Background
There has been slow employment equity (EE) transformation in the South African mining industry, particularly within middle and executive management levels. The number of black Africans in management positions remains low and more needs to be done to bring about the desired levels of representation. If meaningful progress is to be made, it is imperative for the Government and mining companies to implement policies and strategies that aim to improve the representation of EE candidates within management levels. In the present study, management teams were chosen as the focus because they constitute the strategic leadership of the mining companies and are also the individuals that have the positional authority to design, initiate and manage transformation policies and strategies. It is argued that if management teams embrace and champion EE transformation, organisations are most likely to achieve EE targets. When the EE statistics of mines in the South African mining industry are compared with one another, it is apparent that certain mines have been more successful in bringing about equity transformation within their middle and executive management teams, than others. The reasons for their success, however, are not apparent and present an opportunity for mining companies to learn from those that have been able to achieve more desired levels of equity representation.
Aim of the study
The aim of the present research study was to investigate mines that have been successful in bringing about equity transformation within their middle- and executive management teams (success cases) to identify possible reasons that explain their success, while also investigating mines that have not been able to bring about meaningful transformation (non-success cases) to so understand what the barriers were that they experience.
Method
An exploratory research design and a qualitative approach to data collection, was utilised for the purposes of the present study. Purposive non-probability or judgement sampling was used to identify nine mining organisations and their EE statistics obtained from the Employment Equity Report (2015/2016). The nine mines were ranked according to equity representation at management levels, using a weighted average. The three success cases, in other words the three mines that had achieved the highest weighted average and three non-success cases (that achieved the lowest weighted averages) constituted a convenient sample of six mines. The human resources (HR) managers for each of these six mines were contacted and asked to participate in the research study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with each of the six human resources practitioners. The focus of the interviews with the HR managers from the success case mines was to identify reasons or factors that they believe explain why their mines were able to bring about greater levels of equity in their management teams. In the interviews with the three HR managers from the non-success mines, the focus was on identifying what they believed to be the barriers that are hampering them from achieving there EE targets.
Results
It was found that leadership played the single most important role in promoting and achieving successful EE transformation within management levels. Leaders provide strategic leadership and are able to align transformation to the strategic objectives of the organisation; design and successfully implement change management process; ensure compliance with labour laws; and put EE monitoring and evaluation systems in place. Within the success cases HR practices, including recruitment and selection, training and development, job rotation, mentoring and coaching, succession planning and talent management policies and practices were effectively implemented and managed. There was further strategic (vertical) alignment between HR practices and policies and the business strategy, as well as horizontal alignment between the HR functions. Although non-success cases had implemented some of the HR policies and practices stated above, the findings revealed that they were less effective and various obstacles that impeded the attainment of EE targets were present, including a lack of effective change management processes, poor recruitment practices, lack of qualified and experienced human resource practitioners, nepotism and favouritism, an ineffective EE committee, poor monitoring and evaluation of transformation, a lack of succession planning, no or small graduate programmes, lack of job rotation, poor facilities, weak retention and/or performance management, no leadership development programmes, and an organisational culture that does not support transformation.
Contribution
The findings of the present study hopefully provided new insights on the success factors that cause some mines to have success cases of EE representation within management levels, as well as identifying the barriers to effective implementation of EE reforms in non-success mines. Managers in non-success mines are expected to learn about ways to stimulate substantial change to achieve EE targets. Hopefully by effectively implementing the critical success factors these managers will yield better EE targets. It is imperative for managers and EE consultants to adopt suitable measures such as 1) adopting EE reforms as corporate strategy embrace by the entire organisation; 2) providing effective and committed leadership to champion the implementation of the EE strategy; 3) establishing an EE committee with a mandate to develop a clear EE plan, monitor and oversee the effective implementation of the plan; 4) intertwining the EE plan and employment policies and practices; and 5) providing tangible incentives aligned to the EE targets to ensure success of EE reforms.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uct/oai:localhost:11427/31603 |
| Date | 16 March 2020 |
| Creators | Kekana, Ludwick Tebatso |
| Contributors | Schlechter, Anton F |
| Publisher | Faculty of Commerce, School of Management Studies |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Master Thesis, Masters, MPhil |
| Format | application/pdf |
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