In the early modern world advice literature showed the family as a reflection of the state, a miniature kingdom in which the husband, as family head, acted much as a ruling monarch, with his wife, children and servants rendered his subjects. Although many seventeenth-century individuals chose to uphold traditional social conventions about proper behavior, not all family relationships fit the mold. Therefore, in an effort to uncover the experiences of seventeenth-century families, this thesis will focus on the relationships formed between spouses, parents and children, and siblings. It is on this small sampling of middling and upper class Scottish families, that we can see many common characteristics that were likely present in many early modern family relationships.

In the early modern world advice literature showed the family as a reflection of the state, a miniature kingdom in which the husband, as family head, acted much as a ruling monarch, with his wife, children and servants rendered his subjects. Although many seventeenth-century individuals chose to uphold traditional social conventions about proper behavior, not all family relationships fit the mold. Therefore, in an effort to uncover the experiences of seventeenth-century families, this thesis will focus on the relationships formed between spouses, parents and children, and siblings. It is on this small sampling of middling and upper class Scottish families, that we can see many common characteristics that were likely present in many early modern family relationships.

La famille a fortement évolué ces dernières décennies. Aux côtés de la famille traditionnelle, les schémas familiaux, devenus multiples, ont bouleversé l’équilibre juridique tel que prévu par le Code civil de 1804. Toutefois, l’enfant demeure au cœur de ces familles, car aujourd’hui plus que jamais, l’enfant fait famille. Si au fil des siècles la protection légale de l’enfant commun s’est renforcée pour aujourd’hui atteindre un niveau efficient, l’augmentation du nombre de familles recomposées souligne les insuffisances de la loi quant à la protection des intérêts de l’enfant non commun. L’absence de lien de filiation entre le beau-parent et son bel-enfant peut se traduire par une atteinte à ses intérêts patrimoniaux. Sont appréhendés dans ces travaux les deux volets de la protection des intérêts patrimoniaux de l’enfant non commun : la protection imposée au couple recomposé et la protection souhaitée par le couple recomposé dans l’esprit d’une meilleure intégration de l’enfant non commun. Ainsi, de lege lata, quels sont les mécanismes de protection des intérêts patrimoniaux de l’enfant non commun ? Et quels seraient, de lege ferenda, les outils nécessaires pour une meilleure prise en compte de ses intérêts ? Le législateur doit-il intervenir, ou laisser la place à une plus grande contractualisation en droit de la famille ? / The concept of family has deeply changed over the last decades. Along with the idea of a traditional family, and the different family patterns that have multiplied over the years, these new entities have radically modified the legal structure that the 1804 Civil Code had built. However, children still remain at the heart of the concept of family because, more than ever before, they concretely make family. If the child’s legal condition has been reinforced over the past centuries so as to be fully operational now, the ongoing rise of step families and reconstituted families highlight the lack of legal regime regarding a child’s situation coming from one of these two kind of families. The absence of direct line of descent between the step father and his step child can lead to potential troubles to his legacy. In this paper, two aspects regarding the safety of a child’s legacy coming from non-traditional family schemes will be tackled: the legal regime enforced for reconstituted families, and the legal regime that this same type of family would desire to benefit from for the sake of their step child. Thus, de lege data, what are the main mechanisms enforcing the legal regime tackling the child’s legacy from a non-traditional family? And what would be, de lege ferenda, the required tools so as to perform a better comprehensive analysis of what his legacy requires in this specific scheme? Should the legislator interfere more or allow a wider development of contracts law for family matters?

Masters of Commerce / In the twenty first century, the traditional roles in a nuclear family have changed. In the majority of modern families, both partners have careers and full-time jobs. Burnett, Gatrell, Cooper and Sparrow (2010) explain that the approach to working life is changing, both men and women want to find a balance between work, family and caring responsibilities. Guest (2002) also elaborates that work-life balance has always been a concern for those interested in the quality of working life and the relation to broader quality of life. Due to the challenges which employees are currently facing, flexible work arrangements have become an increasingly popular business practice around the globe as a means to reduce work-life conflict. Many organisations offer flexible work arrangements with the goal of facilitating positive outcomes for both organisations and employees (Joiner & Bakalis, 2006). However, other organisations are still resistant to introducing flexible work arrangements as they fear it might impact negatively on productivity (Johnson, 2004; Martinez-Sanchez, Perez-Perez, Jose Vela-Jimenez & de-Luis Carnicer, 2008). While literature on flexible working hours has increased in recent times, no study has been found on the relationships between flexible working hours, employee engagement and organisational commitment in the retail sector in South Africa. Therefore this study focused on the relationship between flexible working hours, employee engagement and organisational commitment. The study followed a quantitative approach and the questionnaires were completed by 161 respondents. The two statistical approaches used to draw conclusions for this study are descriptive and inferential statistics. The study found significant relationships between flexible working hours, employee engagement and organisational commitment. The study also found a significant relationship between different age groups and flexible working hours as well as male and female and their use of flexible working hours. In conclusion, if retailers want to remain competitive in the retail industry where international competition is rife, they will have to ensure that they have the best talent. In order to acquire top talent, they will need to implement policies that will attract and retain them. Based on the findings and results, flexible working hours could substantially assist by increasing their employee engagement and organisational commitment and thereby attracting and retaining the top talent in the South African retail industry.

Thesis (M. A.(African Languages)) --University of Limpopo, 2019 / My study investigates the establishment of a family institution with special reference to Vatsonga.The study will focus on comparing the traditional with modern ways of establishing a family institution. The study aims at investigating values and principles behind strong foundations upheld by old people regarding families. The study could lay a foundation for scholars’ further investigative studies on establishment of African traditional families. The study will serve as a reference in times of family crisis for potential readers. It is going to employ a qualitative research approach where unstructured interviews will be used to engage participants with relevant information. The study will engage twelve participants (six male and six female) elderly people who have experience in traditional family establishment whose ages range from fifty-five and above. It will be conducted around Malamulele area in Vhembe District of Limpopo and it will be conducted in Xitsonga.

Current collective church services, where families in totality are coming together although the focus only falls on adults, do not address today’s post modern families. For this reason two tragic routes were began to be followed within the church: <ul> <ol><li>Parents with small children began to give up trying to pressure their children to attend services because they themselves realized that it was not working for them, and started to go to church without their children, while parents with teenagers allowed their teens to attend services of other churches where they felt that their needs were met. Parents who still tried to pressure their children into going to services with them, started to experience the tension surrounding that within their families as well as in themselves.</li> <li>Congregations started creating generative services where the different generations were served separately from each other, within the premise of specialized ministry on the level of each unique generation.</li> </ol></ul> The result of this was disastrous for families as well as the church in general. On the one hand family members were spiritually alienated from each other and covenant families were tore to pieces; on the other hand covenant families were alienated from their own Christian tradition and church foundation, while the role of parents as spiritual mentors of their children were minimilised. Because of this, more and more families began to plead for the addressing of their needs to be ministered to as a whole within the church service and to worship together, while covenant parents began to demand to be once again empowered as primary spiritual mentors of their children. Consequently the urgent need within the church had arisen for the implementation of family ministry, and especially family services, where families in totality can effectively be ministered to so that the needs of each family member will be met. Principles for such inter generative services, as well as sermons to post modern families within that context, is necessary to make such a cross generational ministry successful. Precisely this is the focus of this study. / Dissertation (MA (Research in Practical Theology))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Practical Theology / MA / unrestricted