Rectifying an unconstitutional dispensation? A consideration of proposed reforms relating to no income no asset debtors in South Africa

The South African natural person debt relief system remains heavily procreditor and consequently excludes many deserving debtors from any form of relief. This is despite the fact that such marginalisation amounts to unjustifiable, unfair discrimination on the basis of debtors' financial status. The main aim of this article is to establish whether proposed reforms, and specifically the debt intervention procedure, will rectify the current unconstitutional dispensation and particularly the unreasonable unfair discrimination against “no income no asset” (NINA) debtors, who undoubtedly constitutes the largest part of relegated debtors. The article may benefit developing countries seeking to introduce debt relief measures curtailed to the needs of their ever‐escalating NINA debtors.     

重庆印象

<正>今年7月1日,我与其他89名美中友谊和平志愿者一起来到中国,虽然有点疲劳,但还是对即将开始的培训非常期待。我们花了很多时间学习中文,学习中国文化和如何在中国教学。我们一直都在焦急地期待着自己会被安排到哪,终于在8月份确定下来。也正是这一天,我知道了在未来两年我将在重庆工作和生活。老实说,最初我还是不太确定。对于生活在这样一个大城市有点紧张。但是不管怎样,来到重庆的第一天感觉非常舒服,就像在自己家一样,这是一个美好的开始。     

莱昂内尔&#183;津苏理论家？实干家？

在2009年夏天一举成为法国著名并购公司PAI掌门人的莱昂内尔&#183;津苏,正在用实际行动一点点平复从未间断的质疑声。     

THE LABOUR MARKET IMPACT OF THE UK DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION ACT: EVIDENCE FROM THE REPEAL OF THE SMALL FIRM EXEMPTION

This paper uses data from the Quarterly Labour Force Survey in the UK (1997–2006) and changes in the coverage of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), that result from the removal of the small firm exemption, to assess the labour market impact of the legislation. The data support a narrowing of the employment gap between the disabled and non‐disabled over the post DDA period. However, the evidence based on small firms does not support this being a direct result of the employment provisions of the DDA.     

Crossing the Tracks? Trends in the Training of Male and Female Workers in Great Britain

A small number of recent empirical studies report the intriguing finding that the ‘advantage’ in training incidence previously enjoyed by men has been reversed. The present article explores the sources of this gender differential using Labour Force Survey data, updating previous British studies and providing further insights into the above phenomenon. The results suggest that the greater part of the gender ‘gap’ derives from differences in characteristics, among the most important being occupation, industry and sector. However, the increased training incidence among females over time is not explained by changes in characteristics and suggests preferences for training may have changed.     

An analysis of interrelationships between project management and student‐experience constructs

This article seeks to explore, through the utilization of correlational analysis, how the parameters that impact the student experience may be interrelated. We found that the experiences of students studying project management appear to be heavily influenced by e‐resource provisions and the actual experiences that the students are subjected to when using virtual learning environments (VLEs). These findings support previous research acknowledging that information and communications technology (ICT) plays an important role in teaching and learning project management. Students' experience of interpersonal skills also correlated uniquely and significantly with other constructs, supporting the premise that learning is integral to the development of interpersonal skills. Discussion surrounds the interdependency of student experiences adding to their learning and how future research should consider larger and more diverse samples to establish exactly what constructs detract and/or add to their learning in project management, which could then contribute to pedagogical discourse in other disciplines.     

Cultural prerequisites for participating in open foresight

Companies are increasingly interested in participating in open foresight. However, little is known about the conditions supporting them to open up successfully in open foresight. This research takes a culture perspective on this issue. The leading assumption is that companies with an open culture are more likely to engage in collaboration than companies with a culture inhibiting openness. We use the Competing Values Framework to measure corporate culture, and collaboration breadth and depth to measure openness to external collaboration. Drawing on a sample of 168 Austrian companies, the research confirms that culture plays an important role in creating an environment supportive of open foresight, albeit in a somewhat surprising way: the internally oriented clan culture appears to support openness, while the externally oriented market culture does not support it. Possible explanations for this finding are put forward as directions for further research. The findings should help companies to predict whether they have the cultural conditions in place to embark on an open foresight journey successfully.     

A new propensity to trust scale and its relationship with individual well‐being: implications for HRM policies and practices

In the on‐going debate around HRM and performance, there is an argument that greater attention should be paid to understanding the role that employee attitudes, attributes and behaviours play. Emerging research suggests that trust and well‐being are two aspects that could contribute to this debate. Research has shown some relationships between trust and well‐being. However, this has tended to omit consideration of an individual's propensity to trust due to lack of suitable measures. This paper explores the relationships between propensity to trust and well‐being by means of a study of 458 managers using a newly developed instrument to assess propensity and established well‐being scales. Analyses of the results demonstrate a reliable measure of propensity and a range of positive relationships. The potential implications for HR policies and practices of a measure of propensity are discussed. In particular, application in the areas of selection and development are highlighted.