Die bestuur van diversiteit in die Suid-Afrikaanse Polisiediens

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:Organisation development is an emerging behavioural science discipline. Its goalsare to make organisations more effective and to develop individual potential. For thisreason organisation development provides a set of methodologies to bring aboutorganisational change and improvement systematically. The techniques introducedby organisation development adhere to a set frame of values.This research proposes that organisation development, as an evolving discipline,can depend on the management of diversity as a tool for change under certainconditions. Organisations are faced with the problem of surviving a fiercelycompetitive world. This they have to do with a workforce that is becomingincreasingly diverse. Diversity as highlighted in this study, is a complexphenomenon. It does not entail only race and ethnicity as is sometimes believed,but also incorporates aspects like cultural differences and individual preferences.The traditional view of diversity has been assimilation, where race and otherdifferences were standardised in a type of melting pot. In real life groups want toretain their individuality and this is being increased by today's non-hierarchical,collaborate and flexible management styles. The challenge is therefore toacknowledge differences and then to get the same and even more productivity froma diverse workforce as had been the case with the homogeneous workforce. Thismust be done without artificial programmes, standards or barriers. The limited datastrongly suggest that efforts to manage diversity, as undertaken by leadingorganisations, have been fairly successful in improving performance regardingproductivity, absenteeism and turnover. If diversity is ignored or improperlymanaged, it could become a detractor from performance. On the other hand, ifdiversity is managed well, organisations will be able to make diversity an asset toperformance.This research shows that the management of diversity can and should be used tochange organisation culture and to promote satisfactory performance. In this regardthe monoculture of the South African Police Services is described as an example ofan organisation culture that hampers the personal growth of its members and thusleads to ineffectiveness. This study identifies the main characteristics of the so-called police culture thatprevents the organisations performance from being effective. It does so in the lightof recent quantitative and qualitative research. Out of this a framework is developedthat can be used to implement the management of diversity. The study alsoproposes proposals to utilise the management of diversity as an organisationaldevelopment technique. For this purpose a measurement instrument is developed.The dissertation concludes with an exposition of strategies that the South AfricanPolice Service can implement on individual, group and organisation level, to managediversity effectively.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University