Thesis (Ph.D.)--Mississippi State University. Department of Leadership and Foundations. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

This study examines the factors that contributed to the failure of retrenched Telkom workers to start and run successful businesses after the company had provided them with start-up capital and also funds for training. Many of the factors contributing to the majority of Telkom retrenched employees not establishing businesses will be identified and recommendations that companies could implement in the future to limit the failure of businesses of retrenched employees will be made. The study was descriptive, exploratory and qualitative in nature. Semi-structured interviews and a survey questionnaire specifically developed for this study were used to gather data. The study was conducted on ex-employees of Telkom residing in and around the townships and suburbs situated on the western side of Johannesburg (Mogale City, Randfontein and Soweto). Telkom provided retrenched employees with funds to attend external training so that they could be equipped to start and run their own businesses. Subsequently, Telkom also provided start-up capital so that these employees could start small businesses after they had left the company. Although the funds were provided, most employees did not utilise them to start their businesses and the few that did access the funds and start businesses experienced the failure of their businesses within a very short period of time. Three major issues of concern were identified: many of these ex-employees did not utilise the funds that were allocated for training; many did not make use of the start-up capital and the majority did not start businesses. The study investigated the following issues: a) Why the retrenched employees did not make use of the funds allocated for training b) Why the ex-employees did not make use of the start-up capital c) Why the ex-employees did not start businesses d) Of those that did start businesses, why did they fail within such a short period of time? The findings of the study confirm that most of the retrenched employees did not access either the training or the start-up funds. Detailed reasons for why the funds were not made use of are given and recommendations are also made for what the company should do in future if deciding to embark on a similar exercise. / Business Management / M. Tech. (Business Administration)

Earnings loss due to both lower wages at the current job and the time forgone between two jobs is one of the major consequences of job displacement caused by plant closing, moving and downsizing in the 1980s. Is migration a solution? The present study attempts to answer this question empirically by exploring five waves of data on the displaced manufacturing workers from the CPS Displaced Workers Supplements. Human capital theory and neo-classica1 theory of labor migration both assert that migration should improve people's socio-economic status. They largely neglect social and economic structural constraints on the outcomes of individual behavior. From the dynamic segmentation perspective, this study hypothesizes that deindustrialization has been squeezing workers from the subordinate (lower-tier) primary segment down and thus such workers suffered more loss than their counterparts from the independent (upper-tier) segment; since deindustrialization primarily affected the core manufacturing industries, core workers suffered greater loss from displacement relative to their peripheral counterparts. In this context, this study further hypothesizes that migration will not benefit the workers from the subordinate primary segment as much as the workers from the independent primary segments. The empirical results confirm the main hypotheses of the present study: Workers displaced from the subordinate primary segment suffered more earnings loss and longer jobless duration than their counterparts from the independent primary segment. Workers from the core industries experienced longer jobless duration than their counterparts from the peripheral segment. Migration had no effect on the postdisplacement earnings and jobless duration for the displaced workers from either segment. The clear implication of these findings is that migration is no solution. Among other things, occupation/industry change when reemployed is an important factor causing earnings loss; formal educational attainment reduces earnings loss and shortens the jobless duration while work tenure on the pre-displacement job increases earnings loss and lengthens the jobless duration. / Ph. D.

What is the meaning of the Mexican-American's job displacement and participation in a training program? To answer this question, this study adopted hermeneutic phenomenology as a methodological approach. My intention was to search for deep meaning of job displacement followed by entering an educational program. Ten Mexican-American individuals who had been displaced from their job due to economic and trade reasons, and who later participated in a retraining program, were interviewed. Tentative themes were drawn from the analysis, and 15 thematic categories were confirmed after follow-up interviews. The themes were: Mexican-American Culture, Machismo, Self-determination, Resilience, Union Membership, Job Security, Have Someone Advocate for Their Rights, Job Displacement, Trade-related Closure, Breach of the Psychological Contract, Emotional Distress, Education and Retraining, Entrepreneurship and Problems with Workforce Benefits. The themes were expanded based on participants' words and then discussed through a post-analysis literature review. Recommendations were made to government and non-government organizations advocating for a potential change in policies. Recommendations were also provided to healthcare providers and to U.S. American workers. Finally, recommendations were made for future research.