Masters Degrees (School of Public Leadership)

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Browsing Masters Degrees (School of Public Leadership) by Author "Albertyn, Johan"

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    Die vestiging van 'n eenvormige organisasiekultuur in die Suid-Afrikaanse Nasionale Weermag : persepsie van die krygspraktisyn
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 1999) Albertyn, Johan; Uys, F. M.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Department of School of Public Leadership.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The establishment of a democracy in South Africa resulted in a new system for the armed forces. Several armed forces were unified into one structure. Forces which maintained the former regime as well as the opposing forces became a single defence force in order to defend the territorial integrity of the new dispensation. The beginning of the democracy was determined through political negotiations at the "Congress for a Democratic South Africa" (CODESA). Liberation forces like "Umkhonto We Sizwe (MK)" and the" Azanian Peoples Liberation Army'' (APLA), as well as the former South Afiican Defence Force (SADF) and the four apartheid created forces of the Transkei, Ciskei, Venda and Bophutatswana had to be integrated into a new National Defence Force. The integration of the above forces did not happen without problems and obstacles, but the process has now entered its last phase. The key role-players in effecting change were the former SADF and MK. An issue which had to be solved was how power was to be allocated to the different forces so as to reflect the change in power in civil society, ie what the new organisation had to look like with regard to size, composition and culture after integration. These problems led to negotiation and the establishment of work study groups. At the end of various enterprises which lasted several years the process is now almost completed. In spite of the fact that on paper the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has now been established in a democratic system for five years, the members of the new defence force have not been united into a new organisation culture. The true measurement of the success of the integration process is the establishment of a single identity and the "our feeling" . The soldier at grassroots level still experiences situations of conflict, distrust, misunderstanding, unsuitable management styles, unfairness and incompetence on both sides of the two groups (ex-NSF and ex-SADF). There exist a number of problems with regard to the policy of affirmative action and equal opportunities. This assignment concentrates mainly on the views of the military practitioner with regard to the establishment of a uniform organisation culture; it addresses specific attempts by the South Afiican National Defence Force to create this uniformity; culture surveys and morale assessme!:lts have been done whilst there were attempts to change symbolic communication in the SANDF. In conclusion a number of recommendations are made that could facilitate the establishment of a unified organisational culture in the SANDF.