CHAPTER SEVEN
7.4 The UDW Strategic Planning Initiative .1 The Background
The "Strategic Planning Initiative: Management Information" was the first step upon which the three-year rolling plans of the University of Durban Westville was to be based. This was an exercise undertaken by the University's Human Resources Department in collaboration with academic faculties, departments, support units and institutes at UDW, as well with the various administrative units, such as student services, registration, and the postgraduate office. It was basically an audit of the university staff at all levels as well as student statistics in all faculties and levels of learning. This would hopefully give an opportunity to the senior management of the university and its task teams to assess, examine and analyse the existing statistical information and plan ahead.
The information at hand, which will be outlined in the following pages, pinpointed the extremely difficult task that lay ahead for the various groups trusted with putting UDW on the path to gender and racial equity, transformation and accountability, in short towards an African University of Excellence in accordance with its Mission Statement.
The audit and its results will be outlined in terms of both gender and racial composition and equity patterns in a systematic way, so that comparative figures and conclusions can be easily drawn. The first figures will be related to the various non- academic/support departments, where both gender and racial equity are presented.
Before the analysis proceeds, one needs to understand a number of important issues associated with these departments:
• A good number of staff in the departments under investigation took voluntary severance packages when they were offered in 1997. The majority of them were in the lower ranks and lor middle management in these departments, but there were a few of them in the upper echelons of service. Some of the latter were from the Human ResourceslPersonnel Department. This resulted in the short and medium term dysfunction and/or inefficiency of this department, despite the appointment of a full-time Director, following a highly visible and democratic process.
• There were a number of African labourers and artisans to be found in the Technical ServiceslMaintenance Division of the university, unlike other sections where the presence of African people was very scarce. Some of these workers were recruited from the privately run company, Technical and Support Services (TSS), on the insistence of the Combined Staff Association ICOMSA in 1997. TSS was a company that was employed as a sub-contractor by UDW, and most of its workers joined COM SA to protect themselves from the various anti-labour practices of their employer. Ultimately the union ensured that a good number of these workers were absorbed as full-time employees of the University with all the benefits.
• Most of these departments were relatively small, especially after the introduction of voluntary severance packages.
• In some departments "student assistants" were employed, a practice which in later years became the norm in UDW's administrative departments. This practice addressed the shortage of staff in such departments where the staff had taken early retirement packages.
7.4.2 The Administrative Profile Statistical Data
The following analysis will examine a number of departments within the administrative apparatus of the university so that a clear picture will emerge in terms of gender and race equity within the establishment.
7.4.2.1
The Committees DepartmentTABLE 1: COMMITTEES EMPLOYEE RANKlGENDERlRACE STATISTICS FOR 1998
Rank White Coloured Indian African TOTAL
description M F T M F T M F T M F T M F T GRADE 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 GRADE 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 3 0 0 0 3 0 3 GRADE 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 0 0 0 0 3 3 GRADE 13 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 2
TOTAL 0 0 0 0 0 0 6
3
9 0 0 0 63
9In the year of the audit this was an 'all Indian' department without a single African person in a staff of nine. There were three Indian women in the Department, one employed as a secretary and two as Senior Word Processing Operators. These were the lowest grade jobs to be found in the Department, despite the fact that two of the women had a longer service history than several male colleagues in the Department (University of Durban Westville, Non-Academic Departments, Human Resources/
Financial Review, Committees 1998).
7.4.2.2
Human ResourcesTABLE 2: HUMAN RESOURCES EMPLOYEE RANKlGENDERIRACE STATISTICS FOR 1998
Rank White Coloured Indian African TOTAL
description M F T M F T M F T M F T M F T GRADE 5 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 GRADE 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 GRADE 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 1 0 1 2 1 3 GRADE 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 1 1 2 GRADE 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 6 0 0 0 0 6 6 GRADE 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 2 2 GRADE 13 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0
1 1
TOTAL 01 1
0 0 03 11 14 1
01 4 12 16
This was the Department hardest hit by exits due to the voluntary severance packages in December 1997: all three Assistant Directors left the university. This inevitably led to serious problems, both in the short and medium terms. It became obvious that the synergy and continuity in the department was interrupted, even though the new Director of Human Resources was appointed on the 1 st of February 1997 (University of Durban Westville, Non-Academic Departments, Human Resources/ Financial Review, Human Resources 1998:7).
It is interesting to note that the same White female staffer who was appointed as the
Director was the only one in grade 5, while the next senior person in the department was an Indian male at grade 7, while one African male, one Indian male and one Indian female were in grade 9. There were no African staffers at all (male or female) in grades 10 to 13. There was only one Indian male in this category, with the rest being women. Thus of the 16 staff in the department 12 were females, including the Director and one other middle manager, with the rest of the female staff being in the lower grades. There were also two staffers in the Department who were recorded in the official audit as 'unclassified'. Both were African females. (University of Durban Westville, Non-Academic departments. Human ResourceslFinancial Review. Human Resources, 1998).
7.4.2.3
Computer Services / AdministrationTABLE 3: COMPUTER SERVICES/ADMINISTRATION EMPLOYEE RANKlGENDERlRACE STATISTICS FOR 1998
Rank White Coloured Indian African
TOTAL
description M F T M F T M F T M F T M F T
GRADE 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 4 0 0 0 4 0 4
GRADE 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 1 5 1 0 1 5 1 6
GRADE 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1
GRADE 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 2 2