The workplace of today is global, fast paced and under intense pressure to stay competitive and achieve financial results. This makes change an inevitable part of any organisation because in order to survive and thrive in this environment organisations need to continuously change and re-invent themselves. This study was conducted in a mining company and the industry has been one of the biggest contributors to the South African economy for over a century. There have been many changes and developments within the mining industry over the years. The mining industry has also experienced a lot of transformational activities such as mergers, acquisitions, downsizing and restructuring. During these changing and uncertain times it is important to pay special attention to the employees in the organisation as people still remain the most important asset in any organisation. Change can be a pleasant or traumatic experience for people and this makes it important to ensure that with all changes to the work environment employees are well looked after and their wellbeing is maintained. Employee wellness has been a subject of much interest for many years and it has been found that organisations that invest in the wellness of their employees have greater benefits and are more successful at managing change. This study was conducted to investigate the impact of a restructuring exercise on the wellness of middle managers. The study aimed to determine the impact/effect of a restructuring exercise on employee wellness in a sample of employees in the middle management category. This research investigated possible wellness factors that were impacted on during this organisational restructuring exercise. Three wellness dimensions were looked at and these included: physical, mental and social dimensions of wellness. The intention is to use the information collected as guidelines in the development of future employee wellness programs, taking into account change management and how to better handle it. A qualitative approach was followed and employees from a mining company were asked to participate in the study. Data was collected firstly through the use of an open ended questionnaire and thereafter two focus groups were conducted. The focus group sessions were recorded and the data was transcribed. A process of coding was used to analyse and get the central themes from the data. In conclusion the results indicated that the restructuring exercise had a significant impact on the wellness of middle managers. The general responses were negative and indicated that people’s wellness was definitely impacted on. The key themes and sub themes that emerged across all dimensions were grouped into the following: communication, trust, personal health management (nutrition, physical health and fitness and sleeping habits), mental wellbeing (stress and anxiety, morale, uncertainty), workplace environment and social status. The role of managers/leaders was seen as key during this process. Also it was clear that the development and implementation of relevant wellness programs was important to manage employee wellness during such activities. Therefore recommendations and strategies for managing change and wellness offered in this study take into account the responses from the participants and the key issues identified. This study was conducted in a specific organisation with a limited number of participants from the Corporate Office and therefore the findings should not be generalised to other middle managers in other organisational contexts without a degree of caution. Another important limitation to consider is that this research was taken at a specific time during this restructuring exercise. The negative responses could have been influenced by the timing of this research, in that, although there was a lot of communication pertaining to the changes envisaged to employees, there however were no final decisions made or implemented yet. Employees were in a waiting period and they did not know what was going to be the extent of the impact of these changes on them. A recommendation is that this research is undertaken at a later stage when all changes are implemented. In this case this was however not possible due to a time factor from the researcher’s side and delays within the organisation. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Human Resource Management / unrestricted

Pastors whose congregations are inadequate sources of meaningful fellowship and social support often experience the negative impact of one-way relationships, role overload, pedestal positioning, ministry stress, adrenaline exhaustion, isolation, burnout, and loneliness in their context. Grounded in Gary Kinnaman and Alfred Ell’s model of Pastors in Covenant Friendship, this thesis articulates the potential for free, online clergy peer groups to serve as hospitable spaces for African American, Seventh-day Adventist pastors to experience positive emotions, positive affirmation, safe places for vulnerability, peer support, friendship, and flourishing in mutually-supportive, positive relationships beyond their congregations.

This research is about bullying in schools. The aim of the study was to investigate how the problem of bullying is understood in schools, its causes, types, effects, general patterns and strategies to curb this bullying problem in schools derived from the bioecological theory, through interviewing teachers, learners and principals at secondary school level. Qualitative approach and a case study were used. This qualitative research was conducted at three inclusive secondary schools in Johannesburg North District in Gauteng province in South Africa through engaging eighteen learners in Grade Eleven and Twelve in focus groups. One focus group composed of six learners was conducted at each of three participating schools. Nine teachers, three from each of the three participating schools were involved in semi- structured interviews to solicit data on how they understand bullying, its causes, types, effects, general patterns and ways of addressing bullying in schools. Three principals, one from each of the selected schools also participated in this study. All the participants participated in this research through invitation to voluntary participation after being made aware of the purposes of the study by the researcher. Thus, a purposive sample of three principals, nine teachers and eighteen learners was used by the researcher. Semi- structured interviews and focus group interviews were used as research instruments in this study. Teachers and principals were engaged in semi- structured interviews and learners were involved in focus group interviews. The bio- ecological theory and the wellness theory were used as theoretical frameworks in this research to understand bullying, its causes, types, effects and general patterns, so as to come up with strategies to address bullying that target the learners’ social contexts rather than the learners themselves as is with the case with the psychological model. Before conducting this research, the researcher obtained ethics clearance from the University of South Africa’s ethics committee, clearance was also obtained from Gauteng Department of, clearance from Johannesburg North District as well as acceptance letters from participating inclusive secondary schools. The researcher also obtained assent from the eighteen Grade eleven and twelve learners who participated in this study. Assent was also obtained from parents of learners who participated in this research. Consent was also obtained from the nine teachers and three principals who participated in this research. After conducting focus group discussions and semi- structured interviews with teachers and principals, the researcher transcribed data verbatim for the purposes of analysing it. After transcribing data, it was colour coded, then categorised and categories were further fused into themes which were discussed in chapter five in relation to literature reviewed in chapter two. Some interesting findings were discovered in this research. Lack of resources, violence and violent video games were found to be causes of bullying in schools. ‘Gangsterism’ and peer influence were said to be general patterns of bullying in schools. Low academic performance and absenteeism were said to be effects of bullying in schools. Physical bullying, verbal bullying, emotional bullying, social bullying, sexual bullying, teacher- learner bullying, learner to learner bullying, gender based bullying and cyber bullying were said to be some types of bullying prevalent in schools. Working with various stakeholders in education such as organisations like Love Life, S.E.N.C.A, South African Police Services and Community Based Youth Centres as well as other professionals like social workers, psychologists and specialist teachers was found to be helpful address bullying in schools. Findings also indicated that involving parents and community leaders in school activities assist to address bullying in schools. Installing cameras and suggestion boxes, reporting all forms of bullying installing cameras, bullying awareness campaigns, training staff and having bullying lessons in the school timetable were mentioned effective methods of eradicating all forms of bullying in all schools. However, the study recommends that, teachers and principals be staff developed on issues related to how bullying is understood in schools in relation to its causes, types, effects, general patterns and strategies to stop it in school. / Inclusive Education / M. Ed. (Inclusive education)