Negotiating a democratic order in South Africa: Learning from mediation and industrial relations

Hirschsohn, Philip

doi:10.1007/bf02187173

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 6 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Although fraught with intense conflict, this helped to create a culture and practice of negotiated order in industrial relations (Hirschsohn, 1996) and a foundation for more cooperative labour-management relations. A fundamental precept of procedural industrial relations is the implicit respect that employers and employees must show for one another's interests.…”

Section: Transforming Training and Learning Institutionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Lessons can be learned from the institutionalization of workplace industrial relations in the 1980s, where the negotiation of recognition agreements between unions and management helped to transform HRM practices. Although fraught with intense conflict, this helped to create a culture and practice of negotiated order in industrial relations (Hirschsohn, 1996) and a foundation for more cooperative labour-management relations. A fundamental precept of procedural industrial relations is the implicit respect that employers and employees must show for one another's interests.…”

Section: Transforming Training and Learning Institutionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Regulating the `Animal Spirits' of Entrepreneurs?

Hirschsohn

2008

International Small Business Journal: Researching Entrepreneurs

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Despite a highly regulated economy under Apartheid, the espoused beliefs of South African entrepreneurs today are founded on Anglo-Saxon ideals of liberal markets and weak regulatory institutions.This belief system is confronted by an influential labour movement that initiated legislative reforms to transform labour market institutions towards a coordinated market economy model regulated by business, labour and the state. The country's skill development legislation aims to shift the low-wage, low-skill economy onto a growth path founded on the empowerment of workers into a skilled labour force by encouraging firms to increase their training expenditure. Case study evidence from food and beverages, manufacturing and services sectors suggests that SME approaches to training are not influenced by this legislation but by the requirements of the competitive business context, sector skill intensity and the entrepreneurs' business growth strategy. For SMEs the appropriateness of the new skill development framework to existing market conditions and institutional foundations is questioned.

show abstract

Section: Transforming Training and Learning Institutionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Transforming Training and Learning Institutionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regulating the `Animal Spirits' of Entrepreneurs?

Hirschsohn

2008

International Small Business Journal: Researching Entrepreneurs

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Support for the Wiehahn Commission on labour reform and subsequent changes to the Industrial Conciliation Act led to the legalisation of black unions in 1979. Industry leaders, recognising that state agents could not be trusted by black employees, negotiated with labour leaders the creation of the Independent Mediation Service of South Africa (IMSSA) in 1984 as a regime of private justice between workers and companies that subscribed to the privatised system of justice (Hirschsohn, 1996). But these were fundamentally palliative measures, arguably akin to the abolition in the 1980s under State President Botha of the pass laws, the granting of rights to black people to live in urban areas and the decriminalisation of interracial marriage or his government's increase in spending for black schools from one-sixteenth of what was spent per white child up to one-seventh.…”

Section: Business Attempts At Promoting Stabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Shared value as shared power: Business in South Africa’s democratic transition

Ganson

2023

South African Journal of Business Management

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Purpose: This study aimed to better define the boundary conditions of voluntary business engagement for social and economic transformation.Approach: Case study of the Consultative Business Movement (CBM) in South Africa’s democratic transition through historical narrative and analysis, applying both contemporaneous and contemporary lenses.Findings: The analysis demonstrates that creating shared value requires shared power, an arrangement into which incumbent businesses may reluctantly enter, and from which they may quickly exit when their own political interests are met but before transformational economic goals have been achieved. Thus, exogenous forces are necessary to dependably shape a private sector that is fully aligned with economic transformation and peaceful development.Practical implications: Economic and political carrots and sticks combined with the mandatory embedding of business actors in broader networks may be required to ensure that business strategies and operations are more directly the result of consensus reached with more progressive social and economic agents in ways that advance societal goals. Those managers who do want to lead change should take from the experience of CBM the imperative to take no unilateral decisions but rather to share decision-making power with civil society and community actors.Originality/value: The article challenges and refines discourse that assumes that business interests are broadly aligned with sustainable societal outcomes. It thus sheds light on the boundary conditions for the variety of propositions in the management literature that business and societal aims are largely aligned that have been underexplored.

show abstract

“…In 1979, when black workers gained more rights, mediators were needed since the black movements were themselves unwilling to engage directly with the government. In response, a group of academics, trade unionists, and business representatives institutionalized mediation in 1983 with the formation of the Independent Mediation Service in South Africa (IMSSA) (Anstey 1993;Hirschsohn 1996). The services of IMSSA were later extended to include disputes in other areas, and it also became involved in the peace committees established under the National Peace Accord.…”

Section: Mediation: Transfer Of Trust To a Third Partymentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward Electoral Security: Experiences from KwaZulu-Natal

Höglund

Jarstad

2011

Africa Spectrum

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

There is a growing recognition of the dangers of electoral violence. Yet, the theoretical foundation for systematic research and for adequate policy is still underdeveloped. This article aims to develop the theoretical understandings of strategies to manage and prevent electoral violence. This is accomplished by integrating research conducted within the two academic discourses on democratization and conflict management and also by drawing on the experiences from the conflict-ridden province KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. The five strategies identified are monitoring, mediation, legal measures, law enforcement and self-regulating practices. In the article, the functions and mechanisms of the strategies are discussed. In addition, we analyse the limitations and usefulness of each of the strategies in turn and also provide suggestions on how to improve electoral security.

show abstract

Negotiating a democratic order in South Africa: Learning from mediation and industrial relations

Cited by 3 publications

References 6 publications

Regulating the `Animal Spirits' of Entrepreneurs?

Regulating the `Animal Spirits' of Entrepreneurs?

Shared value as shared power: Business in South Africa’s democratic transition

Toward Electoral Security: Experiences from KwaZulu-Natal

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About