The National Health Laboratory Service is a single national entity to provide laboratory services to the public sector in SA. The NHLS came into being by amalgamating five large independent pathology service providers. The research will provide insight on how to manage change and stakeholder relations during mergers.

The National Health Laboratory Service is a single national entity to provide laboratory services to the public sector in SA. The NHLS came into being by amalgamating five large independent pathology service providers. The research will provide insight on how to manage change and stakeholder relations during mergers.

Joint appointments in the health sector in South Africa are made to serve both service and academic functions in one post. Typically the employing organisations are unequal, as one of them is the paying organisation while the other is the academic employer. This practice has been in existence for decades, and is ruled by expediency rather than being based on values. Joint employees experience role confusion, job confusion, dual loyalty confusion and being managed according to the rules of two organisations. This suboptimal situation leads to lower-than-expected performance in the eyes of both employing organisations. In this study the knowledge and problem areas of joint appointments were explored. The first part of the study consisted of a questionnaire analysis of the knowledge and view of problems as expressed by joint staff as well as by human resources (HR) practitioners. Group discussions, as well as the major part of the study, namely, interviews with senior management staff of both organisations were then conducted. In order to complete the study, an analysis was made of values that might inform on the problem. Joint staff members were found to have limited knowledge of the work requirements of a joint employee, and expressed concern about loyalty and role confusion. When the values were discussed with senior management staff, some values were identified as informing on possible solutions such as joint establishment of vision, joint objectives, respect for all components of the job, as well as generic values, including honesty, transparency, fairness, diversity and others. A framework is suggested commenting on the potential place for a values-based approach. From this a model is proposed by means of which a values-based process can be initiated by a top-level agreement meeting (“meeting of the minds”) of both employers that may lead to a single joint vision and set of objectives. From this agreement a policymaking joint body can establish the rules, while application and implementation are monitored by local joint management committees. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Human Resource Management / unrestricted

Text in English / It is common knowledge that the social work profession in Africa, including its theories, methods, and models, has been implanted from the global North (Europe) and North America. Scholarship within social work has confirmed that there are challenges of relevance and appropriateness of Westernised social work interventions, and consequently, their effectiveness in a context outside the Euro-North American axis. It is against this backdrop that the researcher explored the African family, its experiences, and its coping strategies when raising a child with Down syndrome as well as the nature of social work services they received and whether such services were congruent with the family’s existential condition and subjectivities. A retrospective qualitative study following a phenomenological design was conducted. Research data were collected from a sample drawn using purposive and snowball techniques, through the use of semi-structured interviews. Qualitative data analysis process adapted from Terre Blanche, Durrheim and Painter (2006:33) was used. The findings revealed the existence of a paradoxical relationship between Eurocentrism underlying social work practice and the Afrocentric worldview. The typical African family raising a child with DS was found to be characterised by a unique form and structure consistent with a clan system different from the conventional Eurocentric concept of family. It was also found that despite the pressure and assault exerted by modernity, colonization and apartheid on the traditional African clan system, it remained resilient and retained its unique character distinct from the western nuclear family system. In relation to dealing with challenges associated with raising a child with DS, the African clan’s concerns were found to transcend pre-occupation with the etiology and treatment of the condition as emphasized in the western paradigm. Without discounting the significance of the etiology and treatment of the condition, the African clan draws on its spirituality and affection to consider the purpose and function of the condition in the bigger scheme of things. Social work as a helping profession seemed to be unpopular amongst African clans raising children with DS. The findings were used to develop indigenised social work practice guidelines for social workers assisting African families raising children with DS. / Social Work / Ph. D. (Social Work)