Submitted in fulfillment of the academic requirements for the Master of Technology in Business Administration, Durban University of Technology, 2017. / This study investigated the concept of entrepreneurial intent within a South African Higher Education (HE) context using a sample of final year commerce students at the Durban University of Technology (DUT). The backdrop of this is within growing calls for universities to be located more within the ideal and agenda of generating future entrepreneurs for the economy. Further, arguments are made that graduates within South African Higher Education (HE) may possess the necessary theoretical knowledge but fall short concerning coming up with innovations that are responsive to the changing and diverse labour market. Entrepreneurship, thus, emerges as a possible panacea to the challenges affecting HE in South Africa. The aim of the research was to investigate factors that influence a student’s entrepreneurial intent within a South African HE context. A quantitative survey design was implemented amongst a sample of 250 respondents studying at the DUT. Correlation and regression analysis were used to test relationships between variables. The findings show a positive relationship to exist between individual risk taking propensity and variables such as a) subjective norms; b) perceived behavioural control; c) proactive personality; d) entrepreneurial education and e) student attitude towards entrepreneurial education and intentions. The findings provide a useful precursor to encouraging entrepreneurial efforts within HE in South Africa. Practitioners can use the findings of this work to come up with interventions that promote the development of an entrepreneurial culture within the South African context, especially using a vulnerable yet important cohort within the youth of the country. / M

M.Comm. / Black Advancement and Affirmative Action are concepts which became identified with endeavours in South Africa to increase the participation of black people in business and the mainstream economy. In recent years, a more all-encompassing construct, combining the objective and attributes of both Black Advancement and Affirmative Action, has gained popularity. This new construct is Black Economic Empowerment. Black Economic Empowerment is a concept, which is broadly accepted in principle, but is still controversial in its meaning and practice. This report looks at the commonly, agreed and understood meaning of Black Economic Empowerment. It also examines the role that the government, private sector and labour unions have played and will play in the empowerment process. The parallels between the Afrikaner empowerment in the fifties and sixties and Black Economic Empowerment and the similarities between Malaysia's empowerment initiatives and South Africa's current situation are examined as an example that encourages the need for Black Economic Empowerment. The study will also look into the need for Affirmative Action, the state of Black Business and its historical development and its contribution to Black Empowerment. The successes of Black Economic Empowerment are contrasted against the failures, while the report examines the criticisms levelled against Black Economic Empowerment as well as the perception that such a process is open to manipulation. The findings of the study concluded that Black Economic Empowerment is essential to the economic development of Black people. The responsibility is all encompassing, yet government must be seen to act as the facilitator of the process.

M.A. / A stress inoculation training programme suitable for blue collar workers was developed using Meichenbaum's (1977) training guide-lines. The stress inoculation training programme set out to develop coping skills based on a script including scenes dealing with : supervisor-worker conflict, meeting production deadlines, interactions with para-state officials, problems based on migrant lifestyles, safety issues and the stress experienced by management ...

Graduate unemployment, more specifically the continued inability of young people to make a successful transition from institutions of higher learning to labour markets, remains a key concern and one of the most pressing socio-economic issues facing South Africa. Of similar concern, has been the inordinate length of time it takes for graduates (particularly black graduates) to acquire employment. This research study was undertaken in an attempt to understand employment trends among black graduates: its specific aim is to determine, the length of time it takes for black graduates to acquire employment after graduation. As a secondary aim the study also seeks to determine the underlying causes of long-lasting unemployment. The study investigated the employment circumstances involving a sample of 40 graduate participants from Motherwell Township: it was discovered that it took from 1-3 years for the respondents to acquire employment. The study also found that relative to their male counterparts it took much longer for female graduate participants to acquire employment. It also emerged that the type of qualification possessed by the graduates was a determining factor in the likelihood of their gaining employment timeously.

This research paper explores the means at the disposal of employers and employees to address the phenomenon of unfair labour practice relating to promotion in the workplace. Furthermore the paper endeavours to illustrate that there are aspects of South African law that provide a framework within which unfair labour practices can be addressed in the workplace. As I explore these fundamental issues of the law, the fairness relating to recruitment and selection practices will be examined. Some recommendations are also made as to how departments and organisations must address promotion issues at the workplace. There are often perceptions of alleged unfairness committed by employers in the workplace. These perceptions emanate from a number of allegations. The allegations include but are not limited to past practices, policy considerations, acting in higher positions, prior promises, being better qualified, receiving higher marks in the interviews, irregular conduct by the interviewing panel, unfair decisions by appointing authority or their failure to apply their minds, affirmative action or equity considerations. The study seeks to explore some of these allegations and further provide certainty as to what the legal recourse is under those circumstances. The research further seeks to provide the legal certainty pertaining to issues of promotion in the workplace. The study commences on a general approach to the principles of law relating to unfair labour practice in the public sector. Further developments of the law relating to promotion as it applies to the education sector are explored. The study culminates with possible remedies available to instances where an unfair conduct has been found to be committed by the employer during the promotion process. There is sufficient case law which covers the promotion processes. The study also exposes forms of relief which can be awarded to applicants who had lodged disputes in which it is found that indeed the employer had committed unfair labour practice relating to promotion. The study further aims to explore both procedural and substantive fairness with regard to appointment and promotion processes. Issues which are dealt with concerning fairness in promotion disputes include polygraph tests, whether there are hard and fast rules to the process, whether employees have the general right to promotion, what the requirements for fair appointment or promotion are, the law on substantive fairness, affirmative action and promotion, the consequences of failure to appoint the most suitable candidate, dealing with candidates who obtained higher scores in the interviews, promoting a candidate who had not met minimum requirements and promoting candidates based on flawed scores. The research also deals with frivolous referrals of disputes and costs which can be awarded against such applicants. Further issues which are dealt with in this research include the concept of “joinder” which is critical where there is an incumbent in the post which is disputed and the relief sought is that such post must be set aside. Further clarity is given on who is supposed to be joined in a dispute which is referred in the education sector. The CCMA rules on joinder are also clarified. The consequences of failure to join the incumbent are also dealt with. The research is also clarifying the concept of prematurity or ripeness in promotion disputes and its consequent lack of jurisdiction if such is referred.

The focus of the study was on the relationship between employee engagement strategies and intention-to-stay of engineering professionals at a power station. The investigated engagement strategies or drivers in the model adopted for this study included: leadership style, remuneration structure, physical and emotional work climate, nature of work and career development opportunities. The purpose of the study was to investigate and contribute to a better understanding of a voluntary turnover problem of engineering professionals at a power station by considering the influence of engagement on intention-to-stay. The research was conducted on a sample of 65 engineering professionals employed at a power station. The findings of the study revealed that only one variable, namely nature of work, was significantly related to employee engagement. It was also established that of the five engagement strategies investigated, nature of work and leadership style (transformational) were significantly related to intention-to-stay. A positive relationship between employee engagement and intention-to-stay was proven in this study.

The research study was to identify what strategies could be used by organizations in managing or containing substance abuse in the workplace. In solving the research problems, the following actions were taken: A literature study was conducted to identify the scope and impact of substance abuse in the workplace; A literature study was also conducted to identify the strategies to prevent and contain substance abuse in the workplace;The findings from the literature studies were integrated into a model of best practices for the management of substance abuse in the workplace; The model was used as a basis for the development of a survey questionnaire to determine which strategies and wellness activities the surveyed companies were using. The questionnaire survey was administered at 25 companies in Port Elizabeth. The empirical results revealed that substance abuse was common at all organizations and the size of the organization had no bearing on the extent of the substance abuse problem. The majority of the participants in the study indicated that they experienced substance abuse problems in their organizations with alcohol consumption being the main problem at these organizations. The results also revealed that companies were not doing enough in terms of education and awareness campaigns. The lack of campaigns and education material could pose a difficult challenge to deal with and could result in companies experiencing adverse performance. Another contributing factor in the prevalence of substance abuse in the workplace was that alcohol and tobacco were referred to as socially acceptable substances.

Equality is a fundamental constitutional value in the Constitution. Formal equality presupposes that all persons are equal bearers of rights and that inequality can be eliminated by extending the same rights to all. Formal equality is blind to social and economic differences between groups and individuals. Substantive equality, on the other hand, is receptive to entrenched, structural inequality, meaning that the equality clause of the Constitution must be read as founded on a substantive concept of equality. An employer can utilise the defence of an inherent requirement of a job in the case of an unfair-discrimination claim since the defence is available in terms of both the Employment Equity Act, in respect of employment discrimination, and the Labour Relations Act in respect of discriminatory dismissals. The defence is narrow in that only essential duties of a particular job will be taken into account to determine inherent requirements of a particular job. Reported judgments where this defence is used are scant. What makes the defence more onerous is that an employer has to show that the particular employee could not be reasonably accommodated, before the inherent-requirement defence will succeed. It is integral to the determination of whether there was unfair discrimination and whether such discrimination was justifiable. An important debate in our discrimination law relates to the question of whether any significance should be attached to the fact that only unfair discrimination is outlawed. Neither of the aforementioned pieces of legislation clearly state that affirmative action or an inherent requirement of a job are the only defences available to employers. Where these two defences are found to be not applicable, may the fairness be decided in terms of a general fairness defence? This question is also addressed in the present treatise. It is submitted that foreign law is a valuable interpretive tool, provided it is used wisely, in that judgments originating from courts and tribunals in the United Kingdom and Canada may assist to provide an understanding of the issues central to employment discrimination law and the parameters of the defence of inherent requirements of the job. Thus, in developing employment discrimination law in South Africa, consideration of foreign jurisprudence may prove informative.

Affirmative action is the purposeful, planned placement and development of competent or potentially competent persons in or to positions from which they were debarred in the past. Affirmative action is an attempt to redress past population, on a local and national level. One of the requirements of affirmative action in South Africa is that it must target persons who have been discriminted by unfair discrimination in the past. the Emplyment Equity Act was brought into the South African government to bring equality to all. Unfair discrimination is a branch of affirmative action in which individuals are discriminated against not only on race, but includes colour, sex, religion, age, disability, language and the likes. Section 9 of the Constitution of South Africa prohibits unfair discrimination against any person on any of the listed grounds. Section 2 of the Employment Equity Act is in place to aim to achieve equity within the workplace by promoting equal opportunity and fair treatment as well as eliminating unfair discrimination. Section 6, like the Constitution, lists grounds against which an individual may not be discriminated. Historically, the South African Police Services were a deeply-routed racist organization, where only white males were afforded better opportunities. This however changed after South Africa became a democratic country and with the introduction of the SAPS Act. Transformation within the SAPS took place after South Africa moved towards a democratic society.

This dissertation is a journey through the legislative changes and case law in order to analyse and evaluate the changing nature of South African jurisprudence in respect of the notions of equality, discrimination and affirmative action and the manner in which these issues are proved and dealt with in our courts. It focuses firstly on the emergence of the post-Wiehahn labour laws and the developing jurisprudence concerning discrimination in South Africa towards the end of a long period of isolation from the international world. It witnesses the growing cognizance which was taken of international guidelines and their slow and gradual incorporation into our jurisprudence before the institution of the new democratic government, in the days when the country was still firmly in the grip of a regime which prided itself on its discriminatory laws. It also deals in some depth with the new laws enacted after the first democratic government was installed, especially in so far as the Constitution was concerned. The first clutch of cases dealing with discrimination which were delivered by the Constitutional Court and their effects on decisions of the labour courts thereafter, are dealt with in great detail, indicating how important those judgments were and still are ten years later. A special chapter is devoted to the Harksen case, still a leading authority on how to deal with allegations of unfair discrimination. Having traversed several of the judgments of the labour courts after Harksen, several observations are made in the conclusion of the study which, it is hoped, summarize the major areas of concern in respect of the task of testing claims of unfair discrimination arising in our Courts.