EUREKA: Social and Humanities
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The scourge of gender-based violence (GBV) on women plaguing South Africa
Full text linkDespite the existence of a constitutional legal framework, criminal sanctions to address violent behaviour by men are not enough. The killing of women by men has reached a disproportionate crescendo in South Africa. It is critical, that as a society we denounce the continuation of this trend and address the underlying causes of violent masculinity and physical abuse against women. Social norms, religious and traditional values, patriarchy, and gender relationships contribute to dominant notions of masculinity, which eventually undermine women's inalienable right of existence. Developing strategies to mitigate against intimate partner Gender-Based Violence is imperatively needed to curb these physical attacks on women. The purpose of this article is to highlight some forms and the causes of Gender-Based Violence, the impact of it, and with aim of finding lasting solutions to it. Some of the findings of the author are, first, religion has played a fundamental role to perpetuate gender-based Violence on women over time. Second, a clear understanding of different types of Gender-Based Violence is needed by both men and women in society before. Gender-Based Violence if not controlled and eliminated can lead to femicide as we have seen in South Africa in recent years. Third, more protective laws for women need to be properly implemented within our criminal justice process. Tougher and stiffer punishment for perpetrators of Gender-Based Violence is needed to curb the scourge of femicide, plaguing us in South Africa
Investigatation of YouTube as an online platform used during remote learning forced by COVID-19
Full text linkThe main aim of this study was to investigate online platforms, specifically YouTube, suitable for remote learning, forced by covid-19 from traditional face-to-face to online learning. To achieve the study's objectives, which are to investigate the effectiveness of remote learning, general students’ feelings have about online education, lecturer's efficiency in using online tools to teach, and student's ability to adapt to online learning, the study employed a qualitative method where three videos with content relevant for a post-graduate diploma in higher education were made and uploaded to YouTube to investigate the efficiency of the online tool. Advantages of YouTube as an educational platform were discussed, which include flexibility and cost, among others. The challenges related to internet connections; resources, used to conduct YouTube lessons, were discussed. Recommendations to address some of these challenges using YouTube as an educational platform were explored. These recommendations include, amongst others, workshops and seminars should be held by administrators to teach lecturers and teachers how to use technology in their classes, universities need to adopt this new learning system as a part of the curriculum because to save time, money
The contemporary challenges municipalities face in effectively implementing municipal service partnerships
Full text linkIn South Africa, Municipal Service Partnerships (MSPs) have been in existence afore the global breakout of COVID-19 Pandemic as an essential mechanism to expand and accelerate municipal service delivery in the local government sphere. However, once the National Lockdown (NL) was put in place by the state president Cyril Ramaphosa on the 26 of March 2020, many South African municipalities were and still are pushed to look for assistance from their partners in the private sector in order to help with addressing the challenges, imposed by the pandemic, especially, service delivery backlogs. Municipalities are entering into service contracts with the private sector for the provision of basic services that are deemed essential in terms of the National Lockdown Regulations (NLRs). In curbing the spread of the virus in the communities, municipalities extended their effort by commonly cooperating with private partners. For instance, most municipalities went to an extend of collaborating with private partners and other government agencies like Rand Water for the provision of water and water tanks at different schools and communities across the provinces and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), namely masks and hand sanitisers. Methodologically, this is a conceptual paper that is embedded from secondary data. The secondary data was analysed through the Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) approach. The article argues that South African municipalities and their MSPs are faced with huge challenges more than ever. It also argues that private partners have been long-standing with a commitment to serve communities on behalf of the government and that now includes partnering with the government in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. The call by President Ramaphosa has been noted for increased partnerships, solidarity, collaboration and the sharing of knowledge and experience to fight the pandemic, poverty, service delivery backlogs and social injustice. The paper concludes by offering feasible solutions to curb the challenges, faced by MSPs and service delivery backlogs
Migration policy implementation and its politics in South Africa
Full text linkGlobally, migration is to a certain degree an important and highly debated political topic among scholars because of its peculiarity to human movement and relationship between states. Migration is fundamental to liberal democracies and a function of the international system of states. Following the demise of the apartheid system and the adoption of inclusive governance in South Africa in 1994, the country has continued to witness an influx of migrants. However, the call for the deportation and rejection of migrants amongst South Africans has continued to increase with black foreign nationals at the receiving end, sometimes openly or clandestinely done by government officials. Using a qualitative research method, underpinned by the following questions (i) Is South Africa playing politics with its migration policies, while surreptitiously legalizing xenophobism? (ii) Can well-managed migration policies allay the fears of foreign nationals, particularly the blacks in South Africa? (iii) What effects would anti-immigrants’ laws and attitudes have on South Africa’s relations with other [African] countries? The paper argued that South Africa’s preoccupation with restrictionism policies, driven by xenophobism and political interest, seems to have compromised inroads for immigrants that are very important to its economic growth, concluding that unless the rhetoric of a perceived socio-economic threat, posed by migrants, is countered effectively, South Africa’s economies stand to lose out substantially from the implementation of anti-immigration policies
Adaptive performance in the 4IR: the impacts of organizational learning and resilience
Full text linkThis research investigates the impacts of organizational learning and resilience on adaptive performance within the banking industry during the 4IR. This study implemented a cross-sectional survey approach, having its sample (250 employees), purposively obtained from five (5) Lagos State of Nigeria’s banks. These five (5) banks are First City Monument Bank Limited, Zenith Bank Plc, United Bank for Africa Plc, Guarantee Trust Bank Plc, and First Bank of Nigeria Plc. The current researchers encouraged voluntary participation and guaranteed respect for related ethical matters. Two hundred and forty-six (247) surveys were successfully retrieved and suitably utilized. Data recovered was cleaned and analyzed with Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS vs. 28). This paper confirms that organizational learning and resilience independently and significantly increase and sustain positive adaptive performance. This investigation also found that organizational learning and resilience significantly and jointly impact adaptive performance. Hence, management within Nigeria’s banking industry should consider adopting more organizational learning programs and exercises for the varied circumstances and contests from the fourth industrial revolution. Moreover, the management and leaders within Nigeria’s banks should adopt human resource practices that cultivate the mastering of transformative activities, making the most disruptive surprises that potentially impend organization survival in the fourth industrial revolutio
Political participation in the context of contemporary media: the case of refugees in Lithuania
Full text linkThis study aims to explore how new communication technologies are transforming the nature of political participation and how social media platforms can create discourses of solidarity with migrants or confrontation with them. The objectives of the study are: to analyse the concept of political participation in the context of migration; to describe the role of new communication technologies in the decision-making process of the host society; and to show the role of social media in increasing refugee integration of migrants and solidarity with them. In order to explore the role of new communication technologies in the context of refugee integration, interviews are conducted with refugees living in Lithuania, whose unique experiences are analysed in the context of not only the role of new communication tools, but also political participation (e.g. citizenship, voting in the elections, meetings with local government representatives, etc.) in their host country.
It should be mentioned, that new communication technologies enable migrants to participate in the communities they have left behind and to create new virtual communities that function as a mobilising instrument for migrants. The analysis of the dynamics between migrant integration and new communication technologies shows that digital technologies facilitate the integration of migrants in social, political, economic and cultural spheres. New technologies can help migrants to find information on rights, citizenship, local migrant support services, and overcome feelings of isolation by providing migrants with information. The results of the interview show that new technologies are very important for refugees, as they help to build networks of family and friends, support communities and create a sense of belonging in the host society. However, negative representations of refugees in social media also contribute to the difficulties refugees face during their integration
Electronic inventory control systems as a competitive tool for e-retailers
Full text linkDespite technological advances, some e-retail organisations are still struggling to improve their inventory control performance due to a limited application of such technology, a lack of relevant skills and inadequate supply chain management policies. This article explored how EICS can enhance the competitiveness of an online retailer. Adopting the qualitative paradigm, data was collected through semi-structured interviews. Consequently, data analysis entailed identifying common patterns within the responses and critically analysing them to achieve the research objectives. The findings revealed that with the implementation of EICS, the organisation could oversee inventory stock cycle transactions, perform a transparent inter-branch transfer and security control. Also, the vital competitive advantages, achieved through EICS implementation, include high customer satisfaction due to faster system services rendered than previously. Likewise, a rise in customer service efficiency and higher customer loyalty rates. In sum, this research supports the idea that EICS technology is an essential ingredient for e-retailers to thrive and compete. A major recommendation is for e-retailers to clearly define the attributes and metrics of their inventory control performance in line with inventory control objectives as the EICS competitiveness framework
The effect of employee value proposition on normative commitment
Full text linkOrganisations continuously seek opportunities to be more productive through the human capital they employ. A firm offering of the employee value proposition (EVP) and understanding of employee commitment could enable organisations to have committed employees that enjoy their work and are oriented towards a growth trajectory. This study sought to examine the effect of the EVP on normative commitment in a parastatal organisation. A quantitative research approach was selected to explore the research objectives. The research instruments comprised of value attributes scale and normative commitment scale. The population sample consisted of employees (N=251). Convenience sampling was used within the context of the study. Descriptive statistics, Factory analysis, Pearson correlation analysis, and Regression analysis were employed to interpret data collected and address the research objectives. A positive relationship between the variables was established. The three EVP factors (work, rewards, and opportunity) positively correlate with normative commitment. Recommendations are made to managers and HR Practitioners regarding the EVP and normative commitment of parastatal employees, which have the potential to employee commitment when implemented. The study provided insights on the factors, affecting EVP and normative commitment. The study also showed the relationship between the variables, enabling management, and HR practitioners to implement strategic interventions to influence employees' normative commitment and EVP experience
Knowledge production and information dissemination: challenges faced by new and upcoming researchers
Full text linkKnowledge production means the gathering of related activities in the university that has to do with producing new knowledge. The emerging researchers find it so hard and difficult to engage in scientific and contribute to knowledge production because of lack of know how.Therefore, it is fundamentally importance, that the emerging researchers are made aware of the challenges that they will experience in the research process. It is not only the responsibility of researchers to produce knowledge, respondents in any research undertaken also make a greater contribution. That is why it is important that those in public sector understand the role that they play in research. Without their inputs this kinds of research would not be a success. This is a scientific way of contributing to the body of knowledge by academic staff and students.The academic community is continually conversing about knowledge and the many forms it takes, as well as ways of thinking about how to organise and arrange knowledge into categories, such as disciplines. This paper focuses on the challenges upcoming or first-time researchers experience when researching in order to make contribution into the body of knowledge. However, there are obstacles in the process that impede progress, making it impossible to produce knowledge and disseminate information to the communities.Therefore, this paper also discusses the process of knowledge production in the context of research, data collection, sampling challenges, arranging for interviews, fatigue by both researcher and respondents and finding the respondents to participate in the study
Public diplomacy and Nigeria’s response to its internal political crises
Full text linkSynonymous with Nigeria is a deep political cleavage, which causes major political issues to be violently contested along the lines of intricate ethnic, religious divisions. Although efforts have been made to change these narratives through political reengineering and public policy process, but all have failed to achieve the desired goal of national unity and security. Of what degree is the threats of internal crises to the existentiality of Nigeria? How best can the use of public diplomacy help mitigate the danger of Nigeria’s internal crises? Fundamentally, public diplomacy has the capability to transform a country’s socio-political and economic assets, while reversing the negative attitude of people towards these assets if handled very well. Using relational theory, the conflicts and hostility towards others is explained in relation to socio-economic, political, cultural, and religious intolerance amongst the ethnic groups that make up Nigeria. The findings shows that the inability of Nigeria leaders to put the interests of the diversity of Nigeria first and respect the sensibilities of a fragile nation grasping for survival is the worst political crime, ever committed against the country. Concluding that inclusive collaboration and not unhealthy socio-economic and political competition would bring the ethnic groups in Nigerians closer than ever before