Progress of organisational data mining in South Africa

This paper describes three largely qualitative studies, spread over a five year period, into the current practice of data mining in several large South African organisations. The objective was to gain an understanding through in-depth interviews of the major issues faced by participants in the data mining process. The focus is more on the organisational, resource and business issues than on technological or algorithmic aspects. Strong progress is revealed to have been made over this period, and a model for the data mining organisation is proposed

The Evolution of International Business Enterprise

This paper outlines the development of international firms over the period from 1870 to 1945. It shows how British and other European trading firms developed international investment operations using the medium of free-standing companies. This was the origin of Royal Dutch Shell amongst other firms. It then considers the emergence of international Foreign Direct Investment that was stimulated by the developments of the Second Industrial Revolution in the latter years of the nineteenth century. The production of standardised products using system of mass production, and the scientific breakthroughs in chemistry and electrical engineering, amongst others, brought to the fore international firms such as Siemens and General Electric, Singer, British American Tobacco and Ford. The growth of these enterprises suffered a setback during the First World War from which German firms were slow to recover. The Great Depression that followed the US stock market crash in 1929 brought the first era of globalisation to an end. The work of Alfred D. Chandler and Geoffrey Jones in explaining the development of international companies is given particular attention

Learning from local economic development experiences: Observations on Integrated Development Programmes of the Free State, Republic of South Africa

The aim of this paper is to assess the degree to which the components of the Rural Economic and Enterprise Development (REED) framework have been incorporated into integrated development planning (IDP) or into strategic local economic development (LED) plans. The paper also provides an evaluation of two local municipal level IDPs in the Free State, Republic of South Africa. The evaluation is considered on an ex-ante basis in terms of contemporary LED and REED approaches. We also consider IDP efficacy and potential impact in terms of achieving enterprise development, poverty reduction and growth.Rural Economic and Enterprise Development, economic development,

Employment equity transformation within various levels of management in selected South African mines

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

Restructuring and rescaling water governance in mining contexts: the co-production of waterscapes in Peru

The governance of water resources is prominent in both water policy agendas and academic scholarship. Political ecologists have made important advances in reconceptualising the relationship between water and society. Yet, while they have stressed both the scalar dimensions, and the politicised nature, of water governance, analyses of its scalar politics are relatively nascent. In this paper, we consider how the increased demand for water resources by the growing mining industry in Peru reconfigures and rescales water governance. In Peru, the mining industry’s thirst for water draws in, and reshapes, social relations, technologies, institutions and discourses that operate over varying spatial and temporal scales. We develop the concept of waterscape to examine these multiple ways in water is co-produced through mining, and become embedded in changing modes and structures of water governance, often beyond the watershed scale. We argue that an examination of waterscapes avoids the limitations of thinking about water in purely material terms, structuring analysis of water issues according to traditional spatial scales and institutional hierarchies, and taking these scales and structures for granted

Actors and repertoires of contention

Industrial mining is currently one of the fastest growing sectors of the world economy, particularly in the Global South. The present mining boom is, however, accompanied by numerous conflicts: conflicts over labour relations, over territorial control and access to water and land resources, over the effects on local livelihoods, on gender relations and ecological systems, and over the distribution of profits and tax revenues. In this paper, a typology of mining conflicts is developed, starting with existing case studies of current conflicts over industrial mining in sub-Saharan Africa and building on my own research in Burkina Faso. In contrast to existing typologies, the one presented here is based not on the subjects of the conflicts but on actor constellations: conflicts between trade unions and mining companies; between civil society organisations on the one hand and the state and mining companies on the other; and between artisanal miners and mining companies. I argue that historically shaped socio-ecological and socio-economic conditions, namely the existing land usages, have a crucial effect on the actors and actor constellations in conflicts over mining, and that different actors have different means of engaging in conflict at their disposal, and thus rely on different repertoires of contention when engaging in collective conflicts.Der industrielle Bergbau ist gegenwärtig einer der am stärksten wachsenden Wirtschaftssektoren weltweit, insbesondere im Globalen Süden. Der aktuelle Bergbau-Boom geht mit einer Vielzahl an Konflikten einher: um Arbeitsbeziehungen, um territoriale Kontrolle und den Zugang zu Wasser- und Landressourcen, um die Auswirkungen auf lokale livelihoods, auf Geschlechterverhältnisse und Ökosysteme sowie um die Verteilung der Gewinne und Steuereinnahmen. Dieses Kapitel entwickelt ausgehend von bestehenden Fallstudien zu gegenwärtigen Konflikten um den industriellen Bergbau in Subsahara-Afrika sowie aufbauend auf eigene Forschungen in Burkina Faso eine Typologie von Bergbaukonflikten. Anders als bestehende Typologien konzentriert sich diese nicht auf die Konfliktgegenstände, sondern auf die Akteurskonstellationen der Konflikte: zwischen Gewerkschaften und Unternehmen; zivilgesellschaftlichen Organisationen auf der einen und Staat und Unternehmen auf der anderen Seite; und zwischen Akteuren des handwerklichen und industriellen Bergbaus. Ich argumentiere, dass historisch geformte sozial-ökologische und sozio-ökonomische Bedingungen, insbesondere die bestehenden und vorherigen Formen der Landnutzung, wesentlichen Einfluss auf die Akteurskonstellationen in Konflikten um die Ausweitung des industriellen Bergbaus haben. Die Akteurskonstellationen wiederum bedingen die Mittel des Konfliktaustrags: Unterschiedliche Akteure haben unterschiedliche Mittel zur Verfügung und greifen entsprechend auf unterschiedliche „repertoires of contention“ in kollektiven Konflikten zurück

Poor Philanthropist III: A Practice-relevant Guide for Community Philanthropy

This is a guide for a research study carried out between 2003 and 2005, the purpose of which was to explore the local ethos of caring and sharing in poor African communities.This guide is intended to assist grantmakers and funders working with impoverished communities in applying a PoC lens to their practice

The proof is in the pudding: (Re)considering the excellence of activism in the South African mining industry

One of the greatest changes organisations in South Africa experienced through the country’s democratisation is the introduction of ‘legitimate’ activism in organisational settings. Organisational communication literature – specifically as manifest in the excellence theory – compounded this through views on the potentially positive impact activism could have on organisations by ‘pushing’ them beyond equilibrium to a state of dynamic equilibrium – mediated through strategic and effectual communication. This view, however, is somewhat fouled by occurrences such as those at Marikana, and concomitant strikes in the country’s platinum industry, which have held the economy ‘captive’ in various ways. Organisations – especially the mining industry – need to ask ‘How much activism is too much activism?’ and organisational communication practitioners need to introspectively consider whether this theoretical contribution should not perhaps have come with greater guidance in terms of the chary (if not restrained) implementation of this potentially positive, yet almost insidiously dangerous, communicative feature. This article aims to explore activism in the mining industry of South Africa, specifically from the vantage points of industry heads, as it concerns the changed communicative landscape in this industry post-Marikana. To this end, the article will report on seven qualitative, semi-structured interviews – along with existing literature on the topic – as it offers up six considerations in applying the aspect of excellence and ‘positive activism’ within organisations in South Africa’s mining industry