M.A. (Labor Relations) / The South African Clothing and Textile Workers Unions (SACTWU) has since 1991, with the adoption of a resolution at its National congress, campaigned vigorously for a National Industrial council for the Textile Industry. This campaign reached its climax when specific proposals were made to Textile employers on 28 August 1991 and 9 September 1991 respectively to make known their particular needs. In employer groupings several attacks were made on centralized bargaining, essentially arguing that this form of bargaining has introduced rigidities into the labour market and has contributed to the poor competitiveness of the industry. In consideration of the SACTWU demand, the study focused on the restructuring of collective bargaining in the industry in the establishment of a bargaining framework, where the level and structure of bargaining were to be shaped by the goals of economic effectiveness and social equity. Beyond this aim, the study also seeked to change the nature and quality of bargaining. Adversarial bargaining is to be replaced with co-operation, as the former will not build the economy, nor promote social equity. various aspects dealing with collective bargaining was examined to obtain a perspective on the complexities, mechanisms, structures arid processes of the bargaining system, and particularly the perceived differences in attitude towards centralized bargaining.

M.A. (Industrial Relations) / Since black employees were legally allowed to form unions and organise themselves, unionism has grown tremendously. The occurrence of strikes of some form or other has shown a rising tendency since the implementation of the recommendations of the Wiehahn Commission of Inquiry into Labour Legislation in 1979. As a result, business enterprises have suffered considerable financial losses on account of a loss of man-hours and man-days. The aim of this study is to formulate juridical and practical guidelines for the industrial relations practitioner in order to deal with strikes pro-actively and to prevent them if possible, and to manage them responsibly and professionally if they do occur.

This research focused on employee participation in South African organisations as a tool for global competitiveness. Chapter one outlines the background to the study, its aims, statement of the problem and the research methodology. World wide socio -political and political changes were discussed. It emerged that such changes have revolutionalised and democratised countries and their organizations. Despite being recognised as a democratic country now, many of South Africa’s organisations are not yet fully democratic. Such organisations face the danger of being out-performed globally by those organisations that have already democratised themselves, as dictated by global trends. Using a theoretical exploration of relevant literature, the research was designed to determine the extent to which organisations in South Africa have positioned themselves to compete globally through the use of employee participation at the workplace. A theoretically-oriented method was utilised since the concepts of Global Competitiveness, or being “World-Class”, and that of Employee Participatio n are relatively new in South Africa. It is argued that the method contributes, inter alia, to the uncovering of generalisations that could be investigated by future researchers using more accurate and complex designs. At the same time, a broader understanding of the concepts of Global Competitiveness and “World-Class” is gained. From a detailed discussion of the concept “World-Class” it is evident that “world-class” organisations design their strategies, structures and leadership processes in such a way that customers’ needs are continuously met. To ensure that customers are provided with high quality products, globally competitive organisations continuously benchmark their systems, processes and results against those of the best organisation in the world . It is argued that Employment Relations Management as a sub-system of the wider organisational system has to be designed and managed in a way that ensures the satisfaction of the organisation’s employees and external clients. It also has to be benchmarked to ensure that it continues to deliver optimally. This necessitates a paradigm shift in the management of Employment Relations, from the typically Unitarist approach that characterised the work-place prior to the country’s democratisation in April 1994, to an integrated approach that takes cognisance of the interests, values and needs of all stakeholders. Such an approach would, no / Prof. J.A. Slabbert

This case study was written within the broader concept of Organisational Culture and how it is integrated into an organisation to encourage responsible leadership. The core focus and emphasis of this approach is to establish the implications for businesses operating in the most challenging of commercial environments, while adhering to their corporate ethos and organisational values. These may be summarised with the phrase: Only a clean business is a sustainable business. This dissertation is intended to act as a case study and resource aide for the teaching of leadership, organisational behaviour, human resources and business sustainability. The study is about the Afghanistan chapter of the global giant Siemens, which has been working in many areas of specialisation conducting business in the country for more than 75 years. It has been selected for this case study because of its long-term impressive record, during which time it has developed and sustained a reputation as an organisation with a much-admired organisational culture, and one to which employees feel very closely attached and connected. This case study evolved from a set of unique as well as difficult circumstances. In Afghanistan, where infrastructure is weak, businesses and other structured organisations are in their initial and immature stages of development, and employee attachment to their workplaces is relatively weak. In the case of Siemens however, it has been much the opposite. It became apparent over a protracted period of time that the relationship of employees to the company was clearly of a positive and committed nature, unlike the general perception stemming from other multinational organisations operating within the country. Many business organisations in Afghanistan tend to emphasise to a lesser degree some modern-day practices of employer-employee relationships, which negatively affect motivation and commitment. The study grew out of the observations that employees of Siemens on the other hand, seemed to exhibit attitudes and commitments contrary to the general trend in the wider business sector. This project began with the intention to identify those factors contributing to employee loyalty and strong attachments to an organisation. Subsequently, the same findings were used to identify the traits and particular features working within the organisational environment.

Research problem: Various factors which influence industrial relations climate can be classified as input variables (Dastmalchian, Adamason and Blyton, 1991). The industrial relations climate (IRC) in turn has the potential to positive or negatively influence and be influenced by the industrial relations outcomes of the organisation such as labour turnover, industrial action and productivity. Management therefore need to be aware of the prevailing IRC as well as the factors influencing the prevailing industrial relations climate so as to take the necessary and relevant measures and steps to improve the labour-management relations. Research objectives: The research objectives for addressing the research problem were mainly to ascertain the prevailing labour relations climate within the selected mine. The second objective was to identify the factors that shape labour relations climate and thirdly to establish the impact of the prevailing industrial relations climate within the mine Research questions: Research questions for the study were developed and were; What is the overall labour relations climate? What is the contribution of each of the five dimensions to the overall labour relations climate? What is the relationship between the subgroups, distinguished by union affiliation and occupational level? What is the relationship between the sub-groups, distinguished by gender, age, race years in organization, full-time or part-time, union affiliation, years in union, union status, occupational level, educational level and the five dimensions of the labour relations climate? What are the factors that shape the industrial relations climate with particular reference to the following factors such as the organisational context and background, the structure of the organisation, the Human Resources context, the Industrial Relations context and Industrial relations outcomes? Research design: The study was descriptive research and both qualitative and quantitative methods were used in order to address the objectives of the study. A self-administered survey questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data and in-depth semi-structured face-to-face interviews were also used to collect data relating to the IRC and the factors influencing the industrial relations climate. Human Resources records and reports were also used to provide secondary data for industrial relations outcomes. Major findings: The results from the study revealed that overall a negative IRC prevailed within the mine. This also applied to the five dimensions of climate that were measured. It was found that there was agreement between the unionised and the non-unionised employees’ perceptions of the industrial relations climate and similarly, when the miners’ perception of climate was compared with the more managerial group. The only really significant difference in perception was that management felt that the climate was fairer than did the miners. The results also revealed that the organisational environment and structure and the human resources and industrial relations contexts were consistent with the literature descriptions of an organisational environment that would inhibit a positive industrial relations climate. The results for the organisational outcomes, in particular absenteeism and turnover were also found to be consistent with those of organisations were the prevailing industrial relations climate was negative. The results also revealed that organisational age, size, ownership, structure, formalisation, decision-making, labour market, union-management consultation, communication were influenced and shaped the prevailing IRC. It also revealed that the prevailing IRC had impact on the levels of absenteeism and labour turnover.

The initiation of more cooperative relations between the companies and the union (IWA-Canada) in the B.C. solid wood products sector, on the one hand, and between these two and the federal government, on the other hand, appears to signal an end to the "exceptionalism" which precluded the establishment of "corporatism" in Canadian industry. As the sector has been under tremendous pressure from various structural and technological changes, as well as interest groups both inside the forest industry and outside of it, does this change in industrial relations provide a model for the future forest industry or is it an impediment to change, as many critics contend. This thesis will explore the formation of "Fordist" industrial relations in the sector and the present "crisis" in Fordism as it relates to the sector, in order to understand the factors impelling cooperative industrial relations, and how these factors will affect these relations in the future. As these factors are undermining Fordism, they might also undermine the tentative, defensive cooperation between the three parties. In place of this exclusive policy-making regime a new, broad-based, decentralized, and more democratically controlled forest sector might emerge which will encourage cooperative industrial relations, but without the dominance of the old Fordist structures. The ensuing changes will widely affect economic, political and social relations throughout the province. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

This is a study investigating employee behavior within the work group as structured by the technology utilized in the work process. While it is true that factors other than the form of technology influence work group behavior, a sincere attempt is made to reveal the frequency and type of behavior that may be attributed to a particular educational form. It is assumed that a plant has specific types of technology, that is, the technology is set; therefore, the question is what behavior will result from a specific technology, given a certain mix of variables? The object of this study based on Sayles' Behavior of Industrial Work Groups, Walker and Guest's The Man on the Assembly Line, and Blauner's Alienation and Freedom is threefold: 1. To investigate the direct influence of technological characteristics on organizationally relevant behavior. The technological characteristics deemed meaningful are the form of transfer technology binding the group, the form of conversion technology involved in product manufacture, and the number of cycles per hour passing through the group. The technologically dependent factors expressed in organizationally relevant behavior are the degree of grievance and pressure activity, the number of unplanned spontaneous outbursts, the participation of the group in union activities, the amount of voluntary turnover, and the degree of absenteeism. 2. To investigate the influence of technological characteristics on the behavioral consequences of the technology. The behavioral consequences of the technology are the intervening variables that are associated with a particular technological form and may influence the ultimate behavior pattern. They are: attention requirements of the job, frequency of break in the job routine, mobility of workers in the group, work standards involving judgment, the degree of conversation, group status, and group cohesiveness. 3. To investigate the influence of the behavioral consequences of the technology on organizationally relevant behavior. The method of investigation is through the direct observation of the aforementioned variables as recorded on a predetermined scale. The direct observations are then supplemented by descriptive information obtained from an interview schedule with first level supervisors and other levels of management. The results of these methods of investigation are presented in the body of the thesis. The general conclusions reached are as follows: 1. No direct trend relationship is found between the degree of technological characteristics and the degree of organizationally relevant behavior. On the whole, a curvilinear relationship between the technological form and organizationally relevant behavior as described by Blauner in Alienation and Freedom is discernable; however, there are many exceptions. 2. The degree of the behavioral consequences of the technology such as attention requirements of the job, frequency of break in the job routine, mobility of workers in the group, work standards involving judgment, and the degree of verbal communication are found to be related to the form of technology. However, no relationship was found between the degree of status or cohesion and technological form. 3. The behavioral consequences of the technology such as attention requirements of the job, frequency of break in the job routine, mobility of workers in the group, and work standards involving judgment play an important role in explaining work group behavior. In-group communication, and group cohesiveness have little influence on organizationally relevant behavior. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

This thesis examines the evolution of postwar industrial relations in postwar Japan from 1945 to 1973. It analyzes the impact of postwar industrial relations institutions on the origins and development of “lean production” or, as it is otherwise known, the Toyota production system. It uses three case studies, Mitsui Coal’s Miike mine in Kyushu, Suzuki Motors in Hamamatsu, and Moriguchi City Hall as an empirical basis for analysis and constructs a schema of industrial relations institutions that challenges the conventional “three pillars” interpretation (lifetime employment, seniority-based wages, and enterprise unions). From a historical perspective there were three distinct stages in the evolution of industrial relations. The first, from 1945-1947 was a labour-dominated period during which unions began to develop a distinct factory regime in which they were equal partners with management and could veto layoffs. Employers rejected this regime, however, and led an offensive against the independent union movement. This offensive was relatively successful in weakening labour and overturning the new institutions, but it engendered further antagonism. Thus the 1950s were characterized by instability in labour relations and new institutions had to evolve out of the workplace. A stable Fordist regime consolidated in the 1960-1973 period. From a comparative perspective and in the context of the development of lean production, the author stresses four institutions: tacit and limited job tenure; a performance-based wage system controlled by management; unions with an enterprise (i.e. market) orientation; and joint consultation. These institutions gave Japanese industrial relations their distinctiveness and also help to explain why lean production developed in Japan. Under the traditional Fordist model, work was broken down into short, repetitive cycles and organized along an assembly line. Employers exerted control by keeping conceptual activities as their mandate and workers were to simply follow instructions. This study found that work itself did not change substantively under lean production but workers participated more in conceptual activities. One of the key reasons for this was that employers in Japan were able to exercise control not only through the division of labour but through the wage system and enterprise unions as well. These mechanisms put discrete limits on the scope of worker innovations. They also limited the benefits workers could expect from the system. Lean production represented a new stage in production, identified as lean, intensified Fordism. / Arts, Faculty of / History, Department of / Graduate

M.A. (Labour Relations) / Never before has South Africa undergone as many changes as is currently the case. With the abolition of apartheid, the looming prospect of affirmative action legislation and the need to foster a positive economic growth rate, South African human resource managers are faced with unprecendented challenges. The biggest of these challenges is the effective management of human resources in a diverse organisational environment, which has, until recently focussed almost exclusively on the development of white employees. In order to increase the competitiveness of South African organisations and to generate income for the economy, human resource management policies and systems have to be adapted. These adaptions should focus on the needs of black employees, especially in the area of organisational culture, which was traditionally based exclusively on the values of white management. In view of the above it is the goal of this study to create a system of value management to integrate the traditional cultural values of employees with the core organisational values of a specific hotel complex. The study is a combined literature study and an empirical enquiry. In the empirical enquiry the core organisational values of the hotel complex are investigated, in support of the hypothesis that South African human resource management policies are not sufficiently cognisant of the traditional values of employees. Subjects such as the nature of traditional Batswana cultural values and a value management model for the integration of organisational and cultural values will furthermore be addressed in this study.

M.Cur. / The researcher's occupation as medical services manager at a packaging company regularly brings her into contact with the occupational health nurses employed at the factories. She has become aware that the occupational health nurses often become involved in ethical dilemmas with regards to the handling of HIV -positive people at the workplace in that the interests of the HIV -positive conflict with the interests of the employer. The occupational health nurse finds him/herself acting as intermediary and advocate between the two parties, namely the employer and the HIV -positive person. In spite of the provision of legal norms and ethical standards to regulate the interests of the HN -positive person in the workplace, no guidelines exist as to how these norms and standards should be operasionalised during interaction between the HIV -positive person, the occupational health nurse and the employer. The occupational health nurse is therefore uncertain how to act professionally within laid-down ethical standards with the HIV -positive person at the workplace. The purpose of this study is to describe guidelines and criteria for the operasionalisation of ethical standards for the occupational health nurse regarding the HIV -positive person in the workplace. This objective is obtained through the following aims: • Researching and describing literature with specific reference to current legal and ethical frameworks within the occupational health context regarding interaction with the HNpositive person in the workplace in order to formulate these ethical standards; • Researching and describing problems and solutions for the following target groups regarding the ethical aspects regarding the HN -positive person in the workplace: Occupational health nurses The HN -positive person in the workplace. The design of the research is qualitative, explorative and descriptive. The research was carried out by studying the occupational health nurses and HN -positive people employed by the packaging company countrywide. The occupational health nurses who were involved were obtained from a purposive test sample. The HN -positive people were chosen by making use of a quota test sample. Data obtained from the occupational health nurses was gathered by means of a workshop, and the data from the HN -positive people was obtained through personal interviews. The results of the research identified certain problems and solutions which were experienced by both target groups. These problems and solutions are divided into four sub-categories to illustrate how individual, organisational, health and family-systems are influenced. In order to assist the occupational health nurses to ethically handle the HIV -positive person in the workplace, guidelines and criteria were drawn up for the operasionalisation of the ethical standards. Additional research themes were identified through the study, the goal being to further improve the ethical handling of the HIV-positive person in the workplace, and to give better support to the HIV positive person.