M.A. / Most of the unemployed juvenile delinquents used in this study come from single parent families or from families where both or either of the parents are deceased or have deserted. The majority of families used were found to consist of parents who were either unemployed, deserted or deceased. Most of the unemployed juveniles were, as a result, forced to leave school due to financial problems. The majority of them left school before they reached Standard 6. As a result of this, a high percentage of the unemployed juveniles involved in this study do not qualify for admission to the two identified institutions.

Thesis (MBA (Business Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / The world over, South Africa included, companies are beginning to realise that while success is measured in terms of profits and shareholder return, people and in particular, talented people drive and deliver that success. With this realisation has begun the war for talent, whereby companies now compete with each other for the best people in the pool, knowing that these talented individuals will drive sustainable success both in business ventures and over competitors in the marketplace. With this swiftly becoming the status quo, the strategic role played by human resources (HR) becomes integral to organisational success as a major facet of company strategy now needs to focus on human capital and talent management strategies in order to attract and retain the best talent to deliver business success. With Generation Y professionals entering the workforce by the masses, companies and their HR departments swiftly need to identify effective ways to best engage with Generation Y employees. As Generation Y is the only growing generational population in the current workforces of employers, the need to develop strategies, procedures and policies to address their career needs, desires and wants is becoming increasingly crucial. Companies seeking to be sustainably successful in the long-term need to begin to identify what will need to be incorporated into their current practices to appeal to Generation Y in order to motivate, attract and retain Generation Y talented professionals. While Companies acknowledge that talent is a major driver of business success and sustainability, this acknowledgment does not automatically lead to the development of strategies focused on facilitating Generation Y as the main population in the workforce. Currently little research and literature exists regarding Generation Y career needs and wants. Compounding this is the fact that many companies design and implement HR strategies aimed to address the career needs and wants of older Generations, who are either already exiting or beginning to exit the workforce

The purposes of this study were twofold. The first was to construct a modified model of the voluntary turnover process that clarifies the antecedents of turnover intentions and turnover behavior. The second was to investigate empirically the proposed model's validity by assessing the influences of nine variables of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, job search, intention to stay in the organization, and six demographic variables as potential predictors of employee voluntary turnover.

In plight of the country‟s high unemployment, poverty, and income inequalities, there is an urgent need to address these issues by converging toward entrepreneurship. World-wide, it is acknowledged by both government and academia that entrepreneurship soothes and remedies socio-economic ills. It creates employment, wealth, alleviates poverty, increases tax base, balances income disparities and accomplishes social stability. With the high youth (18-34 year age) unemployment looming at 73 percent and a low South African total entrepreneurship rate at 8.9 percent; this study attempts to investigate the barriers that hinder school leavers from engaging in entrepreneurship. The research investigates critical entrepreneurial factors including entrepreneurial character and behaviour, entrepreneurial knowledge and skills, managerial knowledge and skills, knowledge on legal aspects of a business, sourcing of finances, and entrepreneurial background and orientation. The primary objective was met through the investigation of the secondary objectives. This was accomplished through a questionnaire survey, composed with multiple choice questions and closed questions measured on a Likert scale. The questionnaire was constructed based on the literature reviewed from various sources including books, dissertations, journals, government reports, newspapers, magazines, internet, television and radio broadcasts (interviews and news). The study discovers that learners are inhibited by various factors from engaging into business venturing. The list of barriers identified was: A discouraging entrepreneurial background (heritage) – parents had low levels of education and were not entrepreneurial, Weak entrepreneurial character and behaviour, Lack of entrepreneurial exposure and work experience, Learners lack financial skills and computer skills, Families lack savings to financially support their business start-ups, Limited knowledge on the legal aspects regulating a business, Limited knowledge on sourcing finances (angel and venture capital investors).

M.A. / Young adults who are entering the world of work are facing increasing challenges, resulting in elevated levels of employment uncertainty and anxiety. Many of these challenges are due to the continuously changing work environment, which is buffeted by the socio-political and economic climate - both in and outside South Africa. Other challenges could be related to factors such as lack of confidence, decision making difficulties, dissatisfaction with career choice and difficulties with social networking. As a result of such challenges young adults may perceive career barriers that would have an impact on their career development. These challenges could be influenced by an individual’s personality traits. The purpose of this study was to ascertain the career barriers most perceived by young adults. The study also aimed to assess whether any relationship exists between personality traits and perceived career barriers. The sample consisted of 193 participants from two universities in South Africa. Each participant completed a biographical data questionnaire, the Basic Traits Inventory- Short Form and the Career Barriers Inventory-Revised. The three highest standardised mean scores for the perceived career barrier scales were Racial Discrimination (M = 4.90), Dissatisfaction with Career (M = 4.56) and Sex Discrimination (M = 4.49). Examination of the individual personality traits in relation to perceived career barriers was done through the use of Pearson’s product-moment correlations. Extroversion yielded statistically significant negative correlations with the following perceived career barriers: Decision–Making Difficulties (r = -0.241; p < 0.01) and Inadequate Preparation (r = -0.149; p < 0.05). Conscientiousness showed a statistically significant positive relationship with Sex Discrimination (r = 0.274; p < 0.01). The results also indicated a statistically significant positive correlation between Agreeableness and Job Market Constraints (r = 0.166; p < 0.05). This study has implications for career guidance counsellors in their endeavours to provide a comprehensive service to young adults who have difficulties overcoming perceived career barriers.

Thesis (MBA (Business Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / The South African civil engineering profession is facing a crisis. This crisis which has occurred as a result of a diminishing numbers of qualified and experienced technical staff, which is due to an ageing professional population, a very understaffed 30 - 45 year old age group, and a relatively large junior technical staff component. This hour-glass shaped distribution of civil engineering technical staff has made experience and knowledge transfer difficult and extremely important. Civil engineering is a profession where a significant part of an engineer's knowledge is tacit and is gained from practical experience. To gain the necessary experience requires time, and it is in finding this time, amidst an increasingly competitive operating environment and overworked staff, that is becoming a hurdle for the civil engineering profession. The transfer of experience and knowledge needs to be accelerated; however, this requires an energised and motivated staff component. This relates to both those who pass on the knowledge and those that receive the same. This transfer process is time consuming and expensive. A consulting civil engineering company's financial investment in the training of its Generation Y (staff under the age of 30) is thus substantial. Because of this, the retention of these staff members becomes critical for the long term sustainability of the company. This research seeks to determine what motivates the Generation Y staff within Goba Consulting Engineers. Further to this, the research sought to determine what the preferred motivational factors are for the Generation Y staff who work for Goba Consulting Engineers. The objective of the research was for the results to be used as a tool for Goba Consulting Engineers to formulate a human resource policy that would seek to increase the motivation and job satisfaction of its Generation Y staff, and in so doing increase the retention rate of these personnel. Goba Consulting Engineers is a national civil consulting company that has 22 per cent of its staff in the Generation Y category (under the age of 30). These staff members were presented with a questionnaire containing questions about their basic needs, their preferred organisational structure and their preferred motivational factors. The questionnaire was housed on an external internet website and was to be completed electronically, which ensured anonymity of response. Only 37 per cent of the target population completed all the questions contained in the questionnaire. The responses were grouped, as per the research questions. The groups included individuals of different ethnic, administrative, regional and academic qualifications within Goba Consulting Engineers. The grouped responses were tested to determine whether they were statistically representative of the Generation Y staff within Goba Consulting Engineers. The results of the survey showed that the basic needs of the staff across the groupings were the same, with the need for growth being shown to be the most valued and desired. The responses also showed that the type of organisational structure preferred was that of a mechanistic type. The preferred motivational factor results revealed that differences between the groups, and that a strong emphasis was placed on factors that related to an integration of work and home/social/external life and influence. These results indicate that the conventional engineering management approach to motivation and reward may not be valid with respect to the Generation Y staff, and as such it may be prudent for Goba Consulting Engineers to formulate polices that are more applicable to these staff members.

Presently there are four generational cohorts in the workplace. Born from 1977 to 1997, the youngest cohort group, referred to as Generation Y (or Gen Y) in this study, has 81 million members, of whom over 29 million are already in the workplace. The importance of leader-subordinate relationships in the workplace has been confirmed; in recognizing this, leaders must identify and adapt to the changing era-shaped needs of employees, who cannot fully participate in organizational life if their most urgent needs are not being met. Because Gen Y employees are only now entering the workforce, little is actually known about the workplace needs of this cohort group. This study attempted to determine leadership needs of a Gen Y cohort as a means to enhance workplace relationships in the 21st century organization. A sequential, mixed methods study was employed to explore leadership preferences of a Gen Y cohort. Initially, focus group interviews were used to generate leadership themes. Based on these themes, an instrument was designed, and Gen Y business students from three higher education institutions were surveyed. Confirmatory factor analysis using LISREL software was used to test the themes. The driving force behind this research design was to build a foundation of understanding through inductive research (qualitative) and to test and enrich the foundation through deductive means (quantitative).

The goal of this research was to explore the experiences of the youth in Kentane with respect to the role that a entrepreneurship plays in alleviation poverty, with the intention to enhance recommendations to the local municipality, the private sector and governmental departments. The study focused on entrepreneurship as one of the strategies that is deemed capable of reducing poverty and increasing economic growth. A qualitative research approach was used to explore the experiences of the entrepreneurial youth, where permission was attained from the youth prior to the commencement of the study. Purposive sampling was utilised to recruit participants and data was collected by means of semi-structured interviews. Qualitative data analysis was carried out using steps outlined in Creswell (2003). Five main themes were identified during data analysis where the main finding was that there was a lack of knowledge and resources to broaden the scope of youth based businesses in the area. Another major finding from this study was the introduction and imposition of haphazard short-term projects aimed at alleviating poverty that often failed as they did not address the needs specific to the community. Youth of Kentane are dedicated as entrepreneurs; however, they need the collaboration of interested parties and stakeholders to realise their respective potentials. Developmental and training programmes are crucial to assist the entrepreneurial youth of Kentane.

The purpose of this study is to conduct an outcome assessment of emancipated foster youth, who have completed aftercare services with the agency, Cameron Hill Associates.