Empty Signifiers of Transformation in Participatory Planning and the Marginalization of Black People in South Africa

There is no doubt that participation as a development paradigm for the transformation of planning in South Africa took off in the early days of democracy with a revolutionary zeal. The mood of transforming planning practice from apartheid planning associated with top-down authoritarian modernist systems towards bottom-up post-apartheid democratic systems was marked by the emergence of a deluge of African metaphors such as indaba, lekgotla, simunye, tswele pele, etc. These metaphors immediately entered the scene of planning and policy documents, and this was seen largely as signifying the increased participation of black people marking moments of inclusion, transformation and empowerment. However, the legacy of apartheid planning still pervades through the work that planners do and its arresting impact remains unabated in South Africa. This paper explores the emergence of these African metaphors in participatory planning and their implications on the transformation of planning in South Africa. The paper advances the argument that African metaphors of participation have acted as empty signifiers of transformation for black people in the integrated development planning process. While the metaphors are used to construct politically sellable image for participatory processes, participation has gained ideological traction to support Eurocentric and globalist traditions of urban change. Participation reflects a new way of thinking about order, peace and development, and the African metaphors are not instrumental in changing the Eurocentric and global capitalist logic presiding over the constitution of law, theory and the technical instruments of planning.     

Organizational Transformation and Top-Down Change: The Case of the NHS

This paper analyses the effects of government-sponsored attempts to change the way that the NHS, one of the largest employers in Europe, is managed. The theoretical issues raised relate to the concept of transformational change and attempts at public-sector restructuring, which set the context for the presentation of data. The empirical research, carried out over three years, examines the changes since the most recent reforms (the NHS and Community Care Act 1990).
The research considers the extent of organizational change which can be seen as the outcome of these reforms in relation to: a multiple and inter-related change agenda; the creation of new forms of organization; the creation of new roles; the reconfiguration of power relations; and the creation of a new culture, ideology and organizational meaning. These are presented as the key variables which could indicate whether transformational, rather than incremental, change has occurred. The focus of this analysis is at local board level.
This article concludes that earlier analyses of the limited success of administrative reform are no longer the case. Our analysis of the key variables suggests that what is occurring at least at local board level goes beyond incremental change and may represent the beginnings of an 'organizational transformation'. This contains unintended as well as intended elements as an unanticipated 'hybrid' form of management may be emerging.     

The Rise in Union Wage Premiums in South Africa

The earnings premium received by African, urban, male union members in South Africa, as compared to other regular, urban male employees, is explored using two national sample surveys conducted in 1985 and 1993. The historical setting of this change is of particular interest, in the light of the transformation from the apartheid regime. Union membership grew very rapidly during this interval, as earlier prohibitions on African unions were lifted. Subsequently, the high rates of unemployment and segmentation of the labor force have been issues of central concern to the new government, elected in 1994. In this context, the paper extends prior methodology, by systematically comparing possible approaches to estimation, in addition to contributing fresh empirical results. Four approaches to estimation are adopted, allowing for: a single earnings regime with union dummy variable; the possibility of different earnings regimes among union members as compared to non‐members; endogenous switching between such regimes; sample selection arising from lack of employment and from division between regular and informal work. A series of tests on nested specifications indicate the importance of recognizing endogenous switching between differing pay structures in the covered and uncovered sectors. However (as with previous research on the South African labor market), no sample selection is detected with respect to employment status. The results suggest that collective bargaining resulted in wage compression among the expanding union membership while significantly widening the gap between members and non‐members. The latter widening gap cannot be attributed to the changing composition of union membership as reflected in observed characteristics of employees.     

Risk Management and the Business Environment in South Africa

Risk management involves tracking market and non-market long-range risks, understanding their adverse impact on the business environment, and managerial responses to reduce risk exposure. As an emerging market, South Africa poses a challenging array of long-term political, economic, financial and operational risks to investors. Risks such as concerns about increased costs, lack of transparency, limited capacity to enforce the rule of law, government intervention, a volatile currency, regional contagion and the HIV/Aids pandemic heighten uncertainty about the business environment. Managerial responses to anticipate and mitigate risks include matching mode of entry with risk tolerance, superior intelligence and lobbying, maintaining low tolerance for corruption, selecting appropriate financial instruments and balancing shareholder and stakeholder interests.The risk management framework presented, consisting of three elements: type of risk, impact of risks and managerial response to counter adverse risk impacts, may be refined and expanded for potential application to other emerging markets.     

The Role of Government in Macro-Level Quality Development: A Case Study of South Korea

Public Organization Review - This study investigates the South Korean government’s effort to promote macro-level quality development. Using the single case study method, the authors examined...     

案例分析：毕马威公司20世纪90年代的战略转变

在叙述世界著名会计师事务所毕马威公司(KPMG)在1992年至2001年进行的一场深层次的、具有根本性的战略转变的基础上,以战略管理者如何推动企业战略转变为主要视角,深入分析该公司战略转变的提出、设计和推进的全过程;揭示了该公司全球董事长科林.沙曼在推动公司战略转变中所表现出来的独特的洞察力,在策划战略转变中所表现出来的严密的一致性,以及在领导战略转变过程中所表现出来的高超的艺术性。     

Cashbuild of South Africa: Company response to Black employee demands

This is an international case dealing with human resource management in the peculiar social context of South Africa. Cashbuild is a South African building supplies company started in 1978. The focus of the case is the organizational transformation which resulted when the company became responsive to the demands and expectations of Black employees. The Managing Director of Cashbuild noted the similarity in Japanese culture and Zulu culture in stressing group cohesion. Under his leadership, Cashbuild's employees designed a company philosophy which empowered workers by giving them control of four out of five portfolios operative in each branch. The major elements of the change process are discussed. Questions are raised concerning the use of participative management in a society where there is a high element of uncertainty and repression.     

Business values in the Republic of South Africa and the United States: A tale of two countries

This paper reports on a study of the values of two samples of South African managers over a ten year period. It then compares those values to a group of U.S. entrepreneurs, using the same instrument, the Allport-Vernon-Lindzey Study of Values, for both groups. The comparison with the early sample of South African managers noted similarities between the value systems of the two groups. The comparison with the most recent group of managers indicates a shift in the values of the South African managers. There appeared to be little difference between the values of the latter group of managers on the basis of age. This was similar to the findings in the U.S. sample as well as the earlier South African sample. There were differences in the strength of the values, but less of a difference in the pattern of values exhibited based on industry backgrounds. The reasons for these shifts are discussed, including the potential impact on the education process in South Africa.     

“深康佳”中小股东维权:“庶民的胜利”抑或“百日维新”?——一个中小股东参与治理的分析框架

本文以我国资本市场上中小股东首次在董事会选举中击败控股股东并成功控制董事会的上市公司"深康佳"为例,探讨中小股东参与公司治理的动因、途径及局限性。主要发现和结论是:首先,互联网时代下,随着法制环境的改善和信息渠道的日益畅通,中小股东的维权意识更强,更容易了解和辨识控股股东对上市公司利益的侵害行为,也更可能借助网络等新媒体渠道沟通协作并联合制衡大股东;其次,股东网络投票制度降低了中小股东投票的成本,而累积投票制则大大提高了中小股东选派董事代表的可能性,成为中小股东制约控股股东、参与公司治理的有效渠道;最后,由于中小股东利益联盟脆弱、治理角色定位不当、短期偏好等局限,中小股东掌握控制权可能造成公司在治理和经营管理等方面的混乱。因此,我们需要客观全面地评价中小股东参与公司治理的积极意义及其局限性。本文提供了一个中小股东参与治理的完整分析框架,丰富了现有中小股东治理的相关文献,也对有关当局完善投资者保护制度尤其是股东投票机制有一定的借鉴意义。     

组织结构变革中的路径依赖与路径创造机制研究——以联想集团为例

经典的路径依赖理论因具有较强的历史决定论倾向,因而无法解释重大的技术和制度变革以及新路径的产生,这些问题推动着研究者将研究视角转向了路径创造和路径突破。战略行为具有路径依赖的特征,根据"战略决定结构、结构跟随战略"的思想,组织结构系统内生地蕴含着路径依赖特性。从组织结构模式演进的角度对组织中的路径依赖形成机制和路径创造机制进行研究,并讨论了组织结构变革中的路径依赖和路径创造对组织运行的双重影响。以联想集团为例,探讨了联想集团组织结构模式选择演化历程中的路径依赖和路径创造。     

南非运输业巨头Transnet的变革

Transnet是南非的国有运输企业，主要负责经营铁路、公路、港口、管道四大领域，是非洲最大的物流运输集团。对于“能量”二字，Transnet的理解自然是相当深刻的。     

Flood Risk Assessment in the Netherlands: A Case Study for Dike Ring South Holland

Large parts of the Netherlands are below sea level. Therefore, it is important to have insight into the possible consequences and risks of flooding. In this article, an analysis of the risks due to flooding of the dike ring area South Holland in the Netherlands is presented. For different flood scenarios the potential number of fatalities is estimated. Results indicate that a flood event in this area can expose large and densely populated areas and result in hundreds to thousands of fatalities. Evacuation of South Holland before a coastal flood will be difficult due to the large amount of time required for evacuation and the limited time available. By combination with available information regarding the probability of occurrence of different flood scenarios, the flood risks have been quantified. The probability of death for a person in South Holland due to flooding, the so‐called individual risk, is small. The probability of a flood disaster with many fatalities, the so‐called societal risk, is relatively large in comparison with the societal risks in other sectors in the Netherlands, such as the chemical sector and aviation. The societal risk of flooding appears to be unacceptable according to some of the existing risk limits that have been proposed in literature. These results indicate the necessity of a further societal discussion on the acceptable level of flood risk in the Netherlands and the need for additional risk reducing measures.     

Joint Persistence of Transformation Products in Chemicals Assessment: Case Studies and Uncertainty Analysis

The joint persistence (JP) quantifies the environmental persistence of a parent compound and a selection of relevant transformation products. Here, the importance as well as the uncertainty of the JP in comparison to the persistence of the parent compound alone (primary persistence, PP) are investigated. To demonstrate the effect of transformation products on the environmental persistence of organic chemicals, three case studies of parent compounds (nonylphenol ethoxylates, perchloroethylene, atrazine) and transformation products are investigated in detail with a multimedia fate model. Comparison of the PP and JP values shows that transformation products can significantly increase the persistence. In addition to the point estimates of PP and JP, the associated uncertainties are investigated. For each of the case studies, the chemical-specific input parameters of all compounds are varied and the corresponding variance of the PP and JP is determined by Monte Carlo simulations. Interestingly, the higher number of input parameters required for the JP does not necessarily increase the uncertainty of the JP as compared to that of the PP alone. An exact mathematical expression specifying the contribution of each transformation product to the JP is given. When transformation products are grouped in different generations, it becomes discernible that the first generation increases the JP most; the later generations are of decreasing importance. Finally, the effect of incomplete knowledge of the transformation products and their properties on the JP results is discussed. For reliable JP estimates, knowledge of the first generation transformation products and their degradation rate constants is required.     

Phases of Earthquake Experience: A Case Study of the June 2000 South Iceland Earthquakes

A case study of the impact factors of stress and relief in the wake of the south Iceland earthquakes in 2000 is presented. By applying axial coding analysis, the isolated concurrent and interplaying sociostructural impact factors were added sequentially to a time axis based on interviews with sufferers, as well as observations and a survey analysis. The data were obtained through a field survey using standardized questionnaires as well as numerous personal in-depth interviews, photographs, and field notes. An exposition of the different phases of the earthquake experience is presented, reflecting the victims' conscious and/or unconscious efforts to bring life back to "normal," though constantly burdened by a perceived lack of understanding of their experiences by "outsiders." The process was characterized by six main stress factors and three noteworthy mitigating factors. The findings are important for vulnerability and risk assessment as well as for planning pre-, pro-, and postearthquake reactions in the affected areas.     

Modeling the Airborne Infection Risk of Tuberculosis for a Research Facility in eMalahleni,South Africa

A detailed mathematical modeling framework for the risk of airborne infectious disease transmission in indoor spaces was developed to enable mathematical analysis of experiments conducted at the Airborne Infections Research (AIR) facility, eMalahleni, South Africa. A model was built using this framework to explore possible causes of why an experiment at the AIR facility did not produce expected results. The experiment was conducted at the AIR facility from August 31, 2015 to December 4, 2015, in which the efficacy of upper room germicidal ultraviolet (GUV) irradiation as an environmental control was tested. However, the experiment did not produce the expected outcome of having fewer infections in the test animal room than the control room. The simulation results indicate that dynamic effects, caused by switching the GUV lights, power outages, or introduction of new patients, did not result in the unexpected outcomes. However, a sensitivity analysis highlights that significant uncertainty exists with risk of transmission predictions based on current measurement practices, due to the reliance on large viable literature ranges for parameters.     

瓶颈突破、行动学习与转型能力——基于三家内向型中小制造企业的转型案例研究

关于内向型中小制造企业如何有效转型,现有文献尚无有力的解释。本文有机融合瓶颈理论、行动学习与转型能力的主要观点,对这一现象和过程进行了系统分析。本文选取三个典型案例,运用扎根理论规范的译码程序对案例进行剖析,构建了内向型中小制造企业转型能力提升路径模型。研究发现,内向型中小制造企业通过制定瓶颈突破方案为行动学习提供了正确的知识输入,行动学习为瓶颈突破方案的实施提供了有力保障,方案制定与行动学习就是不断解决问题与达成目标的过程,转型能力包括认知能力、转移能力与整合能力三个维度,它的提升路径是一个"知行合一"的过程。本文启示在于,内向型中小制造企业的转型战略重在瓶颈突破而不是全面变革、团队共识而不是个人英雄、微转型而不是战略转型。