Technological domination and the future of workers in the labour market in the face of automation: a study of the automobile sector in South Africa
- Authors: Chigbu, Bianca Ifeoma
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Office practice -- Automation Employees -- Technological innovations Organizational change
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD(Sociology)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/17954 , vital:41996
- Description: This exploratory work investigated the principal aim of this study: the rate of technological domination in South Africa and the future of workers in the labour market in the face of automation. It also explored collaborative experiences between technology and human workers and how employees in the automobile sector compete with technologies in their work environment. The future-readiness of workers in this automation age and union influence with regards to technology adoption in the world of work were also examined. The study utilized a qualitative research method with in-depth interviews of data collection with 30 respondents consisting of two managers and five auto plant workers from Mercedes Benz; two shop stewards from Toyota Motors; two union representatives and nineteen workers working in the auto plant in Volkswagen South Africa (VWSA). A desktop data collection process was also employed in this study. Evolutionary Economics Theory, Labour Process Theory and Corporate Social Responsibility drove the whole analysis to explain the technological outcome in the workplace. The central argument of this study is that robots and human employees must each efficiently interface where they can best be put to good use. However, in an attempt to minimise product imperfection due to human inconsistencies and to increase productivity, the automobile industry has adopted more technologies to meet the needs of its customers and remained competitive. Nonetheless, the rate at which the technologies are adopted has increased the rate of job automation in the automobile sector and has also led to the deskilling of the auto workforce. Additionally, technology is outcompeting human workers because it has changed and evolved more rapidly than workers. The study argues that despite that automation increases productivity, it is a threat to low skilled workers in the sense that workers might end up underemployed or unemployed although highly skilled workers might be further upskilled. The findings further revealed that the workers are not ready for this change. Another revelation is that there is a unilateral workplace restructuring decision making, which neglects the input of workers and their union with regards to how work should be restructured. The findings call for sustainable corporate responsible management. The largest adopter of industrial robots in manufacturing processes is the automobile sector since global competition in the labour market commands uninterrupted modernisation and automation of production processes in the automobile industry. Each production process is not imaginable without automation today. In the quest to transform the workplace, improve iv productivity, the economy and develop communities with technological adoption, it is imperative to consider the short and long-term sustainable socio-economic development for all. It is argued that almost all sectors and working classes are vulnerable to automation. KozulWright (2016) during the United Nation’s Conference on Trade and Development concurs with other scholars that job disruption from automation affect routine tasks and its negative impact is much in the developing countries. It was recommended that a professional qualification should be incorporated with an academic qualification that aligns with technical and non-technical unautomable skills. Transparency and accountability are a must on the part of all the stakeholders involved in the automobile industry, particularly from management, to make a more sustainable economic decision that will benefit the development of workers. It is equally important for organisations, policymakers, workers, union and societies to develop feasible strategies to manage added concerns of job automation such as polarisation in the societies, the workforce and which may create societal breakdowns and conflicts. At the same time, as these machines will evolve in decades to come, we should expect to see a drastic transformation in workforce development. This study contributes to satisfactory ways to facilitate job automation transition to counteract any negative outcome with reference to those workers who might be affected by the changes in order to achieve a better society.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Chigbu, Bianca Ifeoma
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Office practice -- Automation Employees -- Technological innovations Organizational change
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD(Sociology)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/17954 , vital:41996
- Description: This exploratory work investigated the principal aim of this study: the rate of technological domination in South Africa and the future of workers in the labour market in the face of automation. It also explored collaborative experiences between technology and human workers and how employees in the automobile sector compete with technologies in their work environment. The future-readiness of workers in this automation age and union influence with regards to technology adoption in the world of work were also examined. The study utilized a qualitative research method with in-depth interviews of data collection with 30 respondents consisting of two managers and five auto plant workers from Mercedes Benz; two shop stewards from Toyota Motors; two union representatives and nineteen workers working in the auto plant in Volkswagen South Africa (VWSA). A desktop data collection process was also employed in this study. Evolutionary Economics Theory, Labour Process Theory and Corporate Social Responsibility drove the whole analysis to explain the technological outcome in the workplace. The central argument of this study is that robots and human employees must each efficiently interface where they can best be put to good use. However, in an attempt to minimise product imperfection due to human inconsistencies and to increase productivity, the automobile industry has adopted more technologies to meet the needs of its customers and remained competitive. Nonetheless, the rate at which the technologies are adopted has increased the rate of job automation in the automobile sector and has also led to the deskilling of the auto workforce. Additionally, technology is outcompeting human workers because it has changed and evolved more rapidly than workers. The study argues that despite that automation increases productivity, it is a threat to low skilled workers in the sense that workers might end up underemployed or unemployed although highly skilled workers might be further upskilled. The findings further revealed that the workers are not ready for this change. Another revelation is that there is a unilateral workplace restructuring decision making, which neglects the input of workers and their union with regards to how work should be restructured. The findings call for sustainable corporate responsible management. The largest adopter of industrial robots in manufacturing processes is the automobile sector since global competition in the labour market commands uninterrupted modernisation and automation of production processes in the automobile industry. Each production process is not imaginable without automation today. In the quest to transform the workplace, improve iv productivity, the economy and develop communities with technological adoption, it is imperative to consider the short and long-term sustainable socio-economic development for all. It is argued that almost all sectors and working classes are vulnerable to automation. KozulWright (2016) during the United Nation’s Conference on Trade and Development concurs with other scholars that job disruption from automation affect routine tasks and its negative impact is much in the developing countries. It was recommended that a professional qualification should be incorporated with an academic qualification that aligns with technical and non-technical unautomable skills. Transparency and accountability are a must on the part of all the stakeholders involved in the automobile industry, particularly from management, to make a more sustainable economic decision that will benefit the development of workers. It is equally important for organisations, policymakers, workers, union and societies to develop feasible strategies to manage added concerns of job automation such as polarisation in the societies, the workforce and which may create societal breakdowns and conflicts. At the same time, as these machines will evolve in decades to come, we should expect to see a drastic transformation in workforce development. This study contributes to satisfactory ways to facilitate job automation transition to counteract any negative outcome with reference to those workers who might be affected by the changes in order to achieve a better society.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Cross-Border Migration, Social Cohesion and African Continental Integration: Perspectives of African Immigrants and South African Nationals in Gauteng, South Africa
- Authors: Maseng, Jonathan Oshupeng
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Migration -- Africa Emigration and immigration Social integration
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD(Sociology)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/8855 , vital:33673
- Description: Using the Sunnyside suburb of South Africa’s capital city of Pretoria as a case study, this study sought to gather, analyse and engage the perspectives, narratives and idealisations of African migrants and South African nationals in Gauteng province on cross-border migration, social cohesion and African continental integration. The goal was to interrogate the dominant discourse and assumption in migration scholarship that contact between nationals and immigrants is inherently conflict-inducing. The study adopted a qualitative methodology, with in-depth interviews, “street ethnography”, expert interviews and document analysis as the main sources of primary data. Overall, 85 in-depth interviews were conducted with immigrants and nationals of different occupational, gender and class backgrounds. The study found, among other things, that while many respondents expressed negative sentiments with regard to how cross-border migration affected their experience of social cohesion and idealisations about African continental integration, the relations between African immigrants and South African nationals in the study area were overwhelmingly congenial. This was even when there was no policy-oriented action by government to promote these positive relations. Respondents attributed this congeniality to, among other things, the fact that most small immigrant businesses depended on a predominantly South African clientele, while South African nationals in the study area saw such businesses as filling a crucial gap in their immediate socio-economic environments. Importantly, service provider-client relations served as “enhancers” of social cohesion in the study area. On the other hand, the relative dominance of immigrants in the small business sector in the study area served as a “threat” to social cohesion. From these findings, the study concluded that, contact between immigrants and nationals was not necessarily inherently conflict-inducing, and that social cohesion also rested on the logic of mutual dependence.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Maseng, Jonathan Oshupeng
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Migration -- Africa Emigration and immigration Social integration
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD(Sociology)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/8855 , vital:33673
- Description: Using the Sunnyside suburb of South Africa’s capital city of Pretoria as a case study, this study sought to gather, analyse and engage the perspectives, narratives and idealisations of African migrants and South African nationals in Gauteng province on cross-border migration, social cohesion and African continental integration. The goal was to interrogate the dominant discourse and assumption in migration scholarship that contact between nationals and immigrants is inherently conflict-inducing. The study adopted a qualitative methodology, with in-depth interviews, “street ethnography”, expert interviews and document analysis as the main sources of primary data. Overall, 85 in-depth interviews were conducted with immigrants and nationals of different occupational, gender and class backgrounds. The study found, among other things, that while many respondents expressed negative sentiments with regard to how cross-border migration affected their experience of social cohesion and idealisations about African continental integration, the relations between African immigrants and South African nationals in the study area were overwhelmingly congenial. This was even when there was no policy-oriented action by government to promote these positive relations. Respondents attributed this congeniality to, among other things, the fact that most small immigrant businesses depended on a predominantly South African clientele, while South African nationals in the study area saw such businesses as filling a crucial gap in their immediate socio-economic environments. Importantly, service provider-client relations served as “enhancers” of social cohesion in the study area. On the other hand, the relative dominance of immigrants in the small business sector in the study area served as a “threat” to social cohesion. From these findings, the study concluded that, contact between immigrants and nationals was not necessarily inherently conflict-inducing, and that social cohesion also rested on the logic of mutual dependence.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Donor support, electoral dynamics and democratisation in South Africa :the case of the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality, Eastern Cape
- Authors: Bosompem, Henry Kofi
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Democratization -- South Africa Elections -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD(Sociology)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/11243 , vital:37612
- Description: This thesis is on Donor Support, Electoral Dynamics and Democratisation in South Africa with particular focus on the Buffalo City Municipality of the Eastern Cape. The main aim of the thesis is to investigate and highlight the global outlook of donor support perspectives and conditionalities and to examine the basic tenets of democratisation and link them to the interplay of the electoral dynamics that influence grassroots political participation. Furthermore, the study attempts to ascertain the involvement and perceptions of local communities with regard to the role of donor support in democratic governance, development and electoral dynamics. In this era and dispensation of democracy, the fledging democratic institutions require substantial donor support to perform their constitutional mandatory obligations. Most of this support had traditionally come from government. Given the weight and pressure on the government budget, the widening unemployment and inequality in South African communities, there is the need to solicit assistance from development partners for electoral administration and development. The current study, therefore, investigated community voters, political parties and the Elected or Nominated Councillors’ perceptions of donor support and democratisation. This thesis further investigated the roles and functions of the Donor Agency, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) and Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality (BCMM) in donor support, electoral administration and democratisation. The study utilized a mixed method approach where 384 structured questionnaires were administered and 52 in-depth interviews conducted with the respondents. The study made use of a systematic empirical inquiry and literature review to understand its subject matter. It did not only scrutinise data previously collected by other researchers but also utilised information from other sources such as tabloid surveys, brochures, bulletins and the internet. Thus, this strategy is ideal for the present study which seeks to capture the views, experiences and feelings and understanding of party officials. This study utilized the Development aid theory, political party and democratisation theories, Gouldner’s theory of Moral Norm of Reciprocity and Social Support in combination with Larzasfeld’s Voters’ behaviour theory and the social justice and equity perspective as elements of the theoretical framework.The purpose of achieving electoral confidence among the citizens is to demonstrate the value of electoral dynamics and perspectives of democratization that forms an expressed vi indicator of the relationship between politics and development. The electoral dynamics that shape political institutions, governance and its discourses in any democratic enterprise include: party affiliation, party and donor support mobilisation, voting patterns, government and the state agency’s performance. In addition, it includes economic policies towards poverty alleviation, service delivery, ethnic politics and all the state democratization policies which are pursued to bring greater relief to its citizens. Correspondingly, it is geared towards creating a balanced relationship on the donor-recipient equation and to ensure socio-economic well-being to the citizens guided by reciprocity, good governance, transparency, accountability and social justice.The emerging findings indicate that most political parties and elected councillors in the municipality receive donor support beside the traditional sources that we know such as membership dues, party subscriptions, levies, state sponsorship,fundraising for special projects and sale of souvenirs. Some of the sources were from international community and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs). The study found that donors require huge returns on their support and investments. The IEC and BCMM were largely funded by Treasury for their projects and programmes. However, the BCMM also gets substantial support from sister-city relations with other municipalities abroad. Some community voters hold the view that political party funding opens the doors for the hijacking of democracy. Others hold the opinion that dishonest donors corrupt weak governments, undiscerning officials and immoral leaders. Nevertheless, some political party officials felt that donors were not all that evil. They hold the view that genuine donors help to build the capacity of officials and strengthen party structures, thereby deepening democratic ethics and culture. They were of the view that good donors promote transparency, accountability and good governance to strengthen the pillars and the threshold of democracy and the democratisation processes in emerging states in sub-Saharan Africa. On the basis of these findings, the core argument of this study is that donor support induces democratisation which mainly benefit donor communities and municipal elites at the expense of local communities. Nevertheless, the perception that development projects funded by donor agencies are meant for donor poverty alleviation, despite the absence of visible effects of trickle down, account for community members’ participation in the electoral system.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Bosompem, Henry Kofi
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Democratization -- South Africa Elections -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD(Sociology)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/11243 , vital:37612
- Description: This thesis is on Donor Support, Electoral Dynamics and Democratisation in South Africa with particular focus on the Buffalo City Municipality of the Eastern Cape. The main aim of the thesis is to investigate and highlight the global outlook of donor support perspectives and conditionalities and to examine the basic tenets of democratisation and link them to the interplay of the electoral dynamics that influence grassroots political participation. Furthermore, the study attempts to ascertain the involvement and perceptions of local communities with regard to the role of donor support in democratic governance, development and electoral dynamics. In this era and dispensation of democracy, the fledging democratic institutions require substantial donor support to perform their constitutional mandatory obligations. Most of this support had traditionally come from government. Given the weight and pressure on the government budget, the widening unemployment and inequality in South African communities, there is the need to solicit assistance from development partners for electoral administration and development. The current study, therefore, investigated community voters, political parties and the Elected or Nominated Councillors’ perceptions of donor support and democratisation. This thesis further investigated the roles and functions of the Donor Agency, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) and Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality (BCMM) in donor support, electoral administration and democratisation. The study utilized a mixed method approach where 384 structured questionnaires were administered and 52 in-depth interviews conducted with the respondents. The study made use of a systematic empirical inquiry and literature review to understand its subject matter. It did not only scrutinise data previously collected by other researchers but also utilised information from other sources such as tabloid surveys, brochures, bulletins and the internet. Thus, this strategy is ideal for the present study which seeks to capture the views, experiences and feelings and understanding of party officials. This study utilized the Development aid theory, political party and democratisation theories, Gouldner’s theory of Moral Norm of Reciprocity and Social Support in combination with Larzasfeld’s Voters’ behaviour theory and the social justice and equity perspective as elements of the theoretical framework.The purpose of achieving electoral confidence among the citizens is to demonstrate the value of electoral dynamics and perspectives of democratization that forms an expressed vi indicator of the relationship between politics and development. The electoral dynamics that shape political institutions, governance and its discourses in any democratic enterprise include: party affiliation, party and donor support mobilisation, voting patterns, government and the state agency’s performance. In addition, it includes economic policies towards poverty alleviation, service delivery, ethnic politics and all the state democratization policies which are pursued to bring greater relief to its citizens. Correspondingly, it is geared towards creating a balanced relationship on the donor-recipient equation and to ensure socio-economic well-being to the citizens guided by reciprocity, good governance, transparency, accountability and social justice.The emerging findings indicate that most political parties and elected councillors in the municipality receive donor support beside the traditional sources that we know such as membership dues, party subscriptions, levies, state sponsorship,fundraising for special projects and sale of souvenirs. Some of the sources were from international community and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs). The study found that donors require huge returns on their support and investments. The IEC and BCMM were largely funded by Treasury for their projects and programmes. However, the BCMM also gets substantial support from sister-city relations with other municipalities abroad. Some community voters hold the view that political party funding opens the doors for the hijacking of democracy. Others hold the opinion that dishonest donors corrupt weak governments, undiscerning officials and immoral leaders. Nevertheless, some political party officials felt that donors were not all that evil. They hold the view that genuine donors help to build the capacity of officials and strengthen party structures, thereby deepening democratic ethics and culture. They were of the view that good donors promote transparency, accountability and good governance to strengthen the pillars and the threshold of democracy and the democratisation processes in emerging states in sub-Saharan Africa. On the basis of these findings, the core argument of this study is that donor support induces democratisation which mainly benefit donor communities and municipal elites at the expense of local communities. Nevertheless, the perception that development projects funded by donor agencies are meant for donor poverty alleviation, despite the absence of visible effects of trickle down, account for community members’ participation in the electoral system.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Skilled Migrants and Remittances in a Development Context: A Social Value Analysis of Skills and Home Remittances among Zimbabweans living in East London, South Africa
- Authors: Mafuso, Leo Tsakata
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Migration Emigrant remittances Migrant labor
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD(Sociology)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/8840 , vital:33672
- Description: Against the backdrop of a growing orthodoxy that places the issue of home remittances by a country’s emigrant citizens at the centre of national and international development, this study presents a social value analysis of skills and home remittances in the Zimbabwean context. The study unveils the narratives of skilled Zimbabwean citizens living and working in East London, South Africa, with specific regard to the extent to which the revenues gained by the Zimbabwean economy through home remittances offset the skills lost by the same economy through the emigration of its skilled citizens. A mixed-methods approach was adopted, with data drawn from a survey of 158 skilled Zimbabweans, three key informant interviews (with officers of immigration stakeholder organisations) and one focus group discussion. The study found that an overwhelming majority of survey respondents regularly remitted money home, and believed that such remittances helped them to fulfil filial and other familial obligations, besides being vital to the Zimbabwean economy as a whole. They emphasised, however, that the total value of home remittances, though substantial in monetary terms, was miniscule when compared to the skills the country had lost as a result of migration. Respondents expressed the view that home remittances could not substitute for the skills lost by a country and that the proper utilisation of, and compensation for, their skills at home would develop their country faster. The study thus cuts through the dominant discourse on the developmental significance of home remittances and provides insights into the importance of skilled professionals in the Zimbabwean context, and the developmental consequences of seeing them simply as “remitters” of foreign exchange. By privileging the perspectives of skilled migrants, the study highlights how skilled professionals see themselves and their role within the migration-development debate. This therefore was a study of the migration-remittance-development nexus as though the migrant mattered.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Mafuso, Leo Tsakata
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Migration Emigrant remittances Migrant labor
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD(Sociology)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/8840 , vital:33672
- Description: Against the backdrop of a growing orthodoxy that places the issue of home remittances by a country’s emigrant citizens at the centre of national and international development, this study presents a social value analysis of skills and home remittances in the Zimbabwean context. The study unveils the narratives of skilled Zimbabwean citizens living and working in East London, South Africa, with specific regard to the extent to which the revenues gained by the Zimbabwean economy through home remittances offset the skills lost by the same economy through the emigration of its skilled citizens. A mixed-methods approach was adopted, with data drawn from a survey of 158 skilled Zimbabweans, three key informant interviews (with officers of immigration stakeholder organisations) and one focus group discussion. The study found that an overwhelming majority of survey respondents regularly remitted money home, and believed that such remittances helped them to fulfil filial and other familial obligations, besides being vital to the Zimbabwean economy as a whole. They emphasised, however, that the total value of home remittances, though substantial in monetary terms, was miniscule when compared to the skills the country had lost as a result of migration. Respondents expressed the view that home remittances could not substitute for the skills lost by a country and that the proper utilisation of, and compensation for, their skills at home would develop their country faster. The study thus cuts through the dominant discourse on the developmental significance of home remittances and provides insights into the importance of skilled professionals in the Zimbabwean context, and the developmental consequences of seeing them simply as “remitters” of foreign exchange. By privileging the perspectives of skilled migrants, the study highlights how skilled professionals see themselves and their role within the migration-development debate. This therefore was a study of the migration-remittance-development nexus as though the migrant mattered.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
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