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.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnosed during childhood can continue into adulthood, but most research on the topic has been done on children and adolescents. This research focus has thus often left out the population of adults with this disorder. In particular, there is little research on the role that self-regulation plays in the lives of adults on several life domains, especially in the workplace. The purpose of this qualitative, phenomenological study was to understand the role that self-regulation plays in the occupational functioning of adults with ADHD. Self-regulation theory provided the tenets that were used to examine how adults with ADHD self-regulate their emotions in the occupational setting. A modified version of the Stevick-Colaizzi-Keen method of analysis of phenomenological data was used to analyze transcripts of participant interviews with 11 Adults who have an ADHD diagnosis and at least one year of work experience. The results showed that many of the participants had difficulty with self-regulation, particularly with effectively managing the situation by considering the long-term consequences for their actions. The study has several social change implications. First, the findings might add to scholarly literature regarding the later-life impact of adult ADHD, enabling such changes as additional treatment of ADHD in adulthood and potential accommodations, support, and training on the job. Given the centrality of employment issues in the life of an adult, the findings may provide direction and insight to employers in managing employees with ADHD, making them more productive members of the workplace.

When employees become dissatisfied at an organization, they may develop negative behaviors that can impede profits and productivity. The purpose of this single case study was to explore what strategies are essential for organizational leaders to improve workplace performance. Maslow's hierarchy of needs served as the conceptual framework for this study. Data collection involved face-to-face, semistructured interviews of 20 managers, floor employees, and clerical staff from a business organization in Southwest Georgia. Participant selection was based on employees' tenure of at least 1 year of experience within the organization. Interviews were transcribed and then coded for common patterns and themes. Five themes emerged: (a) workplace environment, focusing on the level of flexibility given to employees in the organization; (b) feedback sources in organizations, centering on measurable standards such as written evaluations and other resources provided to employees; (c) management relationships, focusing on managers' influence on the performance of employees; (d) barriers in the workplace, examining internal and external sources that impede performance; and (e) recruitment/promotion strategies, centering on the organization's compensation incentives. Study outcomes suggest that organizational leaders may increase employee work performance by enhancing strategies that provide a positive assortment of abilities, motivational tools, and opportunities. In addition, these findings suggest that collaborative decision making between management and employees has a positive relationship with work attitudes and the engagement of employees. Leaders in organizations may apply these findings to develop an enriched workplace environment, one that could improve employee retention rates and organizational commitment.

Background: Studies have shown that healthcare workers in Emergency Units (EUs) are at a high risk of both physical and non-physical workplace violence. While several international studies have focused on the experience of workplace violence by Emergency Medicine (EM) specialist physicians, there is a paucity of data regarding that of EM physicians in training. Objectives: This study aimed to determine the amount of workplace violence (and the subtypes thereof) perpetrated against Western Cape EM registrars and consultants, and their perceived level of, and identified barriers to and facilitators of, job safety and satisfaction. Methods: This cross-sectional study relied upon responses to a survey, electronically disseminated over a 6-week period, in May/June 2018, amongst Western Cape public sector EM registrars and consultants. The primary outcome was the incidence of workplace violence experienced. The secondary outcomes were the sub-types of workplace violence perpetrated, as well as the perceived level of job safety and satisfaction, and identified barriers thereto and facilitators thereof. Results: In total, 66% of respondents had experienced at least one act of physical violence while working in Western Cape EUs, specifically by patients. Regarding non-physical violence, 90.6% of respondents had experienced at least one act of verbal harassment, 84.9% of verbal threat, and 45.3% of sexual harassment. The rates of both physical and non-physical workplace violence (especially sexual harassment), perpetrated by patients specifically, were found to be higher in female than in male respondents. Apart from acts of verbal harassment, which were perpetrated equally by patients and visitors, all other acts of physical and nonphysical workplace violence were perpetrated at a higher rate by patients than visitors. The rates of both physical and non-physical workplace violence, perpetrated by patients specifically, were found to be higher in EM consultants than in EM registrars. The factors most commonly indicated by respondents as contributory to workplace violence were patient and/or visitor alcohol use, drug use and psychiatric illness. Other factors commonly indicated were long waiting times and unmet expectations, and resultant patient and/or visitor frustration. Conclusion: Workplace violence against EM registrars and consultants is a significant problem in Western Cape EUs. The information gained during this study will be useful in improving safety and security policies at an EU (and hospital) level. It may even be applicable at a provincial (or national) level in changing legislation, in order to reduce, and ultimately prevent, workplace violence in the EU.

A research report submitted to the School of Construction Economics and Management Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of Witwatersrand 15 February 2018 / This thesis aims to explore the impact of virtual communication among professionals within the South African construction industry by analysis of responses to a distributed questionnaire and interviews which will highlight trends and hindrances to effective communication. It hopes to answer the key question of key factors affecting virtual communication from a global perspective to that of the current South African state in order to improve future forms of ICT to maintain and enhance global competitiveness. To date, many construction organisations are autocratic and have a hierarchical organisational structure, which is often static and unable to change to current market needs. However, there is a growing trend for organisations to form specialised decentralised teams. These units are dynamic and are more flexible with knowledge transfer allowing their organisation to adapt to the ever changing global market. One particular adaptation in the construction industry is in information communication technology (ICT) which has resulted in organisations becoming more globally competitive. ICT is becoming more widely used in the construction project life cycle. While the development of virtual collaborations has allowed for companies to be globally competitive, there are areas in need of improvement such as communication and information processing. The use of current communication methods and processes are technologically driven and do not consider the individual’s psychological aspects. Social interaction within a workplace is important with a move away from autocratic information dissemination. These aspects have a direct effect on project delivery efficiency; productivity of labour force; as well as quality of the final product. There is a distinct shift in the use of different media for communication and effective those medium has proved to be. The reluctance to change and how quickly individuals adapt to technological advancements also impact on the efficiency of communication. / MT 2018

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The recent study by Arnetz et al. (2015) concluded that hospital employees underreported incidents of workplace violence mainly because non-victims (witnesses) tended to report incidents far less often than victims. However, this conclusion is not well supported by the data in their study because of unclear definitions of violence, insufficient separation of the participants into the two groups of victims of violence and witnesses of violence, and plausible alternative explanations for the findings, as explained below.

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The purpose of this study was to recognize and explore the reactions of employees to a deviant coworker. Specifically, I focused on the potential positive effects for employees who are in the presence of a coworker perceived as deviant, dysfunctional, or negative. Consistent with a labeling perspective on deviance, I argued that an employee may become a deviant as a result of social construction, fostered either by observed norm violations or the perceived dissimilarity of this person. Drawing on diverse theories from social psychology and sociology, I hypothesized that in the presence of a deviant coworker, other employees may have enhanced self-evaluations, better role clarity, and improved cohesiveness in work units. First, observers can set a contrast with the deviant and draw positive conclusions about themselves. Second, the "bad apple" can inform employees about organizational norms and alert them about "don't do" rules on the job, thereby improving their role clarity. Finally, by derogating the deviant, non-deviant members can unite against a "common enemy" and boost work unit cohesiveness. Positive effects were also expected to be contingent on individual characteristics and situational factors. In particular, social comparison orientation, coworkers' salience, and agreement about the deviant were hypothesized to strengthen observers' reactions to the deviant. The character of the deviant label and job interdependence, however, were expected to have a more complicated moderating role on the deviant's influence. Two samples generated from separate data collections were used to test the hypotheses. The positive relationship between the deviant's presence and employees' self-evaluations was supported. For employees with more interdependent jobs, role clarity was also positively associated with the presence of a deviant coworker. Contrary to predictions, cohesiveness was found to be lower for work units with a deviant employee at both individual and aggregate levels. Conceptual and empirical pitfalls relevant to the non-significant or opposite-to-prediction relationships are addressed. Finally, theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.