Intra organisational perceptions of affirmative action

[摘要] Recent developments in South Africa and the impending changes in theworkplace, have placed new challenges and demands on managers ofboth big and small organisations. One of these challenges is theintroduction and implementation of successful Affirmative Action (AA)programme. However, preparatory to this, it is important to gain anunderstanding of the perceptions of employees concerning AA becausethe way perceptions of employees may influence the manner in whichsuch programmes are implemented in companies.The Employment Equity Act No. 55 (Republic of South Africa, 1998)makes it clear that every designated employer must, in order to achieveemployment equity, implement AA measures.A survey method was used in this study, and opinions were sought from209 supervisors and junior managers at Eskom Head Office, MegawattPark. The results were analysed quantitatively in order to gain aninsight into their perceptions of issues concerning AA.The results reveal that there are differences of opinion about AAamongst the junior and middle management employees. Thedifferences are mainly racially based. There is no commonunderstanding of AA and this leads to a dysfunctional effort in theimplementation of this change. As resistance to change is a naturalbehavior of organisations and its members, naturally AA can beexpected to be resisted by most employees. The present studysuggests ways to overcome this problem and identifies the need forintervention to be undertaken concerning changing perceptions beforeAA can be understood and successfully implemented .

[发布机构] University of the Witwatersrand