Orientation: This study is about team dialogue and how dialogue in teams may impact on levels of employee engagement, especially how this can be applied and used in Industrial & Organisational Psychology. Research purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the influence that dialogue sessions in work teams may have on employee engagement. Motivation for the study: The manager and first-line superior play a crucial role in facilitating and enabling the connection between the employee and the organisation and how this impacts on employee engagement. When practised successfully, dialogue may have an influence on the level of employee engagement, as it allows groups to move beyond any one individual’s understanding to gain new insights and to create ideas in ways that could not be achieved individually. It may be argued that team dialogue and relational practices could assist in improving employee engagement in the South African workplace. Research design, approach and method: The study used a quasi-experimental approach in terms of which an experimental group was exposed to an organisational development intervention of team dialogues over a period of time and then compared to a control group that had not been exposed to the organisational development team dialogue intervention. The main findings were reported and discussed, and recommendations were made. Main findings: Team dialogues have an impact on employee engagement Contributions/value add: This study contributes to the field of Industrial & Organisational Psychology in that it demonstrates the influence that team dialogue has on employee engagement. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / MCOM (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

Orientation: This study is about team dialogue and how dialogue in teams may impact on levels of employee engagement, especially how this can be applied and used in Industrial & Organisational Psychology. Research purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the influence that dialogue sessions in work teams may have on employee engagement. Motivation for the study: The manager and first-line superior play a crucial role in facilitating and enabling the connection between the employee and the organisation and how this impacts on employee engagement. When practised successfully, dialogue may have an influence on the level of employee engagement, as it allows groups to move beyond any one individual’s understanding to gain new insights and to create ideas in ways that could not be achieved individually. It may be argued that team dialogue and relational practices could assist in improving employee engagement in the South African workplace. Research design, approach and method: The study used a quasi-experimental approach in terms of which an experimental group was exposed to an organisational development intervention of team dialogues over a period of time and then compared to a control group that had not been exposed to the organisational development team dialogue intervention. The main findings were reported and discussed, and recommendations were made. Main findings: Team dialogues have an impact on employee engagement Contributions/value add: This study contributes to the field of Industrial & Organisational Psychology in that it demonstrates the influence that team dialogue has on employee engagement. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M. Com. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

All companies have strategic assets comprising financial capital, physical capital, human capital and organisational capital which, when effectively utilised, contribute to the competitive advantage necessary to survive in a globalised economy. The manifestation of adverse factors in a company will impact detrimentally on the performance of these strategic assets. Since the 1980s, one factor has become prominent in the management of a company’s human capital, namely sexual harassment. Sexual harassment constitutes behaviour of a sexual nature that leads to, and perpetuates, a working environment in which it becomes unpleasant to work, and if allowed to go unchecked, will lead to the underperformance of the company’s human capital. Besides the cost of litigation associated with sexual harassment, companies are confronted with the more troubling and subtle costs arising out of the psychological and physiological harm to both victims and co-workers. The psychological and physiological effects manifest themselves in symptoms such as depression, frustration, decreased self-esteem and fatigue which, in turn, lead to decreased productivity and increased absenteeism. Accordingly, in an effort to gain the competitive advantage to survive in a globalised economy, companies must manage the phenomenon of sexual harassment in the workplace. The existing theoretical principles relating to the management of sexual harassment in the workplace have been analysed in depth and a model developed to satisfy this need. This model was subsequently used to determine to what extent sexual harassment management is taking place within companies affiliated to the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of South Africa (SEIFSA). Various informative findings resulted from the investigation, amongst which were the lack of a proper sexual harassment policy within companies, the lack of proper training of employees regarding the occurrence of this phenomenon in the workplace, and the absence of proper formal/informal complaints procedures. It thus became evident that the management of sexual harassment in these companies – despite the Government’s Code of Good Practice on the Handling of Sexual Harassment Cases – had not been fully established and that there is a need for guidelines in this regard. / Business Management / D. Comm. (Business Management)

All companies have strategic assets comprising financial capital, physical capital, human capital and organisational capital which, when effectively utilised, contribute to the competitive advantage necessary to survive in a globalised economy. The manifestation of adverse factors in a company will impact detrimentally on the performance of these strategic assets. Since the 1980s, one factor has become prominent in the management of a company’s human capital, namely sexual harassment. Sexual harassment constitutes behaviour of a sexual nature that leads to, and perpetuates, a working environment in which it becomes unpleasant to work, and if allowed to go unchecked, will lead to the underperformance of the company’s human capital. Besides the cost of litigation associated with sexual harassment, companies are confronted with the more troubling and subtle costs arising out of the psychological and physiological harm to both victims and co-workers. The psychological and physiological effects manifest themselves in symptoms such as depression, frustration, decreased self-esteem and fatigue which, in turn, lead to decreased productivity and increased absenteeism. Accordingly, in an effort to gain the competitive advantage to survive in a globalised economy, companies must manage the phenomenon of sexual harassment in the workplace. The existing theoretical principles relating to the management of sexual harassment in the workplace have been analysed in depth and a model developed to satisfy this need. This model was subsequently used to determine to what extent sexual harassment management is taking place within companies affiliated to the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of South Africa (SEIFSA). Various informative findings resulted from the investigation, amongst which were the lack of a proper sexual harassment policy within companies, the lack of proper training of employees regarding the occurrence of this phenomenon in the workplace, and the absence of proper formal/informal complaints procedures. It thus became evident that the management of sexual harassment in these companies – despite the Government’s Code of Good Practice on the Handling of Sexual Harassment Cases – had not been fully established and that there is a need for guidelines in this regard. / Business Management / D. Comm. (Business Management)