Abstract
This research focused on employee participation in South African organisations as a tool for
global competitiveness. Chapter one outlines the background to the study, its aims, statement of
the problem and the research methodology.
World wide socio -political and political changes were discussed. It emerged that such changes
have revolutionalised and democratised countries and their organizations. Despite being
recognised as a democratic country now, many of South Africa’s organisations are not yet fully
democratic. Such organisations face the danger of being out-performed globally by those
organisations that have already democratised themselves, as dictated by global trends.
Using a theoretical exploration of relevant literature, the research was designed to determine the
extent to which organisations in South Africa have positioned themselves to compete globally
through the use of employee participation at the workplace. A theoretically-oriented method was
utilised since the concepts of Global Competitiveness, or being “World-Class”, and that of
Employee Participatio n are relatively new in South Africa. It is argued that the method
contributes, inter alia, to the uncovering of generalisations that could be investigated by future
researchers using more accurate and complex designs. At the same time, a broader
understanding of the concepts of Global Competitiveness and “World-Class” is gained.
From a detailed discussion of the concept “World-Class” it is evident that “world-class”
organisations design their strategies, structures and leadership processes in such a way that
customers’ needs are continuously met. To ensure that customers are provided with high quality
products, globally competitive organisations continuously benchmark their systems, processes
and results against those of the best organisation in the world .
It is argued that Employment Relations Management as a sub-system of the wider organisational
system has to be designed and managed in a way that ensures the satisfaction of the
organisation’s employees and external clients. It also has to be benchmarked to ensure that it
continues to deliver optimally. This necessitates a paradigm shift in the management of
Employment Relations, from the typically Unitarist approach that characterised the work-place
prior to the country’s democratisation in April 1994, to an integrated approach that takes
cognisance of the interests, values and needs of all stakeholders. Such an approach would, no
Prof. J.A. Slabbert