Browsing by Author "Singh, Nikita."

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A system dynamics perspective of the non-profit organisation's quest for sustainability: a case study.
(2015) Singh, Nikita.; Bodhanya, Shamim Ahmed.
The process of investigating this organisation’s quest for sustainability began by recognition of the struggle to remain sustainable as a common one among NPOs the world over. The sustainability of non-profit organizations is of vital importance as the non-profit sector contributes large amounts of time, energy and resources to the upliftment of society, while faced with constant financial, environmental and organizational uncertainty and ambiguities. It was recognised that the sustainability of NPOs is a complex issue requiring a methodology that could capture such complexity adequately. A Qualitative System Dynamics methodology was chosen based on its merits in enhancing understanding regarding complex problem issues. In addition, the study was guided by a case study approach with the empirical work been conducted on the Oxfam Great Britain (GB) affiliate operating in SA. Empirical investigations, together with careful scrutiny of organisational documentation formed the basis of the findings that emerged which pointed to seven themes as integral to the sustainability of Oxfam affiliates, namely: (1) Human Resource capacity (2) Credibility of the organisation (3) Partnerships (4) Competition in the non-profit sector (5) Co-financing and funding arrangements (6) Navigating the North-South Dilemma and (7) the dynamics involved in attempts to remain apolitical. Sustainability was recognised as being emergent from the feedbacks within and between such themes. Furthermore, it was recognised that due to the constantly changing nature of such feedbacks and of the environment in which the organisation is embedded, non-profits tend to traverse a sustainability landscape in terms of being more sustainable at certain times and less sustainable at other times, depending on how they respond to such change. A number of external influences emanating outside of the organisation were also identified as impacting the NPOs sustainability, including the influence of the political and economic systems in which the organisation was embedded, the impact of donors’ perceptions of South Africa as a middle-income or prosperous nation, the external pressures encouraging the establishment of a South African Oxfam affiliate in SA, and the impact of the global economic recession on international aid and development efforts. Overall implications for the NPO sector were also identified including the effect of continuous giving to well-known or “successful” NPOs such as Oxfam, as well as the consequences of an ever-growing NPO sectors’ reliance on ever-shrinking funding pools.
Violence at the workplace : a study of trends in Durban.
(2015) Sanichur, Avinash Romesh.; Singh, Nikita.
Employees across a wide variety of organisational backgrounds face varying degrees of violent behaviours, at their equally varying places of work, by perpetrators ranging from their superiors, peers, junior staff and customers. The description of what can be defined as “violence” and what constitutes the boundaries of a “workplace” were established in this study, which allowed for the aim of this study to be addressed. The aim of this study was to gauge the extent of violence at the workplace through a study of trends in Durban, South Africa. In attempting to understand the extent of, reaction to, and propensity to commit violence at work, the research questions were answered, which also allowed for measures to be drafted to pre-empt violence at the workplace. A sample of 214 employees was drawn from commercial areas in Durban with 61.3% from the private sector and 38.7% from the public sector. 9.5% of respondents were from senior management, 20.6% from junior management and 69.9% from non-managerial positions. The mean age of respondents was 37 years, with 61.5% being male and 38.5% female. This quantitative study obtained primary data from a self-completed, paper based, questionnaire which was analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The prevalence and extent of violence at the workplace was confirmed through the findings with some of the salient features being that employees would not commit violence if they were not subjected to violence themselves. Violence in the public sector was more prevalent than in the private sector. A significant association was found between the employee’s tendency to blame the employer for the violence experienced where the higher the unfair treatment experienced, the more the employee will reduce their commitment to the employer. Practical and implementable recommendations were proposed to reduce the possibility of violence at the workplace. This study has made a contribution to the presently limited body of knowledge on violence at the workplace in Durban. The information presented in this study provides senior managers and leaders of organisations with facts, figures and evidence of the extent of violence at the workplace and propensity for employees to engage in violent behaviours.