Assessing reasons for non-compliance to the requirements of the Employment Equity Act no. 55 of 1998 : case study of the dietetics department within Tygerberg Hospital

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The relevance of employment equity has been widely debated. This study is of the view that affirmative action is the core factor in realising compliance to and implementation of employment equity. The study was aimed at investigating why Tygerberg Hospital has not complied with the implementation of the Employment Equity Act (EEA) No 55 of 1998 specifically with regards to the field of Dietetics.Research questions have been formulated, relying on literature which includes guiding legislation and policies.Recruitment and selection processes applicable to the dietetic department were analysed and linked with the consulted literature. Role of transformation in transforming the institution was part of the study to ascertain the scope of transformation in managing diversity within Tygerberg Hospital. A combination of data collection tools was used in the study, including interviews and questionnaires to better understand the underlying reasons of non-compliance.The fundamental findings of the study showed that even though policies and legislation had been formulated, there are underlying issues to be addressed by the institution, such as language barriers and personal perceptions of the institution which could subsequently be improved through effective diversity management strategies.It is recommended that the institution will have to come up with a short-term, measurable plan to ensure compliance such as an institutional employment equity plan, appointment of a transformational officer who will focus on managing the institutional diversity management, and an internal capacity building unit to carry out institutional training and development as opposed to the current system.To ensure monitoring and evaluation compliance on employment equity, it is recommended that the responsibility be linked to the performance plan of the senior managers as well as the line manager of the dietetic department. By so doing failure to comply will result in a poor performance assessment outcome of the delegated authority, compliance enforced through departmental disciplinary procedures.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University