Preview

About South Africa

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
4285 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
About South Africa
Change Management and
Transformation of Work in South Africa

Chenjie Bao
A46607917
baochenj@msu.edu
09/2012

A. Reflecting on the whole notions of change management and "transformation of work," how has your understanding of the concepts generally been confirmed, changed or expanded by the visit to South Africa? What are the contrasts and commonalities between the South African context and experience and those of the US and other nations with which you may be familiar? Reflect on themes like the pace of change, alternatives to the status quo, winners and losers in change processes, etc.

About Changes in South Africa
South Africa is the only developed country on the African continent, and its economic strength and political influence in Africa play an important role. The apartheid system was broken in 1994 after the ANC came to power in South Africa in a political democratization process, South Africa experienced a period of rapid development, but the internal strife of the African National Congress and the economic structure of the country have limited the growth of the economy. The advent of the global economic crisis in 2008/2009 has only created further stress on the economy. All of these factors will affect the parliamentary elections and will give the new government in South Africa serious challenges.

Last century in South Africa, the small but powerful white minority that had monopolized all economic and workplace activity, other than manual labor, had been tasked to change the workplace to be more representative of the population as a whole. This small white minority used to act as gatekeepers for the majority who were in power, politically and economically. Over the past two decades, the economic and security situation in South Africa has been declining year by year as seen by a series of problems such as the government deficit, unemployment rate, crime rate, brain drain, power shortages plaguing the whole nation and others. The cause of

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Week 2

    • 477 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Describe how the image of change impacted the change process in the organization that you described in the first part of this discussion, as well as how it impacted you personally. Then, select another change process and speculate how that process would have affected the work environment and the impact to the employees…

    • 477 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Best Essays

    Sub-Saharan Africa Essay

    • 2758 Words
    • 12 Pages

    On the vast continent of Africa, there are fifty-three countries; of these only six are not located below the Sahara Desert. This leaves the Sub-Saharan region of Africa to encompass a total of forty-seven countries. Many of these countries south of the Sahara have been in state failure, either partial or complete collapse of state authority. This has led to an inability to provide for economic development and a source of security. These failed states have governments with little political authority or ability to impose the rule of law, and are usually associated with widespread crime, conflict, or devastating humanitarian crises. Africa's problems are myriad and intricate; the rulers in Sub-Saharan Africa have struggled to develop autonomous and cohesive states during the postcolonial era giving rise to the fact that almost half of the world’s failing states are located here. The reasons for this wide spread failure below the Sahara include the following: intervention of Europeans through colonialism and slavery, poverty and low rankings in the Human Development Index, along with political instability and the rushed attempt of the democratization processes.…

    • 2758 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Traditional South African business tended towards the accumulation of power and decision-making in the hands of a few senior managers (usually white), with middle managers waiting in line to move up the corporate ladder over time. One needs to be aware of all the culture changes that one would experience upon working in South Africa. There are many things in terms of meetings styles, work culture, gender differences and dress code that one should be familiar with before starting an…

    • 588 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    This discussion shows the relation to change in management, aspects of leadership and culture that can be valuable to this case. It also provides advice for a new CEO about leadership and culture change based on evidence. The National Health Service (NHS) is a one of the largest healthcare organisations in the world, but it has been undergoing huge changes in the last decade. Organisational change means the movement from a current state to a new different state…

    • 3290 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Segregation and cruel inequalities imposed on the native black population had been deeply rooted in the South African psyche since it was first colonised. South Africans had a long history of living under white rule, the Dutch East India Company landed in South Africa in 1652 to use using the Cape of Good Hope as a base for ships travelling trade route between Europe and Asia1 and where followed by the British. The Boer Wars, fought in the late 1880 and early 1890s show how for the South African nation the main international concern was it's wealth of materials, not the people itself. The Boer wars also show the dominance of whites within South Africa and the disregard and the disrespect with which they treated the natives. Segregation was intensified when the Nationalist Party introduced Apartheid in 1948. Through a series of laws the Nationalist Party made inequality not only permissible, but actively encouraged.2 The Nationalist Party forced indigenous South Africans to reside in impoverished townships where they where denied even their most basic human rights and where exploited by the white minority. These townships where separated into tribal groups and were situated on the outskirts of towns. South Africans who lived in these townships worked as mainly miners and servants, for white superiors, and received very small payment for…

    • 2941 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Spring brings many wonderful things when living in Utah. It brings new life to plants and animals, it brings rain showers that last for hours, and it brings my favorite of the four seasons. Once the snow melts, we are able to go outside in the sun that we haven’t seen for months and enjoy all of the activities we love. I have always been a baseball player and all baseball players know that spring is the start of a new season. My first year in high school I was extremely nervous to go to tryouts that kick off the baseball season.…

    • 1626 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    South Africa Research

    • 769 Words
    • 4 Pages

    * Apartheid was a system of racial segregation and economic discrimination against non-European groups in South Africa…

    • 769 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    South Africa is frequently commended by the outside world for its tremendous transition to democracy. This transition is often considered to be an almost miraculous event, seeing that South Africa overcame the harshness of the Apartheid past with its cycles of revolts and repression. Fundamental to the political transition which occurred in South Africa was the change from the exclusivist and separatist ideology based racial segregation which characterized Apartheid government ideals under the National Party. The general elections in 1994 saw the transition towards a democratic ideology under the leadership of the ANC which adheres to a human rights culture, with the implementation a democratic constitution which upholds principles…

    • 5937 Words
    • 19 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Voorsitter. Jy kry Afrikaans in duisende boeke. Ons hoor gereeld van Afrikaanse dramas wat groot erkenning geniet, weet van verskillende Afrikaanse gedigte van wêreldklas en verneem telkens met belangstelling van ’n soveelste Afrikaanse roman wat in ’n ander taal vertaal is. Afrikaans laat hom dus wyd en syd geld. Dit staan immers nie terug vir enige ander taal as dit by seggenskrag kom nie. En tog: skaars ’n eeu of wat gelede was daar sekere Afrikaanssprekendes wat “die Taal” as ’n agterlike dialek van Nederlands beskou het. Dis ’n armsalige kombuistaaltjie. Hoe sou só ’n boerse flenter van ’n tongval met ’n uiters verskraalde grammatika en ’n tingerige woordeskat nou ooit gebore in staat wees om enige behoorlike uitdrukking aan edel gedagtes te gee? Maar dames en here, Afrikaans het soos ‘n soet kind al sy wortels geëet en vandag kan ons behoorlik kommunikeer.…

    • 1034 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Meyer M, Botha E, 2004, Organisational Development and Transformation in South Africa, 2nd Edition, Butterworth Publishers, South Africa, Sandton…

    • 7496 Words
    • 28 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Best Essays

    Prior to the year 1994 South Africa was having issues of poverty and inequalities which were largely legacy of apartheid and past race-based policies (Jagwanth, S. 2000:1). Surprisingly, one of the important factors determining the symptoms and extents of poverty and inequality in South Africa is the labor market (Jagwanth, S. 2000: 1). This essay will look at whether the state’s changed labor and market policies gives prospect to corporations in South Africa. This essay will firstly look at the current labor policies. Secondly, it will describe the current market policies. Thirdly, it is going to discuss the implications of an open market policy, in relation to South Africa’s situation. Lastly, it will discuss the current situation found in the manufacturing sector of South Africa.…

    • 1201 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    South Africa became a well-rounded democratic republic after several years of being run under a government that was a stronghold for conservative-minded white South Africans. This shift of power led to the enactment of new, liberal policies that were put in place to hopefully alter South African society as many citizens were attempting to live in a more accepting, resourceful country. Many people believe that the three main types of legislation passed--social, political and economic--were closely weighted in how much of an effect they had, and still have, in the democracy. However, others may be on the complete opposite side of the spectrum, believing that political transformation was the main policy that saw a major change. But, in this…

    • 783 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ranked by the World Bank as an “upper middle-income country”, South Africa is the largest economy in Africa – and it remains rich with promise. It was admitted to the BRIC group of countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China…

    • 373 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Allow me to use this platform to deliberate on South Africa's successful, yet turbulent journey since the first democratically elected government and the stride we ought to take to make our country a better place for everyone. South Africa finds itself in a compromised position on the contemporary political setting. Our country lacks the…

    • 1137 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The experimental research method (“Cause and effect relationship”) - This is a systematic and scientific approach to research in which the researcher manipulates one or more variables, controls and measures any change in other variables.…

    • 542 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays