The post-modern economy has altered the career landscape – career trajectories are now far more fluid and unpredictable, punctuated by multiple occupational changes, increased job mobility and more frequent and increasingly difficult job transitions. Leaders are frequently ill-prepared for the changing world of work that is progressively dominated by self-managed careers. Taking on a new role is fraught with complexity - for the “chosen one” and for organisations. The implications of successful, failed or derailed job transitions can have strategic and other ramifications for organisations and individuals alike. This study explores the career transition experiences of and the usefulness of career transition executive coaching for eleven individual leaders from various South African organisations. It is a descriptive, explanatory and exploratory qualitative study, employing the systems psychodynamic paradigm, chosen because it focuses on depth psychology and is a developmentally oriented, psycho-educational organisational theory. The study adopted an interpretive stance for understanding leaders’ systemic conscious and unconscious behaviour. The ACIBART model helped to interpret the experiences of leaders in transition. These transitions involve the taking and making of a role, implying the loss which attends leaving a previous role, and adjustment to and being authorised in a new, unfamiliar role, including a liminal period of being “in between”. This inevitably produces an inner drama in which internalised past figures, possibly related to the new role, are brought back to life, and perhaps even amplified in the present. These “unconscious echoes” explain the powerful emotions that frequently attend transitions, especially at the so-called mid-life, and which in turn activate various defence mechanisms. The systems psychodynamic approach to career transition coaching was particularly useful in helping the participants identify personal patterns and link these to their past and thereby develop personal awareness and insight. The “coaching space” thus became a containing, “transitional space” where the participants could safely do the work required to make the adjustment to their new roles. Finally, recommendations to various stakeholders regarding the provision of systems psychodynamic coaching for leaders in career transition are made. / Psychology / D. Phil. (Psychology)

Learnerships are occupational and vocational education training programmes that have been provided to fast-track acquisition of qualifications for unemployed youth, equipping them with knowledge, skills and experience. This research is an investigation of learners’ experiences of learnership programmes and the factors affecting the retention of the learners. More precisely, the research is about learners’ experiences of learnership programmes in an information technology (IT) organisation in South Africa. The retention rates of learners in learnership programmes have been comparably low in recent years. In order to understand this phenomenon, one had to investigate the factors that affect such retention rates. This is a study of the lived experiences of learners enrolled in a learnership programmes, conducted to examine their perceptions of a learnership qualification. A qualitative research approach was used to collect the lived experiences of 16 participants selected from one training provider. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with the learners. The data collected was analysed by adopting thematic analysis and findings presented in a narrative form. The results from both the theoretical framework and the empirical inquiry suggest that competitive remuneration, career advancement possibilities, exciting jobs and opportunity for personal development improve learner retention, whereas the lack of these attributes is seen to entail turnover. The study was conducted in only one IT organisation and the results cannot, therefore, be generalisable throughout the IT learnership programmes. Future studies should include learners from a sizeable number of organisations and should also consider organisations in other provinces, and not those in Gauteng alone. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M. Com. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

Legislators are placing increased pressure on mining companies to improve their safety performance. The importance of safety leadership is highlighted by its role in safety culture and improving safety performance. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate the impact of a coaching program on safety leadership. The main constructs namely safety culture, safety leadership and coaching was conceptualised along the humanistic paradigm, with theoretical definitions and models. In this study, safety culture is employees’ shared attitudes, beliefs, perceptions and values about safety that affect their behaviour in the workplace. Safety leadership is the interpersonal influence that a leader exercises to achieve the organisation’s safety performance goals. Coaching is an interpersonal interaction that aims to improve individual performance through increased selfawareness and action plans. A theoretical model was developed to explain the elements that constitute effective safety leadership. A coaching program was developed based on executive coaching and leadership development principles. The empirical investigation was conducted in an organisation in the South African mining industry. A nested mixed methods design was followed. In the quantitative study, a 360 degree survey was employed to assess the ratings of a purposive sample (n=54) along eight dimensions before and after the coaching. Data was analysed with descriptive and inferential analysis. Results showed statistically significant improvements on accountability, collaboration, and feedback and recognition after the coaching. The results reflected differences in 360 degree ratings according to gender, race, job level, age and geographical location. The most significant improvements were for females, Africans, management, age 51-60 years, and site 2. In the qualitative study, a semi-structured interview was employed to study four cases to investigate managers’ personal experiences and changes in attitude toward safety. Data was analysed utilising thematic analysis. The findings revealed that coaching was a positive experience and contributed to changing managers’ attitudes toward safety. The research added to the field of organisational behaviour by presenting a theoretical model that enhances the understanding of safety leadership, the development of a coaching program and providing empirical evidence that the principles of coaching and leadership development can be applied to improve safety leadership. / Industrial & Organisational Psychology / D. Admin. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

The postmodern organisation and its leaders are faced with relentless turbulence and change and a compelling economic drive for success. The recent exponential rise in the popularity of coaching can be ascribed to the business need for the development of leadership bench-strength. Appreciative inquiry (AI) claims to be a source of untapped strength for organisations in the postmodern world and a source of sustainable solutions and genesis for energy. However, the scarcity of evidence of coaching linked to a postmodern stance, incorporating AI principles, as well as using group-based coaching methods, provided an opportunity for this study to respond to the challenges and contribute to the theory and practice of leadership coaching in the organisational setting by investigating the transformative effects of a postmodern group-based leadership coaching programme (LCP) on leaders’ personal and professional perspectives. The premises suggest that postmodern group-based coaching is a practical and cost-effective methodology in multi-cultural international organisations. Furthermore, postmodern coaching in groups can transform the personal and professional perspectives of leaders, specifically in transforming future plans, goal-directedness, confidence, resilience, hope, subjective well-being and empowerment as a leader, as well as broadening life outlooks. Key transformative themes were identified: self-knowledge, appreciation of others, broader vision, self-control and work-life integration. This applied study has made a valuable contribution to the body of research in the area of postmodern and group-based coaching. Replication of the study in other industries, setting and with different levels of leadership, training of postmodern coaches and robust follow-up coaching were identified as opportunities for further exploration. / Industrial & Organisational Psychology / D.Lit. et Phil. (Industrial Psychology)

The postmodern organisation and its leaders are faced with relentless turbulence and change and a compelling economic drive for success. The recent exponential rise in the popularity of coaching can be ascribed to the business need for the development of leadership bench-strength. Appreciative inquiry (AI) claims to be a source of untapped strength for organisations in the postmodern world and a source of sustainable solutions and genesis for energy. However, the scarcity of evidence of coaching linked to a postmodern stance, incorporating AI principles, as well as using group-based coaching methods, provided an opportunity for this study to respond to the challenges and contribute to the theory and practice of leadership coaching in the organisational setting by investigating the transformative effects of a postmodern group-based leadership coaching programme (LCP) on leaders’ personal and professional perspectives. The premises suggest that postmodern group-based coaching is a practical and cost-effective methodology in multi-cultural international organisations. Furthermore, postmodern coaching in groups can transform the personal and professional perspectives of leaders, specifically in transforming future plans, goal-directedness, confidence, resilience, hope, subjective well-being and empowerment as a leader, as well as broadening life outlooks. Key transformative themes were identified: self-knowledge, appreciation of others, broader vision, self-control and work-life integration. This applied study has made a valuable contribution to the body of research in the area of postmodern and group-based coaching. Replication of the study in other industries, setting and with different levels of leadership, training of postmodern coaches and robust follow-up coaching were identified as opportunities for further exploration. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / D.Lit. et Phil. (Industrial Psychology)

Legislators are placing increased pressure on mining companies to improve their safety performance. The importance of safety leadership is highlighted by its role in safety culture and improving safety performance. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate the impact of a coaching program on safety leadership. The main constructs namely safety culture, safety leadership and coaching was conceptualised along the humanistic paradigm, with theoretical definitions and models. In this study, safety culture is employees’ shared attitudes, beliefs, perceptions and values about safety that affect their behaviour in the workplace. Safety leadership is the interpersonal influence that a leader exercises to achieve the organisation’s safety performance goals. Coaching is an interpersonal interaction that aims to improve individual performance through increased selfawareness and action plans. A theoretical model was developed to explain the elements that constitute effective safety leadership. A coaching program was developed based on executive coaching and leadership development principles. The empirical investigation was conducted in an organisation in the South African mining industry. A nested mixed methods design was followed. In the quantitative study, a 360 degree survey was employed to assess the ratings of a purposive sample (n=54) along eight dimensions before and after the coaching. Data was analysed with descriptive and inferential analysis. Results showed statistically significant improvements on accountability, collaboration, and feedback and recognition after the coaching. The results reflected differences in 360 degree ratings according to gender, race, job level, age and geographical location. The most significant improvements were for females, Africans, management, age 51-60 years, and site 2. In the qualitative study, a semi-structured interview was employed to study four cases to investigate managers’ personal experiences and changes in attitude toward safety. Data was analysed utilising thematic analysis. The findings revealed that coaching was a positive experience and contributed to changing managers’ attitudes toward safety. The research added to the field of organisational behaviour by presenting a theoretical model that enhances the understanding of safety leadership, the development of a coaching program and providing empirical evidence that the principles of coaching and leadership development can be applied to improve safety leadership. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / D. Admin. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)