SA Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice

Product Details:
Author(s):
Grobler, A
Year Published:
2025
Edition
8th Edition
Type:
Print | Soft Cover
Language:
English
About this publication
“South African Human Resource Management, now in its eighth edition, answers the ever-growing demand for a human resource management (HRM) compendium, globally but specifically within the South African context. This is even more so in the post Covid-19 phase, which required new HR and organisational skills from the fraternity.
Written by South Africans for South Africans, the book contextualises HRM locally and within the wider African context, and demonstrates why HRM is central to the sustainable development challenges we face.
This update covers contemporary HR trends in South Africa and the SABPP’s National HR Management System Standard and its supporting process of the ongoing development of Professional Practice Standards. It contains cutting-edge information for complete streams of HRM studies, and now includes numerous public-sector examples and connections, making it an indispensable tool for those practising (or aspiring to practise) HRM in public-sector organisations. The book emphasises the broader ‘HRM agenda’, showing its value to working people, organisations and society.
Topics covered include:
•    the unique, evolving and challenging context of HRM in South Africa – including the African context
•    HRM’s legal conformance challenge, and its ‘performance’ challenge to develop socio-economic inclusiveness
•    strategising, designing and planning as ‘preparatory’ HRM work
•    sourcing, developing and retaining talent
•    developing labour relations that add value
•    championing change and transformation in organisations and society
•    possible HR implications of digitisation and automation of work, frequently referred to as the Fourth Industrial Revolution
•    managing HRM-related information, including reporting on HRM and sustainability
•    examples from elsewhere in Africa, which widens the scope and applicability of the book to other parts of the African continent.
This edition is ideal for undergraduate and postgraduate studies at higher education institutions, as well as for human resource practitioners. It is of value to management development and MBA programmes, as it clearly shows that HRM is central to the work of all managers, and to anyone involved and/or potentially interested in the management of human resources on the African continent.”
 
 
 
Content
Preface    ix
About the authors    x
PART 1: 
SETTING THE HRM AGENDA: CONCEPTUAL AND CONTEXTUAL PERSPECTIVES        1
Chapter 1: The challenge of human resource management: an introduction    3
1.1    Human resource management: foundations, definitions and significance    3
1.2    Organisations and management as embedded societal phenomena: 
the sustainability challenge of HRM    7
1.3    Open-system perspectives to human resource management    15
1.4    Scope of HRM work    16
1.5    Variables that interplay with HRM: a glimpse of the HRM complexity challenge    21
1.6    HRM requires both managers and specialists    37
1.7    Managing work and people: a brief evolutionary perspective of HRM    39
1.8    Outline of this book    47
Chapter 2: South African human resource management in context    49
2.1    Introduction    49
2.2    South African human resource management in historical context: 
synoptic reflections    49
2.3    Snapshots of South Africa’s contemporary socio-political economy in a 
global context    70
2.4    Africa and beyond: shifting international competitive landscapes and dynamics    71
2.5    South Africa and its people: some brief contemporary reflections    83
2.6    South Africa’s economic situation: brief observations    94
2.7    Politics, policy and the state: key contemporary challenges and issues    99
2.8    South Africa’s socio-political economy: concluding remarks    102
2.9    Dynamics in South Africa’s fraternity of human resource practitioners: 
towards a real profession?    105
2.10    Summary    118
Chapter 3: Beyond conformance: HRM for socio-economic inclusiveness    119
3.1    Introduction    119
3.2    The HRM conformance challenge: South Africa’s legislative framework    120
3.3    From conformance to performance: empowering people and equitable equality    141
3.4    Embracing and managing diversity    161
3.5    Summary    168
PART 2: 
PREPARATORY HRM WORK: STRATEGISING, 
PERSPECTIVES DESIGNING AND PLANNING        171
Chapter 4: HRM strategies and policies: frameworks for managing 
human resources    173
4.1    Introduction    173
4.2    Strategy and strategic management    174
4.3    HRM strategy development: options, issues, choices and processes    182
4.4    Establishing an HRM policy framework    188
4.5    Business planning for HRM    194
4.6    Summary    195
Chapter 5: Designing work, organisations and HRM work    198
5.1    Introduction    198
5.2    Work design    199
5.3    From group-based work to teamwork: an increasingly popular work design option    210
5.4    Organisation design: trends, issues and considerations    216
5.5    Organising HRM work    219
5.6    Summary    231
Chapter 6: Workforce planning    233
6.1    Introduction    233
6.2    Strategic planning and strategic workforce planning    234
6.3    The general nature and process of workforce planning    235
6.4    The purpose and importance of workforce planning    236
6.5    Criteria for effective workforce planning    237
6.6    Factors that influence workforce planning    237
6.7    The responsibility for workforce planning    239
6.8    The workforce planning process    242
6.9    Job analysis    254
6.10    Summary    259
PART 3: 
SOURCING WORK TALENT    261
Chapter 7: Recruiting and selecting the right work talent    263
7.1    Introduction to the recruitment of talent    263
7.2    Factors influencing recruitment policy and practice    264
7.3    Recruitment sources and methods    269
7.4    Overview of the recruitment process    274
7.5    Aspects of quality control in recruitment    278
7.6    Finding non-employee workers: temporary employment services    279
7.7    Summary of the recruitment function    279
7.8    Introduction to the selection of talent    279
7.9    Predictors and criteria    280
7.10    Assessing the quality of predictors    281
7.11    Components of an employee selection process    282
7.12    Making the selection decision: fairness is key    291
7.13    Summary of the selection process    295
PART 4: 
THE CHALLENGE OF PEOPLE EMPOWERMENT    297
Chapter 8: Effective leadership in the workplace    299
8.1    Introduction to motivation and work    299
8.2    Human motivation: assumptions and their implications    300
8.3    Theories of motivation    305
8.4    Consolidated perspectives on motivation theories and managerial implications    316
8.5    Motivation and work: some specific applied issues    317
8.6    Summary of motivation in the workplace    323
8.7    Introduction to leadership at work    324
8.8    Post-industrial era developments: emergence of an integrative leadership 
theory paradigm?    325
8.9    Leadership in South Africa: perspectives reflecting elements of transformation    332
8.10    Diversity and leadership    335
8.11    Summary of leadership in the workplace    338
Chapter 9: Managing, assessing and enhancing work performance    340
9.1    Introduction    340
9.2    Performance management in an organisational context    341
9.3    Developing a performance management system    347
9.4    Components of an effective performance management system    351
9.5    Performance appraisal    354
9.6    Performance appraisal systems: some fundamental requirements    357
9.7    Conducting a performance appraisal    358
9.8    Performance appraisal problems and possible remedies    361
9.9    Performance appraisal methods    365
9.10    Performance issues relating to non-employees    375
9.11    Summary    376
Chapter 10: Managing and developing careers for talent and retention    377
10.1    Introduction    377
10.2    Foundations for effective career management    378
10.3    Some important career-related issues    382
10.4    A framework for career development services in South Africa: 
some macro-level perspectives    393
10.5    Career development in the knowledge economy: macro-level issues 
and challenges    396
10.6    Career dynamics facing the 21st-century workplace: some general 
observations    399
10.7    Careering through the unknown: navigating the impact of the Fourth 
Industrial Revolution    401
10.8    Individual and organisational perspectives of careers    404
10.9    Career choice: some theoretical perspectives    405
10.10    Two models of career management    409
10.11    Career development planning    415
10.12    Career development support methods    416
10.13    Summary    421
Chapter 11: Developing South Africa’s human resources: macro-level 
perspectives on the agenda and framework    423
11.1    Introduction    423
11.2    National training initiatives    424
11.3    National Skills Development Strategy (NSDS)    429
11.4    The National Qualifications Framework of South Africa    431
11.5    Skills Development Act    437
11.6    Occupational learning programmes    444
11.7    Financing skills development    455
11.8    Managerial implications of the legislation    455
11.9    Adult basic education and training    456
11.10    Summary    458
Chapter 12: Training and developing employees: 
organisational-level perspectives    460
12.1    Introduction    460
12.2    Human resource development: concepts, context and goals    461
12.3    Principles and importance of effective HRD practice    465
12.4    The relationship between HRD and other aspects of HRM    466
12.5    A model for systematic training    468
12.6    Management development and education methods    493
12.7    Summary    499
PART 5: 
THE REWARD AND CARE CHALLENGE    501
Chapter 13: Remunerating employees    503
13.1    Introduction    503
13.2    Remuneration objectives    506
13.3    Remuneration policies    510
13.4    Influences on remuneration policies    512
13.5    Design of pay systems    516
13.6    Elements of a traditional remuneration system    517
13.7    Process issues in remuneration administration    531
13.8    Summary    533
Chapter 14: Providing employee incentives and benefits    536
14.1    Introduction    536
14.2    Incentive remuneration    537
14.3    Rewarding special groups    549
14.4    Employee benefits    557
14.5    Summary    562
Chapter 15: Well-being at work – and beyond    564
15.1    Introduction    564
15.2    Legislative framework governing health and safety at work    565
15.3    Promoting and maintaining employee wellness: a proactive and holistic 
approach to the management of health and safety    571
15.4    The HIV/AIDS challenge    596
15.5    Role players in occupational health and safety    599
15.6    Promoting well-being beyond organisational boundaries    601
15.7    Summary    602
PART 6: 
THE CHALLENGES OF LABOUR AND EMPLOYEE RELATIONS    603
Chapter 16: Labour relations in South Africa: some basics    605
16.1    Introduction    605
16.2    Some essentials of labour relations    605
16.3    Theoretical perspectives of labour relations    612
16.4    Trade unions    613
16.5    Statutory provisions for collective bargaining and dispute resolution    622
16.6    Summary    647
Chapter 17: Managing labour relations at the organisational level    648
17.1    Introduction    648
17.2    Establishing sound labour and employee relations    648
17.3    Towards sound union–management relations    665
17.4    Workplace forums and similar structures    676
17.5    Aspects of strike management    684
17.6    Summary    688
Chapter 18: Terminating employment relationships    690
18.1    Introduction    690
18.2    How employment relationships can terminate: introductory overview    690
18.3    How dismissal is defined    691
18.4    The fairness of a dismissal    692
18.5    Dismissal for misconduct    696
18.6    Dismissals relating to incapacity    699
18.7    Dismissals based on operational requirements    702
18.8    Disputes about unfair dismissal    706
18.9    Summary    707
PART 7: 
ADDITIONAL CHALLENGES AND PERSPECTIVES    709
Chapter 19: Championing change    711
19.1    Introduction    711
19.2    The nature of organisational change    712
19.3    Driving forces of change    714
19.4    Approaches to dealing with change in organisations    715
19.5    Effecting change: dealing with resistance    717
19.6    Change agents and their roles    721
19.7    Types of organisational change interventions    722
19.8    Types of planned organisational change through an organisational 
development perspective    727
19.9    Contemporary change and transformation interventions aimed at 
enhancing competitiveness    728
19.10    Reflections on organisational change and transformation in South Africa    730
19.11    Summary    731
Chapter 20: Managing HRM-related information    733
20.1    Introduction    733
20.2    Information about the quality of HRM    733
20.3    Approaches to HRM evaluation and measurement    736
20.4    Human resource information systems, record keeping and 
information technology    746
20.5    HRM-related reporting    751
20.6    Summary    757
Chapter 21: Pushing boundaries – going beyond    759
21.1    Introduction    759
21.2    Beyond domestic boundaries: glimpses of international HRM    760
21.3    Beyond management: human resources, the boardroom and 
corporate governance    764
21.4    Beyond the here and now: towards what future?    768
21.5    Summary    772
References    773
Index    806
 
 
 
                                                                            
 
 
 
                                                                               
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Interest / Benefit to
Undergraduate HRM Students – 2nd/3rd years