The study was prompted by the persistent paucity of women in the higher echelons of companies. Extant literature on meritocracy and choice did not offer a complete explanation for this. The study therefore set out to explore and challenge the underlying assumptions that have perpetuated the solidification of gendered hierarchies in organisations. A qualitative research design approach was used. Information was gathered from 12 in-depth interviews with female managers who worked in the greater Johannesburg area. Through the tradition of phenomenological design, the essence of the women’s career progression was analysed through the perceptions and lived experiences of the participants. Structural barriers were identified in the organisations. The higher the visibility of the male dominated inner circles present, the more discernible the barriers were, the more the self-efficacy of the females diminished. The study makes a case for the invisibility of inner circles to be eliminated. When inner circles are more visible, prior assumptions can be challenged. The study also identified pioneering opportunities for women to entrench their own successful outcomes in organisations that can contribute to their sustainable career progression. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / lmgibs2014 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

Dr. Renalde Huysamen

To achieve this purpose a leadership meta-competence model, based on levels of work theory, was developed for the future world of work. This model was firstly validated by senior managers in the retail industry. Subsequently a questionnaire assessing the perceived importance of these competencies currently and in the future was designed. This questionnaire was completed by 101 managers from various South African retail industries. The resultant data was analysed and the results indicated that there is a significant difference between the perceived current and future definitions of the nature and work of business leaders, specifically Level II work behaviour will become less important in the future and Level III and IV work behaviour show increasing importance for the future business leader. The works of Ackoff (1994), Carpa (2003), Starbuck (2005) and Wheatley (1999) propose the rethinking of the manner in which organisations plan and execute work in the emerging future, while managers and leaders often ask why they should prepare for the future when it is impossible to know what to be prepared for (Rethinking corporate strategy, 2003:65)? Weingand (1995) argues that today’s speculations on the future have moved from the realm of fantasy or literary illusion into the pragmatic world of organisational need. Tomorrow needs to be explored in order to more fully understand the demands of today and the critical decisions that must be made for the future. Weingand (1995) further argues that it is no longer enough to wonder what the future might bring; it is necessary to critically assess potential future scenarios and incorporate well-considered forecasts into today’s planning. It can be argued from the above that even though the future is uncertain, organisations that study potential futures, share knowledge and encourage collective learning are more likely to survive the test of time. Peters (1992:483) supports this argument by suggesting that organisations do not only need to become “learning organisations”, but be able to innovate on a continuous basis. Organisations find themselves midstride between an old and new era, and have not yet found their way (Nicol in Parker, 1998:1). It is also evident that the changes surrounding organisations are not mere trends but the workings of large, unruly forces: globalisation and increased international competition (Kiggundu, 2002; Moon & Bonny, 2001), cross national strategic alliances and mergers, privatisation, outsourcing, information technology innovations, the increasing short term work contract (Cooper, 2005; Stewart, 1993) and changing work ethic and culture (Ulrich, Zenger, & Smallwood, 2003). These influences are leading to an increasingly chaotic and complex world of work (Cairnes, 2004; Hite, 1999 and Kraut & Kormann, 1999). / Dr. Anton M. Verwey

M.A. (Industrial Psychology) / The object of this study is to explore the first-time work experiences of industrial psychologists. This phenomenon occurs during the entry phase of one’s career life cycle, and is associated with a reality shock, role transitions and socialisation. Ten participants were interviewed by making use of the Repertory Grid Technique to discover their mental models and personal constructs, which they created through their experiences. This information was interpreted from an interpretivist stance by using a case study and modernistic qualitative approach. Seven main themes were identified from the participant’s experiences. Four of these were considered to be enhancing and three were limiting. The three limiting themes that were regarded as negative relationships that were formed were the lack of knowledge of the industrial psychology profession, negative relationships formed and unmet expectations. The four enhancing themes were professional development, personal development, identifying the role of the industrial psychologist and identifying the value of the industrial psychologist. Recommendations were made on how to alleviate the negative experiences and a contracting model and industrial psychology career entry model were formed.

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document / Thesis (DPhil (Criminology))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Social Work and Criminology / Unrestricted

Women globally are seen as key contributors to the economic development and ‘bottom-line’ of businesses, but their presence and representation is still lacking in senior positions and the boardroom. Although after 20 years of democracy, the South African government has made significant progress towards empowering women in all spheres of business, inequalities and imbalances remain huge stumbling blocks. Embracing diversity and advocating gender equality makes business sense; this includes developing women as leaders through effectively implementing succession planning. Research shows that most companies have a succession plan document in place, but whether it is correctly implemented and effective remains to be investigated. A company’s leadership and human resources management together need to create a robust succession planning framework which aligns the vision of the company and talent management. The purpose of this research study was to determine the perceived success of succession planning for women in businesses in South Africa. The study’s primary objective was to develop and explore a succession planning framework for women in the South African Aviation Industry. A detailed literature review was conducted on women in business, leadership and succession planning. A qualitative case study approach was used as the most appropriate research methodology for this study to test whether the six propositions developed by the researcher applied to this single case or not. A questionnaire was developed to be used as a guide when interviewing the female respondents. The results were analysed and based on the findings, recommendations were made for further research. The main finding of this research was that the selected company lacks the correct implementation of the succession planning process. A possible solution to this issue would be the recruitment of a succession planning coordinator who has strong knowledge of the company’s policies, procedures and culture to establish strategies to roll out the succession planning programme.

Operating room nursing skills are some of the most demanding skills in the nursing profession. At the moment nurses trained in operating room technique are in very short supply in Ethiopia, due to the exodus of nurses to better working environments with more reasonable payment. This is especially noticeable in one of the state hospitals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as emerged in conversations with the head nurse of the operating room in this hospital about the high turnover rate, as well as the high absenteeism rate amongst the nurses working in the operating room. Nurses working in the operating room also expressed unhappiness in their work environment which could cause them to look for other jobs or to be absent from duty. The nurses were facing numerous problems in their work environment such as work overload due to staff shortage, stress due to shortage of supplies because they are not able to do their job as much as the need requires. The researcher identified the need to explore the challenges that the operating room nurses are experiencing in their work environment. The researcher used the following questions to meet the research objectives: What are the experiences of the operating room nurses in their work environment?; What potential assistance would such nurses need to better cope with the problems they experience in their work environment? The research study aimed to explore and describe the experience of operating room nurses in their work environment and on the basis of the findings to develop guidelines to assist the operating room nurses in coping more effectively with their work environment. The researcher used a qualitative approach with an explorative, descriptive and contextual design. Fifteen registered nurses were selected using purposive sampling. Informed consent was obtained from the participants and permission from the Ethics Committee of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, as well as Yekatit 12 Hospital. Data were gathered using face to face interviews and field notes were taken to determine the experiences of the participants. Data were analyzed using Tesch's method of descriptive data analysis (in Creswell, 2003:13). Two main themes with two sub-themes related to the experience of the registered nurses working in the operating room of the state hospital were identified. Main theme one focused on the non-conducive work environment and it focused on the lack of support from management and the problems experienced in the environment. It was found that OR nurses had good working relationships among the nursing staff. Main theme two focused on the limited training opportunities in OR techniques. The sub-themes described the limited exposure to new technology and the quality of nursing education which the participants felt was not taken seriously in Ethiopia. Based on the identified themes guidelines were formulated to assist the registered nurses working in the operating room of a state hospital in Ethiopia. Utilization of these guidelines should assist the registered nurses to cope more effectively with their work environment. Recommendation were made, further research and limitations identified.

This thesis explores the relationship between work environment and burnout by examining the question: Do workers experiencing burnout see their work environment more negatively than co-workers who are not burned-out? The goal is to explore the potential usefulness of measures of work environment and burnout to guide efforts at burnout intervention and prevention. Thirty-nine family and childcare workers from five sites in the Vancouver area responded to a survey to test hypotheses addressing this question. The work environment and burnout were found to be highly interactive with the work environment variables of supervisor support and clarity identified as key factors in burnout. The Maslach Burnout Inventory and Moos (1981) Work Environment Scale were found to be useful instruments for intervention and future research. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

Magister Commercii (Industrial Psychology) - MCom(IPS) / Quality education is regarded as a powerful tool in ensuring the economic, democratic and social development of nations (Kubberud, Helland & Smith, 1999). To deliver quality education, well functioning teachers are needed (Kubberud, Helland & Smith, 1999) Substantial evidence exists showing that a significant number of teachers worldwide struggle with high levels of distress and burnout (Chaplain et al., 2003). Change in the work environment is often regarded as stressful and can lead to decrease in a sense of general well-being amongst teachers (Verhaeghe, Vlerick, Gemmel, Van Maele & De Backer, 2006). Internal and external factors of change management have shaped the teaching environment in South Africa and have contributed to instability with regard to motivational levels of teachers in recent years. Actions such as intentions of leaving the teaching profession and quitting their job, could have resulted due to feelings of low job satisfaction. However, job satisfaction is not only reflected in high labour turnover but as well in absenteeism, being unproductive or even being unwell at work (Jackson, Rothmann & Van de Vijver, 2006). Continuous exposure to things like high job demands, lack of job resources, change, competitiveness and rivalry, can result in stress and burnout. Stressful events may lead to ill- health and might impact negatively on the work-related well-being of employees. The purpose of the research paper was to grasp the effects of stress factors (namely work overload and work/family conflict) on educators and to establish to what extent it contributes to the workplace outcomes of those educators in terms of their work engagement, job satisfaction levels and the intention to quit. A quantative research method was use to generate the results, by means of survey distribution to the targeted population. The results found that work family conflict and job overload did not explain a significant proportion of the variance in work engagement, job satisfaction or intention to quit.

The authors of this bachelor thesis have concluded that along with previous studies, organizational leaders focus on extrinsic motivation strategies to motivate employees and do not take into consideration each individual's internal motivation. It was also discovered that organizational leaders focus on fulfilling the lower level and higher level needs of the employees, known as the hygiene factors and motivators. Furthermore, it finds that leaders do not differentiate between younger and older employees in their motivational strategies. Together, these findings mean that perhaps the correct strategies or techniques to motivate particular groups of employees are not being realized in practice by leaders, motivating the need for further studies, especially from the millennials’ perspective.