M.Comm. / South African society is currently experiencing a period of rapid transformation. These sociopolitical changes taking place in the external environment is posing unique challenges to South African business. Salient to these challenges is how the politically powerful, but poor majority will be integrated into an environment that previously excluded them. It is commonly accepted that this integration and the eradication of the economic backlog can not only be achieved through formal education and training, but that it should be supported by programmes aimed at the accelerated development of blacks. As such, the primary role that South African business has to play in the transformation of society as a whole, is the effective integration of marginalised groups into position from which they were previously excluded. In order to ensure that this integration is managed effectively several factors need to be taken into account. Of these, white resistance against affirmative action and the negative attitudes held by them towards blacks in general, pose the greatest threat. The negative impact of the aforementioned on the affirmative action process is heightened when these traits are exhibited by the supervisors of black employees taking part in affirmative action programmes. In order to determine the effect these attitudes have on the job involvement and job satisfaction of black employees, factors inhibiting the occupational mobility of blacks and the role of the immediate supervisor in this process were analysed from literature. It was found that the supervisor plays a distinct role in the upward mobility of his/her subordinates and that this is especially the case where he/she has black subordinates. In chapter 3 the theory underlying job involvement and job satisfaction is discussed. From this discussion it is clear that the job involvement and job satisfaction of the individual influence his/her behaviour within the organisation to a large extent. It was further found that the immediate supervisor influences these variables to a large extent. In the empirical part of this dissertation a sample black employees, currently occupying positions previously reserved exclusively for whites, completed job involvement and job satisfaction questionnaires. Their supervisors completed a questionnaire that measured their attitude towards affirmative action. From the empirical study it was found that subordinates with supervisors who exhibit negative attitudes towards affirmative action do not necessarily have lower levels of job involvement and job satisfaction than those subordinates with supervisors who exhibit positive attitudes. This finding is not consistent with the theorising that supervisor attitudes towards affirmative action should influence the job involvement and job satisfaction of their black subordinates, and could be attributed to a number of factors, amongst others the nature of their jobs. From the study it became clear that urgent attention needs to be given to the determining of those factors that influence the job satisfaction and job involvement in Afro-centric populations. Almost all available research on these concepts focuses exclusively on Eurocentric populations and very little empirical data regarding the study of these concepts among Afro-centric populations exit.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:3305 |
| Date | 28 August 2012 |
| Creators | Kleynhans, Hermanus Johannes |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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