An exploration of conflict related to land holding entities in the South African land reform process
- Authors: Georghiades, George
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Land reform -- South Africa Land tenure -- South Africa , Conflict management -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MPhil
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/15600 , vital:28275
- Description: This evaluative study aims to identify and analyse conflicts within the South African land reform process that have manifested within Communal Property Institutions, and so doing, devising and providing a mechanism that will assist conflict practitioners to approach these conflicts in an informed manner. It further intends to provide for an approach in order to restore social justice to the land reform process, and so doing, suggesting resolution mechanisms to assist in the process for the reasons that this restoration of land rights was originally intended. This study further seeks to investigate the causes, actions and consequences of protagonistic land claimants and beneficiaries within the land reform process, who have created conflict within their communal property institutions, at the expense of those beneficiaries who are subsequently deprived of their land rights. According to Coate and Rosati (1988), human needs are a powerful source of explanation of human behaviour and social interaction. All individuals have needs that they strive to satisfy, either by using a system of “acting on the fringes” or acting as a reformist or revolutionary. Given this condition, social systems must be responsive to individual needs, or be subject to instability and forced change, possibly through violence or conflict). Humans need a number of essentials to survive. According to the renowned psychologist Abraham Maslow and the conflict scholar John Burton, these essentials go beyond just food, water, and shelter. They include both physical and non-physical elements needed for human growth and development, as well as all those things humans are innately driven to attain. For Maslow, needs are hierarchical in nature. That is, each need has a specific ranking or order of obtainment. Maslow's needs pyramid starts with the basic items of food, water, and shelter. These are followed by the need for safety and security, then belonging or love, self-esteem, and finally, personal fulfilment (Rothman J, 1997). Burton and other needs theorists who have adopted Maslow's ideas to conflict theory, however, perceive human needs in a different way, being rather as an emergent collection of human development essentials (Burton J, 1990). Furthermore, they contend needs do not have a hierarchical order. Rather, needs are sought simultaneously in an intense and relentless manner (Rothman J, 1997). Needs theorists' list of human essentials include safety, a sense of belonging (love), self esteem, personal fulfilment,identity, cultural security, freedom, distributive justice, and participation. The South African land restoration process relies largely on the Constitution of South Africa (1996), with the preamble thereof as its tenets. The three land reform programmes that emanate from the Constitution are the Land Redistribution Programme, the Land Tenure Reform programme, and the Land Restitution programme, which have been used in this study as the point of departure from which deviations are measured and analysed. A number of Communal property Institutions have been considered, the findings of which have been evaluated, investigated and analysed, in order to achieve the aims of this study.
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- Date Issued: 2017
South African labour law and conflict resolution: towards a theoretical critique
- Authors: Jooste, Nico
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Labor disputes -- South Africa , Conflict management -- South Africa , Mediation -- South Africa , Labor laws and legislation -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MPhil
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/7417 , vital:21357
- Description: The intention of this treatise is to reflect on the concept, as well as on the theory, of conflict resolution and to investigate whether the mechanisms of true conflict resolution are afforded within the structures and instruments provided for by the South African Labour Relations Act (66 of 1995). The Act aims to give effect to one of its primary purpose of advancing labour peace by attempting to promote the effective resolution of labour disputes through a very sophisticated system of dispute resolution. What is of great significance is that The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) has been experiencing an increasingly high rate of disputes referred to it since its inception in 1996. In my review I established that the dispute resolution system is a construction of rules and statutes which concentrates on rights, rather than on conflict management. However, rights only imperfectly reflect basic human needs, which continue to dominate human behaviour mechanisms that indeed facilitate processes and guidelines of resolving labour disputes, but fail to acknowledge and make provision for the resolution of a latent or manifest conflict. The instruments afforded by the Labour Relations Act (66 of 1995) fail to explore and entertain the needs most relevant and significant to the perception of social conflicts such as security, identity, personal development and recognition as suggested by conflict theorists and scholars. It also fails to acknowledge that parties to a dispute undergo psychological changes that could flow over to community changes and group dynamics as the parties become polarised and become more contentious as the conflict escalates. My review gave more substance to my original assumption that the current South African labour dispute resolution system does not harmonize itself with its own objective of promoting true labour peace.
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- Date Issued: 2016
Conflicts in the role of business as a social partner in the South African economy : a study of skills development in the Border-Kei region
- Authors: Delport, Kandi Sue
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Social responsibility of business -- South Africa , Industries -- Social aspects -- South Africa , Conflict management -- South Africa , Occupational training -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Human capital -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Economic development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Labor laws and legislation -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:3364 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011784 , Social responsibility of business -- South Africa , Industries -- Social aspects -- South Africa , Conflict management -- South Africa , Occupational training -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Human capital -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Economic development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Labor laws and legislation -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Description: This thesis analyses conflicts in the role of business as a social partner in the South African economy by studying skills development in the Border-Kei Region. Skills development is a key component of the South African government’s programme of labour market regulation and is founded on a participatory approach. The skills development framework requires the participation and co-operation of multiple social partners but relies heavily on the role of business in the attainment of national and sectoral skills development objectives. Unfortunately, however, there are significant conflicts in the role which business is expected to play which consequently hinder the efficiency of the framework and the likelihood that that these objectives will be realised. One of the most pertinent examples of these conflicts is the voluntary nature of the skills development framework, which incentivises but does not compel organisations to invest in training and development. Other conflicts include dissonances between national and employer led strategies and organisational disincentives to engage in training and development. This qualitative study uses an interpretive approach to study how and to what extent the Skills Development Act is implemented in selected organisations in Buffalo City as well as studying the issues pertaining to the implementation process. By using a purposive sampling approach, this research includes both primary data in the form of semi-structured interviews and secondary data in the form of documentary sources. The data represents the perspectives of business, labour and government and provides significant depth of insight into the discussions and issues surrounding skills development in Buffalo City. This dissertation argues that South Africa’s vocational training system, institutionalised through appropriate legislation, may not be sufficient to mobilise social partners, and of primary concern in this research – business – to invest in skills development. It suggests that extensive reliance on business is an insufficient way in which to upskill the labour market. However, with few alternatives to this approach, it is subsequently essential that business is encouraged to buy into the collective interest of skills development objectives. This primarily entails overcoming the challenges that embody the framework and increasing state emphasis on skills development.
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- Date Issued: 2014
Intergroup conflict in selected schools in Diepkloof, Johannesburg North District
- Authors: Mkhomi, Moses Sipho
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Intergroup relations -- South Africa , Conflict management -- South Africa , Social groups -- South Africa -- Johannesburg
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MPhil
- Identifier: vital:8482 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1020924
- Description: Intergroup conflicts are rife in public schools and often the bone of contention is promotional posts. These conflicts can affect the quality of teaching and learning if the focus of the teachers moves from the primary purpose of teaching to contesting senior posts. In addition, such contestation often splits the teaching staff into groups or factions. One such split is between the group made up of teachers belonging to the politically-aligned union and the group of teachers from non-politically aligned teacher unions or those not unionised at all. The School Governing Body parent-wing is often caught in conflict between these two groups as it has the legislative power to recommend appointment to the District Director. It is within this context that this study explores the perceptions of stakeholders in selected schools in Diepkloof with regard to intergroup conflict and investigates whether cadre deployment plays a role in this conflict. The findings of this study reveal stakeholders‟ perceptions that politically-aligned unions tend to exert influence to have their members promoted and, in the process, often overlook better qualified educators.
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- Date Issued: 2013
Exploring the conflict narratives of youth at risk: the Umzi Wethu Programme, Port Elizabeth
- Authors: Lamb-du Plessis, Shena
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Youth -- South Africa -- Social conditions , Economic development projects -- South Africa , Aggressiveness in youth -- South Africa , Conflict management -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:8348 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1020813
- Description: Years of political unrest, forced removals, migrant labour and overly rapid urbanisation have had a negative effect on the lives of many South Africans and poverty, unemployment and the HIV/AIDS pandemic have increased the challenges facing young people in South Africa. With 54 per cent of South Africa’s population younger than 24 years and two-thirds of South Africans between the ages of 18 and 35 years unemployed, youth development is an urgent and critical social investment. Current research stresses the importance of an integrated and developmental approach that recognises young people’s optimism and resilience and builds on their strengths. Of the various youth developmental interventions being implemented in African countries, including South Africa, an initiative that is being used increasingly, is the international broad-base programme known as the Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP). Using an experiential approach honed by over 35 years’ of working mostly in prisons in more than 35 countries, AVP teaches the attitudes and strategies (such as self-awareness, empathy and community-building) needed to transform conflict nonviolently and addresses the important psychological need for intimate connection with others. This study investigates how the experience of an AVP workshop can influence so-called ‘at-risk’1 young South African adults’ perceptions of personally-experienced conflict situations. The study was conducted in partnership with a local youth development project and used a narrative analysis approach to explore the pre- and post-AVP workshop conflict narratives of a group of Xhosa-speakers from the Eastern Cape. To support the analysis of the conflict narratives, focus groups were conducted three months later and again after six months with a selected sample of volunteers. Participation in the study was wholly voluntary and by informed consent.
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- Date Issued: 2012
Assessing conflict and management interventions
- Authors: Plaatjes, Carlton Henry
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Conflict management -- South Africa , Cognitive styles
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: vital:8818 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1018930
- Description: Human resource management, or people management, is concerned with the philosophies, policies, programmes, practices and decisions that affect the people who work for an organisation. The various people management functions are aimed at helping the organisation achieve its strategic goals and as such are an integral part of the management process. People management consists of several aspects and sub-divisions of which pro-active conflict handling and management is one and which is also the subject of this study. The objective of this study was to assess causes of conflict and interventions and styles of conflict management in the workplace. Workplace politics, change management, diversity, cultures and religious views are but a few major sources for the emergence of conflict. We are currently in the era of fast change or more aptly put “hyperchange” and conflict is inevitable and management styles can also create and/or escalate conflict situations including, the composition of diversity in the workplace. This adds to the new challenges of management. Organisations in this decade need to acknowledge that their management styles of days gone by are not relevant anymore and one must understand to recognise conflict and resolve it in an appropriate manner. This study assessed the major causes of conflict in the workplace and whether the managerial style of managers and management interventions impacts on the overall conflict situations experienced by staff members in organisations in Cape Town and Windhoek. It also gave an indication if interventions and conflict management training/programmes are in place or used, if at all. Sometimes conflict is resolved successfully or unsuccessfully and what impact it has on the managers, his/her staff and colleagues and the organisation as a whole. This can have a detriment impact on the business and the culture within the organisation and which could result in or give rise to high labour turnover, underlying unhappy staff and disempowerment of managers and staff and poor production and service levels.
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- Date Issued: 2011
Social diversity in an engineering workplace: a conflict resolution perspective
- Authors: Kotze, Sharon Jean
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Conflict management -- South Africa , Interpersonal conflict -- South Africa , Social conflict -- South Africa , Work environment -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:8172 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1638 , Conflict management -- South Africa , Interpersonal conflict -- South Africa , Social conflict -- South Africa , Work environment -- South Africa
- Description: The global working environment has altered dramatically over the last decade, with the workforce now consisting of a diverse assortment of individuals. South Africa, in particular, has had to face major challenges as it adapts to the newly conceived "Rainbow Nation". It has also had to make amends for inequalities bred by the past discrimination and the segregation of Apartheid. Prior to this, businesses in general, were inward-looking in that they did not have to comply with or conform to the changing trends found in the international arena. Suddenly, issues such as Black Economic Empowerment, Affirmative Action, gender, age, faith and preferred sexual orientation have had to be accommodated as the new Employment Equity Act of 1998 was promulgated. Each individual coming into the workplace has his or her own cosmological, ontological and epistemological view, and although this facilitates a positive contribution by individuals with regard to varying ideas, skills, talents and expertise, more often than not, the reality is that the differences that exist within a staff complement often result in conflict. Furthermore, South Africa exhibits deep-rooted, social conflict as a result of the oppression of the apartheid years. Unemployment, poverty, poor education and service deliveries are far from being satisfactorily addressed. Therefore, it is assumed that unmet/frustrated basic human needs, as defined in Abraham Maslow‘s "Hierarchy of Needs", play a role in causing conflict both in the workplace and in society. It was felt that basic human needs, as articulated, had not been researched as a cause of workplace conflict and this research will explore the part that frustrated human needs may play in organisational conflict, alongside diversity conflicts.
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- Date Issued: 2011
An analysis of strategies used to manage conflict at Volkswagen of South Africa
- Authors: Conybeare, Gaily
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Volkswagen of South Africa (Firm) , Conflict management -- South Africa , Motor vehicle industry -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: vital:8743 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/762 , Volkswagen of South Africa (Firm) , Conflict management -- South Africa , Motor vehicle industry -- South Africa -- Port Elizabeth
- Description: This research study addresses the problem of determining the strategies that can be used by Internal Audit at Volkswagen of South Africa to manage conflict effectively. To achieve this objective a comprehensive literature study was performed to determine the views on conflict and evaluate the various conflict models. The study also included the reasons for and sources of conflict and the effects of conflict on the performance and controls within VWSA. The identification of conflict management strategies and subsequent conflict management styles were revealed by the literature study. Various discussions from different authors on how to resolve conflict situations are also discussed. The literature review serves as a model in the development of a guideline for VWSA Internal Audit team and management to manage conflict. Senior Management, middle management and staff from various departments within VWSA were requested to complete a questionnaire in order to determine the strategies and effectiveness of these strategies used by Internal Audit to manage conflict. The questionnaire was developed in accordance with the findings from the research. A pilot study was conducted to evaluate the relevance of the study to the problem questions and to evaluate whether the questionnaire will be easily understood. The answers of the respondents were analyzed and compared to the findings of the literature study. The information obtained from the literature study and from the respondents resulted in various recommendations and conclusions.
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- Date Issued: 2008
An evaluation of the application of specific conflict management mechanisms in the South African transition to democracy, 1985-2004 : a conflict resolution perspective
- Authors: Bradshaw, Gavin John
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Conflict management -- South Africa , Mediation -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
- Identifier: vital:8160 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/482 , Conflict management -- South Africa , Mediation -- South Africa
- Description: South Africa has always been cited as an example of protracted social conflict by the analytical conflict resolution school. Given that appellation, the conflict, in terms of the understanding of that school of thought, would not have been amenable to resolution, and yet many observers hail the South African democratic transition as a miracle of transformation. This thesis, using a detailed application of the various elements of protracted or deep-rooted social conflict, demonstrates that South Africa is indeed an example of protracted social conflict. Given the application of pre-negotiation initiatives, and the establishment of a unique National Peace Accord, negotiations were enabled, and successfully delivered a democratic election, and so far, also a sustainable democracy. The establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was the result of a realization on the part of a wide spectrum of South African leadership and conflict resolution professionals, that negotiation alone would not provide conflict resolution for South Africans, and that there was therefore an additional need to deal with the deeper issues of conflict, if the settlement were to prove sustainable. The question remains whether ours represents a successful resolution of the conflict from the theoretical perspective of the analytical conflict resolution school. A close examination of South African socio-political issues across a number of domains regarded by the analytical conflict resolution school as important, indicates that while the requirements for conflict resolution were indeed met in the South African case, their more advanced stage of resolution; conflict provention has not been satisfied. That explains the fact that many tensions, much violence and intolerance remain. South Africa’s democracy has not been infused with analytical conflict management institutions, basic human needs have not been substantially met and valued relationships remain elusive. Because protracted social conflict is cyclical, we can expect high-levels of conflict behaviour to haunt, and even threaten our fledgling democracy. It is argued here that a coherent theoretical approach to the South African conflict management process would have produced a more sustainable outcome, and we recommend the continued use and institutionalization of analytical conflict provention processes to secure the future of our country.
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- Date Issued: 2007