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successful, the proponents claim that the traditional view of meritocracy should be challenged.
Given all that has been said about AA and justice and meritocracy, it is only fitting that a section of the paper discusses how employees perceive and experience AA in the
workplace. There seems to exist a general belief of contradiction amongst employees regarding the AA policy and the EEA due to the fact that AA is seen as only favoring African people in the workplace and it seems to exclude Coloureds and Indians (AA Files, Independent Newspapers Library). Another source of confusion according to Mhlongo (2001) regarding AA is that many African people believe that Coloureds and Indians benefited during apartheid by having more access and freedom in South Africa.
In the context of AA, there are people who view it as synonymous with the word
discrimination as it is now singling out one group that does not benefit in the job market – White males (Son Hing et al., 2002). Mhlongo (2001) is of the opinion that AA is only new in South Africa in terms of the groups that are now beneficiaries. During apartheid the White population were beneficiaries of the ideology and practice of separate
development, now it is the “Black” population. Thus perceptions and experiences of employees in the workplace are vital to the research literature on AA.
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interpreting something” (Oxford English Dictionary, 2006, p.1063). Both these concepts will be used interchangeably to largely refer to perceptions employees have.
Coetzee & Vermeulen (2003, p. 17), state in their paper on the perceptions employees’
have on the fairness of AA, that the government’s AA policy enabled workers to visualize a more prosperous future. Yet, not everyone views AA through rose coloured glasses (Leonard, 2005).
AA, which is based on the principles of social good, compensatory justice and the ideal of equality aims to redress disadvantages that designated groups suffered under apartheid discrimination (Nxumalo, 2010). It was a way to put into place laws that would stop discriminatory practices in the workplace and create a more diverse workplace (Chen &
Kleiner, 1996). For many however, this is not the case. Some view AA as ‘reverse racism’ while others sees it as a way to diversify the conglomerates in South Africa and Africa which have been predominantly White owned.
The goals of the Employment Equity Act are to provide for employment equity amongst South Africans. The Act recognises that as a result of apartheid and other discriminating lawas and practices, disparities still exist in terms of employment, occupation and income withing the national labour market. One of the ways the Government seeks to redress these disparities that are creating severe disadvantages for certain categories of people is through policies like AA (EEA, 198, p1).
AA in the workplace is to increase the numbers of underrepresented groups in the workplace. It requires organizations to take steps to improve the employment
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opportunities of different demographic groups. Since its implementation in 1994 many misconceptions still exist. One of these misconceptions is that it involves strict quotas and the hiring of unqualified individuals. Despite the good intentions of AA programs, research thus far suggests that such programs are met with hostility and are perceived to be unfair (Kravitz & Platania, 1993; McMillan-Capehart et al., 2009).
Given the disparity in experiences of AA, where some celebrate the policy and others criticize it, the following subject matter proves to be one that is particularly important, especially within South Africa. According to Chen and Kleiner (1996) given the amount of negativity grouped together with the words AA, “there exists a need to move away from emphasis on meeting perceived quotas to a clearer focus on the original intent of AA (p.28). Furthermore, there seems to be limited qualitative research done in South Africa in this area from the employees’ perspective.
Psychology is all about trying to understand people’s behaviour and experiences.
According to Wimalachandra (n.d) “Psychology is the exploration into and the scientific study of behaviour and mental processes of all concerned species from developmental stage to end of life cycle” (p.1).
It is interested in what human nature is as well as what it is to be a person. In addition, it attempts to offer possible answers to the questions about why people do, say and feel the things they do (Burr, 2002). Given the ambit of psychology this research was interested in finding out -what employees really think about AA programs and secondly, about how they actually experience it in their everyday lives.
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Based on the above, the current study was interested in looking at employees’
experiences and perceptions of AA by making use social constructionism as an approach so as to gain an understanding of how people engage in the concept and practice of AA in a manner that accounts of historical and cultural specificity. The attitudes and perceptions that employees harbour with relation to AA has contributed significantly to the views on AA, be it positive or negative. Thus firstly, positive views on AA will be discussed before moving on to the negative views.