Academic literature on the topic 'Artisans - South Africa'

The study focused on identifying ways in which to improve and increase the quality of training and supply of skilled artisans in the South African construction industry (especially in Gauteng Province) in terms of short and medium term approach. The construction industry is facing a severe skills crisis and this has made it so difficult to recruit competent artisans. This may be as a result of artisans being regarded as the lowest in the hierarchy of construction worker positions. In addition, these artisans warrant less training than those at executive- and managerial levels. This negative attitude towards artisans training has plunged the industry into crisis. Those involved find it difficult to successfully complete projects on time, within budgeted project costs and within the required quality specification due to lack of competent artisans. However, serious attention is required towards enhancing artisan training in the industry. It is imperative and vital to ensure the survival of the industry. The cardinal aim of this research project was to demonstrate a guiding solution towards the skills crisis. Thus, in order to initiate a tremendous change in the skills profile, certain measures are required, e.g. expanding training institutions to local regions; upgrading and aligning facilities in the training institutions to industrial demands and the dissemination of vital information that will ensure the attractiveness of the industry. This will safeguard the construction organisations operating in Gauteng Province. Although the industry is a major player in the economy, there is need for special attention in order to ensure sustainable growth and economic development. The Government, construction industry stakeholders and training institutions personnel should collaborate to salvage the skills crisis by strategically developing programmes (in accordance with industrial requirements) that will benefit prospective learners. The researcher adopted the descriptive- and analytical survey method, which entailed the use of questionnaires and a review of the related literature for gathering relevant data. The methodology used in the research was the quantitative data analysis. The feature findings of the research concluded that the skilled artisans profile is insufficient to meet industry demands. In addition, training institutions and primary- and secondary educational systems are characterized by ninadequacy and incompetency to produce skilled artisans. The situation is exacerbated by the lack of harmonization between the training institutions and the vindustry’s requirements. Furthermore, the majority of the respondents acknowledged that training of their workers is an important aspect to them, but few of these organisations indicated that they make use of formal training institutions such as FET colleges. The recommendation include that all the stakeholders in the construction industry should form collaborations to strategically develop programmes that would upgrade the existing training institutions. This could be done through provision of adequate funds and resources and the dissemination of vital information that is capable to promote the attractiveness of the industry image.

A dissertation submitted to the Department of Construction Management and Quantity Surveying, Faculty of Engineering at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Technology Construction Management<br>This study investigated the causes and impact of the effects of shortages of skilled artisans on contractor productivity. The objectives of the study were as follows: (i) to identify causes of shortages of skills during the construction production phases; (ii) to define the effects of shortages of skills during the production phase of a project; (iii) to examine how to deal with shortages of skills when they happen; (iv) to determine ways in which the shortage of skills may be reduced; (v) to determine whether shortages of skills cause poor contractor performance. The study was inspired by many international and local studies demonstrating a lack of concern for the impact of shortages of skilled artisans on project performance, and their effects on project time. The research method adopted for study was a survey of construction sites and staff within the NMC group in the Cape Peninsula metropolitan area of the Western Cape Province. The study collected data from 65 participants from 10 different NMC sites. The participants in the survey included Project managers, site managers, quantity surveyors and artisans on sites. The findings of the study revealed that there is lack of formal training of artisans; performance of artisans is not highly regarded and there is lack of motivation, these factors contribute to the shortages of skilled artisans. It is also evident that shortage of skills causes’ poor contractor performance and leads to poor quality of work. The researchers also found that, setting out errors occur due to lack of coordination between the main contractor and subcontractors and the lack of skills on the part of the artisans. In addition, inexperience on the side of the leading hand and / or supervisor and trades foremen and their inability to interpret the drawings contributed to rework during construction phase. A reason also given for shortage of artisans is that young people are afraid to get their hands dirty. Young people would rather work with computers than for engineering and its associated professions. It is recommended that to increase the supply of artisans some measures will have to be implemented to encourage young people to become artisans.

Thesis (MBA (Business Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009.<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The retention of the right skills in any organisation or industry is always a challenge. There are many causes of the skills shortage and it is also difficult to retain skilled people once they have been found. The literature suggests that retention of skills should ideally be considered from the design and expectation of the requirements of the job through to the recruitment process; and not only once the employee has started working. The literature also explores the different retention strategies that can be applied, such as succession planning, employee engagement, work – life balance, remuneration structuring and career advancement path. This research is limited to Tshikondeni coal mine and attempts to establish which of the following are the biggest contributing factors that cause people to leave and resign from the mine: • Known life of the mine left is till 2014; • Remote location away from essential services; • Leadership; and • Remuneration. From the research that was done, it became clear that the limited life of the mine was the biggest contributing factor that would make employees want to leave Tshikondeni coal mine. Further study is recommended for organisations that operate with finite resources, and mostly in remote areas, to develop further specific retention strategies – over and above those challenges that face all other industries and organisations. This should be done so that the reality of finite resources can be addressed in order to keep employees motivated and energised until the last ton is extracted.<br>AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Dit is altyd ‘n uitdaging in enige organisasie of industrie om die regte vaardighede te behou. Daar is baie redes vir die tekort aan vaardighede en dit is moeilik om bekwame mense te behou wanneer hulle wel gevind word. Die literatuur raai aan dat die retensie van vaardighede reeds in die ontwerp van en vereistes vir ‘n betrekking in ag geneem moet word, sowel as tydens die werwingsproses en nie eers na indiensneming van die werknemer nie. Die literatuur ondersoek ook retensie strategië wat toegepas kan word, soos bv. opvolgbeplanning, werknemerbetrokkenheid, balans tussen werk en vrye tyd, vergoedingstrukture en moontlikhede vir bevordering. Hierdie navorsing is beperk tot Tshikondeni steenkoolmyn en poog om vas te stel watter van die volgende die grootste bydraende faktore is waarom mense bedank en weggaan by die myn: • Lewensduur van die myn slegs tot 2014; • Afgesonderde ligging weg van essensële dienste; • Leierskap; en • Vergoeding. Uit die navorsing wat gedoen is, het dit duidelik geword dat die beperkte lewensduur van die myn die grootste bydraende faktor was waarom werknemers wou weggaan van Tshikondeni steenkoolmyn. Verdere navorsing word aanbeveel vir organisasies wat met beperkte hulpbronne, en hoofsaaklik in afgeleë gebiede, werk om verdere spesifieke retensie strategieë te ontwikkel – bo en behalwe dié wat vir ander industrieë en organisasies geld. Hierdeur kan die realiteit van beperkte hulpbronne aangespreek word om sodoende die motivering en aansporing van werknemers te verseker totdat die laaste ton verwerk is.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2000.<br>Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vii, 267 p. : maps. Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 256-267).

This thesis will aim to investigate the extent to which Tracey Rose's Ciao Bella can be said to allegorically perform a dialectical enfolding of the dichotomous categories of meaning/nonmeaning; image/text; past/present and original/translation. The dual concepts of performance and performativity will be utilized as a means to explore the notion of interpretation as a meaning-making process and as an engagement between artist, artwork and viewer that is necessarily open-ended and in a state of constant change and flux. Rose's performance of Ciao Bella will be read as one that questions the illusion of unmediated representation by parodying and creatively misreading a multiplicity of visual, textual and musical representations so as to foreground the politics of representation. The representational figure of allegory, as one that defines itself in opposition to the Romantic conception of the unified symbol, will be put to work so as to reveal the ways in which Rose's performance works to critically undermine various positivistic attitudes toward self-identity, gender, race, politics, history, authorial intention and interpretation.

Includes abstract.<br>Includes bibliographical references.<br>Orientation. The shortage of artisan skills remain a serious challenge in South Africa and is forcing employers to investigate which total reward factors contribute to the attraction and retention of this critical skills segment, as undifferentiated retention strategies are no longer appropriate. Research purpose. The aim of this study was to further develop the understanding of the total reward factors and the ideal combination and relative quantum of total rewards that attract and retain artisans, including artisans from various race groups and age cohorts (cohort 29 and less; cohort 30-39; cohort 40-49; and cohort 50+). Motivation for the study. The shortage of scarce skills, like those experienced in South Africa should not only be seen as comprising occupations from the higher skills bands, but should also include occupations from the intermediate skills bands, that includes artisans. Limited research is available on the total reward factors and the ideal combination and relative quantum of total rewards that attract and retain artisans. Knowing this will allow organisations to develop reward models that better attract and retain artisans. Research Design. The study followed both a quantitative and qualitative research approach while adopting a descriptive research design. Using this mixed method, primary data was collected from individuals by means of two focus groups discussions, i.e (1) a group of HR and Remuneration Managers (n=4) and (2) a group of artisans (n=7). These results were used to develop the two questionnaires that were distributed to artisans (n=143). Data from Questionnaire 1 were analysed using descriptive statistics and factor analyses. Conjoint analysis was employed to identify an ideal total rewards composition based on responses from Questionnaire 2.

Reading Bhantu Steven Biko s I write what I like (1978) for the first time as an undergraduate student was challenging. I write what I like, a selection of Biko s writings published between the years 1969 and 1973, contains, amongst others, the articles Black Souls in White Skins? (1970a), We Blacks (1970b), Fragmentation of the Black Resistance (1971a), The Definition of Black Consciousness (1971b) and Black Consciousness and the Quest for True Humanity (1973). Such articles express the core of Biko s call for black consciousness. Biko wrote on Blackness post-1960, in the period marked by the banning of black political parties and the imprisonment of their leaders on Robben Island. This was a time, according to Biko (1971a:63), when no one could speak for black opinion in South Africa. Biko saw the imprisoned political leaders as having managed to assemble the black population of South Africa as a unit. His call was a call to those discriminated against and oppressed by the apartheid system to maintain this assemblage (Biko 1970a, 1970b, 1971a, 1971b, 1973) and resist all attempts at fragmenting their resistance, namely: fighting separately for certain freedoms and gains (Biko 1971a:42). What was certain to me in my first reading of Biko, as it still is in a re-reading of his work, is that South Africa is a geographical space Biko and I share, but that the dynamics of the times at which we inhabit(ed) it seem different. Biko speaks to a world of unions: African Student Association (ASA); African Students Union of South Africa (ASUSA); African National congress (ANC); Pan African Congress (PAC); University Christian Movement (UCM); National Union of South African Students (NUSAS); University of Natal Black (UNB); South African Student Organisation (SASO) and University Bantu Council (UBO) . The impact of some of these unions have spanned decades; others have disintegrated. as a social phenomenon. · To determine caregivers views on contributing factors of malnutrition among children who are benefiting from the Child Support Grant. · To explore the challenges experienced by caregivers who receive the Child Support Grant. · To make recommendations for combating malnutrition among children under the age of five who are beneficiaries of the Child Support Grant. Ten caregivers whose children were diagnosed with malnutrition while benefiting from the Child Support Grant and were given treatment at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic hospital in 2015, were purposively selected to form the sample of the study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data from the participants. The main conclusions drawn from the research findings were that caregivers experienced economic challenges mainly due to unemployment and lack of reliable sources of income. These identified challenges were the main contributing factors of malnutrition among children who are under the age of five benefiting from the Child Support Grant. The study was also concluded with some useful and relevant recommendations from the caregivers responses on how to mitigate malnutrition among children who are under the age of five benefiting from the Child Support Grant. One of the crucial recommendations drawn from the findings of this research study was that more information sessions to caregivers regarding malnutrition should be conducted regularly at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic hospital.<br>Mini Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2015.<br>Modern European Languages<br>MA<br>Unrestricted

Over three decades of research has shown that memories have significant effect on the behaviour, attitudes, beliefs, and identities of individuals and collectives, revealing also how experiences of trauma and acts of narrativisation have pertinence to the ways in which memories are stored and reconstructed. In this thesis a link is developed between memory, trauma, narrativisation processes and the interpretation of works by Jane Alexander, a contemporary artist whose work is informed by observations about South African life. Alexander’s sculptures are revealed to be not only important vessels of collective memories and experiences, but also evocations of individuals’ countermemories and traumas that remain unarticulated and invisible. Through an exploration of the workings of memory and its relation to her art, it is revealed how the past continues to exert its influence on many of South Africa’s present sociopolitical concerns and interpersonal dynamics. Indeed constantly changing memories have a significant effect on future generations’ perceptions of, and connectedness to, the past. While theories about memory have been deployed in Art History as well as the Humanities in general, Alexander’s work has not previously been considered in light of the influence of these ideas. This thesis thus contributes a new dimension to literature on the artist.

This ethnographic study describes the digital media ecologies of hip-hop artists in the marginalised township spaces of a town in South Africa. It shows how technology appropriation here is highly contextual and linked to social context, while simultaneously informed by limited digital infrastructure that characterises marginalised communities in the Global South. In describing their social context, the study situates these young people in a post-apartheid space of entrenched racialised inequality, where unemployed black youth have very few economic prospects. Here hip-hop offers protection against despair as it allows a young person to claim a dignified sense of self, which is partly constituted through digital media competency. Through the Black Consciousness philosophy, hip-hop artists in Grahamstown become highly critical of self-defeating narratives rooted in racism, colonialism and apartheid, which often manifest in violent forms of urban masculinity. Instead they find ways to "remix" their identities by incorporating alternative notions of a successful self. These new identities foreground agency and competency, and are informed both by knowledge of African tradition and language, and newly acquired competency in entrepreneurship, artistic genres and digital skills. The study argues that acquisition of digital skills in this space is best conceptualised through the community of practice approach, where skills development is social and linked to a sense of belonging and progress. Just as the hip-hop artists claim agency in remixing their notion of self, they also claim agency in remixing the limited digital technology available to them into various assemblages, so crafting innovative solutions to the constraints of limited and expensive digital infrastructure. Here, through a hip-hop culture that champions overcoming adversity, dysfunctional digital technology is constantly repaired and remixed. Hitherto, research on digital media use in the Global South has predominantly focused on the mobile phone in isolation. This study instead argues for the merits of a holistic digital ethnography, since observations of how these young people combine technologies such as mobile phones, computers and DVD players in everyday life, illustrate how innovation in marginalised spaces may be focused around the remixing of technology.