Frank M. Horwitz

Managing human resources in Africa

1. Preface 2. Human Resource Management in South Africa 3. Human Resource Management in Botswana 4. Human Resource Management in Zambia 5. Human Resource Management in Mauritius 6. Human Resource Management in Tanzania 7. Human Resource Management in Kenya 8. Human Resource Management in Ethiopia 9. Human Resource Management in Ghana 10. Human Resource Management in Ivory Coast 11. Human Resource Management in Tunisia 12. Human Resource Management in Libya 13. Conclusions: Toward a Research Agenda

The Promise of Virtual Teams: Identifying Key Factors in Effectiveness and Failure.

Purpose – The aim of the investigation is to identify enabling and disenabling factors in the development and operation of virtual teams; to evaluate the importance of factors such as team development, cross‐cultural variables, leadership, communication and social cohesion as contributors to virtual team effectiveness.Design/methodology/approach – A total of 115 employees in virtual teams using an on‐line survey contributed a 55 per cent response rate. An on‐line survey combining both quantitative Likert scale and qualitative explanatory questions measured the following variables in addition to those above: team member roles and responsibilities, relationships and trust and team dynamics.Findings – Results indicated that cross‐cultural communication improvement, managerial and leadership communication, goal and role clarification, and relationship building are most important to virtual team performance.Research limitations/implications – Further research focusing on particular sectors such as knowledge‐ i...

The emergence of strategic training and development: the current state of play

Evaluates how HRD needs which arise from different business strategies will depend on, among other things, the purpose and structure of the strategies involved. Considers the motivation for strategic HRD, expenditure and responsibility. Concludes that a strategic approach to training and development necessitates increased theoretical rigour, more rigorous evaluation of effectiveness, and resolution of responsibility for training.

HUMAN RESOURCE STRATEGIES FOR MANAGING KNOWLEDGE WORKERS: AN AFRO-ASIAN COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

We use the model of culture fit to determine the human resource (HR) strategies for managing knowledge workers in two socio-culturally different countries: South Africa (SA) and Singapore. The national culture of SA is ethnically more diverse. Enterprise environment, such as institutional factors, particularly ownership, organization size and industry type, has more HR impact in Singapore than in SA. We found that there were convergent effective HR strategies used for motivating and retaining, but practices were divergent for attracting knowledge workers. When most frequent and ineffective strategies were studied, there were divergent practices. This knowledge of effective strategies being transferred to the two countries from more developed economies is in line with similar HR research.

Human resource development and managing diversity in South Africa

Discusses structural and labour market issues associated with the processes of employment equity and diversity management in South African organizations. Argues that effective individual and organizational change are most likely to occur when human resource development and diversity management approaches are adopted simultaneously. Contends that appropriate information is a critical component for planning, monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of HRD and diversity management.

Organization design for service excellence: A review of the literature

It is commonly accepted that service excellence can enhance the competitive advantage of a firm. Two critical success factors in this regard are evaluated in this article: First, how best to structure an organization in order to provide flexibility in satisfying customer needs, and second, how certain human resource practices help create and improve customer service.

Human Resource Management Strategies in Practice: Case-Study Findings in Multinational Firms

Competitive pressures have increased the strategic value of a skilled, motivated and adaptable workforce, and the HRM strategies to support and develop it. A strategic perspective of HRM requires the firm to identify and adopt human capital initiatives likely to enhance competitiveness and shareholder value. A key question considered here is the extent to which multinational firms adapt internally consistent human resource strategies across national boundaries to address these issues. Case-study data on how eight multinational firms in Singapore apply strategic approaches to human resource management are presented. Findings show that while some adaptation considering local context occurs, the diffusion of headquarters and centrally initiated, but competitively differentiated strategies across cultural boundaries, is significant. Effective human resource strategies were understood as ‘configurational’, integrated both vertically and horizontally.

Evolving human resource management in Southern African multinational firms: towards an Afro-Asian nexus

Using case examples, this article assesses the nature of human resource management (HRM) practices in Southern African multinational companies (MNCs) on which there is a paucity of published research. The aim of this article is an exploratory one with the case for such an analysis to better understand the HRM practice developed and diffused by growing emerging market MNCs from Southern Africa. With significantly increasing presence of Asian MNCs in Africa, a typology of an Afro-Asian nexus in evolving HRM practice is proposed.

Employment equity in Canada and South Africa: a comparative review

The South African Government has sought to redress the historical legacy of workplace discrimination by introducing the Employment Equity Act (1998), which was largely modeled on the Canadian Employment Equity Act. Although there is very little comparative information between South Africa and Canada, we fill this gap by reviewing the literature in both countries, highlighting common features of the legislation, discussing the effectiveness of legislation in both countries as well as the progress made by the designated groups covered by the legislation. This paper provides a background on the rationale for employment equity and associated human resource management policies in both Canada and South Africa. The analysis is largely based on institutional theories of organizations. Our evaluation provides overall conclusions for policy makers and organizational leaders, taking into consideration socio-historical, political, and demographic differences between the jurisdictions. Issues include top management commitment, organizational culture, Black economic empowerment, and diversity policies and practice.

Human resource practices and discrimination in South Africa: overcoming the apartheid legacy

While there is some level of isomorphism and convergence in HRM practices, country-specific differences remain, notwithstanding globalization and the influence of increasingly powerful multinationals. Much work has occurred on diversity management and cultural aspects of management in South Africa (SA). This analysis finds that local institutional context in labour relations and particularism in practices remain important, although the influence of convergent forces such as globalization, information technology and increased competition has become much more prominent in post-apartheid SA. Human resource practitioners in SA see the most important workplace challenges as performance improvement, employment equity, training and development and managing trade union expectations. This article critically evaluates the effects of recent legislative measures, particularly labour court and arbitration awards aimed at addressing the adverse impact of past unfair discrimination on pay practices and skills development. The latter are found to be interrelated, sensitive and difficult areas of discrimination in respect of legal proof.