The effectiveness of implementing mediation resolutions in Volkswagen South Africa (VWSA) in Kariega 1994-2021
- Authors: Makasi, Lwando
- Date: 2024-04
- Subjects: Volkswagen (Firm) , Conflict management -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Organizational behavior -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/63207 , vital:73233
- Description: This study aimed to generate an in-depth understanding of how the resolutions are being implemented post-mediation process and the labour union, which in this study is the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) and the mediator in the process of managing collective disputes between the employer and employee utilising mediation. The study was limited to the Volkswagen South Africa (VWSA) Kariega plant, therefore, the findings are contextually limited to the VWSA Kariega plant. The theoretical frameworks for this study were relative deprivation theory, frustration-aggression theory, Marxism, and dysfunctional and functional social conflict. These were utilised to explore and describe the phenomenon under investigation. This study employed a qualitative method to answer the research questions and address its problem statement. The data were collected through focus group discussions and elite interviews. The study used a purposive sampling technique, and the sample included 33 participants. The primary research question was: Were the agreements mediated at the VWSA Kariega plant effectively implemented between 1994 and 2021? The study’s findings imply that for the effective implementation of mediation resolutions, the following should be considered: implementing resolutions within the given timeframe, parties at mediation adapting and accommodating new technological changes and disasters at the National Bargaining Forum (NBF) level, prioritising the education and training of shop stewards and VWSA management representatives on NBF agreements, including the implementation thereof. Managing pertinent issues concerning NUMSA and the Automobile Manufacturers Employers Organisation (AMEO), interpreting NBF agreements, and ensuring that parties differentiate between the Labour Relations Act No. 66 of 1995 (LRA) and NBF processes. At the policy level, the findings imply that parties need to understand the LRA’s role and the process of resolving conflict utilising the formal processes stipulated in the LRA and why the LRA cannot override the NBF agreement as an informal process of managing conflict. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, School of Governmental and Social Sciences, 2024
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024-04
- Authors: Makasi, Lwando
- Date: 2024-04
- Subjects: Volkswagen (Firm) , Conflict management -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Organizational behavior -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/63207 , vital:73233
- Description: This study aimed to generate an in-depth understanding of how the resolutions are being implemented post-mediation process and the labour union, which in this study is the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) and the mediator in the process of managing collective disputes between the employer and employee utilising mediation. The study was limited to the Volkswagen South Africa (VWSA) Kariega plant, therefore, the findings are contextually limited to the VWSA Kariega plant. The theoretical frameworks for this study were relative deprivation theory, frustration-aggression theory, Marxism, and dysfunctional and functional social conflict. These were utilised to explore and describe the phenomenon under investigation. This study employed a qualitative method to answer the research questions and address its problem statement. The data were collected through focus group discussions and elite interviews. The study used a purposive sampling technique, and the sample included 33 participants. The primary research question was: Were the agreements mediated at the VWSA Kariega plant effectively implemented between 1994 and 2021? The study’s findings imply that for the effective implementation of mediation resolutions, the following should be considered: implementing resolutions within the given timeframe, parties at mediation adapting and accommodating new technological changes and disasters at the National Bargaining Forum (NBF) level, prioritising the education and training of shop stewards and VWSA management representatives on NBF agreements, including the implementation thereof. Managing pertinent issues concerning NUMSA and the Automobile Manufacturers Employers Organisation (AMEO), interpreting NBF agreements, and ensuring that parties differentiate between the Labour Relations Act No. 66 of 1995 (LRA) and NBF processes. At the policy level, the findings imply that parties need to understand the LRA’s role and the process of resolving conflict utilising the formal processes stipulated in the LRA and why the LRA cannot override the NBF agreement as an informal process of managing conflict. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, School of Governmental and Social Sciences, 2024
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024-04
A comprehensive university: constructing an organisational identity
- Authors: Moeng, Siphokazi Florence
- Date: 2009
- Subjects: Universities and colleges -- Mergers -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Educational change -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Education, Higher -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth -- Aims and objectives , Organizational behavior -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DEd
- Identifier: vital:9517 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1029 , Universities and colleges -- Mergers -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Educational change -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Education, Higher -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth -- Aims and objectives , Organizational behavior -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth
- Description: The restructuring of higher education through incorporations and mergers has attracted a lot of attention over the past few years in South Africa. These incorporations and mergers have displaced institutions of higher education and positioned them in new organisational homes, thus subjecting faculties, schools and departments to a process of relocation, new knowledge acquisition, identity change and meaning-making processes. The merger has resulted in three types of universities; i.e. traditional universities, comprehensive universities and universities of technology. The introduction of the comprehensive university as a new institutional type has brought with it questions about the idea of the university and the purpose of higher education in general. Mergers in particular have initiated conversations about sense-making and meaning during change. Amidst all this, people within the merging institution have been confronted with a new organisation with which they have to identify. At universities in particular, questions about academic identity and organisational identity have become unavoidable. The boundaries that gave definition to a university have been (re)moved. The structure of the university, as it was known, has changed. Hence, in the newly merged NMMU, academics are in the process of internalising and giving meaning to the new organisational values and norms of a comprehensive university. Needless to say, the challenges facing the newly merged NMMU are cultural, structural and geographic. Bringing together different institutional and personal cultures involves a human dimension that needs to be nurtured by trying to form a coherent and cohesive organisation that is created from culturally diverse and uncomplementary institutions. Another challenge is bringing together different organisational structures, systems and programmes that are informed by different institutional cultures. Furthermore, the challenge of having multiple campuses that are geographically separated exacerbates the situation. Along with all these challenges, the NMMU has the task of constructing an integrated institutional identity through organisational forms and programme models that will embody the multiple functions that are typical of a comprehensive university. The aim of the current study was to explore how the meanings that academics assign to the notion of a comprehensive university are instrumental in constructing an organisational identity; describing in detail how at the NMMU academics make meaning of the comprehensive university and how that meaning-making process influences the construction of an organisational identity; and formulating recommendations based on the qualitative findings and quantitative results of the research. In an effort to achieve the aim alluded to above, this study employed the mixed methods approach that used a sequential, exploratory, transformative design. The complexity of the study was such that it required to be investigated through qualitative and quantitative analytical methods in order to confirm, triangulate and obtain a holistic picture of the situation under investigation. The sample for the qualitative interviews consisted of thirteen purposefully selected academics from all levels at the NMMU. The interviews were transcribed and coded into themes, categories and sub-categories. These themes were then developed and translated into statements for the questionnaire that was administered randomly to all NMMU academics. A total of 108 academics responded to the questionnaire. The responses to the questionnaire were analysed using the SPSS programme. The findings and results of the study revealed that there was a fairly common understanding of the term comprehensive university among academics. However, the details about its procedures appeared to be the privileged ownership of management. This situation mitigated the necessity for a sense-making process that would allow for negotiation, modification and alteration of already held assumptions. A pertinent concern amongst academics was the neglect of the ‘human factor’ during the change process. The management style also came under scrutiny, especially in terms of the facilitation and mediation of change. There was a consensus on the call for cohesion and unity that was believed to be one of the main features that would make the construction of the NMMU organisational identity possible. The vision, mission and values of the NMMU were believed to be central to the creation of cohesion and unity, which would subsequently result in the birth of an organisational culture that could inform the organisational identity of the NMMU. Strategies to actualise and realise the organisational identity were proposed by participants. Notwithstanding, the impact of the merger was identified as having a major influence in shaping the organisational identity of the NMMU.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Moeng, Siphokazi Florence
- Date: 2009
- Subjects: Universities and colleges -- Mergers -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Educational change -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Education, Higher -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth -- Aims and objectives , Organizational behavior -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DEd
- Identifier: vital:9517 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1029 , Universities and colleges -- Mergers -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Educational change -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Education, Higher -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth -- Aims and objectives , Organizational behavior -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth
- Description: The restructuring of higher education through incorporations and mergers has attracted a lot of attention over the past few years in South Africa. These incorporations and mergers have displaced institutions of higher education and positioned them in new organisational homes, thus subjecting faculties, schools and departments to a process of relocation, new knowledge acquisition, identity change and meaning-making processes. The merger has resulted in three types of universities; i.e. traditional universities, comprehensive universities and universities of technology. The introduction of the comprehensive university as a new institutional type has brought with it questions about the idea of the university and the purpose of higher education in general. Mergers in particular have initiated conversations about sense-making and meaning during change. Amidst all this, people within the merging institution have been confronted with a new organisation with which they have to identify. At universities in particular, questions about academic identity and organisational identity have become unavoidable. The boundaries that gave definition to a university have been (re)moved. The structure of the university, as it was known, has changed. Hence, in the newly merged NMMU, academics are in the process of internalising and giving meaning to the new organisational values and norms of a comprehensive university. Needless to say, the challenges facing the newly merged NMMU are cultural, structural and geographic. Bringing together different institutional and personal cultures involves a human dimension that needs to be nurtured by trying to form a coherent and cohesive organisation that is created from culturally diverse and uncomplementary institutions. Another challenge is bringing together different organisational structures, systems and programmes that are informed by different institutional cultures. Furthermore, the challenge of having multiple campuses that are geographically separated exacerbates the situation. Along with all these challenges, the NMMU has the task of constructing an integrated institutional identity through organisational forms and programme models that will embody the multiple functions that are typical of a comprehensive university. The aim of the current study was to explore how the meanings that academics assign to the notion of a comprehensive university are instrumental in constructing an organisational identity; describing in detail how at the NMMU academics make meaning of the comprehensive university and how that meaning-making process influences the construction of an organisational identity; and formulating recommendations based on the qualitative findings and quantitative results of the research. In an effort to achieve the aim alluded to above, this study employed the mixed methods approach that used a sequential, exploratory, transformative design. The complexity of the study was such that it required to be investigated through qualitative and quantitative analytical methods in order to confirm, triangulate and obtain a holistic picture of the situation under investigation. The sample for the qualitative interviews consisted of thirteen purposefully selected academics from all levels at the NMMU. The interviews were transcribed and coded into themes, categories and sub-categories. These themes were then developed and translated into statements for the questionnaire that was administered randomly to all NMMU academics. A total of 108 academics responded to the questionnaire. The responses to the questionnaire were analysed using the SPSS programme. The findings and results of the study revealed that there was a fairly common understanding of the term comprehensive university among academics. However, the details about its procedures appeared to be the privileged ownership of management. This situation mitigated the necessity for a sense-making process that would allow for negotiation, modification and alteration of already held assumptions. A pertinent concern amongst academics was the neglect of the ‘human factor’ during the change process. The management style also came under scrutiny, especially in terms of the facilitation and mediation of change. There was a consensus on the call for cohesion and unity that was believed to be one of the main features that would make the construction of the NMMU organisational identity possible. The vision, mission and values of the NMMU were believed to be central to the creation of cohesion and unity, which would subsequently result in the birth of an organisational culture that could inform the organisational identity of the NMMU. Strategies to actualise and realise the organisational identity were proposed by participants. Notwithstanding, the impact of the merger was identified as having a major influence in shaping the organisational identity of the NMMU.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
A study of the conflict between maintenance and production functions in a manufacturing organisation in Port Elizabeth
- Authors: Petronio, Riccardo Vinicio
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Conflict management -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Organizational behavior -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Supervision of employees -- South AFrica -- Port Elizabeth
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: vital:8737 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/794 , Conflict management -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Organizational behavior -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Supervision of employees -- South AFrica -- Port Elizabeth
- Description: If manufacturing organisations are to improve their competitive positions in the global arena and increase profitability, their operations strategies need to be focused on: reducing cost, improving quality, increasing efficiency, improving the speed of delivery, developing and improving process flexibility, and ensuring that higher service levels are achieved and maintained. One of the critical success factors in implementing these strategies, within manufacturing organisations, is the relationship that exists between the maintenance and production functions. There is sufficient evidence to suggest that in many manufacturing organisations, the relationship that exists between these two functions is usually one of conflict, which if left unmanaged or unresolved has the potential to severely hamper effectiveness, productivity, creativity, and profitability of the organisation. The overall purpose of this research was to identify the interventions that manufacturing organisations can pursue, to effectively manage and resolve the conflict between the production and maintenance functions, in order to improve their competitive position in the global economy. The study was conducted in one particular manufacturing organisation in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape. A research questionnaire was used as a means for collecting empirical data. The research questionnaire included various instruments used by previous conflict researchers, to identify and analyse the following dimensions of conflict within the organisation: conflict management styles used, the types of conflict perceived, and the amount of conflict perceived. The questionnaire was also designed to identify the sources of conflict, collect demographic information, identify issues relating to diversity, and indicate the respondents’ preferences to various organisational reporting structures. The results of the survey revealed key findings, which enabled the researcher to draw meaningful conclusions, and make recommendations as to how organisations can effectively manage and resolve the conflict that exists between maintenance and production functions.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
- Authors: Petronio, Riccardo Vinicio
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Conflict management -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Organizational behavior -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Supervision of employees -- South AFrica -- Port Elizabeth
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: vital:8737 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/794 , Conflict management -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Organizational behavior -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth , Supervision of employees -- South AFrica -- Port Elizabeth
- Description: If manufacturing organisations are to improve their competitive positions in the global arena and increase profitability, their operations strategies need to be focused on: reducing cost, improving quality, increasing efficiency, improving the speed of delivery, developing and improving process flexibility, and ensuring that higher service levels are achieved and maintained. One of the critical success factors in implementing these strategies, within manufacturing organisations, is the relationship that exists between the maintenance and production functions. There is sufficient evidence to suggest that in many manufacturing organisations, the relationship that exists between these two functions is usually one of conflict, which if left unmanaged or unresolved has the potential to severely hamper effectiveness, productivity, creativity, and profitability of the organisation. The overall purpose of this research was to identify the interventions that manufacturing organisations can pursue, to effectively manage and resolve the conflict between the production and maintenance functions, in order to improve their competitive position in the global economy. The study was conducted in one particular manufacturing organisation in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape. A research questionnaire was used as a means for collecting empirical data. The research questionnaire included various instruments used by previous conflict researchers, to identify and analyse the following dimensions of conflict within the organisation: conflict management styles used, the types of conflict perceived, and the amount of conflict perceived. The questionnaire was also designed to identify the sources of conflict, collect demographic information, identify issues relating to diversity, and indicate the respondents’ preferences to various organisational reporting structures. The results of the survey revealed key findings, which enabled the researcher to draw meaningful conclusions, and make recommendations as to how organisations can effectively manage and resolve the conflict that exists between maintenance and production functions.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2007
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