D.Litt et Phil. / Dynamic organisations with information technology driven infrastructures are invariably in a state of change, which can be attributed to a multitude of planned (as opposed to forced) interventions. Planned interventions can vary greatly in format and the following serves as examples: • Change required as a result of a new management structure being introduced. • New systems or technology being implemented. • Processes being improved or changed. • New corporate cultures being established. • Changing market focus. • Business Process Reengineering initiatives. Business process reengineering flowing from a planned intervention would normally culminate in a requirement for a further planned intervention in the form of change management to be implemented. This is required to not only ensure that end to end processes are established to ultimately culminate in sustained process improvement and competitive advantage, but also that the impact of such process changes map to the subsequent cultural and organisational change requirements. Should these entities however be undertaken against the background of a forced intervention, a new approach is required to ensure that not only processes are catered for, but also include behavioural and organisational considerations. Research hypothesis validation was conducted in two organisations of which one served as a Control Group, while the other organisation was split to form two separate and distinct research groups. Into the first research group of the latter organisation (Experimental Group B), the Transformation Process model, which forms the focus of this thesis was introduced to facilitate the implementation of business process reengineering and change management as planned interventions and affirmative action as the forced intervention. In terms of the methodology of the Transformation Process model, any process entity is required to be infused and mapped to a change entity and thereafter superimposed onto the applicable forced intervention in symbiotic unison to test the hypothesis. Into the second research group (Experimental Group A) the same interventions were implemented as in the case of Experimental Group B, however not in terms of the Transformation Process model, but in the traditional way whereby process change was followed by organisational change the latter, which included the forced intervention.

M.Com. (Labour Relations) / This study focuses on the affirmative action debate in South Africa as it manifests firstly in current and possible practices, and secondly expectations of legislation in the future. The reasoning behind the study is that it is imperative to do a study on this, one of the most controversial subjects currently under debate in South Africa, while so many companies are in the process of implementing systems of affirmative action. An overview of affirmative action legislation in other countries of the world were presented. These systems form the core of any debate on the subject of affirmative action in South Africa. The South African debate, as well as present systems and support for affirmative action legislation were investigated. An analysis of the present problems facing the black education system in South Africa and the initiatives to overcome these problems were given. A probable model of affirmative action legislation that the ANC and some other black political parties would most probably support was then given, based on the foregoing study. The conclusions drawn from the results obtained after the study, was that the black political parties and groupings that support the ideals of the ANC support a 60 percent quota-system. Most companies in South Africa have either already implemented an affirmative action or equal opportunities policy, or are in the process of adopting such a policy. In many cases the reasons for adopting such policies seem to be the expectation of future legislation that would force them to adopt radical affirmative action policies. The expectations of the black community, in terms of affirmative action legislation, also seem to be extremely high. This puts much pressure on both companies and black political parties to support and implement affirmative action.

M.Comm. / Black Advancement and Affirmative Action are concepts which became identified with endeavours in South Africa to increase the participation of black people in business and the mainstream economy. In recent years, a more all-encompassing construct, combining the objective and attributes of both Black Advancement and Affirmative Action, has gained popularity. This new construct is Black Economic Empowerment. Black Economic Empowerment is a concept, which is broadly accepted in principle, but is still controversial in its meaning and practice. This report looks at the commonly, agreed and understood meaning of Black Economic Empowerment. It also examines the role that the government, private sector and labour unions have played and will play in the empowerment process. The parallels between the Afrikaner empowerment in the fifties and sixties and Black Economic Empowerment and the similarities between Malaysia's empowerment initiatives and South Africa's current situation are examined as an example that encourages the need for Black Economic Empowerment. The study will also look into the need for Affirmative Action, the state of Black Business and its historical development and its contribution to Black Empowerment. The successes of Black Economic Empowerment are contrasted against the failures, while the report examines the criticisms levelled against Black Economic Empowerment as well as the perception that such a process is open to manipulation. The findings of the study concluded that Black Economic Empowerment is essential to the economic development of Black people. The responsibility is all encompassing, yet government must be seen to act as the facilitator of the process.

M.Com. (Business Management) / Affirmative action is extremely topical in South Africa today, not only in terms of business principles but among individuals and communities as well. Since the establishment in the late 1850's of the South African Railways and Harbours and it's eventual change to the present-day Transnet, a "white" culture was constantly being established. For the past number of years Transnet is engaged in bringing about a culture change to transform the company into an equal opportunity company. The purpose of this study is to describe the the full meaning of affirmative action in Transnet and to put the importance of such action for both the Company and it's employees into perspective. The methods used by Transnet to apply affirmative action with the least possible resistance and interruption of business are also discussed. In Transnet affirmative action is part of a process known as the tum strategy. Through a personal interview with the Group General Manager (Human Resources) of Transnet the origin and implementation of the turn strategy is explained. The tum strategy consists of thirteen substrategies that must be completed before the exercise can be called a success. The success of the turn strategy could rest on the evaluation and monitoring of the results of the substrategies. A spirit of co-operation between Management and organised labour was achieved by involving both parties as members of the Turn Strategy Council. The Turn Strategy Council is responsible, inter alia. for monitoring the turn strategy. In conclusion specific findings and recommendations are made. Although it may be necessary to make adjustments to suit local circumstances, the value of the study is in the opportunity it affords other companies/organisations to use Transnet's model to implement affirmative action.

D.Litt. et Phil. (Public Management and Governance) / This study focuses on a framework for the sustainable policy implementation of the Mining Charter of 2002, with specific reference to the role of women in the South African mining industry. The goal of this empowerment charter is to create an industry that will reflect the promise of a non-racial South Africa. This includes ensuring a ten percent participation of women by 2009. The main research question addressed by this study is: What are the factors involved in determining the sustained implementation of the Mining Charter of 2002 and how can it be effectively implemented and strengthened in order to ensure the compliance by the mining employers in terms of the role and targets for women in the mining industry? The thesis provided an integrated focus on outputs in terms of implementing reform policies with regard to the employment of females in the mines. Furthermore, it investigates certain outcomes in terms of how the mining environment has adapted to female employment and policy conversion processes in terms of what the barriers are to the successful implementation of the Mining Charter of 2002. This ensured that both policy products and processes were subjected to systematic and integrative evaluation. The problem was also viewed from the current level of success in implementing similar empowerment policies in other countries, such as Australia, the United Kingdom, Japan, as well as certain African countries. The thesis also aimed to develop a substantive theory for an organisational change process in terms of the conditions of women working underground in the mines. This will enable mining employers to identify selected resource inputs, as well as process outputs and outcomes. Ultimately, this will ensure sustained compliance to the spirit and requirements of the Mining Charter, within the context of the transformation of the South African society and legislation as a whole. A modernist qualitative research methodology was followed, where casing was applied as the research design and grounded theory as the research strategy. A qualitative coding paradigm was developed in terms of the physical, social, cultural and psychological construction of employees in the mining environment’s perceptions, experiences, attitudes and behaviour with regard to the implementation of the Mining Charter of 2002. The findings of the empirical study generally indicated that the picture that scholars and role-players (for example the women working underground) paint on the South African mining industry with regard the employment of women in the mines – specifically in an underground environment – is not as bleak as one might think. However, some improvements are still needed in order to comply with targets, as well as creating better working conditions for women employed in the mining industry. The study contributed to the development of theory and research methodology. Furthermore, on a practical level, it contributed to the disciplinary fields of Public Management and Public Governance.

M.Comm. / The Bank under study is one of the big four banks of South Africa, is engaged in a process of transformation, more specifically the implementation of the Employment Equity Act (No.55 of 1998). The overall objective of the study was to identify the employee's perceptions of transformation in a financial institution, which will be called The Bank, for ease of reference. The study was split into two, firstly, the identification of perception held by African, Indian and Coloured (AIC) male and female managers about the implementation of transformation, more specifically, employment equity, as an integral component of transformation in South African companies. Secondly, to conduct a comparative analysis on the similarities and differences of white male and African, Indian and Coloured managers perceptions regarding the implementation of transformation, more specifically employment equity act A further objective was to obtain suggestions from the participants as to possible ways in which the Bank can deal with their specific concerns relating to transformation.

M.Com. (Business Management) / Change is no longer only an option but a necessity in the changing socio-economic environment in which businesses have found themselves in the new democratic South Africa. Businesses are confronted with so many new challenges every day (for instance affirmative action) that the need for transformation and change have become an integral component of strategic management and planning. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of affirmative action on organisational culture. A positive and supportive organisational culture is needed for successful implementation of affirmative action. Substantial consensus has been reached by researchers that each enterprise has its own identifiable culture and that this culture has a powerful influence on the management process and performance of the enterprise. Within the context of strategic management the shared values and beliefs of the employees are a major determinant in aligning organisational culture and a strategy of affirmative action. Managers have an important task to manage the interactive role of strategy and organisational culture and have to be role models of non-discriminative and non-racist behaviour in businesses that promote equal opportunities for all, irrespective of race or gender.

M.A. / The study is about the concept of Affirmative Action in the Employment Equity Act of South Africa, however it traces the history of Affirmative Action from the United States of America and Malaysia. These two countries are found to be leading the world in Affirmative Action. The term ‘Affirmative Action’ originated from the United States of America to prohibit unfair discrimination against certain groups of people because of non-job-related characteristics in terms of Civil Rights Act of 1960. Malaysia introduced Affirmative Action to develop education and employment opportunities of the Bumiputra. Bumiputra is one of the ethnic groups in Malaysia that have suffered unfair discrimination. Affirmative Action is a concept that became topical with attempts in South Africa to increase the participation of previously disadvantaged groups in the workplace. This concept, which is accepted constitutionally, is still controversial in its meaning and practice. It is for this reason that the study attempts to dispel misunderstandings about the concept. The study distinguishes Affirmative Action from related concepts such as equal employment opportunity and reverse discrimination. In order to develop the idea of Affirmative Action, the study also makes a distinction between descriptive definitions and normative definitions. This study opted for normative definitions in order to develop an ideal of what Affirmative Action is supposed to be. The study looks at how Affirmative Action is conceptualised in the Employment Equity Act of South Africa. Through the evaluation of the concept of Affirmative Action in the Employment Equity Act in terms of my normative definition of Affirmative Action, it was found that Affirmative Action in the Employment Equity Act complies with the normative definition of Affirmative Action. The following are my conclusion: - Affirmative Action is not similar to reverse discrimination or equal employment opportunities. - Affirmative Action in the Employment Equity Act is another form of discrimination though not unfair - It redresses injustices experienced by groups who have been disadvantaged in the past. - It eliminates unfair discrimination and develops the skills of those who did not have opportunities - It promotes equal opportunities in employment and thus it is a temporary intervention in the workplace. The findings of the study concluded that Affirmative Action is essential to the economic and skills development of the disadvantaged groups in particular and the South African society in general. / Prof. G.J. Rossouw Professor H.P.P. Lőtter

The subject of this dissertation is a fairly contentious issue, with advocates on all sides debating the effectiveness and value of affirmative action, as defined in the Black Economic Empowerment legislature. The goal is to determine the affect of BEE on the management of Small and Medium Enterprises in South Africa, although SME’s have been found by this study to have an influence on the effectiveness of BEE. An overview of the origins and history of affirmative action policies, cumulating in BEE, are discussed, and the various policies and their effectiveness are examined. Special emphasis was placed on the study of the Black Economic Empowerment Commission, and the recent policies around the enforcing of BEE compliance on corporate South Africa. The biggest problem with the implementation of BEE was found to be financing. Many financial models have been attempted to provide the necessary funding for empowerment to happen, but all seem to be flawed in some way or another. Insight was gained into how BEE policies are structured, the particular goals they are trying to achieve, and conclusions were drawn on how best these goals could be met. The study then provides an overview of the position and value of Small and Medium Enterprises in the South African economy and the particular issues that management of these enterprises face. The value of SME’s to the government’s policies of addressing massive unemployment in South Africa is examined, and certain conclusions are drawn around how effective these policies are. The various constraints and peculiar problems of the SME sector are examined, in order to place the topic of the dissertation in context. The dissertation then discusses the approach that was taken by the author in gathering the information and research material that was used to write the paper. These methods included meticulous research of the subject matter in the written press, internet sources, online libraries, as well as many personal interviews with leading industry and government personalities. This information is then used to discuss the effect of BEE in practice, with particular emphasis on impact that BEE has had and is having on the SME sector of the South African economy. Discussion is provided around the application of the BEE scorecard, as well as a section covering finance, both local and foreign, of BEE deals. The opinions of the industry leaders interviewed are discussed and particular issues raised by them are examined in the light of the previous discussions around BEE and SME’s. Lastly, the dissertation presents a set of conclusions drawn by the author, and backed up by industry comment. These conclusions provide a clear understanding of the impact that BEE is having on SME’s, as well as how SME’s will have an effect on the long-term success of BEE in South Africa. / Prof. S. Kruger

M. Phil. (Human Resource Development) / Fourteen years since Employment Equity Act (No. 55 of 1998) was promulgated, the corporate sector remains racially polarised. Although Act, No 55 of 1998 mandated organisations to appoint transformation managers with executive authority and resources to drive reform, the meagre progress and increasing income disparities in favour of the previously advantaged groups suggest that these managers are somehow ineffective. The study explores experiences and views of transformation managers regarding the policy - practice related challenges they encounter in driving employment equity in the corporate sector. Examining challenges encountered by transformation managers, as accountable executives, would assist in identifying disruptive and undesirable factors that stymie corporate labour market reform and lead to the development of contextualised short and long term mitigation strategies. A phenomenological approach was applied to answer the main research question. My ontology was based on transformation managers’ subjective construct of their own realities, and studying their experiences encountered in the course of executing their mandate would best give insight into these hindrance factors. My epistemological position was that the perspectives of people involved with managing transformation in corporate organisations were relevant; therefore I conducted interviews with five transformation managers from different corporate organisations. The study confirmed that with focus on achieving employment equity numbers little attention has been given to promoting and valuing diversity, and that corporate culture is characterised by racial mistrust, fear and resentment. Lastly, the study confirmed fault lines in the effectiveness of transformation managers.