scholarly journals Strategic positioning of EAP in South African workplaces

2003 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
M. G. Matlhape
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Business Strategy ◽  
Employee Satisfaction ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
Chain Model ◽  
Employee Assistance ◽  
Strategic Positioning ◽  
And Performance ◽  
A Company

Two phenomena are having a profound effect on management and industry in the 21st century. The first one is the increasing rate and depth of competition locally, regionally, and globally, and the consequent increase in focus on achieving competitiveness by companies. The second phenomenon is the increasing appreciation of the importance of employees in assisting the company to gain a competitive advantage over its competitors. Employee Assistance Programmes have been used as part of the business strategy to enhance employee functioning, loyalty, and performance in organisations around the world for a good part of the 20th century. In South Africa this service did not gain much momentum until the 1980. Despite the growth of EAP in South Africa, however, in most cases it still remains on the periphery of real business activities and is often regarded as a "nice to have" rather than as a business imperative. The location of EAP within a company is very important in determining its impact within the organisation. Because of EAPs capacity to impact on both individual employees and the organisation as its primary client, it has potential to make a great impact in organisations' business processes, where these interface with individual output and wellbeing. A service-profit-chain model was introduced as a link between employee satisfaction and company profitability. This article gives an in-depth focus on EAP and the important role it can play in achieving employee satisfaction.

scholarly journals Corporate social investment and a company’s image: A case of a CSI initiative in a South African low income community

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 130-135
Author(s):  
Paul-Francois Muzindutsi ◽  
Tshediso Joseph Sekhampu
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
A Company ◽  
Corporate Social Investment

One of the goals of corporate social investment (CSI) is to ensure that a company becomes a responsible entity which acts as a conscientious citizen within a society. CSI plays an important role in enhancing how a company is perceived within the community it operates in. This paper used a combination of qualitative and quantitative research designs to investigate the effect of a specific CSI initiative on a company’s image within a low income community in South Africa. Semi-structured interviews and survey questionnaire were used to collect data from community members in the township of Bophelong, South Africa. Results show that, if adequately managed, CSI initiatives tend to enhance company’s image as well as its relations with the community it operates in. However, if not adequately managed CSI can created unreachable expectations that can negatively affect a company’s image. Thus, companies better manage their CSI initiatives have an increased opportunity to enhance their reputation within the community they operate in.

Start-up Awareness and Access toFinance: The Case of South African SMEs

2019 ◽  
Vol 118 (10) ◽  
pp. 391-400
Author(s):  
N H Bamata ◽  
K K Govender
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Business Strategy ◽  
Study Finding ◽  
Capital City ◽  
Access To Finance ◽  
External Finance ◽  
Main Challenge ◽  
Start Up ◽  
Start Ups

Start-up entrepreneurs in South Africa do not move from the stage of existence and survival to growth to maturity/ In order for Start-up businesses to have a competitive advantage, they have to grow beyond the survival stage and keep on growing. Despite the availability of external finance, access to finance from banks has been identified as the main challenge to the establishment and growth of SME Start-ups in South Africa. The aim of this study is toinvestigate the determinants of start-up awareness to improve access to finance from banks by Start-up entrepreneurs in Pietermaritzburg, the capital city of KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa. Data was collected through self-administrated questionnaires from a random sample of 253 respondents being members of the Chamber of Commerce in the capital city of one of the largest provinces in South Africa.The results from inferential statistical analysis revealed that start-up awareness factors such as conducting a feasibility study, finding a good location, knowing the amount of seed capital needed, developing a business strategy, a business plan, and business model as well as the source of seed capital, are significant determinants of access to bank financing by start-up entrepreneurs.Thus, entrepreneurs should understand the determinants of Start-up awareness in order to improve their ability to access bank finance.

scholarly journals Multiple-concept management: The challenge to retail conglomerates

1985 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-17
Author(s):  
M. Leibold ◽  
C. J. Van Tonder
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Corporate Culture ◽  
Business Strategy ◽  
Corporate Strategy ◽  
Technical Skills ◽  
Management Styles ◽  
New Approaches ◽  
Organization And Management ◽  
Increasing Trend

The increasing trend towards formation of conglomerates (multiple-concept organizations) in South African retailing has brought about major managerial challenges. These challenges lie in the realm of corporate and business strategy, organization, and management expertise. This article briefly analyses the nature of retail conglomerates in South Africa, illustrates the emerging problems which confront them, and then offers suggestions for new approaches to assist management. The need for new conceptual and technical skills is emphasized, especially in the realms of corporate strategy orientation, implementation of portfolio frameworks, organizational flexibility, a negotiative corporate culture, differentiated management styles, and research.

Eventifying Identity: Festivals in South Africa and the Search for Cultural Identity

2006 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Temple Hauptfleisch
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Life Patterns ◽  
Present Argument ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Many ◽  
The University

Festivals have become a prominent feature of theatre in South Africa today. More than forty such annual events not only provide employment, but constitute a socio-cultural polysystem that serves to ‘eventify’ the output of theatre practitioners and turn everyday life patterns into a significant cultural occasion. Important for the present argument is the role of the festivals as events that foreground relevant social issues. This is well illustrated by the many linked Afrikaans-language festivals which arose after 1994, and which have become a major factor not only in creating, displaying, and eventifying Afrikaans writing and performance, but also in communicating a particular vision of the Afrikaans-speaking and ‘Afrikaner’ cultural context. Using the Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees in Oudtshoorn as a case study, in this article Temple Hauptfleisch discusses the nature, content, and impact of this particular festival as a theatrical event, and goes on to explore the polysystemic nature of the festival phenomenon in general. Temple Hauptfleisch is a former head of the Centre for South African Theatre Research (CESAT) and Chair of the University of Stellenbosch Drama Department. He is currently the director of the Centre for Theatre and Performance Studies at Stellenbosch and editor of the South African Theatre Journal. His recent publications include Theatre and Society in South Africa: Reflections in a Fractured Mirror (1997), a chapter in Theatrical Events: Borders, Dynamics, Frames (2003), and one on South African theatre in Kreatives Afrika: Schriftstellerlnnen über Literatur, Theater und Gesellschaft (2005).

scholarly journals Effectiveness of the cricket transformation process in increasing representation and performance of black cricketers at provincial level in South Africa

2009 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
MS Taliep
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Transformation Process ◽  
The South ◽  
Black Africans ◽  
Black African ◽  
Provincial Level ◽  
Batting Performance ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Better Than

Objectives. This study investigates the effectiveness of the crickettransformation process in firstly increasing representation of black players and secondly improving performance of black players in the South African 4-day provincial competition between the 1996/1997 and 2007/2008 cricket seasons.Methods. Cricketers were categorised as white, black African or coloured/Indian. Whenever the category ‘black’ is mentioned alone, it refers to black African and coloured/Indian. All data were obtained from www.cricinfo.com.Results. The number of white players decreased and the numberof black African and coloured/Indian players increased between the 1996/1997 and 2007/2008 seasons. White batsmen had significantlyhigher batting averages than black Africans, but were only better than coloureds/Indians in the 2001/2002 season. Coloureds/Indians had better batting averages than black Africans in all seasons except 2001/2002 and 2004/2005. There was a significant improvement in the batting averages of coloureds/Indians but not of whites and black Africans over the 12 seasons. White bowlers had significantly better bowling averages thancoloured/Indian bowlers for seasons 2002/2003, 2004/2005 and 2006/2007. There were no significant differences in the bowlingaverages between white and black African players and between coloured/Indian and black African players over the 12 seasons.There was a tendency towards a decreased bowling performancefor coloureds/Indians, whereas there was no significant decrementin the bowling performance for whites and black Africans over the 12 seasons.Conclusion. The increase in the number of black cricketers performingaccording to standard suggests a reasonable successful transformation process. However, representation and batting performance of black African batsmen remain a concern.

scholarly journals System of Data Transfer from and to Social and Economic Processes via Creative Economy Networks Created Based on Cultural Heritage Administration Processes and Vice Versa

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jozef Stašák ◽  
Jaroslav Mazůrek
Keyword(s):  
Business Strategy ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
Data Transfer ◽  
External Environment ◽  
The Other ◽  
Creative Economy ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Economic Process ◽  
And Performance

In general, a functionality and performance of any social or economic process is conditioned by an appropriate information support, while several parts of social and economic process might be involved into macroprocess structure and functionality and quantified via two independent linguistic sets. On one hand, the first linguistic set contains elements, which provide transfer of signals coming from external environment to macroprocesses and are denoted as sensors. On the other hand, the second linguistic set contains elements, which provide transfer of signals from macroprocesses to external environment denoted as effectors. However, a content of the above-mentioned linguistic sets is being transferred microeconomy and creative economy business processes (CE Processes) as well, while appropriate business strategy KPI indicators and parameters for setting of adequate business process metrics items, which could enable fulfillment of business strategy goals and aims, are being generated However, the data transfer from creative economy to macroeconomic process (MAC Processes) is important as well, while the microeconomy business processes (MIC Processes) play a role of go-between elements for both directions of transfer too. On the other hand, the chapter deals with the DTS System structure, functionality description as well as conceptual, design and implementation model too, where appropriate networks play a role of principle importance.

scholarly journals Preaching and performance: Theo-dramatic paradoxes in a South African sermon

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian A Nell
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Specific Time ◽  
Specific Approach ◽  
History Of ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Way ◽  
Attention Shifts

Preaching and performance is a relatively recent development in homiletical discourses and preaching practices. There is much promise in approaching preaching in this creative way. Attention will be paid to different promises related to this homiletical approach. In a next round of reflection the attention shifts to the way in which a specific approach to performance, also known as theo-drama, can not only enhance the preaching act, but also helps to understand the paradoxical role of the preacher, the audience and even God in the preaching event. This will be illustrated by looking at one of the sermons of John de Gruchy, which he preached in a very specific time in the history of South Africa. Attention will also be given to the way in which he performed a prophetic and therefore paradoxical role in his opposition to the apartheid government.

South Africa—Analysing a Commission Model

2018 ◽  
pp. 219-230
Author(s):  
Chris McConnachie
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Selection Process ◽  
The South ◽  
Judicial Appointments ◽  
Several Variables ◽  
Political Interference ◽  
The Face ◽  
Service Commission ◽  
And Performance

This essay is an analysis of the working and performance of the South African Judicial Service Commission (JSC). This essay describes how the JSC has been successful in enhancing transparency in the selection process and improving diversity in the judiciary. The essay remains categorical about the South African judiciary being independent and credible, even in the face of apprehensions by the JSC’s detractors of undue political interference in appointments. This essay makes an important point that the independence of the judiciary remains contingent on several variables, and the identity of those making the appointments is just one such factor. Thus, this essay critically analyses the JSC as an example of the commission model. Upon a concise assessment of the JSC’s functioning, this essay highlights some general trends which offer insights for the judicial appointments process in India.

scholarly journals Integrated reporting vs. sustainability reporting for corporate responsibility in South Africa

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (29) ◽  
pp. 7-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra F. Clayton ◽  
Jayne M. Rogerson ◽  
Isaac Rampedi
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Sustainability Reporting ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Integrated Reporting ◽  
Corporate Reporting ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Responsible Manner

AbstractLarge corporates have come under increasing pressure to conduct their business in a more transparent and responsible manner. In order for business to fulfil its obligations under the ethic of accountability stakeholders must be given relevant, timely, and understandable information about their activities through corporate reports. The conventional company reports on annual financial performance, sustainability and governance disclosures often fail to make the connection between the organisation’s strategy, its financial results and performance on environmental, social and governance issues. Recognising the inherent shortcomings of existing reporting models, there is a growing trend to move towards integrated reporting. South Africa has been one of the most innovative countries in terms of integrated corporate reporting. Since 2010 companies primarily listed on the country’s major stock exchange have been required to produce an integrated report as opposed to the former sustainability report. The aim in this study is to review the development of integrated reporting by large corporates in South Africa and assess the impact of the required transition from sustainability reporting to integrated reporting on non-financial disclosure of eight South African corporates using content analysis of annual reports.

scholarly journals Strategic human resource management and organizational performance: Testing a typology of fit

1999 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. S. Engelbrecht ◽  
R. G. Erasmus ◽  
N. Sivasubramaniam
Keyword(s):  
Resource Management ◽  
Human Resource Management ◽  
Organizational Performance ◽  
South African ◽  
Human Resource ◽  
Business Strategy ◽  
Performance Testing ◽  
Strategic Human Resource Management ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Hr Strategy

To be utilized effectively and to have a positive effect on the multitude of complex challenges facing South African organizations, human resources (HR) have to be managed in a strategically correct manner. This study investigated the performance implications of two types of fit in strategic human resource management (SHRM). The results indicated that an organizations HR strategy had a moderating effect on the relationship between business strategy and performance. Furthermore, the survey indicated that organizations could be classified according to clusters of internally consistent HR practices, with some performance differences across the clusters. Finally, evidences for the validity of the proposed typology of fit were found, thus making a contribution to theory- building in the field of SHRM. Opsomming Ten einde menslike hulpbronne (MH) effektief te benut, asook die vele komplekse uitdagings waarmee Suid-Afrikaanse organisasies worstel die hoof te kan bied, moet menslike hulpbronne op 'n strategies korrekte wyse bestuur word. In hierdie studio is die prestasie-implikasies van twee tipes passing in strategiese menslike hulpbronbestuur (SMHB) ondersoek. Die resultate toon dat n organisasie se MH-strategie 'n modererende invloed op die verband tussen besigheidstrategie en prestasie uitoefen. Die ondersoek dui verder daarop dat organisasies in bondels van intern konsekwente MH aktiwiteite geklassifiseer kan word, met onderlinge verskille in orgamsatoriese prestasie tussen die bondels. Laastens is bewyse vir die geldigheid van die voorgestelde tipologie van passing gevind, waardeur 'n bydrae tot teoriebou in die veld van SMHB gemaak is.

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