Unisa online - CEMS in a meeting of minds with TTS

The Department of Industrial and Organisational Psychology at CEMS together with Top Talent Solutions (TTS) recently facilitated a conference on “Fairness in Talent Decisions”. The purpose of the event was to cover current and proposed legislations and the impact this will have on fairness in personnel decisions.  The guest presenters at the conference were world renowned experts, Dr Jim Outtz, President of Outtz and Associates and Prof Wayne Cascio, distinguished Prof at the University of Colorado. Both have made global impacts with their research and contributions to the human science of people at the workplace. Renowned Prof at Unisa and CEO of TTS-Top Talent Solutions, Hennie Kriekis was also part of the panel.

In her welcoming address, the Executive Dean of CEMS, Prof Hellicy Ngambi highlighted the importance of conducting research to facilitate an exchange of viewpoints on how best to align the Employment Equity Act with sound organisational staffing decisions (e.g. corporate hiring, job placement, promotion, and employee training/development) in order to further social and economic progress in South Africa. She emphasised that, “One of the critical objectives facing societies, organisations, and citizens around the world in the increasingly competitive, interconnected, and dynamic economies, is to ensure that people have a fair opportunity to obtain jobs that use their current and future competencies to their fullest. To the extent that subgroups of individuals are systematically disadvantaged from fulfilling their true potential, adverse impact or unfairness is said to exist. The university has committed itself to addressing such challenges through embracing its vision of being “the African university in the service of humanity”.

The main issues that were addressed include:

• A review of the benefits of objective assessment in helping to create objective criteria to ensure fairness in personnel decisions – building on the main themes of the book published by Dr Jim Outtz as part of the Society for Industrial and Organisational Psychology Scientific Series.
• New trends in assessments and how these could potentially be in conflict with current legislation.
• A reflection on the conference organised by the Department of Industrial and Organisational Psychology at Unisa, on fairness in personnel decision that took place in 1990.
• How senior HR executives and line managers implement the Employment Equity Act and Affirmative Action in their organisations and how they see this having an impact on policy development.
• Case studies of how organisations have implemented alternative assessment strategies to address both affirmative action needs and the economic needs of the country.

While taking a retrospective assessment of the Employment Equity Act years later, pertinent questions were also asked during the conference on the greatest challenges experienced, best practices that maximised employee productivity and if there had been unintended consequences of the Act.

Acting Director of the School of Management Sciences, Prof Heinz Schenk said, “Unisa’s Department of Industrial Psychology and the University of Maryland – College Park International Research Group recently created a study group on Fairness and Adverse Impact in Organisations. The purpose of this study group will be to provide a scientific foundation for joint research on what unfair discrimination is, cause factors, and the decision making process for addressing it. By focusing on real world problems the study group will structure and manage research efforts to answer these problem statements or questions to the benefit of individuals, organisations, and other stakeholders in the broader society. We are therefore very pleased about the presentations made at the conference as they further contribute to this initiative.”

The conference was attended by government policy makers, corporate executives and managers, union officials, attorneys, academics and community leaders.

*Story submitted by Nolwazi Mwabi