Other transformation problems

Five interviewees singularly highlighted a number of other transformation problems that they had experienced: young Black talent were inclined to lose their cultural identity to fit into the predominantly White norms of advertising agencies; BEE fronting occurred in the past;

interpretations of BEE legislation; the BEE process was time consuming; suppliers did not understand BEE; some BEE initiatives failed; confusion whether to use the MAC Transformation Charter or DTI’s generic scorecard; and, lastly, the fact that most people are negative towards change of any form.

Table 6.19: Other transformation problems

Category Responses

16.8 “So we sit with a whole bunch of kids in the advertising business, who come into it and succeed in it because they are able to approximate to White models and are able to engage in it because they are able to reflect what the centre wants them to reflect. … if you speak in a certain way, if you accent in a certain way, if you recreate in a certain way, well then we’ve got it made, if you don’t do that you end up with a series of problems. You end up being problematic in the agency, if you half understand that and then fully understand that what you do is that come into the agency and suggest that this is part of your own kind of homeland, whatever you might consider that to be. And that is the other absurd response, because you then start plugging into all forms of caricature that you suggest in your own mind is a way of reacting against it. That’s short-lived.”

“I would like to think that when you put a non exec person on when it is outside the company they should add value in terms of experience in business. Putting garden boy, giving him share and putting him on the board is not going to give anything – people used to do that in the old days, just for the face and it’s structured so that the garden boy gets nothing.”

“Really just the interpretations firstly.”

“It’s taken a lot of resources in terms of time; we all have our normal tasks, so to put time aside was a bit daunting.”

“We do a lot from a procurement point of view, our suppliers don’t get it. It’s not because they don’t want to, it’s a bloody mission, it requires a lot of focus to do it properly.”

“We tried something to do with enterprise development 2 years ago and it failed, but at least we tried.”

“The ACA has its own charter, so there’s been debate about whether we look at the charter or the scorecard.”

“… there are human beings that will not be positive about any change, not necessarily just transformation, any change.”

Summary of responses

A third of the interviewees perceived that transformation and BEE were not strongly connected to one another, since BEE would not bring about transformation, because many were more concerned with the either mechanics and/or quantitative targets of BEE. Although one advertising agency had embarked on a real transformation endeavour, whilst improving the quality of life for hundreds of Cape Town’s poorest and homeless people, however it counted for nothing in terms of BEE ratings. Main observations of Black staff transformation problems is that there is an insufficient number of skilled Black staff that have an ability to think creatively, who prefer to only do routine jobs, are actively head-hunted so that they may not stay long with an advertising agency and are generally not interested in advertising careers. These views and others are fully discussed under the EE topic.

The client transformation problem experienced by advertising agencies emanates from the first problem, which was highlighted in this category, namely that clients (companies in other industries) are more concerned with mechanics and attaining BEE quantitative targets, as opposed to implementing real transformation measures to uplift people’s lives. It is evident that advertising agencies should select a BEE partner that fully understands and concurs with their corporate values, objectives and strategies in order to avoid future problems. International advertising agency conglomerates, especially with a majority shareholding, appears to hinder local advertising agencies’ ability to implement BEE measures to transform, as well as to create opportunities for these advertising agencies to deceivingly misstate their BEE credentials.

Conversely, several international companies have embraced BEE by relinquishing their majority ownership to the local advertising agency, thereby advancing transformation. It is true that White males are at the bottom of the list in terms of EE, but to have two White male interviewees openly support BEE even though they, personally, would have been better off financially had they not, exemplifies what real transformation is about. However, they are justified in voicing their concerns, in terms of finding a solution to this critical transformation problem. Some advertising agencies also acknowledged that Johannesburg was far ahead of Cape Town in terms of racial integration and the number of skilled Black employees.

Several other transformation problems were alluded to in other categories, but the three most apparent ones are, firstly, confusion surrounding the use of the MAC Transformation Charter or DTI’s generic scorecard. The second problem concerns the reality that young Black talent tend to emulate White role models to fit into the prevailing corporate culture and hence lose their cultural identity. The third problem is that of BEE fronting that is any attempt to bolster BEE credentials by exploiting Black staff, which ultimately obtains nothing from the arrangement. This problem was widely publicised when BEE was first introduced, but is still evident presently and is regularly punted by the press.

6.2.8 Steps to address transformation-related problems

Category 17 – Steps implemented to address transformation problems

Two interviewees stated that they were not aware of any problems; therefore they offered no answer to this question. A third of the interviewees believed that nothing could be done presently to address transformation problems. Half of the interviewees discussed steps that they had implemented or offered possible solutions to some of the problems encountered in the transformation process.

Table 6.20: Key to BEE versus real transformation problems

Category Responses

17.1 “The thing that can be done in my view is those of us who are prepared to have an honest conversation that is a conversation that goes beyond the platitudes of scorecards, shareholding and so on, I think need to find a way to collaborate so that we make an intervention which enables people to embrace a sense of themselves which goes beyond themselves. In other words enable inflamed imaginations of people in such a way that they are able to consider themselves beyond themselves.”

Category 17.1 – The key to BEE versus transformation problems

One interviewee was of the opinion that the key to bringing about real transformation was to implement initiatives that would facilitate Black people to believe that they are capable of achieving more than they believe possible and then would aspire to be even greater.

Table 6.21: Steps implemented to address Black staff transformation problems

Category Responses

17.2 “I just think that probably the common one is because this industry is so transient, you only find senior people sort of entrenching themselves. We created more of a discretionary trust because the mechanics and admin is not problematic.”

“Pay them more. I do think that agencies need to have a better look and a more strategic view on skills development. This is not just about giving money to a school for Black talent. … what I think happens is that people come fresh out of college and you throw them into position, the agency gets on and busy with doing all the stuff and they get stuck there so to give them a real benefit. We are developing a training program internally…. The students go into our incubator program for six months, where they are really trained on the brands on the internal workings of the agency, how things work. Straight out of college there is still a lot of understanding missing, we are going to spend another 6 months training you before we identify your role within the agency for the best chance of success for career growth and path for you.”

“…the only way we can begin to shift that is to make people to consider themselves differently.

Because the impediment, prophylactic wonder is the way that people consider themselves.”

Category 17.2 – Steps implemented to address Black staff transformation problems

One advertising agency developed a trust to reward Black staff who remained in their employ for a certain period of time. Another advertising agency suggested (jokingly) to pay Black employees more, but then went on to discuss their internal training program in detail. The last interviewee suggested that the key was to get Black staff to think differently about themselves.

Table 6.22: Advice for client transformation problems

Category Responses

17.3 “… we are fortunate to be ahead of the pack, when we’ve delivered the numbers they’ve said fantastic, other agencies aren’t, but it isn’t easy getting there it was not easy take a bit of the pain.”

Category 17.3 – Advice for client transformation problems

The only solution offered for client-related transformation problems was provided by one interviewee, which was simply to attain good BEE credentials in order to keep clients content.

Category 17.4 – Advice for BEE partner transformation problems

One interviewee implied that it was important to choose the correct BEE partner who could add real value to the business.