VALUE AND VALUES - WHAT MOTIVATES CORPORATE CITIZENSHIP IN SOUTH AFRICA?

The expectation that business has a responsibility to the immediate communities in which they operate and to national development imperatives has become entrenched in society. Globally, businesses have responded by embracing the discourse and practice of corporate social responsibility (CSR), albeit at different levels. Such responses have been shaped by local business cultures and the national economic and political contexts.The discourse on CSR or corporate social investment (CSI) has ascended to global prominence, and there are numerous definitions of what it consists of. However, emerging and common themes point towards legislative compliance, meeting stakeholder expectations and contributing to the upliftment of the broader society while increasing and sustaining business profitability

The stuff of legend: diamonds and development in southern Africa

This essay establishes four propositions. First, the diamond industry has been a positive force for development in southern Africa. Second, jewelry, among the most profitable segments of the industry, is a non-essential luxury, and accordingly, consumer concerns over conflict diamonds pose a long-term threat to the industry. Third, key in conflict diamonds is violent political conflict, not diamonds per se. Fourth, the continuing challenges shared by the industry, the NGOs, and public sector are to strengthen the Kimberley Process Certification System (KPCS) to eradicate trade in conflict diamonds and to enhance the related Diamond Development Initiative to regularize artisanal production and bring the diggers into the system.diamonds, resource curse, Kimberley process, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia

Selling capitalism: The politics of white business in the 1980s

African Studies Seminar series. Paper presented March 1989Modern societies are faced with the problem of how to feed, house and ensure the well-being of their populations. They also confront the necessity of educating their work forces and dealing with those who are excluded from employment by reason of a shortage of opportunities, ill-health or old age. The responses to these requirements, however, display a considerable variety. In many of the countries of Western Europe, with Sweden at the forefront, the primary responsibility for welfare is borne by the state. In Japan, by contrast, occupational benefits constitute the dominant form of welfare provision. They figure prominently in the United States too, and represent a mode of supplying social services that the government of Singapore is eager to encourage. In Israel the trade union federation, the Histadrut, is centrally involved in the fields of medical care and pensions, whilst the Catholic Church in the Republic of Ireland is active in the sphere of education. In addition to the efforts of the public sector, of employers and of voluntary organisations, there is the private market, consisting in the buying and selling of goods and services either through insurance schemes or through direct payments by the consumer. Even Sweden, which has traditionally insisted on the exclusion of profit from welfare, has been affected by the contemporary shift in the direction of "privatisation," although in no way as severely as Britainor as Chile, an extreme case

Toxic leadership, social support and individual and organisational outcomes

A research report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Psychology by Coursework and Research Report in the field of Organisational Psychology in the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg on 15 March 2018Growing numbers of studies point to the negative impact and stress of Toxic Leadership (TL) on employees, both in their personal and work wellbeing. Such negatives include high levels of stress, reduced self-esteem and increases in alcohol and drug abuse. TL has also been found to reduce job satisfaction, organisational commitment behaviour and organisational citizenship behaviours. In addition, TL has been thought to result in severe health outcomes including; post-traumatic stress disorder, suicidal ideation and extreme forms of physical illness such as cancer and heart attacks. This South African study, based on a sample of 258 employees working across a wide range of industries, was conducted to explore Toxic Leadership and its effect on three dependant/outcomes variables. These outcome variables included Voluntary Turnover Intention, Work Engagement and Organisational Commitment Behaviour. In addition, Social Support and its role as a moderator was investigated. Consenting participants filled out six questionnaires namely; a Self-Developed Demographic Questionnaire, Schmidt’s Toxic Leadership scale (2008), Kantor’s (2013) Voluntary Turnover Intention (VTI) Scale, Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES), Mowday, Steers & Porter (1979) Organisational Commitment Behaviour Questionnaire (OCQ) and Procidano and Heller’s (1983) Perceived Social Support Scale (PSI) (Adapted version). The results of the study indicated that Toxic Leadership was significantly correlated to the outcome variables. The simple regression also showed that Toxic Leadership raised levels of Voluntary Turnover Intention and lowered levels of Work Engagement, Organisational Commitment Behaviour and Social Support. While Social Support was directly related to the three dependant/outcomes variables with it having a positive effect on Work Engagement and Organisational Commitment Behaviour and decreasing levels of Voluntary Turnover Intention within the regressions. However, within the moderated multiple regressions, Toxic leadership relationship with Social Support actually had an inverse effect on the outcome variables. This is because instead of improving levels of Voluntary Turnover Intention, Work Engagement and Organisational Commitment Behaviour, it made negative effects of Toxic Leadership even worse. Some possible reasons for this was argued in this research. Finally, in addition to these findings, limitations and further contributions for future research into Toxic Leadership was also discussed.MT 201

Graduate Unemployment in the Face of Skill Shortages: A Labour Market Paradox

There is consensus among analysts that South Africa's unemployment is structural in the sense that the unemployed generally possess lower skills than what is required in the marketplace. In the context of increasing demand for skilled workers due to technical progress and the need to become more competitive globally, graduate unemployment would be expected to fall

Nigeria in ECOWAS and South Africa in SADC

Regional powers are not always benevolent leaders when it comes to the building of regional institutions. While powerful states – particularly the “new” rising powers – may have a vested interest in regionalism as a means of projecting influence, regional powers may behave as coercive or benevolent leaders, or alternatively display an absence of leadership altogether. The drivers of varying regional power behavior can be attributed to their competing concerns regarding (economic) power, functional efficiency, international legitimacy, and neopatrimonial networks. This paper explores the varying behavior of Nigeria and South Africa in relation to the institutionalization of free trade areas and regional courts within their respective regions. Nigeria has displayed little leadership in ECOWAS trade integration due to domestic opposition; however, a newly-democratic Nigeria’s search for international legitimacy drove the establishment of the ECOWAS Court of Justice. Likewise, South Africa’s search for legitimacy drove its support for the SADC Tribunal, but the competing demands of different audiences led it to abandon this support. South Africa has also displayed leadership in relation to the SADC Free Trade Area; however, its neighbors perceive it as a self-interested, almost coercive actor. The findings suggest that the motivations for regional powers’ behavior vary across time and policy sectors, and that inconsistent behavior is driven by a change in the priority granted to different drivers

Exploring the Impact of Team Members’ Behaviours on Accident Causation within Construction Projects

Published Conference ProceedingsThe South Africa Construction Regulations recognise the contributions of each member of a project team to health and safety (H&S) improvement. Notably, the regulations mandate the propagation of certain behavioural traits from clients, designers, project managers, quantity surveyors and contractors involved in project execution so as to improve construction H&S performance in the industry. This paper therefore reports on a study that explored the impact of H&S leadership styles and behaviours of these key project participants in terms of accidents and injury causation. A structured questionnaire, which was designed to obtain information on H&S contributions of these key project participants, was used for data collection. The resultant descriptive and inferential statistics shows that clients’ and their consultants’ and contractors’ H&S leadership styles and behaviours have a significant influence on construction H&S performance in South Africa. However, it was also noted that unethical behaviour found in clients organisation in terms of procurement process and contract award to contractors without adequate H&S records and competencies have a serious challenge to the improvement of H&S performance in the industry. It was also observed that H&S is often not designed into project, project H&S plans are not integrated, while no or little financial provision is made for site H&S management. Overall these suggest trend towards poor leadership styles and behaviour in construction. The study therefore recommends that clients, consultants and contractors should demonstrate visible leadership and commitment towards projects H&S particularly during the early planning stages for improvement and sustainability of workplace H&S culture

Expanding the Social Security Net in South Africa: Opportunities, Challenges and Constraints

For a large proportion of the South African population, social welfare grants are an important source of income. Since 2000, rapid increases in government expenditure on social security have further enhanced the contribution of welfare grants to the income of poor households and have thus been important in the fight against poverty. Given these apparent successes, many are calling for further expansions in social security provisioning, with the idea of developing conditional cash transfer schemes occasionally surfacing in policy circles. However, as we argue in this Country Study, there are various constraints to such expansions of the welfare net. Whereas in the past much of the increased expenditure on social security provisioning could be financed out of government revenue overruns, further increases are likely to be possible only through reallocation of government expenditures. There is already evidence of substitution taking place within the social budget since education and health expenditures have apparently declined in favour of increased welfare transfer expenditures. This trend, we argue, is untenable and may harm the already weak education and health services in South Africa. Conditional grants linked to school attendance and visits to health clinics would place further pressure on health and education services, as well as on the agencies responsible for disbursing and monitoring welfare payments in the country. We argue, therefore, that budgetary and service delivery constraints currently present a strong argument against expansion of the social welfare system in the immediate future.Poverty, CCT, Inequality, South Africa, Opportunities, Challenges