EMS Talk Webinar - At crossroads: Reimaging management sciences and inclusivity

Posted on September 25, 2020

Have you ever come across an advertisement from a business that makes you cringe? An advert can be a hit, or it can be a miss. Advertisements that are a hit can boost sales, increase the organisation’s consumer base, and even boost the performance and morale of the organisation’s employees. On the other hand, an advert that antagonises a part of the market can decrease sales and in severe cases even close the operations of a business.

Recently, the Clicks/TRESemmé advertisement in South Africa related to a hair product has resulted in a major uproar, as the advert was regarded as depicting Black African hair as being dry and damaged. The advert was regarded as being targeted against Black Africans. This webinar focuses on how advertisements can be marketed by being inclusive, and the impact negative advertisements can have on business survival and employee morale, job security, happiness and motivation.

Date: Wednesday, 30 September 2020

Time: 12:00 – 13:00

Click here to RSVP

Programme

12:00 Welcome: Prof Elsabé Loots, Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences

12:05 Introduction: Prof Stella Nkomo, Strategic Professor: Department of Human Resource

Management

12:15 Panel discussion: Impact of biased advertisement on businesses and their employees

Facilitator: Prof Nasima Carrim, Associate Professor: Department of Human Resource Management

Prof Alewyn Nel, Head: Department of Human Resource Management

Dr Tinashe Ndoro, Senior Lecturer: Department of Marketing Management

Dr Olebogeng Selebi, Lecturer: Department of Business Management

12:55 Vote of thanks: Prof Stella Nkomo

Biographies

		Prof Elsabé Loots obtained a DCom degree in Economics from the Rand Afrikaans University (RAU) in Johannesburg. She entered academia in 1989 at RAU (now the University of Johannesburg), followed by professorial appointments at the University of the Free State and at Monash South Africa, where she also served as Head of the School of Business and Economics. In 2009 she was appointed as Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences at the Potchefstroom Campus of North-West University, followed by the appointment of Professor of Economics and Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences at the University of Pretoria in 2012. She has lectured extensively at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Her research focuses on topics in development economics and macroeconomics, in particular African economic development. She has published widely in these fields and has supervised 24 master’s and doctoral students to completion. She is a former President of the Economic Society of South Africa and of the South African Commerce Deans Association, and a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa.

		Prof Stella Nkomo is a Strategic Professor in the Department of Human Resource Management at the University of Pretoria. Her research has focused on diversity, difference, and race and gender in organisations, particularly the exclusion of marginalised voices in management and organisation studies. She is the co-author of the critically acclaimed book Our Separate Ways: Black and white women and the struggle for professional identity, published by Harvard Business School Press. Her research has been published widely and she is on the editorial board of several management journals. She has received numerous awards for her scholarly contributions and is an A-rated South African researcher. Her current research focuses on management challenges in Africa.

		Prof Nasima Carrim is an Associate Professor in the Department of Human Resource Management at the University of Pretoria, where she started her academic career in 2008. Her research focuses on gender in management, culture, religion and minorities in the workplace from an intersectionality and identity perspective, and she received various national and international rewards for her research. She has authored various national and international accredited journal articles and book chapters related to diversity management. She co-edited the first ever South African textbook on diversity management, Managing Diversity in the South African workplace, which was published in 2020. She currently serves as Section Editor for the South African Journal of Industrial Psychology (SAJIP) and as of August 2020 she is an Exco member of Society of Industrial and Organisational Psychology (SIOPSA) in the capacity of Chair of the Diversity and Inclusion Interest Group. She is also one of the convenors for the Gender, Work and Organisation conference, which will be hosted by the University of Stellenbosch Business School in 2023.

		Prof Alewyn Nel is a Professor and Head of the Department of Human Resource Management at the University of Pretoria. He received his PhD degree in Industrial Psychology from the North-West University in 2009 and was first appointed at the North-West University before joining the University of Pretoria in 2015. He currently serves as an editorial board member at two SCOPUS-accredited journals. At present, he serves as the Chair of the Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences' Research Ethics Committee at the University of Pretoria and Chair for the HOD Forum of Society of Industrial and Organisational Psychology (SIOPSA). He is a NRF Y-rated researcher and published various accredited national and international journal articles and book chapters, with a focus on the cross-cultural implications for assessment and management pertaining to personality, social desirability, and identity.

		Dr Tinashe Ndoro obtained a PhD degree in Management from Rhodes University. He entered academia in 2009 at Rhodes University in the Department of Psychology and the Department of Management, and is currently a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Marketing Management at the University of Pretoria. He has presented papers at local and international conferences and has published in local and international journals. His areas of expertise include consumer behaviour, strategic marketing and management.

		Dr Olebogeng Selebi is a strategic communication expert in the Department of Business Management at the University of Pretoria and teaches Business Communication Skills, Corporate Communication Management and Reputation Management. Dr Selebi completed a PhD in Communication Management at the University of Pretoria. Her PhD research culminated in the development of a communication framework for South Africa’s National Development Plan (NDP). She holds qualifications in the fields of communication, media and economics from the University of Graz (Austria), the University of Porto (Portugal), and the University of Milan (Italy). At present, she is the Associate Co-ordinator for the South African SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) Hub and member of the Board of Trustees at Momentum FundsAtWork. Dr Selebi believes in the use of research-based, academically sound, real-world communication strategies that facilitate business development and success by getting to the root of stakeholder expectations and delivering mutually beneficial communication solutions.