QUESTION 1

Read the following caselet and answer the questions that follow:

Mtshali Cleaning Centres: Getting Better Applicants

If you were to ask Lindiwe and her father what the main problem was in running their organisation, their answer would be quick and short: hiring good people. Originally begun as a string of coin-operated laundries requiring virtually no skilled help, the chain grew to six outlets, each heavily dependent on skilled managers, cleaner-spotters and pressers. Employees generally have no more than a high school education (often less), and the market for them is very competitive. Over a typical weekend, literally dozens of help-wanted adverts for experienced pressers or cleaner-spotters can be found in area newspapers. All these people usually are paid around R25 an hour and they change jobs frequently. Lindiwe and her father thus face the continuing task of recruiting and hiring qualified workers out of a pool of individuals they feel are almost nomadic in their propensity to move from area to area and job to job. Turnover in their outlets (as in the outlets of many of their competitors) often approach 400%. "Don‘t talk to me about HR planning and trend analysis," says Lindiwe. "We‘re fighting and economic war and I‘m happy just to be able to round up enough live applicants to be able to keep my trenches fully manned".

Questions:

1.1. How would you advise Lindiwe and her dad go about reducing turnover in their laundries? (10)

1.2. Provided a detailed description of recommendations concerning how Lindiwe and her dad should increase their pool of acceptable job applicants so that they no longer face the need to hire anyone who walks through the door. You may include recruitment methods and strategies in your answer.

1.3. "Don‘t talk to me about HR planning and trend analysis?. Do you think these processes would assist Mtshali Cleaning Centres in solving their problem? Critically discuss.

QUESTION 2

2.1. Analyse the strategic significance of Human Resource Planning (HRP) and the relevance of strategic HRP to organisations facing an increasingly changing business environment.

2.2. Why is it important for contemporary organisations to turn their human resources into a competitive advantage? Explain how HR can contribute to this.

QUESTION 3

"Within the spirit of South Africa‘s negotiated political settlement, the LRA of 1995 replaced the 1956 LRA. Among the intended purposes of the new LRA was the promotion of an effective and efficient labour dispute resolution system in order to overcome the lengthy delays, to save on costs and to reduce the incidence of industrial action which characterised the apartheid dispensation.

This marked a new era for South Africa as the labour relations system moved ostensibly from confrontation to co-operation. The 1995 LRA regulates individual and collective employment relations. It created the institutions and processes for dispute resolution. The success of dispute resolution can be attributed to the clarity of South Africa‘s Labour Relations Act of 1995.

With reference to the above, comprehensively discuss the extent to which the South African Labour Relations Act seeks to achieve labour peace.