Time and prosperity : a managerial approach

Abstract

This thesis concentrates on the research of different methods to encourage business and labour to spend time towards the increase of labour productivity through methods devised by government (legislation) and the efforts by employees to prepare themselves (dual-jobbing). Government has promulgated legislation such as the Skills Development Act No 97 of 1998 and the Skills Development Levies Act No 9 of 1999 to encourage South African businesses to train their workforce. Dual-jobbing is a way that many employees follow to better their standard of living by generating extra income, but also by increasing their knowledge about how to manage a business. After setting out the scope of the study in Chapter 1, the thesis analyses the employment situation in South Africa between 1995 and 1999 in Chapter 2. In .Chapter 3, different methods to manage time are researched (legislation and dual-jobbing). Chapter 4, the empirical study, has as basis a questionnaire to be completed by dual-jobbers about how they experience dual-jobbing, as well as a second section on how they view certain methods to identify new opportunities as well as to market their goods. Chapter 5 is an analysis of the research findings and contains conclusions, limitations and recommendations. Important findings of the study include the following. SA is experiencing a decrease in formal employment in both the public and private sectors and an increase in informal employment. Government has identified the need for legislation to increase training, and legislation was promulgated to encourage both employers and employees to become involved. Dual-jobbing is a private initiative that can assist people in bettering their standard of living and also their experience and knowledge of the market. The majority of dual-jobbers are very positive about the benefits from dualjobbing and feel that if they should find themselves in a position where they have to supply their own income, the experience they have gained, will help them to start new careers as business owners. The primary objective of the research, namely the investigation of possible ways of how employees could spend time to become better prepared in their search for prosperity, was met by the study.