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Nature of the problem and need of the study
Despite the fact that it possesses a vast number of natural resources, enjoys fair weather conditions and is very strategically positioned with regard to global trade, South Africa contributes less than 0,5% to the World Economy. On average 50% of South Africans live below the poverty line. Only approximately 50% enjoy formal employment and main stream business, such as mining and agriculture are employing less and less people (SA at a Glance 2000). Government is also cutting down on employment and the imbalance in the tripartite configuration, puts a heavier demand on business to perform without the aid of the State. Large scale strikes and other less obvious industrial action are in the order of the day and over the last nine years over 25 million mandays were lost through strikes. This grim picture demands a serious look at the reasons why South Africa is performing so poor an an answer will have to be found amongst South African business itself as little or no empathy can be expected from abroad. South Africa became an irreversible open economy and foreign competitors are exploring all attractive propositions. This forces local organisations to become world class performers since even though they might not have the desire to take their products abroad, global suppliers will not hesitate to compete against these companies for their local customers. Value-for-money customers in a bad economy will not hesitate to rather purchase from overseas suppliers if they perceive their market offerings as a better deal. These are some of the factors that put even more pressure on the South African economy and research done by Professor Anatole Goshi from Japan, has indicated that the standard of living in South Africa is on a constant decline. Job creation is also on a decline and the population growth rate is exceeding the economic growth rate.
The economy of a nation is expressed in terms of its Gross Domestic Product. This GDP is the total production outcome of all its applied labour together. which is traded in the global market. Their cumulative production outcome depends on how much is produced by each worker and the number of workers that participate. In comparison with other winning nations such as Japan where each Japanese produces 40000 $ US per year, South Africans only manage to produce 3000 $ US per year per capita. It is therefore obvious that the low GDP is a consequence of low levels of production by the workers. Combine this with the low number of people employed, the result is disastrous for the economy and consequently for the inhabitants of the country. The researcher suspects that many products produced are produced at such a high production cost that they cannot compete price wise with overseas competition. Many potential alleys can also not be explored because of the same reason. If only a small portion of a nation enjoys employment. it means that very little money is available amongst households to be spent on finished products which implies a lesser demand for these products which in turn means less employment. It becomes a vicious downward spiral with heavy accompanying social problems and increasing levels of crime. The seriousness of the problem cannot be underestimated and the need for a cure is beyond any doubt.
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION TO STUDY
CHAPTER 2 THE IMPORTANCE OF PRODUCTIVITY 11 GROWTH
CHAPTER 3 .HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT IN PRODUCTIVITY IMPROVEMENT
CHAPTER 4 INTEGRA TED PERFORMANCE COMMUNICATION
CHAPTER 5 METHODOLOGY
CHAPTER 6 FINDINGS AND RESULTS
CHAPTER 7 RECOMMENDATIONS
