The main goal of affirmative action (AA) policies is to give opportunities otherwise nonexistent to minorities and underprivileged students. In this paper, I investigate whether the introduction of a college affirmative action policy enables AA beneficiaries to obtain a career in Law and to catch up with high scoring candidates who did not get admitted due to the policy (i.e., displaced candidates). To do so, I use a new dataset from UERJ admission office, a prominent public university in Rio de Janeiro, which was the first in Brazil to adopt a quota system for both black and public school students. I combine this dataset with the OAB exam passage records, equivalent to the American Bar exam. Preliminary results suggest that the quota policy improves OAB passage rates for beneficiaries. I find that lawyer certification for underprivileged students increases by 51 p.p., even though they underperform by 4.56 p.p when compared to displaced candidates. I also present evidence that displaced candidates do not experience any drop in their OAB exam passage rates due to the policy. Furthermore, I find that public school quota beneficiaries who score close to the admission cutoff present an increase in the probability of passing the OAB exam by up to 52 p.p. / O principal objetivo de políticas de ação afirmativa (AA) é dar oportunidades, em geral inexistentes, aos membros da sociedade menos privilegiados, em especial àqueles pertencentes a minorias. Neste trabalho, é feita uma análise acerca do impacto da política de cotas no curso de Direito da primeira universidade pública a adotar a política de cotas no Estado do Rio de Janeiro, a UERJ, de forma a estimar os efeitos da política após o ensino superior. Especificamente, o quanto a política impulsiona seus beneficiários e em que medida permite que estes se aproximem de candidatos que obtiveram pontuação alta no vestibular, mas não foram admitidos exclusivamente por causa da reserva de vagas. Adicionalmente, o impacto sobre estes últimos, que também são diretamente afetados. Para tanto, foram utilizados dados do processo de admissão do curso de Direito da Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), considerado de alto prestígio, em conjunto com as listagens de aprovação no exame da Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil. Os resultados indicam que a política aumenta em 51p.p. a probabilidade de certificação dos candidatos que se beneficiam da política, apesar de os mesmos ainda apresentarem 4.56p.p. menos chance de certificação do que os candidatos displaced. Além disso, há evidências de que a política não afeta negativamente as chances de aprovação na OAB dos candidatos displaced que pontuaram pouco abaixo do corte de admissão na UERJ. Por outro lado, a política é capaz de aumentar a certificação dos alunos admitidos para vagas destinadas ao sistema de ensino público com pontuação próxima ao corte em até 52p.p.

M.A. (Industrial Psychology) / South Africa is currently experiencing a period typified by daily changes in the labour economy and in its political structures. As a result of the critical shortage of skilled human resources, a decreasing white population and political pressure to reform, the country is under constant pressure to develop its human resources, race groups that are underdeveloped in the middle and top structures of the labour force. In this regard strategies to advance the occupational mobility of blacks are progressively being undertaken by South African companies. Given the pressing demands for human resource development the results of strategies to advance the occupational mobility of blacks are still perceived as unsatisfactory. Various contrasting views exist regarding the specific factors that inhibit black advancement as well as that which ought to be addressed in order to solve the problems underlying such advancement. In the absence of a coherent theoretical basis through which factors that inhibit the advancement of black occupational mobility can be explained and studied, the need for a suitable approach or framework to develop such a theoretical model, was identified. It was decided to study the problems underlying black advancement in South Africa by utilising a strategic-cultural approach. Before a strategic-cultural approach could be developed the nature and extent of the factors that inhibit the advancement of black occupational mobility was systematically examined. Inhibiting factors were analysed from literature through an integrated approach and it was found that the marginal position of the black labourer is fundamental to all of the contrasting views in this regard. In order to optimize the person-environment match relevant to the so-called marginal position of the black labourer it is emphasized in this study that the organisation's discemable and undiscemable structures should be changed...

Magister Legum - LLM / People with disabilities are a minority group who has suffered disadvantage especially in the workplace. They currently enjoy Constitutional and legislative protection in a democratic South Africa. / South Africa

Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS) / After the first democratic election in South Africa in 1994, the new democratic government harnessed all its resources towards establishing a non-racial society based on a constitution that embodies equal rights. One of the enduring legacies of apartheid is the extreme socio-economic disparities that emerged in the South African society. Higher education in the context of South Africa is also a means of bridging the inequality gap created during the colonial and apartheid periods (Reddy, 2004). Moreover, apartheid education, as with other sectors of society was racialised in favour of whites creating a drought in skills within the other race groups. The need to establish an equitable and efficient higher education thus became one of government’s pivotal priorities. The adoption of affirmative action policies that have prioritised university access by underprivileged black students has been pointed to as one of the means to address racial inequalities in education. The thesis postulates that that the use of race in implementing affirmative action policy is neither a sufficient means to, nor an end of, redressing the ills of apartheid. Through qualitative and quantitative methods, the present study analyses the impact of affirmative action policies at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and gauges the level of transformation as a result of the use of race as a proxy for admission into UCT. The study examines the equality of access and enrolment of first time entering undergraduate students into UCT through race based admission. Despite government and institutional (for example UCT) efforts to pursue a transformatory agenda, affirmative action policies continue to cause ruptures both within university communities and beyond. This research is going to use both quantitative and qualitative designs. The quantitative approach will be used where necessary – such as in reviewing racial split of enrolment over time – to glean on the figures. Such figures will however not be generated by the study itself but from officials from UCT. On the other hand, the qualitative approach will be used through the analyses of debates occurring in the UCT community in order to gauge perceptions on the policy.

Magister Commercii - MCom / South African labour relations are associated with a history of extensive discrimination and segregation, subject to various types of discrimination during the apartheid era, including employment discrimination. This study explores the effect of Affirmative Action on the reduction (if any) of employment discrimination since the advent of democracy. It investigates whether the extent of employment discrimination by race and gender has decreased, 20 years since the economic transition. The first part of the study gives an overview of the South African labour legislations, both discriminative legislations and statutes aimed at redressing the imbalances of the past. The empirical part of the paper employs a sample that represents the labour force (excluding informal sector workers, agricultural workers, domestic workers and self-employed) aged between 15 and 65 years. The methodology in this study firstly estimates probit models describing the labour force participation, employment and occupational attainment, followed by the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition, using data from OHS 1997-1999, LFS 2000-2007, QLFS 2008-2014 and NIDS 2008-2012. The OHS/LFS/QLFS decomposition results show that the unexplained component of the White-Black employment probability gap does not reveal any strong downward trend overtime. Also, results on the occupational attainment gap indicate that there was an increasing occupational attainment probability gap between Whites and Blacks which was partially driven by an increase in the unexplained component. This implies that Affirmative Action was not successful in reducing racial discrimination in the South African labour market. Additionally, the unexplained component is most dominant in the male-female employment gap decomposition. This suggests employment discrimination against females is very serious. However, the male-female highly-skilled employment likelihood shows no clear trend over time. These results suggest that when it comes to employment discrimination against females, this may have taken place more seriously when it comes to the unskilled or semi-skilled occupations.

The concept of affirmative action was introduced eight years ago in South Africa and remains to this day a highly topical issue. It appears that issues of effective implementation of affirmative action measures are at the heart of these debates. The gender-based affirmative action measures are the most intriguing in the South African context, as all women are considered beneficiaries of affirmative action. The reason for the aforesaid is that all women were subject to male domination during the Apartheid system. Women’s experiences of subordination are, however, intertwined with race. It therefore becomes difficult to decide which should receive the highest priority: race or gender, in other words, who should give way to whom, black men or white women. The above scenario presents the question: what attitudes do men and women have towards gender-based affirmative action measures? This question is asked in the context of whether men and women perceive themselves to be participating in organisational decision-making and whether those perceptions together with their gender-based affirmative action attitudes are related to their commitment to the organisation. For data collection purposes, a questionnaire was distributed via e-mail to 350 lecturers in the Faculties of Engineering and Humanities at an academic institution. Convenience and accessibility sampling methods were used. Only 27 individuals responded to the questionnaire. Fieldworkers were subsequently employed to distribute the questionnaires personally. This method yielded 48 responses. The findings indicate that both men and women have positive attitudes towards gender based affirmative action and that both genders perceive themselves to be participating in organisational decision-making. In addition, both genders express a high level of commitment to the organisation. These findings are similar across the Engineering and Humanities faculty. A multiple regression analysis indicates that gender-based affirmative action attitudes together with perceptions of participation in decision-making predict organisational commitment only weakly. A strong correlation does, however, exist between perceptions of participation in decision-making and organisational commitment. It was concluded that gender-based affirmative action attitudes and participation in organisational decision-making independently predict organisational commitment. This indicates that affirmative action is merely a tool to obtain access for previously marginalised groups into otherwise less accessible organisations. It does, however, not predict whether the individuals in question will remain committed to these organisations. Organisational commitment is, in fact, predicted by whether the individual feels that his/her contributions are appreciated in the organisation. This applies regardless of gender and faculty. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Psychology / unrestricted

South Africa’s legacy of apartheid has created massive social and economic inequalities along racial and gender lines, resulting for instance, in the under-representation of Blacks and women in the higher echelons of industry and at decision-making levels in the public service. In order to eradicate historical discriminatory employment policies and practices in the workplace based on race, gender and disability and redress imbalances, in 1998 Parliament enacted the Employment Equity legislation, which describes measures through which organisations should speed up their transformation efforts. These measures are collectively known as affirmative action. Affirmative action was conceived as a vehicle that would improve the employment and promotion opportunities of Blacks, women and the disabled. However, the goal of transforming South African business organisations and public service from discriminatory structures to ones which reflect the demographic composition and values of South African as a whole has not been without controversy. Given the racial construction of privilege and discrimination in South Africa, affirmative action evokes strong emotions from ‘designated group’ and ‘non-designated group’ members’ demographic status, histories of relative deprivation, personal and collective interests and political ideologies leading to a polarisation of attitudes towards affirmative action. While some people view affirmative action as an antidote to past discrimination against Blacks, women and the disabled, others believe affirmative action promotes discrimination against Whites and in particular White males. Social policies that are perceived disproportionately to help Blacks or women, in general, and affirmative action programme, in particular, have emerged as a major socio-political battleground in South Africa. There is a long history of economic and employment discrimination in South Africa, and government-supported interventions, such as affirmative-action programmes, have been designed to increase employment opportunities for Blacks and women in organisational contexts in which they have been historically underrepresented. Although affirmative-action programmes have provided important economic benefits to Blacks and women, public debate about affirmative action programmes have been framed in terms of race and gender. Affirmative action has emerged as one of the most controversial policies in South Africa and is under attack. This study was conducted with employees from the Compensation Fund in Pretoria. Sixteen semi-structured interviews, ranging from between 20 and 30 minutes, were conducted with the aid of an in-depth personal interview schedule, using convenience sampling technique. The interview schedule had four sections in line with the problem statements and contained qualitative type questions. The purpose of the present exploratory study aimed to gain insight into the attitudes, experiences and perceptions of the Compensation Fund employees towards affirmative action. Findings of the study indicate that the dominant perception of the non-designated group (White participants) is that the recruitment, accomplishment and promotion of employees from the designated group is related only to demographic status, rather than qualifications, competences and personal effort as well. Race and gender appear to be operant dimensions along which Whites who could do the job are symbolically set apart from Blacks and women who were supposedly employed in the interest of getting the numbers right. Racial and gender prejudices emerged as the two main themes of the study. The dissertation interprets the participants’ racial and gender prejudice in terms of Blumer’s Group Position Model. The Group Position Model states that when an in-group perceives it’s group position to be threatened it results in racial (gender) hostility towards the out-group. In terms of this research’s findings, the non-designated group (White males) constitute the in-group, while the designated group (Blacks and women) constitute the out-group. The model adequately explains the negativity of the non-designated group towards affirmative action. This study represents a vital step towards a better understanding of the successful implementation of affirmative action and should contribute to more efficient and effective practice of affirmative action in the workplace. / Dissertation (MSocSci)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Sociology / unrestricted

Employee empowerment is a strategy that small business managers can deploy to add value to the business. This strategy is aimed at cultivating the power and ability of employees in their jobs. A business is a business by people working in it though they differ in many ways their contribution to the success of the organization is very important. However, these people are not often recognized as value contributors in the success of the business and for this reason they do not intend to add value to the business and they become demotivated to do their jobs properly. People are the business storehouse of knowledge and they are central to the organization's competitive advantage. Well educated, coached, and highly motivated people are critical to the development and execution of strategies, especially in today's fast-paced market, where top management can no longer assure the business competitiveness in isolation. In the business world, almost all businesses are doing the same, small businesses should strive to do things differently, and the only way that they can achieve that uniqueness is through instilling frankness and liberty to employees so that they act as if the business also belongs to them. The reason behind this success is the strategy the business is using to get into the heart of its customers, and this strategy is “employee empowerment”. People are the business's most underutilized resource; involvement in an organization is no longer a one-way road. In today's corporate environment a manager must work towards engaging the organization forcefully enough to achieve its objectives. New knowledge-based enterprises are characterized by flat hierarchical structures and a multi-skilled workforce. Managers assume more leadership and coaching tasks and work hard to provide employees with resources and working conditions they need to accomplish the goals they have agreed to. In brief, managers work for their staff, and not the reverse and this makes employees feel valued. Small business owners should tap into a new dimension of utilizing employee empowerment strategies in their businesses as these are proficient and are not costly. This paper investigates employee empowerment strategies that can be used by small, medium and micro enterprises (SMME's). An important reason for this investigation is that small businesses have incompetent skilled labour force due to the fact that they operate under a limited budget from which it would be difficult to get skilled workers who will demand higher salaries, as a result they need to put their energies rather on equipping and educating their employees through empowerment, which could at the end make them feel valued and part of the business. It is imperative to firstly assess the current situation of small business commitment to employee empowerment strategies; to what extent do they use employee empowerment strategies in their businesses In terms of the empirical study it was determined that small businesses were not aware of the concept of employee empowerment, but are in actual fact practicing employee empowerment strategies that have been theoretically revealed, according to the researcher’s observation, they were not aware of the impact of employee empowerment in the organization and that they can be implemented into the business. Therefore, by introducing the concept of employee empowerment and the strategies that can be used in small businesses, SMME's can enhance their services to customers, increase productivity and contribute to the welfare of employees to add value to the individual, the business and the country.

Scholars debate the importance of multiracial identity recognition as the increasing number of self-identified multiracial individuals challenges traditional racial categories. Two reasons justify the count of multiracial individuals on censuses. One is the right to self-identification, derived from personal autonomy. The other is social: the category allows governments to accurately assess affirmative action programs’ results and society’s acceptance of multiracialism. Critical Race Theory and Critical Mixed-Race Studies serve as basis for my analysis over multiracial identity formation and its recognition. Comparing multiracialism in America and Brazil, I verify that both countries are in different stages regarding categorization and social acceptance of multiracial identity. Neither uses multiracial data for social programs, though. I conclude that the growth of mixed-race individuals makes the identification of race-based social programs’ beneficiaries difficult, which demands the use of diverse criteria. Moreover, official recognition can serve to improve the way society deals with race.

M.B.A. / Sasol embarked upon an ambitious programme to adopt affirmative action measures for the diversification of the workplace, long before the promulgation of the Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998. However, 8 years after commencing with this process, the organization's diversity status across all the junior, middle and senior management employment levels looks bleak. Despite the good, professed intentions by top management to diversify the workplace; in compliance with the Act, the process is being hindered by strong resistance. Responding to a questionnaire in annexure B on support for affirmative action measures, 98% of white males said they did not support them. The study sought to elicit an answer to the question as to whether the programme was being resisted/opposed or not. Only by uncovering the depth and nature of the resistance, could recommendations be made to accelerate the process. Questionnaires were completed by racially and gender diverse respondents. Overwhelmingly, responses by Africans, Coloureds and Indians indicated resistance to Sasol's type of employment equity practice. This is illustrated by the overall satisfaction index per race in figure 5.4. These designated groups, however, unanimously welcomed the creation of an equitable workplace through affirmative action measures. White males clearly opposed the implementation of affirmative action measures.