M. Tech. Human resources Management / The retention of employees is very important for many organisations to survive and prosper in today's economy. While organisations invest in the training and development of their employees, return on investment cannot be guaranteed, as skilled employees continue to be lost to competitors. The need for a competitive advantage necessitates the development of employees and retaining them. The study examined the retention dynamics of bursary holders at the Department of Labour. The study's objective was to investigate bursary holders' intention to leave, and their reasons for considering leaving the Department of Labour, while testing whether these factors differ according to demographic variables, including gender, age, region, number of years at the Department of Labour, qualifications and level of position, thereby conducting an analysis of employee retention needs.

M. Tech. Business Administration / Study of available literature has revealed that performance appraisal is often very subjective. A general concern regarding the implementation of performance appraisal by line managers is that there is a serious lack of required expertise and knowledge to decide on the performance appraisal criteria accurately. Studies on perceived fairness or organisational justice have shown that these factors strongly affect the attitude of employees, for example: job satisfaction; turnover intentions; organisational commitment; and workplace behaviour, such as absenteeism and organisational citizenship behaviour. As such, this study assessed the perceptions of employees within the Department of Labour Head Office on performance appraisal. The intention was to identify gaps in the current appraisal system and to propose strategies that can be employed in order to maximise and harmonise performance appraisal in the Department of Labour Head Office.

Thesis (M. Tech. (Human Resource Management, Dept. of Management Sciences))--Vaal University of Technology, 2009. / Key skills shortages, coupled with high levels of unemployment are well documented in South Africa. Learnerships, which are meant to reduce the skills shortage, are not addressing this problem as the SETAs have failed to communicate the benefits of learnerships aggressively to companies. Thus, the purpose of this research is to determine organizational perspectives of learnerships within the MERSETA organizations in the Sedibeng district municipal area. A literature study of learnerships and applicable legislation in South Africa was undertaken in order to contextualize the South African skills development initiative. The empirical portion of the study involved conducting a survey using a self-administered questionnaire designed to elicit perspectives of learnerships within small, medium and large organizations (n=150) that fall under the MERSETA and that are situated in the industrial areas of Vanderbijlpark, Vereeniging and Meyerton, within the Sedibeng district municipal area. The data obtained indicate that although almost two-thirds of the researched organizations do currently implement learnerships, these organizations experienced several barriers and challenges when taking on learnerships. It was found that the MERSETA organizations within the study area also lack understanding and familiarity with the learnership system and their perceptions towards learnerships are for the most part, negative. Based on the findings of this study, recommendations, targeted at the National Skills Authority, the Department of Labour, the MERSETA and the SETAs, are made to assist organizations in various areas to overcome the identified barriers and challenges emanating from learnership implementation. / Central Research Committee (Vaal University of Technology)