboration is required between academics, managers from the industry when designing tourism curriculum and also to sustain the relevance of the curriculum to meet the needs of industry.

Thesis (M.B.A.)-Business Studies Unit, Durban University of Technology, 2006 x, 68 leaves / The purpose of this study is to identify the training needs of leather technicians with the aim of supporting corporate competitive advantage within their company. Identifying competencies is an essential first step towards developing a training programme and to support corporate competitive advantage.

This study attempts to examine language policy and language training and development in industry, with specific reference to departmental practice at ESKOM. ESKOM is South Afiica's largest electricity supplier with wide national and international business dealings. The organisation has extensive training and development programmes and is committed to supporting equity and the development of employees' potential through training and development. It is for these reasons that I selected the organisation as the basis for my study. The study is conducted within the parameters of the Constitution 's multilingual language policy, the Skills Development Act of 1998 and the Employment Equity Act of 1998. According to the Constitution, the state must take practical measures 10 elevate the status and advance the use of indigenous languages (Section 6: C). The state may also not discriminate against anyone on the grounds of language and culture (Section 9:3). The study argues that in order to ensure equity, all South African languages must be used. One way of ensuring equitable language usage is through training and development. The broad issues that are examined include: '" language policy and practice '" languages used in industry * the dominance of English in industry *upliftment of black languages * the language of training and development programmes at ESKOM * language training and development programmes at ESKOM The study is based on qualitative and quantitative approaches. Semi-structured interviews were used to elicit information from management and middle-management about language policy and practice at ESKOM. Individuals involved with training were interviewed about language in training and development, and to narrow the focus, workers attending literacy training were issued with questionnaires in Zulu or English, according to preference and proficiency. to elicit information about their language usage, English proficiency and literacy training. Data was therefore gathered from all possible areas, including areas of policy, practice and implementation. The results were analysed and a discussion of subjects' responses was presented. In summary, English is the dominant language at ESKOM, despite the Constitution's eleven language policy and the call for equity. In addition, although the majority of the subjects attending literacy classes stated that they did not understand English well, they felt that training should be conducted in English medium. The majority of the subjects also felt that it is imperative for all South Africans to acquire black languages, at least at regional level. Finally, the limitations of the study and suggestions for further research are also outlined. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2000.

The purpose of the study was to investigate skills development within the Manufacturing, Engineering and Related Services Sector. The study investigates the reasons associated with the shortage of skills and the factors influencing the rate of skills development within this sector. / Thesis (M.B.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006.

There are a number of challenges that are facing the South African manufacturing industry today. Companies within this sector are trying all they can to ensure the optimal utilisation of physical and human resources and the maximisation of profit, all this at a very minimal possible cost. Each company within the industry is struggling for a competitive edge and bigger market share compared to other companies manufacturing the same product. Haas et al. (2005: 1) suggest that the manufacturing companies need more flexible labour strategies, like multiskilling, as a way of dealing with these challenges. Hulett Aluminium (Pty) Ltd, South Africa's largest aluminium producer and based in Pietermaritzburg, was used by the researcher as a case study. The company was founded in 1946 as a subsidiary of the international Alcan Aluminium Group. It is South Africa's largest manufacturer of semi-fabricated and finished aluminium products. The company introduced multiskilling in 2000, the main objective being to equip the employees with a variety of skills for the benefit of both the company and the employees themselves. This research study was undertaken to establish the extent to which Hulett Aluminium (Pty) Ltd has taken advantage of the theoretical benefits associated with multiskilling. To achieve this the following issues were investigated: preparation of a suitable environment for the application of multiskilling, effects of new, advanced technology on multiskilling, effects of absenteeism due to workshops, training programmes and personal matters, productivity levels, labour turnover, labour costs, trend towards selfmanaged groups, job satisfaction , employee motivation and industrial conflicts. This study first discussed the theoretical perspectives on multiskilling. This is followed by the description of Hulett Aluminium (Pty) Ltd, with specific description of the company's profile, the organisational structure, the aluminium supply chain and the company's core business . The description of the company is followed by the methodology used for the collection of data as well as the outline of the interpretation procedures followed. Research findings and discussion are also given. The key findings of this study are that both managers and shop floor employees at Hulett Aluminium agree that multiskilling contributes to increased organisational labour productivity, reduced organisational overall costs, and reduced industrial conflicts. Other areas of agreement include the fact that multiskilled employees need appropriate resources for the application of their skills; training is an essential tool for multiskilling and that rewards for a multiskilled workforce are a motivating factor for in the workplace. The final conclusion drawn is that much as Hulett Aluminium (Pty) Ltd has embraced multiskilling, there is still a lot the company needs to do or improve on, so that it could enjoy the benefits of the programme. Based on the findings of this study, some of the recommendations made for Hulett Aluminium are: • A detailed planning process for proper implementation ofmuItiskilling • All the relevant stakeholders within the company should be part and parcel of the implementation of the programme • Benchmarking with other manufacturing companies which have implemented multiskilling • Training of new recruits so that they could be at equal par with the old employees and also contribute positively to increased organisational productivity. 11 / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006.

This thesis focuses on increasing the efficiency of systems with cross-trained workforce and finite storage spaces. Our objective is to maximize the throughput and minimize the setup costs (if they exist). More specifically, we are interested in determining effective cross-training strategies and dynamic server assignment policies for flexible servers in production lines with finite buffers. In the first part of this thesis, we study non-Markovian systems and support the conjecture that effective server assignment policies are robust to service time distributions. Next, we consider understaffed tandem lines with partially or fully flexible servers, determine optimal and heuristic server assignment policies, and show that most of the benefits of full flexibility can be achieved with limited flexibility. Finally, we incorporate the setups to our model, determine the optimal server assignment policy for some systems and show how the effective assignment of servers depends on the magnitude of the setup costs.

The aim of the study was to investigate why it was deemed necessary to train and localise the public and private sectors by the Swaziland government. The efforts began shortly before Swaziland attained independence in 1968. Many of the initiative to localisation started in pre-colonial Swaziland in 1966 leading to independence. The study also examined the drawbacks to training and localisation and how these were overcome. Swaziland inherited and was strongly dependent upon a strongly entrenched cadre of top-level public service and private administrators who were expatriates. The study also examined how far localisation has gone to date.

The aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of the ”accelerated” development training programme by using two specifically compiled in-basket exercises equivalent in complexity. A pre- and post-evaluation were performed to determine whether learning transfer actually took place-that is, whether competencies developed. The research focused on the following competencies: action orientation; planning and organising; analysis and problem solving; teamness; and impact. From the statistical analysis conducted, significant differences were obtained for three competencies, impact, action orientation and problem solving. The separation of variables proved to be problematic and the results could not be attributed directly to the training programme. The results are explained, the design of the evaluation critically reviewed and recommendations made to improve the design of the evaluation. The value of the study is discussed and directions for possible future research provided. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M. A.(Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

The general purpose of this study was to determine the impact that the match of mentor and mentee had on the success of the mentoring relationship. The leadership style of the mentor and the reporting style of the mentee were determined and effectiveness of the match was determined. This was done in order to determine the impact of the match between mentor and mantee on the quality of the mentoring relationship. The study was conducted within a local government milieu with a sample of 34 mentors and 40 mentees, thus a total of 40 mentoring pairs. These participants were all part of a formal mentorship programme within the organisation. The findings indicated that when leadership and reporting styles of mentoring pairs are complementary it will not have a significant effect on the success of the mentoring relationship. It furthermore suggests that careful consideration should be given in selecting participants before initiating mentorship programmes. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.A. (Industrial Psychology)