Overview
Chapter 14 introduces an innovative approach to Employment Equity Committee self-evaluation through an extended metaphor of a bus journey, providing practitioners with practical frameworks for understanding their roles and responsibilities within organisations.
Objective
To enable Employment Equity Committee members to evaluate their positions, responsibilities, and effectiveness within their organisations whilst understanding their connections to various stakeholders.
Purpose
To provide a practical framework for committee members to assess their roles and responsibilities whilst ensuring effective contribution to Employment Equity implementation.
Chapter 14 presents a distinctive approach to understanding Employment Equity implementation through an extended metaphor of a bus journey. This creative framework enables practitioners to comprehend complex organisational relationships and responsibilities in accessible terms.
The chapter begins by establishing the bus journey metaphor, drawing careful parallels between various aspects of organisational structure and the components of a successful journey. The organisation itself is represented as the bus, with management serving as drivers responsible for direction and announcements. The destination represents organisational objectives, whilst the roadmap symbolises the logical steps required to achieve these goals.
The metaphor extends to various organisational roles, with senior, middle, and junior managers represented as service providers ensuring smooth journey progression. Stakeholders, including clients, customers, staff members, suppliers, and distributors, are characterised as passengers, acknowledging that some will join and leave throughout the journey. The employment equity forum’s role is specifically identified as maintaining the journey’s proper course and keeping passengers informed of progress.
The chapter emphasises the importance of understanding current positioning before commencing implementation. It provides a structured framework for practitioners to evaluate their current situation, encouraging them to assess whether they are progressing toward objectives or requiring course correction.
Significant attention is devoted to understanding responsibilities, with the chapter requiring practitioners to comprehensively list their job responsibilities and identify those for whom they are accountable. This evaluation extends beyond immediate departmental connections to encompass broader organisational relationships and dependencies.
The book emphasises the interconnected nature of organisational responsibilities, using practical examples to illustrate how actions in one area can affect multiple stakeholders. A pharmaceutical warehouse example effectively demonstrates how seemingly minor errors can have significant consequences across the organisation and beyond.
The chapter provides structured exercises for practitioners to identify and understand their connections with various departments and stakeholders. These exercises require detailed analysis of both direct and indirect relationships, ensuring comprehensive understanding of organisational interdependencies.
Particular attention is paid to customer responsibility, with the chapter requiring practitioners to examine how their roles connect to and impact customer experience. This analysis includes evaluating the significance of these connections on a scale of one to five, ensuring prioritisation of critical relationships.
The book addresses the importance of establishing clear goals and objectives, requiring practitioners to articulate specific aims for their forum membership that align with the primary objective of organisational improvement. This goal-setting exercise ensures focused and purposeful participation in Employment Equity implementation.
The chapter concludes with a comprehensive examination of core values, drawing on research by Dr Craig Nathanson to identify thirteen crucial personal traits for high-performing staff members and leaders. These traits range from openness and friendliness to honesty and transparency, with practitioners required to rank them according to importance in their specific contexts.
Throughout the book, emphasis is placed on practical application and self-reflection, with numerous exercises designed to ensure thorough understanding of roles and responsibilities. The chapter successfully combines theoretical understanding with practical implementation guidance, providing practitioners with tools for effective self-evaluation.
This comprehensive treatment of committee self-evaluation provides practitioners with clear frameworks for understanding their roles whilst ensuring effective contribution to Employment Equity implementation. The chapter’s innovative approach, combined with its practical exercises and thorough coverage of responsibilities, makes it an essential resource for Employment Equity Committee members.
The chapter achieves its purpose of enabling effective self-evaluation whilst ensuring practical applicability. Its creative approach to complex concepts, combined with structured exercises and practical implementation guidance, creates an invaluable resource for practitioners committed to effective Employment Equity implementation.
Implementing Employment Equity. Available on paperback
