Papers by David Dickinson
South African Review of Sociology, 2016
South African Journal of Education, 2020
The performance of South Africa's educational system in national and international tests indicate... more The performance of South Africa's educational system in national and international tests indicates that a large proportion of its public schools are underperforming. Ineffective leadership has been put forward as one reason. This paper analyses a leadership development programme, Partners for Possibility (PfP), which seeks to strengthen leadership in underperforming schools. PfP employs a one-year, cross-sector social partnership that pairs school principals with business leaders. Literature on leadership development attests to the problem of learning transfer. Interviews were conducted with 9 PfP principalbusiness leader dyads and 4 PfP unpaired participants. The research also included observations of PfP meetings and analysis of PfP reports. Although PfP's partnerships were found to support the school principals' learning, the cost of the programme limits its scalability. PfP's group learning component was also found to sometimes divert partnerships from transformational to transactional forms. This study contributes to the understanding of learning transfer within social partnerships. It also highlights a limitation of programmes such as PfP, which aim at school improvement, but are not focused on instructional practice. The article explores ways in which partnership programmes could be strengthened.
Ajar-african Journal of Aids Research, 2008
South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences
The vast majority of HIV and AIDS cases are located in sub-Saharan Africa. AIDS constitutes a cri... more The vast majority of HIV and AIDS cases are located in sub-Saharan Africa. AIDS constitutes a critical threat to the development of South Africa, yet the response to date has been slow and often confused. The research of ‘Deco’ is examined to outline how the company approached HIV/AIDS. Deco’s policies encouraged voluntary testing and counselling, openness and disclosure. Different HIV/AIDS programme aspects that responded in a reactive and under-resourced way and lacking access to managerial structures, had the opposite results. The very real value of AIDS volunteers’ contribution, is then described and evaluated. A new approach from both management and employees is needed in which a co-ordinated division of responsibility forms a key element in a workplace partnership to combat HIV/AIDS.
Journal of Southern African Studies
Review of African Political Economy
Http Dx Doi Org 10 2989 16085900509490337, Nov 11, 2009
This article examines the response of three medium-sized South African manufacturing companies to... more This article examines the response of three medium-sized South African manufacturing companies to HIV/AIDS. It is argued that the response is heavily influenced by managerial conceptions of workplace order - sometimes divergent from industrial realities - which results in the selective inclusion and omission of best-practice components. The role of peer educators and traditional healers within workplace programmes, and the handling of folk theories developed independently by workers, are used to illustrate the particular nature of workplace responses. Ideologically based selection of best-practice components is likely to limit the success of workplace HIV/AIDS programmes and result in slow development and improvement.
Transformation: Critical Perspectives on Southern Africa, 2004
African journal of AIDS research : AJAR, 2008
HIV/AIDS poses a threat to the sustainability of companies, primarily because of its impact on th... more HIV/AIDS poses a threat to the sustainability of companies, primarily because of its impact on the workforce. It is thus an issue of concern to both management and unions. Corporate sustainability reporting - sometimes known as 'triple bottom line reporting' that takes into account social and environmental factors, as well as profits - is receiving increasing attention and reporting on the corporate response to HIV/AIDS has recently emerged as one way of encouraging a response to the epidemic by business. This article looks at the issue of corporate sustainability reporting and how it might assist in responding to HIV/AIDS in the workplace. Drawing on research conducted on the Global Reporting Initiative's (GRI) HIV/AIDS reporting guidelines in South Africa (Fakier 2004), the concerns and possible roles of two key stakeholders - business and labour - are outlined. Building on this, the article explores the possible way in which the GRI's HIV/AIDS reporting guidel...
The Political Quarterly, 2002
Few countries have been exposed to such scrutiny, or embodied as many hopes and fears, as South A... more Few countries have been exposed to such scrutiny, or embodied as many hopes and fears, as South Africa. The`miracle' of South Africa's political transition from apartheid to democracy provided an almost unimaginable ®nale to a long and truly globalised struggle. So it is hardly surprising that, seven years after the ®rst democratic elections, not only does interest in South Africa remain considerable, but there is also a sense that the new South Africa has not lived up to the high hopes that the end of apartheid engendered. 1 This article seeks to evaluate developments in South Africa since the transition to democracy. It argues that there is a need to understand the international forces that bear on South Africa and how the South African government has responded. Critically, however, it argues too that deep, slow processes of change within the country also need to be evaluated. In South Africa the workplace is a location for such processes, which the casual observer is in danger of overlooking. The AIDS epidemic is also, paradoxically and tragically, contributing to the creation of a new society.
Occupational Medicine, 2010
Journal of Southern African Studies, 2004
... resides in the strategic initiatives of individuals in lower management positions.44 This alt... more ... resides in the strategic initiatives of individuals in lower management positions.44 This alternative view of corporate ... 52 Packard, White Plague, Black Labor; A. Zwi, Epilogue: 'The Role of Welfare Organisations and Voluntary Organisations in Health Care', in Conference ...
Culture, Health & Sexuality, 2011
[Excerpted from the Foreward by Charles Deutsch, Sc.D.] David Dickinson asks the question: How ca... more [Excerpted from the Foreward by Charles Deutsch, Sc.D.] David Dickinson asks the question: How can we inject into the busy, distracted, difficult lives of the least educated and poorest among us the opportunity, and eventually the habit, to think critically about their social norms and behaviors; that is, about how to keep themselves and their loved ones healthy in a terribly dangerous environment? The answer is: Purposefully, persistently, with system and intent, through judicious infiltration of the social networks people live and act in. It requires intensive, sustainable face-to-face social strategies in which trusted people listen to what is being said and believed, and respond with stories that are not only accurate but also memorable and credible, and can compete successfully with the myths and beliefs that support dangerous norms. In some settings, such as schools, churches, mosques, and sports programs, peer education can be structured and scheduled. In other contexts, such as most workplaces, it is more informal and impromptu, but with many predictable opportunities to be prepared for.
British Journal of Industrial Relations, 2006
This article examines HIV/AIDS peer educators in South African workplaces, drawing on research in... more This article examines HIV/AIDS peer educators in South African workplaces, drawing on research in five companies with large peer educator programmes. The research indicates that peer educators are primarily focused on reducing new HIV infections and 'normalizing' the epidemic by promoting change in the behaviour of individuals-a feature that is not accounted for by theories of workplace mobilization based on collective action. Similarly, their role is inadequately explained by theories on the emergence of new workplace actors based on the changing nature of work, shifting identity salience in society, and the nexus between workplace and communities as opportunities for union regeneration. After outlining the profile and activities of workplace HIV/AIDS peer educators, attention is paid to their motivations and methods of action, their relationship to management and unions, and the way in which they straddle workplace and community. The implications of this and the possible trajectory of workplace peer educators as a new industrial relations actor are discussed.
African Studies, 2006
TheHIV/AIDSepidemicthreatens,amongstotherthings,socialprotectionprovided in the workplace. Social... more TheHIV/AIDSepidemicthreatens,amongstotherthings,socialprotectionprovided in the workplace. Social protection comprises a range of rights and responsibilities that afford security to workers and their dependants. Any increase in diseases that impact on working age adults will have a detrimental affect on the levels of social protection that can be afforded. Additionally, Rosen and Simon (2003) have suggested that private sector companies are shifting the
African Journal of AIDS Research, 2013
Despite three decades of public health promotion based on the scientific explanation of HIV/AIDS,... more Despite three decades of public health promotion based on the scientific explanation of HIV/AIDS, alternative explanations of the disease continue to circulate. While these are seen as counter-productive to health education efforts, what is rarely analysed is their plurality and their tenacity. This article analyses the 'AIDS myths' collected by African HIV/AIDS workplace peer educators during an action research project. These beliefs about HIV/AIDS are organised, in this article, around core ideas that form the basis of 'folk' and 'lay theories' of HIV/AIDS. These constitute non-scientific explanations of HIV/AIDS, with folk theories drawing on bodies of knowledge that are independent of HIV/AIDS while lay theories are generated in response to the disease. A categorisation of alternative beliefs about HIV/AIDS is presented which comprises three folk theories - African traditional beliefs, Christian theology, and racial conspiracy - and three lay theories, all focused on avoiding HIV infection. Using this schema, the article describes how the plausibility of these alternative theories of HIV/AIDS lies not in their scientific validity, but in the robustness of the core idea at the heart of each folk or lay theory. Folk and lay theories of HIV/AIDS are also often highly palatable in that they provide hope and comfort in terms of prevention, cure, and the allocation of blame. This study argue that there is coherence and value to these alternative HIV/AIDS beliefs which should not be dismissed as ignorance, idle speculation or simple misunderstandings. A serious engagement with folk and lay theories of HIV/AIDS helps explain the continued circulation of alternative beliefs of HIV/AIDS and the slow uptake of behavioural change messages around the disease.
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Papers by David Dickinson