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Theses and dissertations (Management Sciences)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://ir-dev.dut.ac.za/handle/10321/14

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Subject: search.filters.subject.Employability

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    Bridging work experience with academic qualifications to improve employability of business studies graduates in Gauteng
    (2023-02) Nkomo, Vuyokazi; Agbenyegah, Albert Tchey
    Unemployment is one of South Africa's biggest challenges. The unemployment rate for graduates and others with university degrees currently exceeds 30 percent. Lack of work experience is cited as one of the main reasons for unemployment. Despite the relevance of work experience, there is insufficient evidence in the literature that it is used as the main criterion for recruitment. Previous research has shown that recruiters make recruiting recommendations based on applicants' work experience, overlooking other factors. This thesis examines the association between employment experience and graduate employability. A quantitative approach was utilised, aided by a questionnaire to collect data from a sample of 265 business graduates from the Gauteng province. The questionnaire yielded 124 responses. The data were analysed using Structural Equation Modelling. The main results showed that work experience had a positive, but statistically insignificant, impact on graduates' employability. These results suggest that work experience alone is not sufficient to make graduates employable. There are other aspects and skill sets such as behavioural skills, technical skills, strategic skills, and functional skills, which have a significant impact on graduate employability. Key stakeholders in higher education and labour markets should form meaningful partnerships in which they identify and prioritise the employability skills needed to seamlessly transition graduates into the industry. It is recommended that all students should be required to complete a workbased learning course or a structured internship as part of their studies, with students being required to work in the industry for a while before employment. In this way, they would be prepared to integrate into the industry after graduation, having already gained experience during work-based learning. A further recommendation is that employer involvement in course design and delivery could have a positive impact on graduate employability.
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    Deferred dreams : the contribution of skills development to the further education of employed, non-matriculants in the private security industry of South Africa
    (2019-06) Terblanche, Anel; Perumal, S.
    The purpose of the study was to investigate aspects relating to skills development within the Private Security Sector. The study investigates the role skills development, outcomes based education and related legislation plays in shaping of the career pathways of individuals. The study further investigates the reasons associated with noncompletion of Secondary Schooling and why no attempt was made to obtain a National Senior Certificate once employed or economically active. The researcher was motivated to select this topic as she worked in Human Resources within an organisation that falls within the Private Security Sector. The researcher has been working in Human Resources and training and development for the past nine years and has developed a keen interest in skills development and its impact on employability and career growth.
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    Tourism graduate employability : stakeholder perceptions of workplace learning for graduate employment
    (2017) Naicker, Daphanie; Naidoo, Krishna Murthi
    With the accelerating growth in the tourism industry and its anchorage in the service-industry, the utilisation of people is a valuable resource for a tourism organisation. There are increased pressures on educational institutions from the government and the tourism industry to produce employable graduates. Thus, it remains imperative that tourism organisations have access to a pool of human resources that possess the required knowledge, skills and attitudes. As a result, educational institutions build workplace learning (WPL) into tourism curricula to ensure the transferability of skills and a smoother transition for all stakeholders into the tourism industry. This study set out to determine the impact WPL has on a tourism student’s employability in the tourism industry. The literature highlights a number of key issues hindering the success of WPL for tourism graduate employability. These include, a lack of alignment of curriculum, supervision challenges and partnerships with the tourism industry. Using a mixed methodological approach comprising both quantitative and qualitative methodologies, comparisons among stakeholders’ perceptions and attitudes were conducted. The stakeholders are: tourism graduates from 2011-2014, academic supervisors and workplace supervisors in the tourism industry. Stakeholders’ perceptions of WPL structured the depth and sharpened understanding of the success as well as issues hindering the successful implementation of WPL and consequent unemployment. Among the main challenges were the placement of students and the inadequate feedback between stakeholders. The empirical findings underpinned effective communication as imperative in developing and maintaining quality partnerships for WPL. Among the many knock on benefits is the successful transfer of skills to tourism students. It is hoped that this research will contribute to the dearth of literature on tourism WPL and tackle salient gaps in tourism employability.