Talent management is a source of competitive advantage and will be achieved by those organisations that are able to attract, develop and retain best in class individuals. It is thus not just a human resources issue but rather an integral part of any organisation’s strategy. Due to negative perceptions about South Africa, skilled workers are immigrating to countries such as Australia to the detriment of the South African economy. This loss is not necessarily being replaced by graduates or through immigration. Government policies such as Broader- Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE), Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) and Affirmative Action (AA), compound the issue by then decreasing the pool of skilled applicants that may occupy skilled and senior posts in organisations. Globally there is a shortage of skills and due to employee mobility they can use any opportunity that presents itself. The objectives of this study was to determine the factors which lead to the emigration of skilled South African’s to Australia and then once these factors are known to propose retention strategies to role players to stem the emigration tide. To achieve these objectives a survey was prepared based on previous studies and a link to the web questionnaire was distributed to the population via an Australian immigration agent. The link was sent to all the agent’s clients around the world and thus consisted not only of South Africa respondents but also elicited international responses, which will be used for comparison purposes only. Only 48 South Africans responded to the survey and although limited, it was sufficient for the purposes of this study. The demographic profile was mainly male and dominated by Generation X. Using a Likert scale respondents were questioned on their levels of satisfaction in their country of origin and in Australia through an adaptation of a study by Mattes and Richmond (2000). The study of Hulme (2002) was adapted and incorporated into the questionnaire, where respondents were given the opportunity to rank considerations for leaving South Africa and factors that would draw them back. Respondents were provided with the opportunity for responses to open-ended questions to include other considerations for leaving and factors that would draw them back. Results from these survey items revealed that the primary reasons driving skilled South Africans to emigrate was safety and security, upkeep of public amenities, customer service and taxation. In contrast, South African migrants had high levels of satisfaction with safety and security, upkeep of public amenities and customer service in Australia. Respondents indicated that factors that would draw them back to South Africa would be improvements in safety and security and government, followed by family roots, good jobs and schools. The study also looked at the permanence of the move. If skilled individuals returned with new-found skills and experience then it could be a potential brain gain for South Africa. The results of this study found that 43% of respondents had no intention to return, 42% did not supply a response and only 10% were undecided on whether to return or not. To attract, retain and develop talent, the South African government and the private sector would need to work in partnership to develop policies that would satisfy the lower-order needs of individuals, such as physiological and safety needs. / Emigration of skilled South African migrants to Australia / Business Management / M.Tech. (Business Administration)

The purpose of this study was to develop an optimal skills development planning and implementation process flow model for application within local government authorities, more specifically for application within the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality. To achieve this, a literature review was conducted which provided for an understanding on how skills development structures and strategies have changed in recent times and how the laws which provide the framework and landscape for skills development in South Africa, have been adapted to accommodate these changes. The literature review continued with an analysis of various theoretical training and skills development models in order to determine an optimal systematic approach to training and development in South Africa, and to determine the sequential flow of skills planning and implementation process flow steps. From the literature and theoretical models, an all-embracing skills development planning and implementation process flow model was developed for implementation in local government authorities. This model was used as the basis for the development of a survey questionnaire to establish to what extent metropolitan municipalities, agreed or disagreed, that it implemented the aspects of the proposed model developed in this study. Structured interviews were conducted using the survey questionnaire. The results obtained were used to adapt the theoretical model, and to align it with the viewpoints of the majority of the respondents. Although various facets of skills development were found to be implemented across metropolitan municipalities, the majority of the municipalities did not apply optimal skills planning, nor did they apply optimal sequential process steps to ensure effective and efficient skills development. iv The empirical study established without a doubt that a dire need exists for an optimal skills development planning and implementation process flow model within local government authorities. Based on the analysis and interpretation of the research findings, the model proposed for local government authorities was customised to produce a process flow model to facilitate optimal skills development planning and implementation within the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality.

Talent management is a source of competitive advantage and will be achieved by those organisations that are able to attract, develop and retain best in class individuals. It is thus not just a human resources issue but rather an integral part of any organisation’s strategy. Due to negative perceptions about South Africa, skilled workers are immigrating to countries such as Australia to the detriment of the South African economy. This loss is not necessarily being replaced by graduates or through immigration. Government policies such as Broader- Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE), Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) and Affirmative Action (AA), compound the issue by then decreasing the pool of skilled applicants that may occupy skilled and senior posts in organisations. Globally there is a shortage of skills and due to employee mobility they can use any opportunity that presents itself. The objectives of this study was to determine the factors which lead to the emigration of skilled South African’s to Australia and then once these factors are known to propose retention strategies to role players to stem the emigration tide. To achieve these objectives a survey was prepared based on previous studies and a link to the web questionnaire was distributed to the population via an Australian immigration agent. The link was sent to all the agent’s clients around the world and thus consisted not only of South Africa respondents but also elicited international responses, which will be used for comparison purposes only. Only 48 South Africans responded to the survey and although limited, it was sufficient for the purposes of this study. The demographic profile was mainly male and dominated by Generation X. Using a Likert scale respondents were questioned on their levels of satisfaction in their country of origin and in Australia through an adaptation of a study by Mattes and Richmond (2000). The study of Hulme (2002) was adapted and incorporated into the questionnaire, where respondents were given the opportunity to rank considerations for leaving South Africa and factors that would draw them back. Respondents were provided with the opportunity for responses to open-ended questions to include other considerations for leaving and factors that would draw them back. Results from these survey items revealed that the primary reasons driving skilled South Africans to emigrate was safety and security, upkeep of public amenities, customer service and taxation. In contrast, South African migrants had high levels of satisfaction with safety and security, upkeep of public amenities and customer service in Australia. Respondents indicated that factors that would draw them back to South Africa would be improvements in safety and security and government, followed by family roots, good jobs and schools. The study also looked at the permanence of the move. If skilled individuals returned with new-found skills and experience then it could be a potential brain gain for South Africa. The results of this study found that 43% of respondents had no intention to return, 42% did not supply a response and only 10% were undecided on whether to return or not. To attract, retain and develop talent, the South African government and the private sector would need to work in partnership to develop policies that would satisfy the lower-order needs of individuals, such as physiological and safety needs. / Business Management / M.Tech. (Business Administration)

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2006. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The shortage of skilled labour in South Africa and also abroad is well documented and has been discussed and debated in various media and on various stages. For the construction industry, the only response is to increase remuneration in order to attract the required resources from a limited pool. At the completion of a project, these resources are returned to the open market until another project has been secured. The cycle of supply and demand then continues and project capital costs increase. Sasol is small player in a very large and fiercely competitive global petrochemical industry. Its globalisation drive focuses on the establishment on new petrochemical facilities based on its ground breaking Gas-to-Liquids technology. Naturally, this requires many skilled and experience people – both in Sasol’s unique production processes as well as people able to commission and start-up a pioneer plant in a remote location. Due to the fact that the labour pool available to Sasol is insufficient to supply in its needs and that Sasol’s capital expansion plan spans a period of more than 10 years, a long-term view on supplying the required labour should be taken. This includes estimating the demand and then training pro-actively in order to supply the right skills at the right time from internal resources. The objective of this study is to do exploratory research into estimating the manpower requirements from an owner perspective from the initiation of construction through to steady state operation of a new petrochemical facility. The research will culminate in a proposed spreadsheet model that can be used in the estimating process. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die tekort aan geskoolde arbeid in beide Suid Afrika en die internasionale mark is al by verskeie geleenthede en in vele media bespreek. Die gevolg van die tekort aan geskoolde arbeid is dat die lone wat deur die konstruksie industrie aan voornemende werkers aangebied moet word om hulle dienste te verseker, al hoër word. Met die voltooiing van ’n projek, keer die werkers dan weer terug na die beperkte arbeidspoel totdat ’n volgende werksgeleentheid aangebied word. Die siklus van aanbod en aanvraag herhaal homself en die koste van projekte verhoog. Sasol is ’n klein speler in die baie mededingende internasionale petrochemiese sektor. Sasol se globaliseringsambisies is geskoei op ’n model wat voorsiening maak vir die duplisering van sy kommersieel beproefde Gas-na-Vloeistof tegnologie soos bedryf in Suid Afrika. Uit die aard van die saak vereis so ’n strategie baie geskoolde arbeid – arbeid wat vertroud is met Sasol se gepatenteerde tegnologie sowel as arbeid wat kennis het van die bou en inbedryfstelling van nuwe aanlegte. Die huidige bronne van geskoolde arbeid tot Sasol se beskikking is onvoldoende vir sy huidige en ook toekomstige behoeftes. Sasol se beplande kapitaal projekte strek tot verby 2015 en daarom is ’n langtermyn oplossing noodsaaklik en ook geregverdig. Die langtermyn plan moet onder meer voorsiening maak vir ’n beraming van die behoefte en dan proaktiewe opleiding inisieer wat die regte tipe geskoolde arbeid op die gegewe tyd sal kan aflewer. Die oogmerk van die studie is om eksploratiewe navorsing te doen in die beraming van mannekrag behoeftes vir die toekomstige eienaar vanaf die inisiëring van konstruksie vir ’n nuwe petrochemiese aanleg tot by bestendige bedryf. Die navorsing sal beslag vind in ’n sigblad model wat as instrument gebruik kan word om die beraming van mannekrag behoeftes te vergemaklik.

M. Com. (Development Economics) / In recent years unemployment has received considerable international attention from scholars, policy makers, and labour practitioners, because it has reduced economic welfare, reduced output, and eroded human capital. Researchers argue that South Africa is faced with structural unemployment because of the insufficient demand for low-skilled resources and the sufficient demand for highly skilled resources. However, in terms of highly skilled resources, young South Africans have become better educated over the last decade, resulting in a significant growth in the size of the graduate labour force. This growth emanates particularly from the fact that the majority of the graduate labour force has completed their tertiary education. Despite this growth, graduate unemployment appears to be rising along with the overall unemployment rate. The aim of this study is to sensitise policy authorities to the impact of graduate unemployment on the economy by highlighting the perceived causes of graduate unemployment in South Africa’s banking sector. The research was conducted with the aid of a survey administered to two groups, namely a graduate group and a human resource (HR) manager group. The result derived from the research shows that the quality of tertiary institutions which relates to educational standards and culture, the quality of education, high expectations, a shortage of skills, a lack of work experience, and a lengthy process of application and job search are perceived to be the possible causes of graduate unemployment in South Africa. The study makes several tentative recommendations relating to what can possibly be done to reduce graduate unemployment. Among the recommendations proposed are the improvement of the quality of education and institutions, a well-planned career guidance mechanism, and a graduate recruitment subsidy.

Thesis (Master of Education), University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Humanities, School of Education, 2016 / Skills in South Africa are seen as essential for building the economy. This is why the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) sees developing a skills planning mechanism as important in the current context. The 2013 White Paper on the Post-School Education and Training System says that the function of skills planning should be centralized in DHET, with support from universities and/or other national research institutes. More specifically, DHET (2013) suggests that skills planning is required in the short, medium, and long term in order to shape the education system accordingly to meet the demand for skills. The literature on skills planning is full of debates on the kinds of skills planning that are possible in different contexts of economic and education systems. There are different notions of what skills planning is, how possible it is to predict skills demand, and how this should be done. There are also differences in ways in which economies are managed which have direct implications for skills planning. However imperfect, skills planning is needed as it provides an indication of what skills are needed to enable development in the country and provide guidance for the state to support initiatives. This study investigates the emerging skills planning mechanism in South Africa, the views of different stakeholders in this process and the projects that form part of skills planning. It argues that in the South African environment, skills planning has focused on the elements potentially needed to plan skills, however it is unclear how these elements will work together in a skills planning mechanism

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T20:39:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 5612.pdf: 2158490 bytes, checksum: 1cafc42a999e2f47e82a9609a77794e2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-10-17 / Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais / The focus of this work is Brazilians who migrated to the city of Toronto, Canada, through government programs to attract skilled labor from the Canadian government. This dissertation examines the relationship between skilled migration and social networks from fieldwork conducted in the city of Toronto between December 2011 and June 2012. Sought to understand how the migration process occurs, as potential migrants are actual migrants, from analyzing the decision to migrate and move to Toronto to adaptation processes in the destination society. From ethnography, participant observation and semistructured interviews with these Brazilian immigrants, we see how the internet and communications technologies are important mediators of this process, the creation of social networks and integration in existing networks. The profile of skilled labor bounded by the Canadian government was also analyzed in comparison to the profile of Brazilians who actually migrate, generating different modes of insertion in Canadian society. These paths and trajectories were analyzed from the theory of social networks and understood as adaptation strategies of immigrants. Different social groups and networks are formed in this process, including connecting individuals who intend to migrate, even in Brazil. Finally, gender differences were important in this process, they produced deferent types of networks and marked paths of women and men in the adaptation process in the city, having booked a chapter to this discussion. / O foco deste trabalho são os brasileiros que migraram para a cidade de Toronto, no Canadá, através dos programas governamentais de atração de mão de obra qualificada do governo canadense. Esta dissertação analisa a relação entre migração qualificada e redes sociais a partir do trabalho de campo realizado na cidade de Toronto entre dezembro de 2011 e junho de 2012. Buscou compreender como o processo de migração ocorre, como possíveis sujeitos migrantes tornam-se migrantes reais, analisando desde a decisão de migrar e a mudança para Toronto até os processos de adaptação na sociedade de destino. A partir da etnografia, observação participante e entrevistas semiestruturadas com esses imigrantes brasileiros, pudemos perceber como a internet e as tecnologias de comunicações são importantes mediadores desse processo, de criação de redes sociais e inserção em redes já existentes. O perfil de mão de obra qualificada delimitado pelo governo canadense também foi analisado em comparação ao perfil dos brasileiros que realmente migram, gerando diferentes modos de inserção na sociedade torontiana. Esses percursos e trajetórias foram analisadas a partir da teoria das redes sociais e compreendidas como estratégias de adaptação do imigrante. Diferentes grupos e redes sociais se formam nesse processo, conectando inclusive sujeitos que pretendem migrar, ainda no Brasil. Por fim, as diferenciações de gênero se mostraram importantes nesse processo, pois produziam deferentes tipos de redes e marcavam as trajetórias de mulheres e homens no processo de adaptação na cidade, tendo reservado um capítulo específico para essa discussão.

In an attempt to address the challenges relating to the lack of well-trained and skilled workers, which directly impacts on the quality of products delivered by the construction sector, this study focuses on an assessment of the Accelerated Professional Trade Competency Development Programme within the Department of Public Works in the province of the Eastern Cape in South Africa. The main focal area of the study is the OR Tambo Region. These challenges manifest themselves through, among others, backlogs in the delivery of housing by the Eastern Cape Department of Housing and Local Government where the majority of houses demonstrate poor workmanship. Hence the Department of Public works has introduced the Accelerated Professional Trade Competency Development Programme. This study investigates the effectiveness of the implementation of the Accelerated Professional Trade Competency Development Programme. Particular attention is paid to the extent to which the Programme contributes towards the development of qualified artisans and what improvement areas can be effected to achieve its objectives.

High levels of unemployment and skills shortages in key parts of the South African economy are well documented. The failure of the South African economy to absorb new entrants to the job market is also well documented. The paradox of an economy that was growing for over a decade during the late nineties and early 2000s creating a lot of vacancies and yet at the same time seeing ever growing levels of unemployment numbers also makes for interesting reading. Learnership programs are intended to address this situation by reducing the problem of skills shortages and leading in the human capital development that is aligned to industry needs. Thus is the purpose of this study to determine whether the beneficiaries of the learnership programs, the graduates, find benefit from having completed these learnership programs. It is to evaluate whether they find the program to have been effective in either equipping them sufficiently to improve prospects of finding permanent employment or successfully starting their own businesses. An extensive literature study of the history of the FET and its development, the concept of learnership and legislation and statutes applicable to the sector in South Africa was undertaken so that the skills development initiatives in the country are contextualised. The empirical part of the study involved a self-constructed questionnaire designed to illicit perspectives of the FET training and learnership within the FET graduate population that have completed their studies at an FET institution within Nelson Mandela Bay. The data collected indicate that a substantial majority of the sample find The data collected indicate that a substantial majority of the sample find the training to be effective and confirm the literature findings that learnerships can improve the issue of skills shortage in industry. The study makes recommendations that encompass work-based strategies and training based strategies to further improve the program. The recommendations are targeted at the FET college, the work-place training providers and the MERSETA and are meant solely to assist the organisations in overcoming the identified challenges emanating from learnership implementation.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / The government of South Africa aspires to achieve a six percent economic growth per annum. The scarcity of qualified and experienced people that are crucial in contributing to economic growth and creating job opportunities, poses a problem for the country. The current demand for skills that are out of reach for many workers and the prevailing unemployment that is caused by the mismatch between what an organisation seeks and what a potential candidate can provide, have been highlighted as a critical cause for the scarcity of skills. The aim of this research assignment was to examine the current crisis of the skills shortage in the South African economy, with the focus on the manufacturing sector within the FMCG industry. Semi-structured and open-ended interviews with human resource, training and development, as well as technical managers in manufacturing organisations in Cape Town, South Africa were conducted. Data was obtained from a sample of six managers. According to all respondents interviewed, it takes approximately two to six months to replace an employee who has the appropriate technical skills. All the respondents are concerned with the situation of the technical skills shortage in the country. Consequently, these respondents’ companies engage in a talent war in order to recruit the best talent. It is therefore obvious that the market dynamics of supply and demand are out of equilibrium with regard to technically skilled employees in the manufacturing segment of the South African FMCG industry. The interviews that were conducted identified some companies that train new employees in technical skills. However, the majority of the companies are not doing much to improve the situation. In addition, the companies in this sector also compete with the other industries in the South African and the global economy regarding technical skills.