Browsing by Department "GSB: Faculty"
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- ItemOpen AccessAfrican workplace spirituality in South African mines(2009) Makgoba, Thabo Cecil; April, KurtThis research explores the role of spirituality in an African mining context with specific reference to spinal cord-injured mine workers. In this study, spinal cord-injured, black male South African workers were interviewed using a specifically constructed questionnaire. Their responses were analysed in conjunction with the perspectives of the mine managers, medical team members, indigenous healers, pastoral care workers and mine-managing directors (MDs) or owners. These perspectives were gathered by way of face-to-face interviews using specifically constructed questionnaires. However, some managing directors and medical specialists completed the questionnaire and sent it by post or fax. Many researchers have investigated the role of “workplace spirituality” with the aim of generating research data that would firmly entrench this construct as vital in the workplace. There are however, only a few that has investigated spirituality in the mining workplace. None has looked at the workplace spirituality of pastoral care workers. In this study, both are investigated, and a framework of workplace spirituality (WPS) is proposed, wherein the variables that may constitute workplace spirituality in this context are investigated. This framework (WPS) was used as a foundation to develop structured and semi-structured questionnaires, with which interviews were conducted with miners, mine managers, medical team members, indigenous healers, pastoral care workers and mine managing directors (MDs) or owners in various settings. In total, 224 miners were interviewed over a period of three years, and 45 pastoral care workers, 10 indigenous healers, 20 mine managers, 20 medical and allied professionals, and 12 mining CEOs/directors/owners were additionally interviewed. The variables that the researcher proposed to constitute the WPS framework were the following: * Spirituality at the workplace as connected with personal identity (CPI) * Spirituality at the workplace as connected with safety and well-being (WS) * Spirituality at the workplace as connected with physical well-being (CPW) * Spirituality at the workplace as connected with relationship to community- Ubuntu (CC) * Spirituality at the workplace as connected with God (religion) (CG) * Spirituality at the workplace as connected with meaning (locality and salience) (CM) Using the SPSS statistical package, and the qualitative analysis software tool Atlas ti, the research data was analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The quantitative results suggested that there is a positive relationship between the dependent variable, workplace spirituality, in relation to the following independent variables: workplace safety (weak but positive relationship, God (strong and positive relationship), salience (strong and positive relationship, community (strong and positive relationship), personal identity (moderate and positive relationship), meaning (weak and positive relationship), and physical well-being (strong and positive relationship). These results were further supported by the qualitative analysis.
- ItemOpen AccessAn analysis of how the online non-tariff barriers mechanism facilitates reporting, monitoring and elimination of NTBs in the COMESA, EAC and SADC Region(2015) Hove, Vonesai Shuvirai; Viljoen, WillemienMember countries of multilateral and regional organisations have progressively negotiated tariff preferences and achieved tariff reductions on substantial trade. However, a tendency of policy reversal has been witnessed due to non-tariff barriers (NTBs) being imposed to control trade and recoup losses arising from reduced duties. To address the proliferation of NTBs, multilateral and regional organisations are implementing various forms of NTB notification, reporting, monitoring and eliminating mechanisms. The broad objectives of this study is to evaluate the performance of the tripartite NTBs reporting, monitoring and eliminating mechanism against best practice and establish its effectiveness to remove NTBs in the tripartite region. The main aim is to identify challenges and gaps in the design of the mechanism that are critical to the effective management of NTBs. Existing literature on mechanisms to address NTBs was reviewed. The focus of which was the main elements of reporting, monitoring and resolution of NTBs through the online mechanism. Policies dealing with NTBs were identified. The short comings of the tripartite online NTB mechanism (NTB-RMM) particularly with regards to data inadequacies, poor categorisation which impact negatively on NTB monitoring and policy improvements in the tripartite countries were also identified from literature. The online mechanism, hosted on the website www.tradebarriers.org was the primary source of the information and data utilised for analysis in this study. Supplementary information was obtained from the actual responses from a target group using questionnaires and interviews. Data analysis was done by aggregating and assessing results from the data extracted from the mechanism, responses from questionnaire, available literature, findings from the desk research and oral and telephonic interviews. Evidence from literature indicated that there are basically two types of NTB mechanisms implemented at multilateral, regional and national levels. These are web and non-web based notification and reporting mechanisms. The mechanisms designed by the WTO, EU and OECD are notification mechanisms whereas the mechanisms implemented by other organisations like ECOWAS, COMESA, EAC and SADC are reporting mechanisms.
- ItemOpen AccessAn analysis of South Africa exports to the United States under the African Growth Opportunity Act(2015) Chinembiri, Evans Wally Kudzai; Hartzenberg, TrudiThe African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is a unilateral trade policy concession governing United States - Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) trade and investment relations. AGOA provides United States market access for 40 SSA countries, including South Africa. This piece of legislation has the fundamental objective of facilitating the global integration of SSA countries into the world economy by extending preferential access to the United States market for exporters from eligible countries. Over the past decade, AGOA has emerged as a topical issue as scholars and policy makers sought to understand its impact on SSA, especially South Africa. This has been awarded more impetus given its pending expiration in 2015. This, naturally, raised questions about the performance of United States preference programs (such as AGOA) as part of a larger ongoing debate on the form that United States preference programs may take in the foreseeable future. With South Africa facing a serious opposition to inclusion in the next shape of AGOA given the number of trade agreements South Africa has signed with countries that are competitors to United States in certain product categories. This study will seek to highlight the importance of the AGOA dispensation to South Africa, and through that analysis make a case for the continued inclusion of South Africa in the future trade dispensations that may develop. This study focuses on two research objectives; firstly, the study seeks to assess the extent to which increased preferential access to the United States market has translated into a real and tangible increase in exports from South Africa to the United States. Secondly, the study seeks to identify the areas where South Africa and the United States have high trade potential, and help make a case for inclusion of these high potential trade products in the next iteration of the AGOA dispensation. In achieving the first research objective, the study carried out a detailed trade statistics analysis with the hope of gaining greater understanding of the extent to which AGOA has influenced trade patterns between the United States and South Africa. South Africa's trade figures show that the United States is an important trade partner. A key conclusion that can be drawn from the analysis is the observation that a fair amount of growth in South Africa's exports to the United States is fundamentally characterized by two key aspects namely; growth in specific commodities and an export base that is becoming gradually concentrated over time. This implies that trade between South Africa and the United States is shifting towards a new focus in line with AGOA incentives and by extension one may conclude that South African firms are utilizing the market opportunities and the networks that enable them to effectively exploit the United States market. In fulfilling the second research objective, the detailed trade potential analysis that is propped up by a robust analysis of trade trends was carried out. The trade potential analysis identified thirteen commodity groups as having high potential for further exports into the United States market, and Pearls, precious stones and metals were identified as having the highest indicative trade potential, although the picture changes as the data is further disaggregated. This suggests that there is enormous potential and a great scope for export of pearls, precious stones and metals to the United States.
- ItemOpen AccessAn analysis of the level of liberalisation in South Africa's transport sector(2015) Daya, Bharti; Cronje, J BThe transport sector is critical to the performance of various sectors of the economy both trade in goods and services hinges on an efficient and reliable transport services sector. South Africa has undertaken limited commitments under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in the transport sector. South Africa's transport sector in general is controlled by the government through state owned firms. The transport sector is competitive relative to Africa, however, relative to developed economies, the transport sector lags behind in terms of efficiency and cost (DBSA, 2012). Inefficiencies result in increased transaction costs and impede the overall competitiveness and economic performance of the country. The transport sector and other services sectors in general are mainly governed by domestic legislation. Barriers to trade in services may be located in laws and regulations of individual economies often referred to as behind the border measures such as license, technical, educational, registration and local ownership requirements and as such are more difficult to address than barriers to goods. (Hartzenberg, 2012). To identify these measures it is important to undertake an assessment of the legislation governing sector. This study analyses both vertical and horizontal legislation governing the sector. This study aims to assess the level of liberalisation of South Africa's transport sector to gauge the presence of trade restrictive measures in the sector that would limit access, establishment and or operation by foreign service suppliers. This is done through an analysis of domestic legislation governing the transport sector and its related sub - sectors. This effectively entails a comparison between actual commitments as reflected in South Africa's GATS schedule of specific commitments and applied policy as reflected in legislation. Data from such a study provides valuable technical information to trade negotiators regarding the policy space available allowing them to develop and formulate informed negotiating positions. The methodology employed in this study is adapted from the World Bank's Regulatory Assessment of Services, Trade and Investment (RASTI) and has been adapted for purposes of this study. A country, prior to engaging in a services negotiation should conduct an assessment of the level of liberalisation of each service sector to gauge its competitive strengths and weaknesses. Such an assessment entails an assessment of the country's regulation to determine if such regulation is overly burdensome to the extent that it inhibits competition and trade in services in an economy. Once such an assessment is concluded, a large number of countries have found that domestic regulatory reforms are necessary for effective participation in services negotiations. (Molinuevo & Sáez, 2014). The importance for such assessments often referred to as audits, have been confirmed as the most effective way of ensuring that regulations are not restrictive of trade. (Molinuevo & Sáez, 2014). Moreover, periodic regulatory audits serve the purpose of identifying discriminatory measures and minimising discriminatory effects that have the effect of increasing costs and discriminating against foreign service suppliers. A comparison of the liberalisation of South Africa's transport sector in terms of the actual commitments (as reflected in the GATS services schedule) against the applied domestic regulation is an important exercise in view of the discussions at the WTO level about the liberalisation of services and at a regional level in view of South Africa's regional and continental aspirations to promote regional integration. The transport sector has been identified as a priority sector in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) invol ving, COMESA, E AC and SADC. In the TFTA negotiations, even though the first phase focused on trade in goods, the second phase will address trade in services, including transport services. Negotiations in SADC based on the Protocol on Trade in Services are ongoing and wil l include transport services. A study of this nature is important for undertaking and formulating negotiating positions for trade in services and may be replicated across various service sectors.
- ItemOpen AccessApplication of lean management in the provisioning of textbooks to Eastern Cape public schools(2008) Simayi, Siyabonga; Koelble, ThomasThis study is conceived to assess the apparently simple but very critical process of supplying textbooks in the Eastern Cape (EC) public schools. Lean Thinking and Value Stream Mapping (VSM) philosophies, a derivative of the Toyota Production System (TPS), was applied to evaluate the effectiveness of the current process and propose improvements as measured by reduced time and more effective support for learners. Further, usefulness of policies employed from 1998, such as South African Schools Act (SASA), National Standards and Funding Norms (NSFM) and LSM Review Report in ECDoE (2003), that relate to provisioning of textbooks were also assessed. Thirdly, the effect of the current provisioning process at school level was also investigated.
- ItemOpen AccessAn application of personal construct theory to a study of retail sales person effectiveness(1996) Vigar, Deborah Ann; Birt, MartinThe term effectiveness is used extensively to describe organisations, groups and individuals. The fact that some organisations, groups and individuals are measurably more effective than others is a basic assumption of economic, organisation and behavioural theory. However, despite this frequent use, there is very little agreement amongst the users, both academic and business, as to what exactly 'effectiveness' means. The dictionary definition of 'effective' is 'capable of producing the desired result', however, the definition used in practice appears to depend on the mindset or reference point of the researcher. Most researchers reference point is management and therefore the definition of effectiveness is management's. It is possible that the definitions held by the job holders themselves, and by customers with whom they deal, are different from that of management. There is even less agreement on how effectiveness of an organisation or individual should be measured, i.e. what criteria should be used to measure effectiveness. More specific to the current study is sales person effectiveness research. There has been a large amount of research on effectiveness of sales people but it has tended to focus on industrial salespeople rather than retail salespeople. The research that has focused on retail sales people has suffered from several problems. The first relates to the problems with research involving effectiveness generally. The researchers rarely explain what they mean by effectiveness or what criteria they use to measure effectiveness. Much of this research also suffers methodologically, from the epistemological problem of being either too subjective or too objective. This is a problem that has plagued research in the social sciences throughout the subject's history. The methodologies used to research behaviour have been problematic in that they either adopt the methodologies of the natural sciences.in an attempt to quantify the phenomenon under study, or they use assumptions and methodologies that are subjective and prone to researcher or experimental bias. George Kelly's Personal Construct Theory claims to bridge this epistemological divide. The methodology allows for the indepth study of individuals but without bias from the researcher. By using the Repertory Grid technique developed by Kelly for the measurement of personal constructs, the results can be quantified, thus also satisfying the objectivist requirements. It is for this reason that Personal Construct Theory and the Repertory Grid technique are used in the current research. This research aims to discover whether the groups involved in the retail arena (i.e. top managers, branch manageresses, sales people and customers) have similar views of what constitutes sales person effectiveness.
- ItemOpen AccessAssessing the consistency of the implementation of the Namibian Horticultural Market Share Promotion Scheme under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994(2015) Uusiku, Frans N; Viljoen, WillemienThe application of Non-Tariff Measures (NTMs) and specifically non-automatic import licensing schemes has been a source of intense debate to date, despite prohibitive provisions enshrined in multilateral trade agreements. The main aim of this case study research was to assess the consistency of the implementation of the Namibian Horticultural Market Share Promotion Scheme (MSPS) under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994 and the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The second segment of this study looked at identifying problems associated with the implementation of the scheme, and proposed policy recommendations that are responsive to competitive challenges facing industries in the 21st century. The study used a triangulation research methodology and a rating scale was used to conduct the assessment with respect to all the applicable provisions covered in the WTO Agreement on Import Licensing Procedures. A reliability test was conducted using the SPSS statistical software in order to measure the credibility of the data (scores). In this regard, the Cronbach's alpha coefficient was very instrumental in measuring the degree of data consistency. Moreover, the relative frequency distribution was used to analyse the quantitative data, while an Interrelationship Diagram was used to analyse qualitative data.
- ItemOpen AccessAn assessment of capital budget planning and municipal borrowing as funding source in Overstrand Municipality in the Western Cape(2015) Alexander, Donovan Patrick; Biekpe, Nicholas; Alagidede, PaulThe major challenges confronting municipalities in South Africa are poor governance, lack of effective performance, backlogs in service delivery, over- and in most cases under-spending on capital infrastructure, and poor audit outcomes. It is therefore very important for municipalities to deliver on the constitutional mandate as enshrined in the South African Constitution in terms of Section 153. Municipalities need to structure and manage the organisation's budgeting, administration and planning processes effectively in terms of their strategic five-year Integrated Development Plan (IDP). The research problem of this study encompasses the assessment of the capital budget planning processes and expenditure patterns in relation to capital infrastructure to determine whether the planning processes followed are in alignment with the IDP and the relevant legislation. The core objective of the research was to investigate the extent to which the Overstrand Municipality funded their capital budget with external borrowing in terms of the budget planning process in relation to capital infrastructure spending over a three year period in compliance with the relevant legislation.
- ItemOpen AccessBayesian participatory-based decision analysis : an evolutionary, adaptive formalism for integrated analysis of complex challenges to social-ecological system sustainability(2010) Peter, Camaren; April, Kurt; Potgieter, AnetThis dissertation responds to the need for integration between researchers and decision-makers who are dealing with complex social-ecological system sustainability and decision-making challenges. To this end, we propose a new approach, called Bayesian Participatory-based Decision Analysis (BPDA), which makes use of graphical causal maps and Bayesian networks to facilitate integration at the appropriate scales and levels of descriptions. The BPDA approach is not a predictive approach, but rather, caters for a wide range of future scenarios in anticipation of the need to adapt to unforeseeable changes as they occur. We argue that the graphical causal models and Bayesian networks constitute an evolutionary, adaptive formalism for integrating research and decision-making for sustainable development. The approach was implemented in a number of different interdisciplinary case studies that were concerned with social-ecological system scale challenges and problems, culminating in a study where the approach was implemented with decision-makers in Government. This dissertation introduces the BPDA approach, and shows how the approach helps identify critical cross-scale and cross-sector linkages and sensitivities, and addresses critical requirements for understanding system resilience and adaptive capacity.
- ItemOpen AccessBlending industry varietals : developmental considerations for the South African wine tourism industry(2010) Scott, David; Ryan, TomThere is consensus that wine tourism summarily offers a strong competitive advantage for wine regions, and can generate profitable business for wineries, other wine-related products and for visitor services. And in the four decades since the first manifestation of South African wine tourism was established in the Stellenbosch wine route, there has been general agreement that South African wine tourism has grown significantly in both local and international reputation and recognition. As a result of the widely identified potential of wine tourism, the South African industry has presented a continuing expectation of sustained industrial growth and tangible developmental manifestations and contributions. However, the industry successes since democracy have more recently been shadowed by an increasingly evident developmental frustration and dissatisfaction on the part of stakeholders, academics and observers.There has been considerable discussion and argument over the growing evidence of non-existent or insufficiently developed industry associative networks, the wide spread and overbearing prevalence of a production mind set and the mounting agreement that there are tremendous amounts of further research and investment still required if South African wine tourism is to realize the true value of its assets. This study identifies and clarifies this prevalent practical problem and research concern of slow and disparate development in the South African wine tourism industry in cognizance of the increasingly evident dissatisfaction and unrealized expectation of South African wine tourism industry stakeholders.
- ItemOpen AccessBroad-based Black Economic Empowerment : a human capital development approach(2007) Mbabane, Loyiso Mzisi; Horwitz, FrankThis study develops a theoretical framework for Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment, using a Human Capital Development approach. This framework is then employed to evaluate the Codes of Good Practice on Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) (Department of Trade and Industry, 2005; 2007). A 'mixed methods research approach' is utilized, in some kind of triangulation. Three research methods are used starting with focus groups; then content analysis and finally descriptive analysis. Phase one utilizes focus groups to construct the key elements of the Draft BBBEE Scorecard for Employment Equity; Skills Development and Organisational Transformation (2005). In phase two, content analysis (documentation analysis) is applied to compare and contrast the draft BBBEE Scorecard of 2005 with the final BBBEE Scorecard of 2007, using the human capital development framework for the propositions. The third phase is designed to test proposition three, which enquires into the actual implementation of BBBEE by employers. This phase utilizes secondary data from various official reports of the Commission for Employment Equity (2000-2007) to measure the nature and extent of progress on Employment Equity; Skills Development and Management Control by employers, in relation to the BBBEE policy and its targets. The BBBEE Scorecards for Employment Equity and Skills Development are found to be generally in line with human capital development principles. The Organisational Transformation Index that was in the 2005 Draft BBBEE Scorecard is found to be a useful mechanism for moving away from a transaction-based approach to BBBEE toward a transformation-based approach. To this effect, the absence of the Organisational Transformation Index in the final Codes and Scorecards of 2007 is lamented. A recommendation is made for more emphasis to be placed on the transformation of companies/ organisations. The leadership role of Chief Executive Officers and their top management in the BBBEE process is propagated. At the leadership level, the Transformational Leadership approach is posited as the one that holds a better chance of driving BBBEE successfully. Quo Vadis; the study recommends two different theoretical frameworks; a Human Capital Development framework for BBBEE at the macro-level (national policy and strategy) and the Transformational Leadership-Organisational Transformation one at the micro-level. BBBEE, it is held; ought to be integrated into the country's new National Industrial Policy Framework. Conversely, the BBBEE targets and goals should also be aligned to the country's long-term socio-economic growth strategies.
- ItemOpen AccessBusiness modelling for inclusive financial services: How to enhance access to financial services for marginalised youth(2015) Musarurwa, Hillary Jephat; Mlambo, ChipoThe aim of this research was to develop a business model that will enhance the access to financial services by marginalised youth. In order to develop such a relevant business model it was necessary to understand the needs and challenges being faced by targeted clients in using and accessing formal financial services. Accessing such services will help them build assets in the long term, smooth cashflow and make savings as they transition from childhood to adulthood. Currently there are a number of barriers compounding financial exclusion and thus increasing the inequality gap. The study applied design thinking and systems thinking tools to undertake business model innovation and come out with a plausible alternative financial services model for youth and immigrants in Zimbabwe and South Africa respectively. Qualitative and quantitative research methods were applied to unpack the financial services needs of youth and how they are currently accessing service. An ethnographic approach as well as snowballing were applied in order to get to the respondents. Covert observations were done at a construction site in a bid to collect the immigrants' silent narrative of how they got to South Africa and are surviving from day to day. The research discovered that Zimbabwean youth residing in Zimbabwe and those who have migrated to South Africa are financially excluded yet they need financial services. It also discovered that there are business models being applied globally and in South Africa that are aimed at closing the financial exclusion gap. The study concluded that it is possible to have a business model that aims at serving youth, more so immigrants in South Africa, and provide them with low cost products that have a social impact on their livelihoods
- ItemOpen AccessA case study of the Customs Administrative Penalty Provision as contained in the Customs & Excise Act, No.91 of 1964 of South Africa, and a comparison of the South African regime with selected foreign customs penalty regime(2015) Levendal, Josua; Erasmus, GerhardThe world of international trade has evolved over the centuries and, with this process of evolution, unique challenges have emerged over time. International trade, in essence, involves the movement of goods and services across borders; it is conducted mainly by private firms rather than governments. The suggested role of government is to create an environment that allows for efficient international trade. Such an environment is manifested in the provision of an adequate physical infrastructure and a transparent regulatory environment. Today, an organisation such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), whose members direct the vast bulk of international trade, plays an active role in advancing the agenda of a rules-based international trade regime. This same organization also provides, on an ongoing basis, initiatives directed to improving the facilitation of trade internationally. Examples of trade facilitation initiatives are the recent Bali-Agreement (The Trade Facilitation Agreement, 2013), signed by WTO members in 2013 in Bali, and the Revised Kyoto Convention of the World Customs Organization (WCO) which has, as its objective, the elimination of barriers to efficient international trade. This dissertation focuses on customs penalty regime as utilised by South Africa. The South African regime is compared with certain foreign and international customs penalty regimes (in this case, Canada, the United States of America and the European Union). The study further explores the appeal system available to transgressors of these regimes. The penalty - and appeal regimes is further analysed against recommendations and prescripts in international agreements to which these countries are parties, specifically the WTO Bali Agreement and the WCO Revised Kyoto Convention. A practical and transparent customs penalty regime will obviously support the agenda to improve trade facilitation, a situation that is desired by traders throughout the globe.
- ItemOpen AccessA case study on customs trade facilitation at Zambia's Kasumbalesa border post(2015) Mfune, Moses Lameck; Erasmus, GerhardThe expansion of global trade, especially trade in intermediate products, compels goods to cross borders multiple times before assembly. This phenomena requires better trade facilitation mechanisms in conveyancing goods and people across borders. The World Customs Organization, among many other organizations, has been in the fore-front of promoting these trade facilitation techniques. This qualitative case study has an objective of analyzing the current trade facilitation techniques used at Kasumbalesa. It also aims at pointing out any outdated customs procedures. During the study, data was collected using questionnaires and oral interviews. Secondary data was also collected from publications of the World Customs Organization, World Bank and the World Trade Organization, among other sources. In addition, observational methods were also used to collect data. The case study focuses on Kasumbalesa as a representative entry/exit point in Zambia. Consequently, identification of challenges faced by goods and people crossing Kasumbalesa can help streamline operations at other Zambian borders.
- ItemOpen AccessCompassion in organizations: sensemaking and embodied experience in emergent relational capability. A phenomenological study in South African human service organizations(2015) Train, Katherine Judith; April, KurtCompassion in organizations is researched as a three-stage process of collective noticing another's pain, empathic concern or feeling another's pain and taking action to ease their suffering, and is ascribed to the orchestration of spontaneous individual acts of compassion in accordance with specific organizational architecture. Situations with limited resources leading to resource exhaustion require further studies to address the risks and liabilities of compassion organizing (Dutton, Worline, Frost, & Lilius, 2006). South African human service organizations face resource limitations within a challenged socio-economic environment. Given these limitations, agents may experience personal distress limiting the capacity for compassion. This study examines agent capacities required for compassion capability in South African human service organizations. The research applies the ontological lens of enaction, an interpretive design, and the descriptive phenomenological method in psychology (Giorgi, 2009), adapted for human science in organizations. Data was collected, with semi-structured interviews, as concrete descriptions of experiences, from thirty-three participants, from five organizations. Eleven participants underwent multiple interviews. Intensity sampling was applied to gain understanding of information-rich cases that were intense but not extreme, maximum variation sampling to access primary themes across a range of service providers. Texts, as transcriptions of audio recordings, were analyzed applying the phenomenological reduction to search for invariant organizational behavioural meanings. Texts were read for a sense of the whole; broken down to meaning units; and transformed to phenomenological expressions of meaning. Descriptions of experiences were categorized according to empathic concern or personal distress, like experiences were grouped by organization as units of description. Units of description were compared between the organizations. The key findings were that compassion in organizations characterized by resource limitation requires special attention, particularly when agent and client share common experiences of adversity, initiating experiences of personal distress. The overcoming of personal distress requires agent capacities of individual and participatory sensemaking: identifying reaction, identifying non-verbal cues in self and other; engaging capacities of emoting, intending and urging. Sustainable practice of compassion is characterized by the intention to facilitate new sensemaking of the experience of the suffering, witnessing the suffering as well as the alleviation of suffering.
- ItemOpen AccessDecentralisation in South African local government : a critical evaluation(2011) Siddle, Andrew McCalman; Koelble, ThomasThe South African local government model is considered to be decentralised in character, incorporating various constitutional, policy and statutory instruments to enable local government to achieve its constitutionally mandated developmental objectives. Yet local government is widely viewed as being in a state of crisis. Many municipalities are seen as dysfunctional and incapable of performing their duties. The hypothesis underlying this study is that the effective application of the principles of decentralisation, to the extent that they have been incorporated in the constitutional, policy and regulatory framework of local government in South Africa, is endangered by a lack of commitment to the concept of decentralisation by central government and by the failure by municipalities to implement at local level those rules, systems, mechanisms, powers and functions which are intended to reflect the principles of decentralisation; and that the achievement of the constitutional objectives of local government is thereby in turn endangered.
- ItemOpen AccessThe decline of piston manufacturers in the Southern African Customs Union(2015) Tshabalala, Sipho Aubrey; Hartzenberg, TrudiDuring the period of the years 1952 to 2009, there have been only two automotive piston manufacturers in the Southern African Customs Union (SACU). SACU is comprised of the following five member states; South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland. Owing to the SACU agreement, these countries have enjoyed fairly good trade flows in goods and services amongst each other. The role of the abovementioned piston manufacturers was the provision of piston components to engine assembling companies in the SACU region as well as for sale to the aftermarket.
- ItemOpen AccessDeveloping a South African services agenda : case study of the mining services sector(2015) Mtshali, Sithembile NokwaziThe services sector accounts for approximately 70% of South Africa's gross domestic product (GDP) and has emerged as one of South Africa's key exports with regional and global destinations. The sector is also a key provider of employment registering just above 8.5 million jobs in March 2014, according to Statistics South Africa. It is for this reason that the sector has been earmarked to give the required impetus to realise the export driven growth, which underpins the current government strategy for economic development and growth. Using the mining services sector, as a case study, this study highlights the importance of services, as an important input to operating costs in the production and manufacturing sectors. It further highlights the importance of services in determining the competitiveness of the manufacturing and production sectors, through effective sourcing and more importantly availability. This is done in the context of the growing African market, especially the mining sector and the opportunities presented by new mineral discoveries in Africa. This study is presented to support the development of a strategic and comprehensive trade strategy for services. Tracking the development of South Africa's trade policy, the rationale for the different positions that have been taken by government are presented to illustrate how government has used trade policy as a tool to advance its objectives at varying stages of South Africa's economic development. The study thereafter undertakes an analysis of the current trade policy to better understand how government view the role that is to be played by trade policy in supporting economic development. This analysis identifies gaps within the current trade policy in terms of the role that trade policy ought to play.
- ItemOpen AccessDeveloping a systemic disaster prevention paradigm(2010) Maree, HeinThis research project's objective was the development of a systemic disaster prevention paradigm. Disasters can generally be classified as either natural or man-made, although hybrid disasters also do occur. The research effort focussed on man-made disasters and numerous past disasters in all spheres of life were investigated. Man-made disasters are complex, systemic phenomena that can only be understood by adopting a holistic and systemic view. This high stakes world constituted the situation to be dealt with in there search project. The research work started off with a fixation on disasters in the mining industry. It was however soon realised that in all man-made disasters there are factors and dynamics in force that are industry and context insensitive.
- ItemOpen AccessDoes Pairs trading work on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange?(2015) Appelbaum, MatthewIn this study it was examined whether Pairs trading is a potentially profitable trading strategy on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Pairs trading is a quantitative based trading strategy, in which shares are paired up based on a historic price relationship and traded accordingly, in a contrarian manner, when they diverge from said historical relationship. The essence of Pairs trading is to take advantage of perceived market inefficiencies, which is a direct contradiction of the Efficient Markets Hypothesis (even in its weak form). This study tested Pairs trading on both an unrestricted (any two shares can be paired), as well as a sector-restricted (only pairs within the RESI and the FINDI sectors could be paired), sample of shares (the JSE Top80 - based on market capitalization). Furthermore, a number of different signals (which are based on standard deviations) to open and close pairs were tested, on both the unrestricted and sector-restricted samples. The aim of using different samples of shares, as well as different trading signals, was to determine whether or not different strategies could serve to bolster the performance of a Pairs trading strategy.
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