This dissertation sets out to describe a pro-active process of public participation in urban planning, motivated by a lack of planning theory and also available South African legislation to describe how pro-active public participation is achieved in planning practice. Communicative planning theory advises on and describes public participation as being meaningful focussing on consensus between stakeholders. Empirical evidence of such public participation is however scarce, and also a critique against communicative planning theory. South African legislation supports and uses the concept of pro-active public participation but has few practical guidelines to facilitate such a public participation process in planning. The context of public participation in South Africa, in specifically two communities (Khuma and Stilfontein) in the North-West Province was the primary focus in describing a pro-active process of public participation. These two communities that had participated in a previous project where public participation was conducted and most importantly documented were specifically chosen because they represent two different community contexts, with Stilfontein being a community primarily consisting of retired mineworkers and Khuma a community that came into being as a result of forceful removals during the apartheid era. Furthermore the process of public participation that was followed was unique in this project as methods from community psychology were applied to guide communication. The importance of context and communication were identified as the most important aspects when conducting public participation pro-actively. The importance of communication and context should be considered if a pro- active process of public participation is to be conducted. It is a timeous process to consider the context of community members when conducting public participation, but it must be considered by spatial planners. The possibility of multidisciplinary teams facilitating public participation processes in planning should be considered. In this way planners can be assisted when conducting public participation processes. The refinement of legislation describing public participation may also be helpful in attempts to enhance pro-active processes in public participation. / MArt et Scien (Urban and Regional Planning), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

This dissertation sets out to describe a pro-active process of public participation in urban planning, motivated by a lack of planning theory and also available South African legislation to describe how pro-active public participation is achieved in planning practice. Communicative planning theory advises on and describes public participation as being meaningful focussing on consensus between stakeholders. Empirical evidence of such public participation is however scarce, and also a critique against communicative planning theory. South African legislation supports and uses the concept of pro-active public participation but has few practical guidelines to facilitate such a public participation process in planning. The context of public participation in South Africa, in specifically two communities (Khuma and Stilfontein) in the North-West Province was the primary focus in describing a pro-active process of public participation. These two communities that had participated in a previous project where public participation was conducted and most importantly documented were specifically chosen because they represent two different community contexts, with Stilfontein being a community primarily consisting of retired mineworkers and Khuma a community that came into being as a result of forceful removals during the apartheid era. Furthermore the process of public participation that was followed was unique in this project as methods from community psychology were applied to guide communication. The importance of context and communication were identified as the most important aspects when conducting public participation pro-actively. The importance of communication and context should be considered if a pro- active process of public participation is to be conducted. It is a timeous process to consider the context of community members when conducting public participation, but it must be considered by spatial planners. The possibility of multidisciplinary teams facilitating public participation processes in planning should be considered. In this way planners can be assisted when conducting public participation processes. The refinement of legislation describing public participation may also be helpful in attempts to enhance pro-active processes in public participation. / MArt et Scien (Urban and Regional Planning), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Globally organisations face unacceptable levels of fatalities that translate into financial losses and bad publicity, which can be attributed to the inadequate employee engagement in decision making in daily work activities. This study explores the participative role of employees in the management of occupational health and safety (OHS), and investigates the impact of employee participation on the decision making processes that create a safe workplace. The joint labour-management committees encourage employee participation that improves the injury and disease prevention programs. Four participative approaches exist in the decision making processes, namely Directed Participation, Involvement, Pro-active Participation and Ownership, that are interrelated and integrated with the decision making process. When employees are required to abide by set guidelines and procedures, Directed Participation is appropriate. This has been observed to occur with little or no input from employees, whilst the application of legislation requires the process of involvement where critical decisions are made outside the domain of the employee. The pro-active participation process entails the sharing, consulting and making of joint decisions, which is most suitable in the Safety Health and Environmental committees, ensuring the process of Ownership empowers employees to champion the OHS activities. In OHS management there are instances when numerous participative approaches are utilised simultaneously to make decisions. All employees, both blue collar workers and management have a positive influence in creating a safe workplace, with the likelihood of older and experienced employees participating more than their younger counterparts in the decision making processes within the various OHS forums. Also, the more employees assume full responsibility for their health and safety, the greater is their influence to find solutions to the safety challenges. Additionally, making joint decisions to create a safe workplace will, in turn, encourage employees to participate more. The use of the participative approaches results in an improvement in the iii decision making processes within S.H.E. committees and OHS management processes, thereby making a positive contribution. More research is recommended to explore the relationships between employee participation in decision making and the compliance to OHS legislation, employee training, the safety culture and the influence of trade unions. / Business Management / DBL