Strategic career development of black engineering graduates in South Africa: the workplace experiential approach

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate effectiveness of the graduate development programme that was aimed at the recruitment and professional development of black engineering graduates through the workplace learning method.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper adopted qualitative research strategy using in-depth interviews with semi-structured interview guide that was developed after an extensive review of related literature. Data were analysed using thematic analysis technique.

Findings

Result of the paper indicates that the strategy provides an effective mechanism for the inclusion and professional development of black engineering graduates. Coaching and mentoring relationships were found to be an effective way for knowledge and skills transfers.

Research limitations/implications

Although this study presented valuable insights into the complexity of the graduate development programme in South Africa, the authors consider it appropriate to draw some limitations to study for in order to provide some guides on the conduct of a similar study by future researchers. It is important to state that qualitative studies inherently lack external validity that limits its generalisability to a wider context. Further, a non-probability sampling method was used in this study thus posing a threat to the scientific representativeness of the participants. At last, but very important is the emotion and tension that is usually associated with social research and discussion regarding the legacies of apartheid in South Africa. This research was not insulated from such sensitivity and social influence. To this extent, while practical efforts were made to mitigate this factor during the interviews, there is no guarantee that the respondents were completely honest, and not influenced by extraneous nuances and considerations in their responses to the questions. In view of the methodological and social limitations to this study, future researchers could consider, for example, the use of a mixed methods wherein a quantitative research component is conducted on trainees of the programme in order to validate or disprove the answers provided by the training managers which were purely from operator/organisational, rather than training participants’ perspective. The mixed method approach could also enhance the external validity or generalisability of the research outcome to a wider context. At last, the administration of structured questionnaire through the use of a web-based survey could potentially eliminate emotions, social tension and response bias since both the researcher and respondents do not engage in a face-to-face contact and personal interaction. This also effectively protects personal identity of both the researcher and respondent.

Originality/value

Not much research has been conducted in the direction of the graduate development programme as an effective strategy for the career advancement, inclusion and affirmation of black engineers within the engineering landscape of South Africa. Corporate and professional skills development managers could integrate the outcome of this paper into a policy framework that shapes corporate social investment, diversity and inclusion management at the workplaces.

Citation

Samuel, O.M., Magwagwa, S. and Mazingi, A. (2020), "Strategic career development of black engineering graduates in South Africa: the workplace experiential approach", Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning, Vol. 10 No. 1, pp. 32-48. https://doi.org/10.1108/HESWBL-02-2019-0030

Introduction

Research in the spectrum of the transition of graduates into the world of work reveals existence of a gap between the competencies required at work, and the skills acquired by graduates through the tertiary education system (Nair et al., 2009; Radcliffe, 2005; Wellington et al., 2002; Patil, 2005). Having endured the academic rigour of studying to qualify as engineering graduates, the aspiration and enthusiasm of practising as professionals often pervade the thoughts of these theoretically orientated, but practically deficient in the skills and competencies that are required to function optimally in the real world of work (Korte et al., 2008). There is an indication that engineering curricula in the early 1990s were not designed to prepare graduates for the immediate world of work (Quek, 2005). As a result of this deliberate inadequacy in curricula design, graduates often struggle transiting from the university to the work environment. Very often, a socialisation process is initiated by professional and corporate bodies to provide a platform through which new graduates transit from educational institutions into the workplace. Such initiatives normally consist of programmes and activities that are designed to orientate, integrate and imbued professional newcomers with workplace conducts and practices, organisational values and culture, work ethics and performance expectations (Korte et al., 2008). This process has become prominence in the engineering profession wherein employers require more than technical competence from practising engineers, but also interested in fully developed professionals who are self-aware of, and possession of social skills which involve team work, effective communication, negotiation and other generic skills (Beder, 1999).

While professional development programmes are prevalent in other occupations such as accounting, law, pharmacy, etc., the focus of engineering profession in this study is accentuated by its classification as scarce and critical skill that is essential for the rapid growth and development of the South African economy (du Toit and Roodt, 2008). Our interest is also drawn from Daniels (2007) assertions regarding a general shortage of engineers from the previously disadvantaged population (black) in South Africa, which had no formally registered engineers pre-1992 (Molelemane and Owsley, 2013). Similarly, a not too impressive statistics indicate that out of the approximately 34,000 registered engineers with the Engineering Council of South Africa[1] only 12 per cent are blacks (Cruise, 2011). The discourse on workplace learning has over the time attracted attention of scholars, particularly within the context of corporate social investment in professional development of employees, corporate competitive advantage and globalisation (Billett, 2001; Senge et al., 2014).

The history of racial segregation and discriminatory human capital development regime that retarded career development and advancement of black[2] professionals in South Africa provided a contextual framework for this paper. The significance and main contribution of this study is firmly located in the paucity of research in the Southern African region that presents, using scientific methodology, the effectiveness of the graduate development programme as a strategy for the inclusion and affirmation of black engineering graduates from the previously disadvantaged groups in South Africa. The outcome of this study will similarly assist both the government and corporate managers in the formulation of policy framework and promotion of social policy framework that is capable of mitigating the subsisting level of racial tension and mistrust in the South African workplaces. An evaluation of the dynamics of professional development of black engineering graduates through the lens of an empirical research of this nature could potentially stimulate, and also contribute to the national discourse on the development of critically scarce skills, diversity and inclusivity within the realm of economic growth in South Africa (Daniels, 2007; Kraak, 2008; Erasmus and Breier, 2009; Rasool and Botha, 2011).

Theoretical framework

Graduate development programmes

A plethora of literature abound in the area of workplace experiences by early career graduates in various occupations (Kerckhoff, 2000; Ranis et al., 2000; Ryan, 2001; Bynner and Parsons, 2002; Kraak, 2005; Korte et al., 2008; Hodkinson et al., 2013).

The argument also exist about gap between the skills possessed by graduates vs the skills required by employers. Generic competencies have been identified as those constituting a gap in the development of engineering graduates (Mills, 2002; Galloway, 2007; Male, 2010). The generic or “soft skills” required by engineers often include business management, inter-personal skills, communication skills (Lappalainen, 2009), conflict management and change management. In addition, professional engineers should also possess a good knowledge of human resource management, leadership skills and decision-making skills (Farr and Brazil, 2009). Furthermore, problem solving, inter-personal relationship and sound ethical leadership are considered to be training priorities for engineering professionals. Other essential skills as identified by Male et al. (2011) that are required for an engineer to perform optimally include, communication, critical thinking and ability to work in a team. Others are life-long learning, information management and entrepreneurship. However, an attempt to focus on generic skills for engineers has been met with a lot of resistance (Green, 2001; Mills, 2002; Galloway, 2007). The argument in this regard has been that requirement of generic competencies, such as communication, leadership and other “soft skills”, are relatively, and insignificantly lower when compared to core technical engineering skills (Male, 2010). On the contrary, however, other scholars have argued that the twenty-first century professional engineers require not only the technical skills, but also generic and inter-disciplinary skills in order to function effectively in a globalised work environment (Mejtoft and Vesterberg, 2017; Schwieler, 2007).

This set of arguments presented in the above literature thus leave employers with a decision dilemma regarding the choice of either employing experienced professionals, or recruit new graduates with the intention of developing, orientating and fitting them into the culture and strategies of the organisation (Quek, 2005). Many organisations in South Africa adopt the latter option with the intention of driving their own internal human resource development strategies to meet national imperatives, and to also manage the cost of human resources development (Quek, 2005). It is in consideration of this option that we reviewed the engineering graduate development programme in the next section of this paper.

Strategic recruitment of engineering graduates

Organisations in South Africa have adopted various strategies in recruiting graduates into their development programmes. In 2004, a combination of 20 employer organisations established the South African Graduate Employers Association (SAGEA). Membership of the association has since then increased to 180 (SAGEA, 2016). The main purpose of SAGEA is to provide a link between its members and potential engineering graduate job candidates. Similarly, SAGEA (2016) provide training support to its member organisations on how to source high-performing graduates for their development programmes. Organisations typically recruit graduates for the professional development programmes by embarking on graduate recruitment drives, which mostly involve representatives visiting universities to make presentations, organising career fairs and marketing organisational career offerings. The duration of professional development programmes range from a period of 12 months to a maximum of 36 months, depending on the needs of various organisations (SAGEA, 2016). Participation in these programmes provide trainees with learning and development experiences through structured activities which are aimed at addressing their development gaps such as technical and inter-personal skills. Performance of trainees is tracked by employers through the use of regular appraisals (Viney et al., 1997).

Potential training candidates are often subjected to a rigorous recruitment process, and this includes face-to-face interview sessions, psychometric tests and simulations exercise (SAGEA, 2016). While successful candidates are recruited into different organisations to begin their professional development programmes, experience has indicated an existence of a mismatch between expectation of the newly recruited employees, and the picture of an exciting work environment that was demonstrated by employers during the recruitment process (Viney et al., 1997). New employees often experience incongruence in person–organisation fit, especially in the realm of organisation culture (Viney et al., 1997). The resultant effect of such experience is a trust deficit, low job satisfaction, and subsequently, a psychological state of intention to quit the organisation (Hermanson et al., 2002).

Transition from education to practice

Previous studies have highlighted the skills requirement of graduates during their early entry into the world of work, and much more work has been conducted in identifying the strengths and weaknesses of graduates during the early years of their careers. According to Holmes (2001), it is imperative for organisations not to only focus exclusively on the skills requirements of graduates, but rather pay attention to the transition process from tertiary institution to the workplace. Holmes (2001) referred to this transition period as the “graduate identity” and argued that organisations need a “way of framing, in conceptual and theoretical terms, the interactional processes by which a graduate and employer engage with each other and the outcomes of such interactions” (p. 112).

While a reasonable amount of research has been conducted on mismatches in the expectation of graduates and organisations in previous literature (Graham and McKenzie, 1995; Hesketh, 2000; Holmes, 2001) offer a different lens with which to view the transition process of graduates. The author argues against emphasising the skills agenda as the sole consideration when organisations consider graduate recruitment. Our study is aligned with Holmes’ (2001) views because graduate development programmes adopt a holistic approach to developing graduates, and this does not only focusses on skills acquisition, but also considers a graduate’s socialisation process. Documentary evidence also suggests that formal university qualification on its own does not represent a terminal end to learning, but rather, an integral part of a life-long organisational learning continuum (Jones et al., 2001). Indeed, Harvey (2001) argues that the primary purpose of higher education is not only to provide employability skills, but essentially about developing a life-long learning.

The recurring themes from the literature on graduate development programmes is learning and development, thus suggesting the existence of a relationship between graduate development programmes and workplace learning.

Workplace as learning environment

The concept of workplace learning does not lend itself to one easy definition as it comprise a wide range of developmental activities that are aimed at effectively equipping employees with skills that are necessary to meet performance goals (Matthews, 1999). Consequently, workplace learning is often defined within the context, perceptions and limitation of a location where all activities that are aimed at meeting specific organisational goals are performed (Matthews, 1999). This definition, however, failed to consider other important characteristics of any workplace. Such characteristics include, but not limited to, fostered behaviours, shared values and beliefs, as well as unique organisational cultures (Matthews, 1999). It is in realisation of this broad definition of workplace learning that Matthews reiterated that, workplace learning should encompass all learning activities and processes, whether they are intended, formal or informal, that altogether lead to knowledge acquisition by workers. It is therefore the aggregation of all these factors and characteristics that present an inclusive definition of the concept of workplace learning.

Notwithstanding the recognition by employers to drive and accelerate workplace learning, a palpable confusion around this concept still exists. This, according to Matthews (1999) results from the complex nature of the concept, together with a range of other elements that are completely different from learning and development activities. This complexity has theretofore led Mathews to reiterate the need to understand and integrate various organisational factors in order to provide a holistic view of the learning that takes place at work.

Policy and legislative framework for workplace learning in South Africa

Since the inception of a democratic dispensation in 1994, the Government of South Africa has introduced policies and legislative interventions that are directed at ensuring an inclusive and more representative workplace demography. The workplace learning mechanism has therefore become one of the deliberate and strategic means of transforming and achieving workplace diversity in South Africa. Some of these policies and legislative interventions are briefly discussed in the following section.

The affirmative action (AA) policy was introduced to redress the inequality that was perpetrated by the apartheid regime as it affects employment and development of people within the designated group. The principles of the AA were enshrined in Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996) 1996 which promotes the enactment of legislation and implementation of “other measures designed to protect or advance persons or categories of persons, disadvantaged by unfair discrimination” in order to achieve equality. In order to give effect to this constitutional aspiration, a number of laws were enacted by the Parliament. Notable among the legislation is the Employment Equity Act No. 55 of 1998 (1998). Essentially, the aim of the Act (as amended) is to facilitate workplace transformation. It comprises two dimensions: the elimination of unfair discrimination; and the implementation of AA and measures that enable equitable representation of employees from different race, gender and disability groups in the workplace. Other legislation includes the Skills Development Act No. 97 of 1998 (1998), and the Skills Development Levies Act No. 9 of 1999 (1999). These pieces of legislation were enacted by Parliament to essentially address the employment, equal representation of black and white people in all job categories, training and development, as well as succession management of the designated groups. Added to this legislative framework was the introduction of the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act No. 53 of 2003 (2003) which was aimed at facilitating increased representation of black individuals in management positions, as well as their ownership and participation in businesses and commercial enterprises. Notwithstanding the targeted legislative and policy interventions, there abound little evidence to demonstrate that the professional development and career advancement of black graduates in the workplaces has changed significantly from the previous era.

Meanwhile, while legislative and policy interventions present an essential mechanism in addressing issues relating to diversity, gender and racial discrimination in the workplace, Republic of South Africa: Department of Labour: Commission for Employment Equity Annual Report 2016-2017 (2017) reports that the pace of transformation has been painfully slow (see Table I). This has been attributed partly to the implementation challenges such as resistance by a number of employers to embrace employment equity to transform their various workplaces. Furthermore, a number of employers are yet to recognise employment equity as a business imperative that needs to be integrated into business strategies and plans in order to promote equity. Added to these factors is the lack of capacity by employees and trade unions to adequately monitor compliance by recalcitrant employers. Apart from legislative compliance, or the lack thereof by employers, the establishment of a focussed and systematic organisational transformation agenda, coupled with a deeper commitment to organisational learning remains imperative (Horwitz and Jain, 2011). In furtherance of the employment equity drive, it is important for organisations to implement a coherent human resource and skills development strategies that support the transformational agenda. While these are plausible human resource practices, employers in South are, however, reported to have encountered a number of challenges in the implementation of these targeted programmes. Notably among such challenges is the scarcity of highly skilled job candidates within the designated groups (Nzukuma and Bussin, 2011; Horwitz and Jain, 2011).

More problematic for employers in their quest to implement employment equity legislation is the high rate of employment turnover among AA employees, particularly those at senior management and executive levels (Horwitz, 2007). This category of managerial employees is in high demand as a result of their equity status and legislative imperatives. This reality therefore effectively promotes the practice of job-hopping, and strategic poaching, as a somewhat acceptable human resource management practice by both job candidates and employers, respectively. The outcome of a survey conducted by Ashridge Business School and Institute of Leadership and Management (2011) on the organisational commitment of graduates indicate that majority of the participants do not intend to remain with a particular employer for a period beyond two years. Ashridge and ILM finding was supported by a statistical data presented by the SAGEA (2011) to the extent that only 34 per cent of graduates in South Africa remain with their respective organisations for a period more than five years, while 19 per cent would stay for three to four years and 11 per cent less than two years. The major driver of high rate of graduate turnover in South Africa has been attributed to remunerations (SAGEA, 2011). A combination of the problems described in the literature above effectively poses recruitment and legislative compliance difficulty for employers, especially in the private sector.

While progress has been made regarding the implementation of employment equity programmes by designated employers in South Africa, the rate of progress remains at an incremental level (Horwitz and Jain, 2011). A tabular representation of top management positions by category in the South African workforce from 2014 to 2016 is presented in Table I.

When compared to the national population figures and in relation to the Employment Equity Plan, Table I shows that both the white and Indian groups were consistently over-represented, while the African and Coloured groups were under-represented at the top management level of the workforce. It is evident from the table that people living with disabilities and women generally were grossly under-represented at top management level. The statistics of representation reflect the same pattern across all sectors of the economy.

The next section presents a theory that provides a traditional context for this study.

Theoretical underpin

Social learning theory

The mechanism of workplace learning involves personal interaction between the learner and a more experienced person, or instructor, with the purpose of knowledge acquisition and skills transfer. This paper is thus located within the framework of the social learning theory. This is a mode of learning whereby people learn from each other through observing, listening or imitating certain behaviour or activity that takes place in the learning environment (Bandura, 1977). The ultimate end of the social learning process, according to the behavioural theorists, is to transform, or lead to a behavioural change in the learning party. The social learning school of thought, however, express a different view by arguing that learning could occur by means of observation alone, and without necessarily resulting in behavioural changes (Bandura, 1977). In this paper, we tend to subscribe to the latter argument, particularly when learning is conducted within the context of knowledge or technical acquisition or advancement. This is often the main purpose in the design and implementation of the workplace learning programme. It is on the basis of this argument that we adopted the social learning theory as it provides a background for the socialisation, mentoring and coaching of black engineering graduates in their respective workplaces.

Methods

Data collection

This paper adopted the qualitative research strategy in investigating the effectiveness of the graduate development programme that was aimed at the professional development of black engineering graduates in South Africa. In-depth interviews were conducted using a semi-structured interview guide that was developed after an extensive review of related literature. The interview schedule was carefully developed using the guideline provided by Bryman and Bell (2011, p. 468). Ten participants were conveniently selected (one each) from different organisations that are involved in the graduate learning programme. Participants comprised of 40 per cent females and 60 per cent males with academic qualifications ranging from bachelor to master’s degrees. The interview questions were designed broadly to obtain information around the operation, effectiveness, problems and prospect of the programme. Other aspect of the questions relate to retention and career progression of graduate participants, race and gender relationship, succession planning, recruitment, promotion and retention of black engineering graduates, coaching and mentoring as a means of skills transfer, etc. Interviews were conducted at different locations with consented individual participants over a period of four days, achieving an average of 45 min for each interview session. Interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed, using the NCH software. Field notes were also taken during the interactive interview sessions in order to capture some cues and physical observations from the respondents.

Data analysis

The data from interviews were analysed using thematic analysis technique. This is a general approach to qualitative data analysis where themes or patterns are identified (Wagner et al., 2012). The interview transcripts were analysed using the seven-step framework provided by Colaizzi to allow for a structured approach to data analysis (Gale et al., 2013). The transcribed information was then coded into themes, using patterns of information frequency (Boyatzis, 1998). We considered thematic analysis as the most appropriate analytical technique for this paper as it is capable of providing detailed analysis and structure information to reflect a variety of ideas (Clarke et al., 2019).

Results

We developed six themes from transcripts of the information obtained from the research participants. Themes represent answers provided in response to interview questions, and in which the interpreter (interviewer) ascribes the same or similar meanings that are related to research questions during the process of data analysis (Duriau et al., 2007). The eight themes are presented in the following section. In reporting answers to the interview questions, respondents from participating organisations are referred to as “Manager 1, 2, 3 … 10”.

Theme 1: mode of recruiting engineering graduates into the development programme

When asked about how they recruit engineering graduates into their development programmes, respondents explained the different methods they employ in sourcing for the best graduates, or graduating students into the programme in their various organisations.

Manager 1 indicated that they use career fairs, exhibitions and industry-related shows to inform prospective employees and trainees of the opportunities available in their organisation. In addition, the company also arrange visits to engineering faculties where they interact with undergraduate engineering students and present them with employment opportunities that are available after their studies. Similarly:

[…] we create a feeder pipeline at primary level by identifying and offering bursary to Grade 11 and 12 learners in high schools who demonstrate high competencies in mathematics and physical sciences, and also indicate an interest in studying engineering at the tertiary level. This bursary holder pipeline have presented a steady source of recruiting most of our trainees into the development programme.

While this recruitment option presents a sustainable supply of trainees for the graduate development programme, it does, however, have some inherent uncertainties.

Although we rely on the bursary holder pipeline in attracting young people into the engineering profession generally, this has not been consistently successful over the years. We have experienced failure on the part of bursary holders to pass their matriculation examinations at the required level to be admitted into engineering programmes at universities. Similarly, there are situations where bursary holders decide to either enrol for some other degrees at universities, or migrate from engineering degree in the course of their studies to pursue degrees such as in medicine, computer science or IT related degrees.

According to Manager 2:

[…] we post available employment opportunities on our website. Further than this, we encourage applicants to walk-in and personally drop off their CVs at the recruitment office through our open-door recruitment policy since we are located in a rural community. Information regarding job opportunities at the company is disseminated at a quarterly meeting with community representatives, who, in turn, pass the information on to interested job seekers by words-of-the mouth.

In some other organisations, the recruitment of engineering graduates into the development programme is processed by the training and recruitment team (Manager 3). The recruitment and selection process is assisted by the technical and engineering department in the organisation. Other respondents (Managers 4–10) adopt similar processes and procedures in sourcing and recruiting graduates into their respective development programmes. Their recruitment strategies include organised and well publicised career exhibitions and road shows that are targeted at final year engineering students in universities across the country.

Theme 2: coaching and mentoring assisting in the knowledge transfer process

There was no hesitation among all the respondents as to whether coaching and mentoring is crucial in driving workplace learning. It is emphatic to state that the very essence of the development programme is for trainees to learn from established and more experienced engineers and managers who serve as instructors, coaches and mentors (Managers 1, 4, 6 and 8). Coaches are allocated to trainees in group, while an individual trainee is assigned to a mentor (Managers 2, 3, 5 and 7). While coaching is designed to equip trainees with specific skills and technical competence, the essence of mentoring is to provide mentees with a life-long learning experience. Coaching and mentoring is therefore considered to be an all important component of the graduate development programme as this, to a great extent, facilitates experiential learning and knowledge transfer (All managers). Beyond the learning process, mentoring has been acknowledged to have provided a notable platform for the induction, socialisation and integration in the on-boarding of new employees (Manager 3).

Theme 3: the impact of race and gender on coaching and mentoring relationships

The issue of race and gender relationships has always attracted a different, and in some cases, difficult responses among South Africans in general. The responses were therefore not very different from the societal perception when respondents were asked about their experiences on the possible influence of race and agenda in relation to coaching and mentoring of graduate trainees in their respective organisations. Manager 3 was quick to reiterate that issues around race is always an uncomfortable discussion in South Africa in general. The respondent further noted the problem of gender discrimination, particularly in the engineering profession. In Manager’s 3 company, executive management team recently had to resolve a set of complex problem relating to appointment of coaches and mentors on the basis of race and gender inclination.

The core issue here was whether white coaches should be assigned to black trainees. This resulted from certain allegation by some black managers to the extent that their white counterparts were passively sabotaging the graduate development programme by not involving trainees in critical tasks that could result in effective skill transfer. Another issue that complicates the entire debate was the reluctance of some senior managers to mentor “gay” trainees based on their religious and moral conviction. This, to my mind, represents the height of sexism, gender discrimination and intolerance.

The level of complexity that was experienced in the decision-making process regarding assignment of coaches and mentors to trainees as described by Manager 3 was not much of an issue in Manager’s 2 company. Their company has installed a deliberate measure in managing race and gender relations in the workplace. This is achieved through a coaching and mentoring committee which is responsible for the assignment of trainees to individual coaches and mentors on the basis of engineering speciality, rather than race or gender. In another response, Manager 1 asserts that, “although race and gender should not be a defining factor in the coaching and mentoring relationship; unfortunately, however, both factors do actively play critical roles in the characterization of relationships within the South African workplaces in general”. This reality can be attributed directly to the historical policy and relational practice of racial segregation, and the prevalent gender discrimination as orchestrated by the apartheid regime prior to 1994.

Many South African organisations are now introducing workplace transformation and diversity policy as institutionalised standards to complement the various employment equity and AA legislation. Such policies are directed at re-dressing imbalances in appointment within the people who are classified as “previously disadvantaged” in terms of the affirmative legislation (e.g. Coloureds, Africans and people with disability). For example:

[…] we have a situation where white females and Indians are now dominating managerial positions in my company as a result of their equity status in terms of the legislation. This significantly disadvantages African and Coloured people who constitute majority of the population, and, in most cases, have less qualifications in the critical skill job categories. The best equitable way to redress this structural imbalance is to adopt a transformation policy framework that specifically addresses such issue in order to achieve a fair and equitable representation among the previously disadvantaged population group. We have equally reflected this policy framework in our recruitment of engineering graduates into the development programme.

(Manager 10)

The expression by Manager 6 was reminiscent of the complex situation experienced above in Manager’s 3 company regarding assignment and relational issues between trainees and their respective coaches and mentors. The manager (6), while acknowledging inherent conflict in inter-personal relationships at workplaces in general, he emphasised that this should not be motivated by racial or gender consideration. In a similar response, Manager 7 related instances where some graduate trainees complained about inadequate support from their coaches and mentors due to racial differences and preferences. Such complaints are considered as a serious transgression of company policy and values, and are promptly referred to the disciplinary committee for determination. In the same vein, issues relating to gender discrimination and sexism are considered as priority cases given that the engineering profession is predominantly male (Manager 7).

Theme 4: workplace learning facilitates career advancement

Generally, black professionals, over the years have consistently attributed their lack of career progression at workplaces to racial discrimination, rather than competence. Respondents were therefore asked to share their perceptions regarding such allegation by black engineers as it relates to career advancement in the engineering industry. Without confirming or denying such a sweeping allegation, Manager 1 chose to emphasis the relevance of professional competency and experience as essential consideration for career advancement, especially in a highly technical work environment as evident in the engineering industry.

This requirement was part of the consideration in establishing the graduate development programme for black engineers in order to systematically position them for career advancement. The programme has also been integrated into the company’s strategic development and succession plan for middle, senior and top management positions in the next 5–10 years. We therefore envisaged that the graduate development system would have produced highly trained, experienced and competent black engineers who are capable of assuming senior and top managerial positions in the company (Manager 1).

Other respondents (Manager 5–8 and 10) expressed similar opinions regarding the importance of continuous professional development as a catalyst for career advancement. They emphasised the need for an executive management development initiatives that could assist in accelerating employees’ career progression. While these respondents were unable to link the slow career progression of black engineering professionals directly to racial discrimination, they were, however, unanimous in agreeing that the problem was one of the enduring legacies of apartheid in South Africa.

Theme 5: duration of the graduate development programme and legislative compliance

The graduate development programme has been adopted and functional in all the participants’ companies over a period of 10 years and beyond. All the respondents reiterated their managements’ decision to continually improve on the level of successes that have been achieved by the initiative since its inception. In particular, respective respondents disclosed their managements’ determination to increase the quantum of investment in the programme as it provides a sustainable pipeline for the production of black engineers. This is with a view of fulfilling their employment equity targets, on the one hand, and also conforms to legislative provisions. Various employers have also formulated their strategic human resource policies and plans around the graduate development programme in line with the national strategy on human resource development trajectory. All the respondents admitted that they benchmark the standard and quality of their in-house development programmes against each other in a healthy competition in order to constantly improve on their programme deliveries.

However, some respondents, particularly from the private sector expressed their difficulty in complying with regulatory requirements and the implementation of employment equity targets. For instance, the pool of engineering and information technology graduates from the designated groups is significantly small (Manager 8). This effectively poses a huge challenge in terms of meeting the company’s employment equity targets. This problem is more problematic in a situation where there are no Coloured and female African engineering graduates available for consideration and recruitment into the development programme. Unfortunately, the culture of white-male dominating both the engineering degree programmes, and ultimately the profession remain the status-quo. With this reality in mind:

[…] we have adopted a proactive measure that is aimed at potentially improving this problem. The management has established an all-inclusive (tuition, accommodation, books, transport, food subsidy, etc.) scholarship programme exclusively for African female and Coloured students in secondary schools who have passed their matriculation examination with endorsement to study for engineering degree at universities. The programme also include the prospect of employment by the company after the successful completion of their engineering degrees. It is our estimation that this would inspire and attract secondary school students from the target group to embrace the engineering profession.

(Manager 8)

Manager 8 is very optimistic that the comprehensive scholarship offering strategy would provide a sustainable pipeline for the supply of engineering graduates from the employment equity target group to the company. This will, hopefully and successfully mitigate the shortage of this category of engineers, both into the graduate development programme, and ultimately the entire workforce. This optimism is anchored on the manager’s philosophical persuasion that every person (black and white) is endowed with the natural potential to excel in any profession of their choice, if provided with the required inspiration and support.

Theme 6: recruitment, advancement and retention of black engineering graduates over five years

The issue of recruitment, retention and promotion of black engineering graduates through the development programme was raised again, but this time within a specific time period and figures. Respondents were asked to account for the number of black graduates who were recruited, promoted and retained over a period of five years (i.e. 2012–2017).

Responses were very encouraging in terms of the number of black engineering graduates who had successfully completed the development programme, retained and promoted by their employers. According to Manager 1, the company recruited a total number of 30 graduates into the development programme over a period of five years. The recruits successfully completed their experiential training over the mandatory two-year period and were offered appointment as engineers. Of this number, 19 were males while 11 were females. Five of the male graduates were appointed as senior engineers. However, no one of the female graduates have been promoted. At present, the company still retains 18 of the initial 30 graduates that were integrated into the workforce. They comprise of 11 males and 7 females working across different units of the company. The respondent, however, acknowledged the difficulty they encountered in retaining this category of engineers as a result of their high job mobility tendencies.

The statistics provided by other respondents are presented in Table II.

Given the prevalent of high rate of employee turnover in South African labour market, particularly among engineering professionals, it can be concluded from Table II that the companies are, on the average, struggling to retain their graduate trainees. The table also suggests that advancement of graduate engineers into senior management positions is not very impressive. This could possibly explain the average retention rate that has been experienced by the companies. Some of the respondents indicated that graduates of their development programmes are required to further complete a three year “Future Leadership Management Programme” before they could be considered for appointment into senior management positions. Accordingly, many of the graduates do not often consider such leadership programmes as a priority, thus effectively delaying their promotion. In other companies, however, their management simply do not have the necessary financial resources to retain most of the graduates. In such cases, they only provide a platform for the training and induction of engineering graduates for bigger companies to absorb. For such producing companies, retention is not a problem.

Discussion

The various strategies used by different organisations in the recruitment of graduates into their development programmes have been established to include information visit to universities, career exhibitions, strategic use of scholarship to attract and establish a recruitment pipeline at secondary school level, etc. These strategies have been found in the literature to be effective ways by which organisations attract prospective job candidates. For example, the SAGEA (2016) found that high-potential engineering graduates are recruited into the development programmes by means of university visits, career fairs, company websites, social media and other innovative ways of attracting high-performing engineering students. This mode of recruitment, according to Charan (2009), is more cost effective than other traditional recruitment strategies such as media advertisement.

One important component of the graduate development programme that is most useful in the South African context is the use of coaching and mentoring as an effective mode of skills and knowledge transfer. Literature describes a mentor as a senior and more experienced individual who engages a junior and less experienced graduate under their tutelage with a view to supporting them achieve developmental goals (Scandura and Williams, 2001). Because a mentor holds a senior position, it is often possible for them to introduce their protégés to the decision-making structure within the organisation (Opengart and Bierema, 2015). This process also provides an unstructured pathway for the initiation, and development of graduates into managerial positions within the organisation (Boyatzis et al., 2006). This developmental process is consistent with Noe’s (1988) observational learning theory which suggests that individuals usually learn from others who are more skilled and more experienced than they are. Coaching and mentoring has also been found to facilitate the on-boarding and socialisation of newly recruited graduates into the work environment and organisational culture. Grant (2010) emphasises the need for new employees to strengthen their social network through the workplace socialisation process. Socialisation, as defined by Scandura and Williams (2001), is all about knowledge acquisition, performance expectations and understanding the business value chain.

The dynamics of race and gender, as they affect the coaching and mentoring relationship in the South Africa workplace has been highlighted in this study. While gender exerts significant influence on the coaching and mentoring relationship (Passmore, 2013), Webster and Von Holdt (2005) emphasise the prevalence of race as a dividing factor in the workplace. This divisionary tendency is part of the enduring legacies of apartheid system in South Africa; and could as well amount to a manifestation of the re-invention of a workplace regime that is characterised by racial discrimination. While O’Brien et al. (2008) and Burke and Mattis (2005) argue that female graduates still do not have equal access to professional developmental programmes, this was not the case in this study (see Table II). Burk and Mattis’ argument could have been invalidated by passage of time as the evidence presented in 2005, a year after the inception of the graduate development programme, is dramatically different from what is obtainable presently. The disproportional representation of male and female employees is a general phenomenon in the South African labour landscape, and cannot be isolated as a function of the graduate development programme. It is nonetheless imperative that a deliberate strategy is put in place to attract and facilitate the entry of black female engineering graduates into the profession, using the platform of the developmental initiative (Tenenbaum et al., 2001; Burke and Mattis, 2005).

It is a well-established literature that employees develop affective commitment and loyalty to an organisation that support their professional development (Garavan et al., 1997). Such commitment include employees’ determination to continue their membership of the organisation (Perryer et al., 2010; Samuel, 2016). The outcome of this study is consistent with existing body of literature to the effect that employees who benefited from the graduate development programmes were willing to stay with the organisation as a demonstration of their appreciation to the employer for investing in their career development through the workplace learning and development programme. While employees generally expect some level of training from their employers, Jusoh et al. (2011) state that the quality of learning and development that is experienced during the workplace learning programme often impact on their level of commitment.

Limitations and suggestions for future research

Although this study presented valuable insights into the complexity of the graduate development programme in South Africa, we consider it appropriate to draw some limitations to study for in order to provide some guides on the conduct of a similar study by future researchers. It is important to state that qualitative studies inherently lack external validity that limits its generalisability to a wider context. Further, a non-probability sampling method was used in this study thus posing a threat to the scientific representativeness of the participants. At last, but very important is the emotion and tension that is usually associated with social research and discussion regarding the legacies of apartheid in South Africa. This research was not insulated from such sensitivity and social influence. To this extent, while practical efforts were made to mitigate this factor during the interviews, there is no guarantee that the respondents were completely honest, and not influenced by extraneous nuances and considerations in their responses to the questions. In view of the methodological and social limitations to this study, future researchers could consider, for example, the use of a mixed methods wherein a quantitative research component is conducted on trainees of the programme in order to validate or disprove the answers provided by the training managers which were purely from operator/organisational, rather than training participants’ perspective. The mixed method approach could also enhance the external validity or generalisability of the research outcome to a wider context. At last, the administration of structured questionnaire through the use of a web-based survey could potentially eliminate emotions, social tension and response bias since both the researcher and respondents do not engage in a face-to-face contact and personal interaction. This also effectively protects personal identity of both the researcher and respondent.

Conclusion

In concluding this paper, we note that, having considered the total number of graduates from the designated group who have successfully completed the development programme in various organisations, one can reasonably assume that the initiative is achieving its intended objective. While legislative intervention is crucial in addressing racial and gender imbalance in the workplace, it is equally imperative to consider the adoption of cultural transformation in re-dressing the problem of racial and gender discrimination in the development, appointment and promotion of professionals (Thomas, 2004; Kilian et al., 2005; Selby and Sutherland, 2006). It is equally encouraging to note the active participation of many organisations (both private and public sector) in the engineering graduates development programme since inception over the last 10 years. The programme, which is particularly aimed at professional development of black engineering graduates, is indicative of the commitment by South African organisations to meet national imperatives and assist the government in addressing the issue of skills development among the youth. The development programme will assist the government in achieving the intention of its strategic policy intervention such as the South African Joint Initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition and Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa. Both policies were established in terms of the country’s Skills Development Act of 1998.

Although the graduate development programme is targeted mainly at the designated groups, many organisations have adopted the initiative in driving their own internal human resource development strategies in order to meet the national imperatives, and to also efficiently manage the high cost of human capital development (Kraak, 2005; McDermott et al., 2006). Given the success that has been achieved thus far by the programme, and growth in membership of the SAGEA (2016) from 20 at its inception in 2004, to 180 in 2016, it is envisaged that the programme will progressively address the problem of racial and gender inclusivity and diversity in the engineering profession in South Africa.

Table I

Workforce profile at top management level by race, gender and disability status

Year	African (%)	Coloured (%)	Indian (%)	White (%)	Disabled (%)	Not disabled (%)	Male (%)	Female (%)
2014	13.6	4.7	8.4	70.0	1.7	98.3	79.1	20.9
2015	14.3	4.7	8.6	68.9	1.7	98.3	78.6	2.4
2016	14.4	5.5	8.9	68.5	1.2	98.8	78.0	22.0

Source: Commission for Employment Equity Annual Reports (2016–2017) (2017)

Table II

Recruitment, advancement and retention of black engineering graduates

Manager	No. of graduates 2012–2017	Male	Female	Retention	Promotion
3	40	27	13	26	9
5	52	34	18	38	8
7	35	22	13	15	7
10	50	28	22	25	15

Notes

1. The Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) is a statutory body established in terms of the Engineering Profession Act (EPA), 46 of 2000. ECSA’s primary role is the regulation of the engineering profession in terms of this Act. Its core functions are the accreditation of engineering programmes, registration of persons as professionals in specified categories and the regulation of the practice of registered persons.

2. Black people is a generic term for Africans, Coloureds and Indians in South Africa – Employment Equity Act, 55 of 1998.