This present research explores the following research question: How do managers respond to employees who are living with a mental illness? In answering this research question, I explore the challenges mental illnesses pose to managers, how managers successfully and unsuccessfully respond to those challenges, and the potential positive outcomes associated with encountering an employee who is living with a mental health condition. I answer my guiding research question through five in-depth semi-structured interviews and by relying on six structured and targeted narrative interviews that had been conducted for a previous research project. All interviews were conducted with managers across a variety of industries who have experience working with at least one employee who has lived with a mental health condition. Based on the themes that emerge in these interviews, I document the challenges managers face. I also identify several ‘facilitators of success’, defined as behaviours or actions that managers believed had some degree of positive impact on helping an employee living with a mental illness. The insights developed through this research will better inform the research community regarding managers’ experiences working with employees with a mental illness, as well help inform organizations regarding how they can better equip their managers in dealing with employee mental illness.

The recognition that employees and employers wield different levels of power in the workplace makes labour legislation a central part of the workplace. This is because the different levels of power possessed by the two parties impact not only on workplace decision making but also on the relationship between the two parties, thus, being the weaker party (worker), the importance of worker protection through legislation is very important. However, the extent to which all employees enjoy legislation protection has always been a bone of contention. The lack of employment security in certain sectors of the labour market is not always the direct consequence of a lack of labour legislation aimed at those sectors. Rather, factors such as supervising compliance and implementation of labour legislation are crucial towards achieving important goals of labour legislation such as job security and worker protection. This study attempts to understand the interplay between the nature of work, legislation and the impact on family and community life of taxi drivers, through studying the everyday work experience of local taxi operators. This study looks at the labour process of taxi driving in Mamelodi Township (Pretoria, Gauteng Province) and Jane Furse (Sekhukhune District, Limpopo Province). The study draws on post-Bravermanian labour process theory, work-life balance debates and labour geography for theoretical frameworks. This is an ethnographic study that mainly draws on the extended case method, supplemented with semi-structured interviews. Results indicate that taxi drivers work under harsh working conditions with very few employment-related benefits and little time for their families (social life). The drudgery of labour and the nature of the labour process motivate the need for taxi drivers to “make out”, as Michael Burawoy has described worker coping strategies. This involves what is termed binding, floating, sekero and rocky relations in this study. Findings also point out that current legislative stipulations, particularly the definition of a workplace, are incompatible with the nature of work characteristic of the minibus taxi industry. The study concludes that taxi drivers remain largely vulnerable and unprotected due to this mismatch between legislative stipulations and the nature of work in the industry. Related to the foregoing, the study concludes that the informality of the minibus taxi industry benefits to some degree both taxi drivers and taxi owners. The study also points out the fact that geography/space is critical to our understanding of certain industries and successful application of labour regulation laws. Finally the study concludes that different localities impact on the intensity and duration of the labour process(es) therefore negates the successful uniform application of labour laws. / Dissertation (MSocSci)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Sociology / unrestricted

South African organisations face increasing diversification of the workforce, with the concomitant benefits and potential challenges thereof. Along with the traditional approaches towards the management of diversity, less conventional areas have yet to be explored within the South African context. One such area is that of sexual attraction in the workplace. With the growing need for organisations to become employers of choice, to create organisational competitive advantage and optimally leverage their human capital it is becoming evident that acknowledgment of innate humanity is essential. The question under exploration was to determine what the perceptions surrounding the prevalence and effects of sexual attraction in the South African workplace are. Employees are human beings, human beings are essentially sexual in nature and therefore it can be said that sexuality and all its composite elements are present in and acting upon organisations. The researcher focused exclusively on self-reported perceptions and experiences surrounding this phenomenon in the workplace, including its perceived effects on productivity; communication; job performance; job involvement; job satisfaction, stress; sexual harassment; morale; the individual and the workgroup. In addition the perceived roles of management in regulating sexual attraction as well as potential perceived motives underlying its initiation in organisations were also explored. The research explored and described differences with regards to these areas of organisational life in respect of age groups; gender; marital status; relationship status; experience of sexual attraction; awareness of sexual attraction and workplace rendezvous experiences. A self-administered questionnaire was designed specifically for the study by the researcher and was used to gain feedback from 155 respondents in numerous fields and organisations through a mixed methods sampling technique. Analysis of data was statistical in nature, including detailed descriptive or frequency distributions; correlations and inferential statistics. The research yielded substantial results with regards to perceptions of sexual attraction in the South African workplace, with numerous implications for management and Human Resource practitioners abounding. Sexual attraction in the workplace is perceived to be a prevalent organisational condition amongst respondents with findings revealing that it is viewed as inevitability in the workplace. Personal experience of sexual attraction was alluded to by the majority of respondents. In addition, various organisational factors, such as proximity, similarity and ongoing work requirements were confirmed as having a perceived influence on the prevalence of sexual attraction amongst co-workers. This linked with findings and existing research with regards to aspects of diversity in the workplace, particularly similarity of moral values. In line with the body of literature, elements underlying sexual attraction were divergent, indicating that attraction is individual specific. Younger respondents indicated that they found physical elements of their co-workers attractive, which was less the case for the older respondent group. When evaluating findings on the perceived effects of sexual attraction in the workplace it was evident that respondents felt that sexual attraction had a slight positive effect on productivity. Significant differences were observed between age groups as well as personal experience of sexual attraction on this construct. Interestingly, sexual attraction was perceived to have a positive effect on job involvement by respondents, with differences observed due to age groups and amongst individuals whom had been previously sexually attracted to a colleague and those whom had not. Gender differences were also observed herein, with females having higher perceived positive effects on job involvement. Job satisfaction was perceived to be positively affected by sexual attraction in the workplace by respondents. Significant differences between age groups as well as with regards to marital statuses and relationship statuses were also found with regards to this construct. Mixed perceptions existed around the influence of sexual attraction on the experience of stress, with a respondents age group found to have an influence thereon. In addition thereto, a respondent’s marital status also made a difference in this regard. Generally the findings concurred with the available literature on the topic. Moreover, the general affects of sexual attraction on the individual involved in this workplace dynamic were fairly positively perceived by respondents. This finding was evidenced to be influenced to some extent by respondents’ experience of prior sexual attraction to a colleague; age; relationship status and marital status. The latter was found to have the largest influence in this regard. Sexual attraction was perceived by respondents to have a negative effect on communication and job performance. The perception of the latter was found to be significantly different between individuals whom had been aware of sexual attraction in the workplace and those whom had not indicated that this was the case; as well as with respondents whom reported prior sexual attraction to a colleague having higher perceived positive influences thereof on job performance. Age was also found to be an influential factor on perceptions surrounding job performance. Morale was found to be slightly negatively affected due to sexual attraction according to reported perceptions of respondents. The majority of respondents were inclined to feel that sexual harassment is an important organisational issue, yet the effects of sexual attraction thereupon may not be as negative as one might have thought. Prior sexual attraction to a colleague was found to have an influence on respondent perceptions of sexual harassment, as did the length of marriage for married respondents. Most respondents perceived sexual attraction to have more of a negative effect on the workgroup surrounding the sexually attracted individuals. Influencing variables in this regard were respondent age and marital status. In addition, motives underlying sexual attraction were negatively perceived by respondents. Marital status was found to have an influence on respondent perceptions of sexual attraction motives. Findings revealed that respondents in general felt that management has some form of role to play in the regulation of this workplace dynamic. However, the vast majority of respondents felt that it was the responsibility of the individual employee to manage their own sexual attraction in the workplace. Differences in this perception were found between males and females; age groups as well as the length of marriages of married respondents. The research established that sexual attraction is a prevalent condition in South African organisations. Moreover, substantial effects of sexual attraction were reported on various important areas of organisational functioning. Copyright 2009, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. Please cite as follows: Mortimer, C 2009, An exploratory study on the perceived prevalence and effect of sexual attraction in the South African workplace, MCom dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-02162012-103105 / > C12/4/203/gm / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Human Resource Management / unrestricted

Workforce shortages are a major concern of health care and the creation of a positive workplace is central to the attraction and retaining of employees where employees are motivated to be loyal towards their employer by a positive work experience rather than by financial rewards (Manion, 2009:XIII). This positive work experience can include the providing of workplace support that is tailored to the specific experiences and wishes of psychiatric nurses working at a private mental health care setting. Work demands encountered by psychiatric nurses can vary from personal stresses related to the interpersonal nature of working with the challenging behaviour of mental health care users, to environmental stresses related to an environment reflecting inadequate workplace support. Stuart and Laraia (2005:11) described the role of the psychiatric nurse in any mental health care setting as depending on certain factors in the organisation. This include the philosophy, goals, prevailing understanding of mental health, the needs of the mental health care users, number of available personnel, communication structure, understanding of their individual roles, available resources and the presence of effective nurse mentoring. As a professional psychiatric nurse, I identified the need for effective workplace support to psychiatric nurses working in a private mental health care setting by observing signs of burnout in psychiatric nurses and by listening to employees verbalising their need for workplace support. The purpose of the research was to conduct an Appreciative Inquiry in order to generate an in-depth understanding of the experiences and wishes of psychiatric nurses regarding workplace support in a private mental health care setting. The objectives of the research were to explore and describe the experiences of psychiatric nurses regarding workplace support, to explore and describe the wishes of psychiatric nurses regarding workplace support in a private mental health care setting and to propose recommendations regarding workplace support. Proposed recommendations will have reference to psychiatric nursing research, psychiatric nursing education, psychiatric nursing management and psychiatric nursing practice, in order to facilitate more effective means to provide workplace support and to facilitate the promotion of the mental health of psychiatric nurses. I decided to use an Appreciative Inquiry framework in order to explore the experiences and wishes of psychiatric nurses regarding workplace support. The importance of Appreciative Inquiry lies in the appreciation of the behaviour and the responses of individuals instead of focusing on their problems. Appreciative Inquiry identifies that which is positive in any system and connects to or builds on it in order to “heighten energy, vision and action for change” (Cooperrider, Whitney&Stavros, 2008:XV). The meta-theoretical perspective that guided this researcher was the Theory for Health Promotion in Nursing. The essential purpose of this theory is health promotion for an individual, group, family or community (University of Johannesburg, 2009:4). The individual is in interaction with the environment, which consists of an internal and external environment. The internal environment comprises the body, mind and spirit dimensions of the individual. The external environment comprises the physical, social and spiritual dimensions of the individual. The interactions of these dimensions in the environment of the individual influence the health status of the individual on a continuum (University of Johannesburg, 2009:5). The experiences and wishes regarding the providing of workplace support pertaining to the internal and external environments of the psychiatric nurse were examined in order to facilitate the promotion of the mental health of the psychiatric nurse. The theoretical and methodological perspective that guided this research was Appreciative Inquiry. Appreciative Inquiry uses a process known as the 4-D cycle, which is the process that is employed to facilitate change or to generate the power of Appreciative Inquiry (Whitney&Trosten-Bloom, 2003:6). For this research on workplace support, I employed the first two phases of Appreciative Inquiry, namely the discovery phase and the dream phase as part of the data collection. The discovery phase involves the appreciation or discovering of that which is positive, life giving or effective and the dream phase involves the imagining of new possibilities. As a unique paradigm, Appreciative Inquiry questions traditional approaches to problem solving by accepting organisational challenges using an affirmative approach. An affirmative approach includes an appreciation of the positive by focussing on successes, strengths and potential (Cooperrider, Whitney&Stavros, 2008:433). Appreciative Inquiry views organisations as an individual centre of immense imagination and possibilities, intended to function as solutions (Cooperrider, Whitney&Stavros, 2008:16-17). I used a qualitative design, which was exploratory, descriptive and contextual. I integrated an Appreciative Inquiry approach into this design. I used purposeful sampling, which Polit and Beck (2007:763) define as a sampling method where participants are selected based on who will be the most informative regarding the topic of the research, namely workplace support in this research. The data collection methods used was naïve sketches, small core group inquiries and individual interviews with members of nursing management. The small core group inquiries included written answers on the interview schedule from the one-on-one interviews, transcribed feedback from the discussion phase, the positive core map, the nominal group technique, field notes and reflective interviews. The small core group inquiries were structured around one-on-one interviews that participants conducted with each other in groups of two, using an interview schedule. During the data analysis phase, I used two different techniques in order to analyse the available data, namely the nominal group technique and open coding. I used a tree as symbol for workplace support at this mental health care setting. The roots of the tree symbolised the willingness of management to provide workplace support to their employees. The trunk of the tree symbolised the holistic approach to workplace support. The branches of the tree symbolised the identified themes. I represented the discovery phase categories as the green leaves of the tree. I represented the dream phase categories as pink buds. I proposed recommendations relating to psychiatric nursing research, psychiatric nursing education, psychiatric nursing management and psychiatric nursing practice. The aim of these recommendations was to facilitate more effective means of providing workplace support, from a holistic perspective, in order to facilitate the promotion of mental health of psychiatric nurses working at this mental health care setting. / AFRIKAANS : Tekorte in die arbeidsmag is ʼn bron van groot besorgdheid vir gesondheidsorg, en die skep van ʼn positiewe werkplek is sentraal tot die aantrekking en behoud van werknemers in gevalle waar werknemers deur middel van ʼn positiewe werkservaring, eerder as ʼn finansiële vergoeding, gemotiveer word om lojaal teenoor hul werkgewer te wees (Manion, 2009:XIII). Hierdie positiewe werkservaring kan die verskaffing van werkplekondersteuning, wat op die spesifieke ervarings en wense van psigiatriese verpleegspraktisyns wat in ʼn privaat geestesgesondheidsomgewing werk, geskoei is, insluit. Werkseise wat psigiatriese verpleegspraktisyns teëkom kan wissel van persoonlike stres verwant aan die interpersoonlike aard van om met die uitdagende gedrag van geestesgesondheidsgebruikers te werk, tot omgewingstres verwant aan ʼn omgewing wat ontoereikende werkplekondersteuning bied. Stuart en Laraia (2005:11) beskryf die rol van ʼn psigiatriese verpleegspraktisyn in enige geestesgesondheidsomgewing as afhanklik van sekere faktore in die organisasie. Dit sluit die filosofie, doelwitte, heersende begrip van geestesgesondheid, die behoeftes van die geestesgesondheidsgebruikers, die aantal beskikbare personeel, die kommunikasiestruktuur, begrip vir die individuele rolle, beskikbare hulpbronne en die teenwoordigheid van effektiewe verpleegsbegeleiding in. As ʼn professionele psigiatriese verpleegspraktisyn het ek die behoefte aan effektiewe werkplekondersteuning vir psigiatriese verpleegspraktisyns wat in ʼn privaat geestesgesondheidsomgewing werk, waargeneem toe ek na tekens van uitbranding by die psigiatriese verpleegspraktisyns opgelet het, en na die werknemers geluister het wanneer hulle hul behoefte aan werkplekondersteuning verwoord het. Die doel van hierdie studie was om ʼn Waarderende Ondersoek te loods ten einde ʼn indiepte begrip van die ondervindings en wense van psigiatriese verpleegspraktisyns met betrekking tot werkplekondersteuning in ʼn privaat geestesgesondheidsomgewing te bewerkstellig. Die doelstellings van die studie was om die ondervindings van psigiatriese verpleegspraktisyns met betrekking tot werkplekondersteuning te beskryf ten einde die wense van psigiatriese verpleegspraktisyns met betrekking tot werkplekondersteuning in ʼn privaat geestesgesondheidsomgewing te ondersoek en te beskryf en om aanbevelings te maak met betrekking tot werkplekondersteuning. Voorgestelde aanbevelings verwys na psigiatriese verpleegsnavorsing, psigiatriese verpleegsopleiding, psigiatriese verpleegs-bestuur en psigiatriese verpleegspraktyk, om meer effektiewe metodes te fasiliteer ten einde werkplekondersteuning te voorsien en die geestesgesondheid van psigiatriese verpleegspraktisyns te bevorder. Ek het besluit om ʼn Waarderende Ondersoekraamwerk te gebruik te einde die ervarings en wense van psigiatriese verpleegspraktisyns met betrekking tot werkplekondersteuning te ondersoek. Die belangrikheid van ʼn Waarderende Ondersoek lê in die waardering van die gedrag en terugvoer van individue, in plaas van om op hul probleme te fokus. Waarderende Ondersoek identifiseer dit wat positief is in enige stelsel en sluit daarby aan of bou daarop om energie, visie en aksie vir verandering te verhoog (Cooperrider, Whitney&Stavros, 2008:XV). Die meta-teoretiese perspektief wat die navorser gelei het, was die Teorie vir Gesondheidsbevordering in Verpleging. Die hoofdoel van hierdie teorie is die gesondheidsbevordering van ʼn individu, groep, gesin of gemeenskap (Universiteit van Johannesburg, 2009:4). Die individu is in interaksie met die omgewing, wat uit ʼn interne en eksterne omgewing bestaan. Die interne omgewing sluit die liggaamlike, verstandelike en geestelike dimensies van die individu in. Die eksterne omgewing sluit die fisiese, sosiale en geestelike dimensies van die individu in. Die interaksies van hierdie dimensies in ʼn individu se omgewing beïnvloed die gesondheidstoestand van die individu op ʼn kontinuum (Universiteit van Johannesburg, 2009:5). Die ervarings en wense met betrekking tot die voorsiening van werkplekondersteuning wat met die interne en eksterne omgewings van die psigiatriese verpleegpraktisyn verband hou, is ondersoek ten einde die bevordering van die geestesgesondheid van die psigiatriese verpleegpraktisyn te fasiliteer. Die teoretiese en metodologiese perspektief wat hierdie studie gelei het, was Waarderende Ondersoek. Waarderende Ondersoek gebruik ʼn proses wat as die 4-D siklus bekend staan. Hierdie proses word gebruik om verandering te fasiliteer of om die krag van Waarderende Ondersoek te verseker (Whitney&Trosten-Bloom, 2003:6). Vir hierdie navorsing oor werkplekondersteuning het ek die eerste twee fases van Waarderende Ondersoek, naamlik die ontdekkingsfase en die droomfase, as deel van dataversameling gebruik. Die ontdekkingsfase sluit die waardering of ontdekking van wat positief, lewegewend of effektief is, in, en die droomfase sluit die verbeelding van nuwe moontlikhede in. As ʼn unieke paradigma, bevraagteken Waarderende Ondersoek tradisionele benaderings tot probleemoplossing deur organisatoriese uitdagings met ʼn regstellende ingesteldheid te benader. ʼn Regstellende benadering sluit die waardering van die positiewe in, deur op suksesse, sterkpunte en potensiaal te fokus (Cooperrider, Whitney&Stavros, 2008:433). Waarderende Ondersoek sien organisasies as ʼn individuele sentrum met onmeetlike verbeelding en moontlikhede, met die voorneme om met oplossings vorendag te kom (Cooperrider, Whitney&Stavros, 2008:16-17). Ek het ʼn kwalitatiewe ontwerp, wat verduidelikend, beskrywend en kontekstueel van aard was, gebruik. Ek het ʼn Waarderende Ondersoekbenadering met hierdie ontwerp geïntegreer. Ek het doelbewuste steekproefneming, wat Polit en Beck (2007:763) definieer as ʼn steekproefnemingsmetode waar deelnemers gekies word op grond van wie die meeste inligting oor die tema van die navorsing sal verskaf, wat in hierdie navorsing werkplekondersteuning is. Die dataversamelingsmetodes wat ek gebruik het, was naïewe sketse, klein kerngroep-ondersoeke en individuele onderhoude met lede van die verpleegsbestuur. Die klein kerngroep-ondersoeke het geskrewe antwoorde op die onderhoudskedule van die een-tot-een onderhoude, getranskribeerde terugvoer van die besprekingsfase, die positiewe kernkaart, die nominale groeptegniek, veldnotas en reflektiewe onderhoude ingesluit. Die klein kerngroep-ondersoeke was gegrond op een-toteen onderhoude wat die deelnemers met mekaar, in groepe van twee, gevoer het, deur van ʼn onderhoudskedule gebruik te maak. Tydens die dataontledingsfase het ek twee verskillende tegnieke gebruik om die beskikbare data te ontleed, naamlik die nominale groeptegniek en oopkodering. Ek het ʼn boom as simbool vir werkplekondersteuning in hierdie geestesgesondheidsomgewing gebruik. Die wortels van die boom het die bestuur se vrywilligheid om werkplekondersteuning aan hul werknemers te bied, gesimboliseer. Die stam van die boom het die holistiese benadering tot werkplekondersteuning gesimboliseer. Die takke van die boom het die geïdentifiseerde temas gesimboliseer. Die kategorieë van die ontdekkingsfase is deur die groen blare voorgestel, en die kategorieë van die droomfase deur pienk botsels. Ek het aanbevelings gemaak met betrekking tot die psigiatriese verpleegsnavorsing, psigiatriese verpleegsopleiding, psigiatriese verpleegsbestuur en psigiatriese verpleegspraktyk. Die doel van hierdie aanbevelings is om meer effektiewe metodes vir die verskaffing van werkplekondersteuning, uit ʼn holistiese perspektief, te fasiliteer, ten einde die geestesgesondheidsbevordering van psigiatriese verpleegpraktisyns wat in hierdie geestesgesondheidsomgewing werk, te fasiliteer. / Dissertation (MCur)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Nursing Science / unrestricted

The threat of HIV/AIDS on humanity still remains one of the most challenging issues of our time. In South Africa, labour unions play a significant role in the economy. Their role in the fight against HIV/AIDS is therefore vital in workplace HIV/AIDS programmes. The research objective was to identify the impact that the partnership between business and labour unions is having in these programmes. The role that labour unions play is also assessed.The first phase of the interviews entailed conducting face to face semistructured interviews with fifteen large companies based in Gauteng province employing a minimum of 1000 employees. All the companies were and had to have union representation amongst their staff members. Phase two of the interviews involved interviewing representatives from the three largest labour unions in South Africa. The findings clearly show that labour unions have a role to play in the fight against the pandemic. It is evident that they are to a large extent being successful in their identified roles. The impact of the partnership between labour unions and business has resulted in the objectives of the HIV/AIDS programmes being met. Areas for improvement are also suggested as the battle is yet to be won. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Previous research has demonstrated that customer orientation has a positive effect on business outcomes. Although scholars have provided different explanations for such a relationship, there is still a lack of clear understanding of what leads to such a relationship. In addition, there are only a few studies discussing the boundary conditions of customer orientation- business performance linkage. Drawing on the organizational information processing theory, I propose that inter-functional coordination mediates the relationship between customer orientation and success in marketing new products. A randomly sample of 97 new product development projects across 6 Sino-overseas joint ventures involving 150 car models in the China automobile industry was used to test my hypotheses. The results support my proposed mediating hypothesis. In addition, I demonstrate that the relationship between customer orientation and inter-functional coordination is further strengthened when a new product development strategy is local-oriented rather than when it is import-oriented because of the level of modification affecting the level of staff participation. Furthermore, compared with longer shared team tenure teams, it was found that teams of shorter tenure inter-functional coordination are more likely to trigger success in marketing new product relationship. On the basis of these findings, I discuss their implications for practice and future research.

This research investigates the influence of gender, fear of AIDS, and the likelihood that a manager will share AIDS-related health information about an HIV/AIDS infected coworker with subordinates on a manager's decision to discipline an employee for refusing to work with the HIV/AIDS infected coworker. Data was obtained using questionnaires administered to 194 managers employed in service, manufacturing, and government organizations. Both fear of AIDS and sharing AIDS-related health information exhibited a significant unique negative relationship with the decision to discipline. No significant unique relationship was found between gender and the decision to discipline. However, gender was found to moderate the relationship between fear of AIDS and the decision to discipline. There was a significant negative relationship between fear of AIDS and the decision to discipline among male but not among female managers. Study findings, implications, and suggestions for future research are discussed.

This dissertation identifies and theorizes a new form by which leaders exert their influence over subordinates: hierarchical-decentralization. To further investigate hierarchical-decentralization and its effects on team outcomes, we develop two research themes which include three independent studies. The first research theme focuses on how hierarchical-decentralization influences team processes and team performance. We conduct an experimental study (Study 1-1) and a field study (Study 1-2) on this research theme. In Study 1-1 (detailed in Chapter 2), we conceptualize hierarchical-decentralization, examine the relationship between hierarchical-decentralization and team performance, and test whether and why hierarchical-decentralization produces higher team performance than either centralization or decentralization. Through an experimental study, we found that hierarchical-decentralization was positively related to team performance, and that hierarchical-decentralization outperformed either centralization or decentralization in steering team performance. Following Study 1-1, we conduct Study 1-2 (described in Chapter 3), which aims to further explore the underlying mechanism that produces the positive effect of hierarchical-decentralization on team performance, and to identify the conditions under which the benefit of hierarchical-decentralization tends to become more noticeable. Through a field study, we found that team coordination mediated the relationship between hierarchical-decentralization and team performance. We further found that inter-team competitive intensity strengthened the positive relationship between hierarchical-decentralization and team coordination, as well as the positive indirect relationship between hierarchical-decentralization and team performance via team coordination. The second research theme focuses on the application of influence structure of hierarchical-decentralization to the research on leader-member exchange (LMX) differentiation. We conduct a field study (Study 2) on this research theme. Specifically, in Study 2 (detailed in Chapter 4), we investigate whether and why the vertical chain of influence among team members (we follow the research conducted by Burderson et al (2016) and refer it to acyclicity) would offset the detrimental effect of LMX differentiation on social relations among team members and ultimately on team performance. Through a field study covering 89 diverse working teams, we found that LMX differentiation became to be not significantly related to status conflict when a team had a high level of acyclicity and meanwhile when its team members' LMX statuses were in line with their influence levels within acyclicity. Although this relationship is not statistically significant, the negative relationship between LMX differentiation and status conflict somewhat suggests that acyclicity, when all of the most influential members within it are of the highest relationship qualities with leaders, might have the potential to turn the detrimental effect of LMX differentiation on social interactions among team members into a beneficial effect (i.e., one that reduces status conflict among team members). We further found that status conflict was negatively related to team performance, and that it mediated the relationship between LMX differentiation and team performance. The theoretical and practical implications of the two research themes are then discussed.

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Community Psychology in the Department of Psychology, University of Zululand, 2001. / Health institutions are faced with a major task of promoting health, preventing and treating different kinds of illnesses in complex contexts. The large numbers of patients demand a high degree of team building and teamwork if these institutions are to be effective and efficient in service delivery. The present study seeks to develop a team building program which will assist in promoting teamwork. An hypothesis was formulated to investigate if a team building program would make any significant change with regard to health service delivery in a psychiatric context as perceived by staff and patients. A total number of 185 participants took part in the study. The population comprised 97 females and 88 males. There were 59 English, 7 Afrikaans and 119 Zulu speakers. Both staff and patients were offered questions relating to team functioning. The staff participants were further given questions relating to the manner in which teams are built. The team building program was informed by the ideas obtained from the responses as well as from literature. The team building program was then offered to the staff members. A statistical analysis of the results was undertaken and the results showed that the program was significantly effective in promoting teamwork as evaluated by staff and patients. / Human Sciences Research Council

Dissertation presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Industrial Sociology at the University of Zululand, 2000. / The purpose of this study is to investigate the perception of workers towards the establishment of workplace forum at Felixton Sugar Mill Industry in South Africa. In this study both management and employees were selected to participate. This involves visiting participants in the workplace for the purposes of privacy and concentration. This helped the researcher to have an access of meeting all the respondents. In this research 30 respondents were selected from 230 employees using a simple random technique. The cluster system was also used to divide the industry into departments from which the final respondents were selected. Although 30 respondents may not be sufficient for a research of this capacity, the observation method was also used to collect and solicit the necessary information for this research. In addition to this, the researcher made use of most of the official records and statistics that were made available to her. The central view held by this study was that, workplace forums are very useful in achieving efficiency in the workplace and that they help in improving trade union activities. The critical view of the study was that there are few workplace forums established in South African industries. This has earlier been confirmed by the HRSC surveys conducted in 1997. This showed that, the industries should provide some possible measures for the establishment of the workplace forums in order to reduce industrial unrest. But the problem is that trade unions did not encourage this because they see workplace forum as a threat to them. Special attention was on workplace forum because it was taken as a second channel of representation which intended to be one of the primary instruments of the Act to democratise the workplace. The following recommendations were made: Workplace forums should be established in all industries. Trade unions should be involved in the workplace forums. There should be the prevention of the establishment of other forums within one organisation. Management and workers should work together in order to prevent impending conflict. The researcher was able to propose the following solutions for the purpose of reducing conflict in the workplace: Companies should train managers so that they can handle conflicts and maintain harmony in the workplace. The plan should be communicated and every worker should be involved. A supervisor should be concerned when an employee shows signs of serious personal stress. Companies should have a strong policy that prohibits any form of harassment or threatening behaviour. Companies should develop a crisis management team to handle violent incidents before, during and after they occur. It is hoped that the above recommendations and solutions if implemented, will bring some changes in the workplace. When that happens, the rate of conflict will show a significant decline. This will contribute towards the general enhancement of the quality of working life in industries.