The productivity and well-being of the SANDF are dependent on the effective functioning of its individual members, positive relationships amongst various groups of members and between members and the organization. Military social work, based on occupational social work, was established in order to support the well-being of the organization. Supervisors within the South African National Defence Force play a fundamental role in the management and assistance of employees and organizational units whose performance is affected by a range of problems. These supervisors are the key role players in the identification and effective referral of 'employees whose performance is affected by problem situations. The Supervisory Training Course was developed and implemented by military social workers as a training aid to equip supervisors in appropriate ways of managing and assisting employees and organizational units. The Supervisory Training Course (a very comprehensive package) is currently presented on a small scale amongst SANDF supervisors. These supervisors are not using acquired knowledge and skills effectively regarding the management of their subordinates. This situation motivated the researcher to undertake this study. / Thesis (M.A. (MW))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

The thesis represents an attempt, within the broad field of religion and literature and of identity studies, to read the early unpublished fiction of Alan Paton, dating from approximately 1922 (the end of his student days) to 1935 (when he became Principal of Diepkloof Reformatory). It is pointed out that research into the interrelationship of literature and religion, while well-established in a number of countries, is lagging in South Africa, and it is believed that the present thesis is the first full-length work of its kind, at least as far as South African literature in English is concerned. The writer advances reasons for his explicitly religious and hermeneutic approach to questions of human identity, as found in Paton especially, and focuses these on two particular areas: narrative identity, as propounded in the later work of Paul Ricoeur, and relational identity (to the other human being and to the Other, God), as theorised by Emmanuel Levinas in his later writing. In order to contextualise the study in Africa and in South Africa, brief attention is accorded to writers such as Soyinka, Mbiti and Mbembe and to current debates regarding white identity in South Africa. To lend a sense of historical context, Paton's work is viewed against the backdrop of identity in colonial Natal. The overall approach adopted may be described as broadly, but critically, postmodernist. Paton's earliest, fragmentary novel, 'Ship of Truth' (1922-1923) is read in some detail; his second, and only complete early novel, 'Brother Death' (1930), is commented on in as much detail as its frequently rambling nature warrants. A chapter on shorter fiction discusses his short story 'Little Barbee' (1928?), his short story 'Calvin Doone' (1930), his third novel, 'John Henry Dane' (1934), and a novel or novella, 'Secret for Seven' (1934). From all these readings it emerges that the Paton of his early fiction is markedly different from the Paton generally known: his concepts of human identity, of God and of religion, though earnest, are unformed and frequently ambivalent; his characterisation often stereotyped and wooden; his political views usually prejudiced and his stylistic and other techniques, though adequate in a young writer, highly repetitive. Various suggestions are made for future research: into South African literature from a religious perspective, into other aspects of Paton's works, and so forth. / Thesis (Ph.D. (English))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

The pronunciation dictionary is a key resource required during the development of an automatic speech recognition (ASR) system. In this thesis, we adapt a British English pronunciation dictionary to Standard South African English (SSAE), as a case study in dialect adaptation. Our investigation leads us in three different directions: dictionary verification, phoneme redundancy evaluation and phoneme adaptation. A pronunciation dictionary should be verified for correctness before its implementation in experiments or applications. However, employing a human to verify a full pronunciation dictionary is an indulgent process which cannot always be accommodated. In our dictionary verification research we attempt to reduce the human effort required in the verification of a pronunciation dictionary by implementing automatic and semi-automatic techniques that find and isolate possible erroneous entries in the dictionary. We identify a number of new techniques that are very efficient in identifying errors, and apply them to a public domain British English pronunciation dictionary. Investigating phoneme redundancy involves looking into the possibility that not all phoneme distinctions are required in SSAE, and investigating different methods of analysing these distinctions. The methods that are investigated include both data driven and knowledge based pronunciation suggestions for a pronunciation dictionary used in an automatic speech recognition (ASR) system. This investigation facilitates a deeper linguistic insight into the pronunciation of phonemes in SSAE. Finally, we investigate phoneme adaptation by adapting the KIT phoneme between two dialects of English through the implementation of a set of adaptation rules. Adaptation rules are extracted from literature but also formulated through an investigation of the linguistic phenomena in the data. We achieve a 93% predictive accuracy, which is significantly higher than the 71 % achievable through the implementation of previously identified rules. The adaptation of a British pronunciation dictionary to SSAE represents the final step of developing a SSAE pronunciation dictionary, which is the aim of this thesis. In addition, an ASR system utilising the dictionary is developed, achieving an unconstrained phoneme accuracy of 79.7%. / Thesis (M.Ing. (Computer Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Safety has become one of the greatest gauging factors for organisational success, within the mining and construction industry of South Africa. This is due to the fact that organisations and their employees are expected to adhere to safety legislation, or risk permanent shutdown. Notwithstanding this importance, methods of communicating safety information to employees have not yet been widely researched – especially not within the unique context of the combined mining and construction industry of South Africa. In the light of the above, this study focused on researching those internal communication methods most suited for the communication of safety information. The systems theory as meta-theory, and the stakeholder relationship theory, the excellence theory and dual-capacity model were used to frame the study. An extensive literature review was firstly conducted, identifying and discussing internal communication methods, their use within the South African mining and construction industry, and specifically their application to safety communication. The concepts of communication satisfaction and communication effectiveness of internal safety communication, as well as employee relations were investigated. Secondly the application of these internal safety communication methods was then further researched empirically within the Gautrain project – specifically its Precast Yard –which is seated within both the mining, as well as the construction industry, as it has to adhere to safety legislations from both industries. This empirical research was done by means of questionnaires, focus groups, interviews, as well as a discussion of the communication channels employed by the organisation. This accounted for a triangulated approach of using quantitative, as well as qualitative methodologies. From this empirical research it was seen that the Precast Yard of the Gautrain project adheres to the guidelines set in the literature in some circumstances, whilst in others it does not. From these shortcomings, seven recommendations were formulated for the improvement of safety communication in this organisation. These include the proposal that safety communications should be strategically managed by integrating all forms of communication, so that external factors that may impact on this communication are factored in. Furthermore, the communication of safety information should strive to reflect the diverse viewpoints of the employees, as it endeavours to foster a relationship with them. Briefly, this study, therefore, focused on identifying and reporting on those methods and techniques suited for the internal communication of safety information, specifically within the South African mining and construction industry, thereby expanding the field. / Thesis (M.A. (Communication Studies))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

The pronunciation dictionary is a key resource required during the development of an automatic speech recognition (ASR) system. In this thesis, we adapt a British English pronunciation dictionary to Standard South African English (SSAE), as a case study in dialect adaptation. Our investigation leads us in three different directions: dictionary verification, phoneme redundancy evaluation and phoneme adaptation. A pronunciation dictionary should be verified for correctness before its implementation in experiments or applications. However, employing a human to verify a full pronunciation dictionary is an indulgent process which cannot always be accommodated. In our dictionary verification research we attempt to reduce the human effort required in the verification of a pronunciation dictionary by implementing automatic and semi-automatic techniques that find and isolate possible erroneous entries in the dictionary. We identify a number of new techniques that are very efficient in identifying errors, and apply them to a public domain British English pronunciation dictionary. Investigating phoneme redundancy involves looking into the possibility that not all phoneme distinctions are required in SSAE, and investigating different methods of analysing these distinctions. The methods that are investigated include both data driven and knowledge based pronunciation suggestions for a pronunciation dictionary used in an automatic speech recognition (ASR) system. This investigation facilitates a deeper linguistic insight into the pronunciation of phonemes in SSAE. Finally, we investigate phoneme adaptation by adapting the KIT phoneme between two dialects of English through the implementation of a set of adaptation rules. Adaptation rules are extracted from literature but also formulated through an investigation of the linguistic phenomena in the data. We achieve a 93% predictive accuracy, which is significantly higher than the 71 % achievable through the implementation of previously identified rules. The adaptation of a British pronunciation dictionary to SSAE represents the final step of developing a SSAE pronunciation dictionary, which is the aim of this thesis. In addition, an ASR system utilising the dictionary is developed, achieving an unconstrained phoneme accuracy of 79.7%. / Thesis (M.Ing. (Computer Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Safety has become one of the greatest gauging factors for organisational success, within the mining and construction industry of South Africa. This is due to the fact that organisations and their employees are expected to adhere to safety legislation, or risk permanent shutdown. Notwithstanding this importance, methods of communicating safety information to employees have not yet been widely researched – especially not within the unique context of the combined mining and construction industry of South Africa. In the light of the above, this study focused on researching those internal communication methods most suited for the communication of safety information. The systems theory as meta-theory, and the stakeholder relationship theory, the excellence theory and dual-capacity model were used to frame the study. An extensive literature review was firstly conducted, identifying and discussing internal communication methods, their use within the South African mining and construction industry, and specifically their application to safety communication. The concepts of communication satisfaction and communication effectiveness of internal safety communication, as well as employee relations were investigated. Secondly the application of these internal safety communication methods was then further researched empirically within the Gautrain project – specifically its Precast Yard –which is seated within both the mining, as well as the construction industry, as it has to adhere to safety legislations from both industries. This empirical research was done by means of questionnaires, focus groups, interviews, as well as a discussion of the communication channels employed by the organisation. This accounted for a triangulated approach of using quantitative, as well as qualitative methodologies. From this empirical research it was seen that the Precast Yard of the Gautrain project adheres to the guidelines set in the literature in some circumstances, whilst in others it does not. From these shortcomings, seven recommendations were formulated for the improvement of safety communication in this organisation. These include the proposal that safety communications should be strategically managed by integrating all forms of communication, so that external factors that may impact on this communication are factored in. Furthermore, the communication of safety information should strive to reflect the diverse viewpoints of the employees, as it endeavours to foster a relationship with them. Briefly, this study, therefore, focused on identifying and reporting on those methods and techniques suited for the internal communication of safety information, specifically within the South African mining and construction industry, thereby expanding the field. / Thesis (M.A. (Communication Studies))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

Thesis (M.Soc.Sc. (Sociology)) - Rhodes University, 2007.

Thesis (Master).

Thesis (MPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2001. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Background: Scientists seem to have an 'international corporate culture' of mistrusting the media. Attitudes of South African scientists to the media and their experiences of reporting findings to the public and media have not been documented. The South African Medical Research Council (MRC) is a statutory research body with an excellent research record - but awareness of the MRC among the South African public is almost non-existent. The MRC needs to publicise and increase knowledge of its goals and research findings by promoting scientists' engagement with the public and other stakeholders. Objective: A postal survey was carried out among MRC scientists to obtain a 'baseline' indication of attitudes and experiences regarding communication to the public and media. Results would inform development and implementation of strategies to fast-track a turnaround in culture at the MRC towards promotion of science communication. Method: A questionnaire with prompted responses was sent to 253 MRC scientists. One hundred were returned (39.5%), representing an impressive assemblage of the MRC's research leaders. Findings: Although 48.9% of the scientists had each published over 30 articles in peerreviewed journals, 38.9% had never had these articles mentioned in the lay media. Yet the scientists regard 'the public' and 'policy makers' as the most important groups they should communicate with, and most think the public glean their knowledge of scientific research and its implications from the lay media. The scientists might not trust the media to provide accurate scientific information, but they feel that the general public do. The vast majority (92.8%) strongly agree or tend to agree that they have a duty to communicate their research and its implications to the public, and 70.8% would like to spend more time on this. However, the scientists also agree that the day-to-day requirements of their jobs leave them with too little time to communicate the implications of their research to others (47.5%) or even to get on with research (36.4%). Most of the scientists had never had contact with the media, or only every few years. When the source or subject ofa news story, 65.4% had been either 'very satisfied' or 'somewhat satisfied' with the coverage. Many of their comments reflected unrealistic expectations which can only be addressed by training in what the media are all about. Most (86.9%) had never had any training in dealing with the media, but 80.8% would be interested in such training. Conclusions: It is clear that the scientists generally want to communicate and see the potential benefits. For the MRC to become a communicating organisation it must spell out to its scientists the importance and value placed on their communication activities. Science communication and development of links with community and media should be seen as part and parcel of scientific research, and given due recognition and support. Policies must be agreed and communicated with the scientists about recognising, encouraging and rewarding such efforts. The MRC also needs a clear media strategy giving guidelines on specific situations, as well as on the Ingelfinger rule. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Agtergrond: Dit kom voor asofwetenskaplikes 'n 'internasionale gedragskode' het om die media te wantrou. Gesindhede van Suid-Afrikaanse wetenskaplikes teenoor die media en hulle ondervinding van die bekendmaking van hulle bevindinge aan die publiek en die media is nog nooit opgeteken nie. Die Suid-Afrikaanse Mediese Navorsingsraad (MNR) is 'n statutêre navorsingsliggaam met 'n uitstekende navorsingsgeskiedenis - maar die Suid-Afrikaanse publiek is haas onbewus van sy bestaan. Die MNR moet sy doelwitte en navorsingsbevindinge openbaar maak deur wetenskaplikes se kontak met die publiek en ander belangegroepe te bevorder. Doelwit: 'n Posopname is onder die MNR se wetenskaplikes gedoen om 'n 'basislyn' aanduiding van hulle gesindhede teenoor en ondervinding van kommunikasie met die publiek en media te verkry. Die resultate hiervan sal die ontwikkeling and implimentering van strategie om 'n vinnige handomkeer in gebruike by die MNR ten einde die bevordering van wetenskapskommunikasie te weeg te bring, stuur. Metode: 'n Vraelys met voorgestelde antwoorde is aan 253 MNR wetenskaplikes gestuur. Eenhonderd is teruggestuur (39.5%), wat 'n indrukwekkende groep van die MNR se navorsingsleiers verteenwoordig. Bevindinge: AlhoeweI48.9% van die wetenskaplikes elk al meer as 30 artikels in portuurevalueerde joernale publiseer het, het 38.9% nog nooit enige dekking in verband met hierdie artikels in die lekemedia ontvang nie. Desondanks beskou die wetenskaplikes' die publiek' en 'beleidmakers' as die mees belangrike groepe waarmee hulle moet kommunikeer. Die meeste dink ook die publiek verkry hul kennis van wetenskaplike navorsing en die gevolge daarvan vanuit die lekemedia. Die wetenskaplikes mag nie die media vertrou om akkurate wetenskaplike inligting weer te gee nie, maar hulle dink die algemene publiek vertrou wel die media. Die oorgrote meerderheid (92.8%) stem sterk saam of stem saam dat hulle 'n verpligting het om hulle navorsing en die implikasies daarvan met die publiek te deel, en 70.8% sou graag meer tyd hieraan wou afstaan. Die wetenskaplikes stem egter ook saam dat die dag tot-dag eise van hulle beroep te min tyd oorlaat om die implikasies van hulle navorsing aan ander te kommunikeer (47.5%) of om selfs hulle navorsing te doen (36.4%). Die meeste van die wetenskaplikes het nog nooit enige kontak met die media gehad nie, of dan wel slegs met tussenposes vanjare. Wanneer hulle die bron ofonderwerp van 'n nuusstorie was, was 65.4% óf 'baie tevrede' óf 'effens tevrede' met die dekking. Baie van hul kommentaar dui op onrealistiese verwagtinge wat slegs aangespreek kan word deur opleiding oor die 'hoe' en 'wat' van die media. Die meeste (86.9%) het nog nooit enige opleiding gehad om met die media te werk nie, maar 80.8% sou belangstel in sulke opleiding. Gevolgtrekkings: Dit is duidelik dat die wetenskaplikes oor die algemeen wil kommunikeer en ook die moontlike voordele daarvan insien. Om 'n kommunikerende organisasie te word, moet die MNR die belang en waarde wat geheg word aan wetenskaplikes se kommunikasieaktiwiteite, aan hulle uitspel. Wetenskaplike kommunikasie en die vorming van netwerke met die gemeenskap en die media moet gesien word as 'n deel van wetenskaplike navorsing en moet paslike erkenning en ondersteuning geniet. Beleid rakende die herkenning, aanmoediging en beloning van sulke pogings moet vasgestel en oorgedra word aan die wetenskaplikes. Die MNR het ook 'n duidelike mediastrategie nodig wat riglyne oor spesifieke situasies en die Ingelfinger reël gee.

The concepts of editorial independence and public accountability are necessary in public broadcasting service as they help make a distinction between a public service broadcaster, a government and a commercial service broadcaster. This is because public service broadcasters are tasked with the responsibility of serving the interests of the general public. To do this, the above mentioned concepts have to be in place. This study examines these issues (editorial independence and public accountability) with reference to a case study of the editorial policies of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). Using public broadcasting theory, policy theory and qualitative research methods, the study examines the genesis of these editorial policies in 2003/2004 and how they provide the SABC with a means of balancing the tensions of editorial independence and public accountability. In analysing the SABC’s editorial policies, the study deals only with those policies whose principles are directly related to editorial independence and public accountability. Although some of these policies are found to be in line with public broadcasting service trends, others are found lacking. Various recommendations are made. The case study demonstrates the importance of an integrated and elaborated policy perspective in setting out how a public service broadcaster can manage editorial independence and public accountability. It also highlights the importance of using international ‘role models’ in ways that are appropriately adapted for the specific country concerned.