NOVEMBER 27, 2017

ANNUAL REVIEW AND REFLECTION

AN ACCOUNT OF THE WORK THAT WAS CARRIED OUT BY THE
CORPORATE AFFAIRS GDP IN 2017

ZOKWANDA RASMENI (175)

MERCEDES-BENZ SOUTH AFRICA
Background

After completing my studies in Business Science (Marketing Management) at the University

of Cape Town, I ventured to seek a more holistic experience of Higher Education. I began
working at the University of Fort Hare within the Institutional Advancement Directorate,
whose function was to position the institution in the mind of business, specifically, to
cultivate and raise third stream income. This environment would most importantly introduce
me to the concept: “Black Intellectual Tradition” and its heritage.

I would be taught how Marketing and Communications professionals seeking to understand

and highlight South Africa’s unique rendition of human rights work in highly politicised
environments.

After leaving the University of Fort Hare, in pursuit of a more “modern” understanding of
this approach, I joined the Steve Biko Foundation – a year before the country would
experience the culture-shifting #FeesMustFall. My role at the Foundation (amongst others)
was to engage university-going young people about who they think they are in the country at
that moment, understand how they think Biko would look in 2015 South Africa, what issues
they think he would be most concerned about and how they think he would engage the issues.

The greater privilege my portfolio1 allowed was access to a relatively safe space (radio-
broadcast dialogues) where we engaged key influencers, and platforms (Facebook and
Twitter) for discussing and disseminating ideas about the African Renaissance – what this
would look like should we come close to realising it.

The most important lessons learnt from this experience would be:

• Women can lead highly specialised and complex organisations given adequate
support;

1
For more information on the portfolio: [Link]

1
 George Bizos and Obenewa Amponsah, former CEO: Steve Biko Foundation

Bizos and Obenewa Amponsah, former CEO: 1

• When education is made available and decentralised, there is renewed energy and
creativity;
• Young people are yearning for access to educational resources.

From this experience, the most important take-away would be:

“In other words, the liberal must serve as a lubricating material so that as we change
gears in trying to find a better direction for South Africa, there should be no grinding
noises of metal against metal but a free and easy flowing movement, which will be
characteristic of a well looked-after vehicle.” – Frank Talk 2

This idea would inform my posture going into Corporate Affairs at Mercedes-Benz South
Africa (MBSA) and the composition of the division would allow the idea some expression.

2
Biko, S. (2002). I Write What I Like. University of Chicago Press.

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Putting Human Rights Front and Centre

My very first assignment at MBSA would be The Human Rights Initiative (a project that
would be rolled out internationally with South Africa serving as the pilot site), which was
coordinated by Darian Hendricks. To my understanding, the objective of the project was to
evaluate each plant’s understanding of human rights, how this aligns with a general
understanding of global human rights; and to assess how deeply each plant’s understanding
as well as its risk management processes conform to Daimler’s own Human Rights Respect
Systems.

My role in the project would be to offer necessary support to the project coordinator who pin-
pointed individuals who, at the time, championed plant-specific human rights topics (labour-
related, security, safety, diversity and vulnerable groups, politico-legal and socio-economic
matters). The specific actions I undertook included: linking Daimler AG colleagues with
these champions (who included: Lionel Diggins, Zintle Debeza, Gcobani Nyotela, Vengie
Cox, Melitta Oberem, Samantha deKlerk, Zimkhitha Botha, Clifford Panter and most
importantly, Johan Evertse) through one-on-one sessions.

Pretoria Girls High pupil, Zulaikha Patel

Figure 1

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In 2015, Twitter provided massive data about current human rights protection systems (our
constitutions, global agreements and perceptions), creative critiques of the systems as well as
remedial actions. So, going into Merc, my understanding of current global human rights
issues was informed by my understanding of political events and leaders who precipitated
such movements as #FeesMustFall, #RhodesMustFallOxford, #BlackLivesMatter, who were
(in my view) at the forefront of defining the expression of human rights: “a right which is
believed to belong to every person” the world over. The content came mainly from young
people: South African young people were amongst the more creative.

However, because the tactics I observed to be the most impactful in their politics were mainly
disruptive, I couldn’t yet see/understand how their methods of critique could/would be used
in established Multinational organisations without disrupting business.

The assignment would point to the first star. I learnt the person to ensure Daimler’s checks
and balances, with respect to human rights issues, are sufficiently aligned with global norms
and developments would be board member: Renata Jungo Brüngger, who had been in office a
mere seven months.

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Her office enabled me to understand how the East London Corporate Affairs division
has/could align with Daimler’s mandate to uphold human rights.

Placing MBSA amongst giants in our history

I attended my first Vulindlela workshop (facilitated by the Human Capital Engine) just a few
days after the commencement of my contract. The workshop would provide much needed
historical context, placing MBSA in the greater liberation narrative of the country. Through
Professor Jackie Naude’s reading of our history, I gained deeper understanding of the
evolution of the concept of “race” and “gender” in South Africa (as ideas about race and
gender play themselves out in our politics), gained greater appreciation for MBSA’s own
transformation journey and I came to understand that business can both incorporate generally
understood ideas about human rights while generating new ideas. Business could do this, as is
prescribed by the process driving the Vulindlela strategy, by:

• Recognising and responding to global business and socio-economic challenges;

• Recognising and acting on our responsibility to employee upliftment;
• Recognising and acting on our responsibility to community social upliftment;
• Driving employee equity.

I immediately fell into step with other Vulindlela proponents.

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Becoming a Corporate Affairs Practitioner

Corporate Affairs as at
June 2016

Internal
Communications

Corporate
Communications
Site Support
and External
Affairs

Plant Marketing Organisational

Services Development

Corporate Social
Transformation
Responsibility

Employee
Volunteerism
Programme

Manager: Corporate Affairs

E2: Site Leader VP: Corporate Affairs

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Supporting the Site Support Portfolio

I was recruited into Mercedes-Benz as a student, working closely with the Site Support
specialist. The function of the role was to support the specialist with administration-focused
tasks and most importantly, to attend the Site Leader Action Centre (a de/briefing session
covering the most important topics of the day) every morning and afternoon. It was through
this lens that I became familiar with the posture of MBSA’s leadership: how they both lead
their divisions and work together as a unit. I learnt that:

• Leaders of different divisions and persuasions can stand together and do business;
• People with different areas of responsibility, leading highly specialised functions can
communicate progressively and keep business running.

After a few months of observing how the forum works, I took over the responsibility of
running the afternoon action centre and I too learnt to approach the tasks assigned to me with
as much vigour as an E3 because I too became part of the dialogue. I would later run (manage
MAMS while the team gathers around the table) the Corporate Affairs Action Centre, which
took place at 08h00 every morning.

Supporting the Internal Communications Portfolio

The Internal Communications specialist describes the general objective of her portfolio as
such:

“Internal Communications and Intranet Specialist is to foster sound employee relations

within the workplace through top-down and bottom-up communication in order to
manage perceptions and promote a common understanding of the Company vision and
values.”3

I took over the task of putting together the internally circulated e-newsletter from the then
intern, Siphokazi Tyiwani from whom I acquired a generalised understanding of the
audience’s manner of digesting information. This would be the first vehicle I experimented
with to try to ensure that staff too are brought into dialogue with management (by creatively
communicating my perceptions of MBSA), to try to achieve alignment on certain topics.

3
Source: Mercedes-Benz South Africa Human Resources Roadshow

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During the time I was responsible for generating content for the platform, we pushed out
mainly transformation-heavy content, covering topics from: the plant opening and the
implications thereof, sporting events, commemorative events such as Africa day, amongst
many.

Because event-focused portfolios (Plant Events, Plant Marketing Services, Corporate Social
Responsibility, Organisational Development, and Employee Volunteerism Programmes) are
located in the Corporate Affairs office, most of the leads I received, which informed the
topics covered came from the same office. The implication: the platform was a key vehicle in
positioning the Corporate Affairs office and in many ways helped employees understand the
work that we do, how it ties into and impacts business and how Mercedes-Benz in general
impacts its surrounding communities.

Supporting the Corporate Communications and External Affairs Portfolio

I assisted the Corporate Communications and External Affairs specialist with monitoring
industry-related information that would be useful to the First Line team. The bite-size news-
clips would be circulated to the team every morning and afternoon, covering news we
perceived would add value to their respective business units.

Additionally, I offered multi-media support for some of the external affairs engagements the
specialist would coordinate. The most notable event being the visit by the Department of
Labour (DoL), where I was responsible for canvassing content to be communicated to plant.

Supporting the Organisational Development Specialist

By the specialist’s definition:

“The primary goal of OD is to drive change and holistic employee wellbeing,

engagement and satisfaction through structured and planned interventions based on
feedback and trends.”4

4
Source: Mercedes-Benz South Africa Human Resources Roadshow

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My introduction to the nature of the work of this specialist was through the MBSA Women’s
High Tea, where I was responsible for raising awareness of and creating anticipation for the
event. The High Tea, which highlighted the work done by women inside and outside the
organisation, was attended by nearly 50% of all women in plant. This event, to a very limited
extent, would enable me to see the female audience we were communicating with and what
moved them.

Following this event, I would offer project management and marketing insights to the OD
specialist, which would be used to add value to some of the projects and events rolled out
through the portfolio.

“OD aims to support current processes and initiate change through diagnosis,
implementation and evaluation within three key themes: Improving organisational
culture, Employee Satisfaction and Productivity, Team Development.5”

Other noteworthy projects I supported the Organisational Development specialist in

executing were the Strengthening Leadership workshops (L3, L4 and L5) where I offered
multi-media support while co-creating an environment in which plant leadership could
interact without the pressures of production at the fore.

Supporting the Transformation Portfolio

Brown, Trevino and Harrison (2005) conceptualised a new leadership construct,

called ethical leadership defined as:

“the demonstration of normatively appropriate conduct through personal actions and

interpersonal relationships, and the promotion of such conduct to followers through
two-way communication, reinforcement, and decision-making.”

This conceptualisation of ethical leadership differs from other leadership theories with
ethical components. One way it differs is that while some leadership theories such as
transformational leadership have an ethical component, the focus on ethics is ancillary
and represents only one aspect of the leadership style. In contrast, ethical leadership,

5
Source: Mercedes-Benz South Africa Human Resources Roadshow

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 as conceptualised by Brown et al., has a sole and explicit focus on the ethical aspect
of leadership.6

Local context: meeting the MBSA Compliance team

I was introduced to the MBSA Compliance team through an integrity and compliance
training session conducted to familiarise Corporate Affairs with the role of the division in
supporting the Compliance office. I came to learn this team would be the main proponents of
The Integrity Code, which informed what I understood to be the general understanding of
integrity at Daimler. The code:

“regulates the main principles of behaviour within the company. This concerns the
following topics: upholding of human rights; compliance with laws and internal
regulations; appropriate behaviour within the Group and in dealing with government
officials, business partners and customers; dealing with conflicts of interest;
prevention of all forms of corruption; protection of company assets; principles of
social responsibility.”7

Execution, having considered the cultural context

The very first project I undertook with the Transformation specialist was the Human
Resources roadshow. I would be assigned to the Body and Paint shops. We hit the Paintshop
on Thursday, 16 November 2017.

The roadshow was designed as one would a museum exhibition, through which customers
would be offered a sensory experience of Human Resources at Mercedes-Benz. At every
station – represented by a specific HR function – would be an expert, selected specially
because of a gift to hypnotise (rare finds who don’t venture too far out a specific zone). I
suppose because of the insular nature of the Paintshop lab, it was assumed the space would be
relatively…safe.

I would be responsible for “holding down the fort” i.e.: manning the registration table. By
14h00, Paintshop – a key part of the organisation not only because of the highly specialised
nature of its business but its untapped strategic narrative – would be armed with cutting-edge

6
Mayer, D.M., Kuenzi, M., Greenbaum, R., Bardes, M., & Salvador, R.B. (2009). How low does ethical
leadership flow? Test of a trickle-down model. Organisational Behaviour and Human Decision
Processes, 1 – 13.
7
Source: Daimler Integrity Code

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information about our new HR, which not only was positioned as being transformational in
its leadership style but imbued with Daimler’s integrity principles.

Conclusion

One of the hardest lessons and most valuable take-aways from the experience was learning to
brand position the very diverse Corporate Affairs in the mind of the customer and finally:
positioning Human Resources – as a whole – in the business. By placing Corporate Affairs
representatives (given they are armed with sufficient information about the division) at
different touch-points allows the business to proliferate desirable messaging. In my instance:
transformation can have an inherently ethical component → transformation is the right
direction.

Through the lens of a Marketer, I came to understand the dynamism of the organization and
its people. Moreover, MBSA taught me to understand how such themes as culture, ethics and
legacy are expressed and sustained in business.

The principles learnt from the experience have in turn supported my own understanding of
business.

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