scholarly journals Serving up the self: Role identity and burnout in client service environments

2015 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carly Steyn ◽  
J.J. De Klerk
Keyword(s):  
Role Identity ◽  
Research Strategy ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Role Identities ◽  
Service Employees ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Value Add ◽  
Service Environments ◽  
High Level

Orientation: Whilst the limited investigations into the relationship between identity and burnout have made an important contribution to our understanding of the development of burnout, further research is required to gain a deeper understanding of how the processes associated with the construction and enactment of a specific identity could contribute to burnout amongst client service employees. Research purpose: The purpose of this research was to explore whether levels of burnout amongst client service employees are associated with the manner in which they define and enact the client service role identity.Motivation for the study: The negative effects of burnout amongst client service employees can be particularly devastating for client service organisations. A deeper understanding of the causes of burnout amongst client service employees is therefore essential if we wish to reduce the significant costs associated with burnout in this environment.Research approach, design and method: The research strategy comprised a qualitative design consisting of semi-structured interviews. Main findings: The results of the study indicate that the role identities of higher burnout client service employees differ from the role identities of lower burnout client service employees. Lower burnout employees view the client relationship as a partnership and experience a high level of self-verification when dealing with their clients. Higher burnout employees, on the other hand, describe themselves as subordinate to the client and exhibit strong feelings of defeat and failure when interacting with their clients. Practical implications/managerial implications: The study shows that if client service organisations wish to reduce the detrimental effects of burnout in the workplace, they need to pay careful attention to the way in which their client service employees perceive themselves in relation to the client. Since client service employees construct role identities in response to the dominant discourse of the organisation, client service organisations should exercise caution in how they define and refer to the client-employee interaction through this discourse.Contribution/value-add: The article makes a number of practical recommendations, which, if implemented by client service organisations, should result in lower levels of burnout, increased productivity and improved client relations. One such recommendation requires client service organisations to reframe their client discourses in such a way that client service employees are referred to as knowledge experts that are valued by their organisations.

scholarly journals An organisational coherence model to maintain employee contributions during organisational crises

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hendrik J. Pelser ◽  
Anita Bosch ◽  
Willem Schurink
Keyword(s):  
Authentic Leadership ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Data Gathering ◽  
Research Strategy ◽  
Crisis Leadership ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Leadership Crisis ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Value Add ◽  
Financial Need

Orientation: Crises that threaten an organisation’s continued existence cannot be seen in isolation when considering the perception of threats to individual job security. These threats often go hand in hand with employee panic.Research purpose: The aim of this study was to establish a model to assist organisations in managing employee emotionality and panic during times of crisis.Motivation for the study: Environmental crises threaten organisations’ existence, threatening employees’ livelihood and resulting in employee panic. Panic reduces employees’ contributions. Organisations that are successful harness employee contributions at all times.Research design, approach, and method: A modernist qualitative research methodology was adopted, which included a case study as research strategy, purposive sampling to select 12 research participants, semi-structured interviews for data gathering, focus groups for data verification, and the use of grounded theory for data analysis.Main findings: An organisation’s ability to manage employee panic depends on the relationship between the foundational elements of authentic leadership, crisis readiness, resilience practices, versatile and committed talent, strategic management, quality management, and coherence actions taken during the crisis, which include crisis leadership, ongoing visible communication, mindfulness, work flexibility, and decisions based on the greatest financial need and social support.Practical/managerial implications: The study provides a best-practice option for managing emotionality during crises for the case organisation and other organisations within the vehicle components and other manufacturing industries.Contribution/value-add: The Coherence Hexagons Model is presented as a tool to manage employee panic during crisis.Keywords: crisis management; employee emotionality; employee panic; authentic leadership; talent management

scholarly journals Prevalence of workplace bullying of South African employees

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leanri Cunniff ◽  
Karina Mostert
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Workplace Bullying ◽  
Demographic Characteristics ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Demographic Groups ◽  
Diversity Experiences ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Value Add ◽  
Survey Approach

Orientation: Workplace bullying has negative physical and psychological effects on employees and several negative effects on organisations. Research purpose: The purpose of the research was to determine the prevalence of workplace bullying in South Africa and whether there are differences in employees’ experiences of bullying with regard to socio-demographic characteristics, sense of coherence (SOC) and diversity experiences.Motivation for the study: This study intended to draw attention to the implications and negative effects of workplace bullying and to determine whether employees with certain socio-demographic characteristics, SOC levels and diversity experiences experience higher levels of bullying than others do.Research design, approach and method: The researchers used a cross-sectional field survey approach. They used an availability sample (N = 13 911). They computed frequencies to determine the prevalence of workplace bullying and used a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and analyses of variance (ANOVAs) to determine the differences between the groups.Main findings: The results showed that 31.1% of the sample had experienced workplace bullying. The researchers found significant differences between all the socio-demographic groups. Participants with higher levels of SOC, and who experienced diversity positively, reported lower levels of workplace bullying.Practical/managerial implications: Employers need to realise that workplace bullying is a common problem amongst South African employees and should ensure that they have the necessary prevention methods.Contribution/value-add: This study contributes to the limited research on the prevalence of workplace bullying and its relationship with SOC and diversity experiences in the South African workplace.

scholarly journals How can work be designed to be intrinsically rewarding? Qualitative insights from South African non-profit employees

2016 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Renard ◽  
Robin J. Snelgar
Keyword(s):  
Performance Management ◽  
South African ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Extrinsic Rewards ◽  
Intrinsic Rewards ◽  
Non Profit ◽  
Performance Management Systems ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Value Add ◽  
Traditional Performance

Orientation: Intrinsic rewards are personal, psychological responses to the work thatemployees perform, which stem from the manner in which their work is designed.Research purpose: This study sought to discover in what ways non-profit employees arepsychologically rewarded by the nature of their work tasks. The use of a qualitative approachto data collection and analysis ensured that in-depth responses from participants were gained.Motivation for the study: Intrinsic rewards are of particular importance to non-profitemployees, who tend to earn below-market salaries. This implies that their motivationoriginates predominantly from intrinsic as opposed to extrinsic rewards; yet, research into thisarea of rewards is lacking.Research approach, design and method: In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conductedusing a sample of 15 extrinsically rewarded non-profit employees working within South Africa.Thematic analysis was utilised in order to generate codes which led to the formation of fiveintrinsic rewards categories.Main findings: Intrinsic rewards were classified into five categories, namely (1) MeaningfulWork, (2) Flexible Work, (3) Challenging Work, (4) Varied Work and (5) Enjoyable Work.These rewards each comprise of various subcategories, which provide insight into why suchwork is rewarding to non-profit employees.Practical/managerial implications: Traditional performance management systems shouldbe re-evaluated in the non-profit sector to shift focus towards intrinsic rewards, asopposed to focusing only on the use of extrinsic rewards such as incentives to motivateemployees.Contribution/value-add: The study provides a qualitative understanding of how extrinsicallyrewarded non-profit employees perceive their work to be intrinsically rewarding, whichbridges the empirical gap pertaining to intrinsic rewards within this sector.

scholarly journals Effective strategies followed by multinational enterprises expanding into Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zihné Coetzee ◽  
Henri Bezuidenhout ◽  
Gabriel Mhonyera
Keyword(s):  
Multinational Enterprises ◽  
Market Potential ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Retail Sector ◽  
International Expansion ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
International Partnerships ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Value Add

Orientation: Retail sector multinational enterprises (MNEs) face challenges and follow diverse strategies when they expand into foreign markets.Research purpose: The major aim of this article is to determine how three well-established retail sector MNEs, namely, Walmart, Carrefour and Shoprite, addressed the challenges they faced and structured their market entry strategies in the African continent.Motivation for the study: While the opportunities in Africa are perpetual, breaking into the African market is not so straightforward. It is in this regard that the importance of determining the challenges faced by established retail MNEs in Africa and the valuable lessons that can be drawn by small and upcoming MNEs, from the experiences of these prominent MNEs studied, is exposed.Research approach/design and method: This article employs a mixed-method approach (i.e. case study and semi-structured interviews) to determine the challenges faced by Walmart, Carrefour and Shoprite when they expanded into Africa, and how they overcame those challenges.Main findings: The findings reveal that Walmart and Shoprite possess a substantial footprint in sub-Saharan Africa, while Carrefour enjoys a substantial footprint in North Africa and Francophone Countries of west Africa. Furthermore, Walmart follows a risk-averse approach when expanding into the African continent and only expands into new foreign markets based on the market potential and the ability to succeed. Carrefour’s main strategy is to achieve international expansion into Africa through the acquisition of international partnerships with local and regional firms. Shoprite, on the other hand, maintains that no written strategy was followed when the retail MNE expanded into Africa. It is also evident that external factors are significant for MNEs seeking to invest in Africa.Practical/managerial implications: Not all MNEs expanding into Africa have been successful. Accordingly, the practical value of this article rests upon the lessons that small and upcoming MNEs can learn from the experiences of MNEs that are now well established in African markets.Contribution/value-add: This article contributes to existing foreign direct investment (FDI) literature by identifying challenges that Walmart, Carrefour and Shoprite faced when they expanded into Africa. In addition, lessons that aspiring and small MNEs, specifically in the retail sector, can learn from these three retail MNEs that are now well established in African markets are drawn.

scholarly journals Sharing Data – Not With Us! Distrust as Decisive Obstacle for Public Authorities to Benefit From Sharing Economy

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann-Marie Ingrid Nienaber ◽  
Andree Woodcock ◽  
Fotis K. Liotopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Big Data ◽  
Recent Trend ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Sharing Economy ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
The Public ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
High Level

Future mobility planning to cope with ongoing environmental challenges such as air pollution has to be anchored in the work of every public authority worldwide. One recent trend that could support public authorities to meet the European Union’s sustainability targets is the creation and sharing of transport and mobility “big” data between public authorities via tools such as crowdsourcing. While the benefits of the use of big data to increase public authorities’ efficiency and effectivity and their citizens’ lives is well understood, examples from the public sector that highlight public authorities’ engagement in such sharing activities is still missing. To date relevant literature has highlighted issues around the capacity of public authorities that hinder shared activities. In this paper we want to raise distrust as a key reason for lack of engagement. Based on comprehensive data collected over the period of 4 years via several workshops and semi-structured interviews with seven public authorities in Europe, we are able to demonstrate that a major obstacle for not providing and sharing data via crowdsourcing for mutual benefit lies primarily in the hands of the public authority’s servants of the middle and high-level management. Our results show firstly, that distrust may emerge toward different referents such as the community, particular individuals, or the technology itself and thus, managerial implications have to be very specific to overcome distrust. Secondly, we show how distrust may spread from one referent to another through negative reciprocity and which, if unchecked may lead to an all-encompassing state that affects the whole sharing economy framework and inhibits potential benefits.

scholarly journals Self-management strategies of graduate employees to enhance work engagement

2021 ◽  
Vol 47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nelesh Dhanpat ◽  
Dorothy L. Danguru ◽  
Oyisa Fetile ◽  
Kholeka Kekana ◽  
Kholosa N. Mathetha ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Employee Engagement ◽  
Work Engagement ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
The Self ◽  
Self Management ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Value Add

Orientation: The hiring of graduates is valuable to organisations. It is necessary to understand the self-management behaviours they display and the behaviours required to keep them engaged.Research purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore how self-management strategies enhance work engagement of recent graduates who find themselves in a new environment of the world of work.Motivation for the study: Employee engagement is of both academic and practitioner interest. With organisations hiring graduates, it is valuable to understand the self-management behaviours needed to remain engaged.Research approach/design and method: A qualitative research approach was employed through an interpretivist research paradigm. A purposive sample of 12 graduate employees (median age = 24) in various fields of work were interviewed (women = 11, men = 1; black = 11, coloured = 1). The graduates participated in semi-structured interviews. A thematic analysis was conducted and five themes emerged.Main findings: Through an inductive approach, the five themes that emerged concerning self-management strategies used by graduates to enhance their work engagement are goal setting, self-cueing, self-observation, self-reward and self-punishment and work engagement practices.Practical/managerial implications: Self-management strategies help to sustain an engaged workforce. Organisations that make use of graduate recruitment will largely benefit from the findings.Contribution/value-add: There is limited research on the topic pertaining to graduate employees. Graduates remain relevant in the organisation, and hence, the study makes a contribution to theory and practice. A model is presented with recommendations for graduates and the organisation, which, when implemented, have the potential to enhance work engagement.

scholarly journals Time-use preference and adaptation in relational exchanges

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Glover ◽  
Charlene Lew
Keyword(s):  
Time Use ◽  
Dyadic Relationships ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Qualitative Research Design ◽  
Lmx Theory ◽  
Member Exchange ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
Value Add

Orientation: Similarity of leaders and members encourage positive relational exchanges. However, the role of different time-use preferences, and how leaders and members adapt to the preferences of others in relational exchanges have not yet been studied.Research Purpose: This research explores how time-use preference plays a role in the dyadic relationships between leaders and members within leader–member exchange (LMX) theory.Motivation for the study: We argue that differences between the time-use preferences of leaders and team members result in relational adaptations.Research approach/design and method: The qualitative research design employed semi-structured interviews with nine leaders and 11 employees in a major retail bank in South Africa and data were analysed through thematic analysis.Main findings: The research shows the nature of time-use preference in varying relational exchanges, discover how time-use preferences manifest and how leaders and members adapt to one another’s preferences.Contribution/value add: The study contributes to time-use preference literature by illustrating how polychronic and monochronic preferences may manifest in the workplace. Furthermore, we contribute to an understanding of the nature of relational exchanges in LMX theory by illustrating the influence of polychronicity on dyadic relationships and discuss how leaders and members adapt their preferences.Practical/managerial implications: We propose a framework of the dynamics of time-use preference-based relational entrainment and provide practical considerations to help mitigate the negative impacts that differing preferences can have.

scholarly journals Constructing racial hierarchies of skill – Experiencing affirmative action in a South African organisation: A qualitative review

2014 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shanya Reuben ◽  
Shaida Bobat
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Affirmative Action ◽  
South African ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Social Constructionist ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Body Of Knowledge ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Value Add ◽  
Traditional Approaches

Orientation: Apartheid in South Africa constructed racial, economic, social and political segregation, the consequences of which are still experienced today. Government has made concerted efforts to ‘deracialise’ South Africa, most notably through affirmative action (AA) measures.Research purpose: This study aimed to explore employees’ social constructions of AA in a South African organisation.Motivation for the study: Research in this field focuses mostly on attitudinal perspectives of AA with an emphasis on traditional approaches. Subjective, contextualised approaches to AA have received little attention. Thus, this study aimed to critically engage with the embodied nature of prejudice, particularly in reference to how we understand and experience AA.Research approach, design and method: This study aimed to explore AA from a social constructionist orientation, using semi-structured interviews. More specifically, this study used Potter and Wetherell’s discursive psychology.Main findings: The findings illustrate how participants engage in discursive devices that continue to rationalise a racial order of competence. Ultimately, AA is a controversial subject that traverses many segments of life for all South Africans.Practical/managerial implications: The findings contribute to the discipline of industrial psychology, particularly with regard to policies around preferential treatment, and can add value to the ways in which organisational policy documents are conceptualised. The findings also suggest the importance of developing an inclusive, non-discriminatory organisational culture.Contribution/value-add: This approach adds to the existing body of knowledge around the embodied nature of prejudice. The study’s methodology highlights the value of studying context in meaning-making and implied inferences that underlie talk.

scholarly journals Accounting for uncontrollable factors in executive incentive scheme designs

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dumisani V. Dhliwayo ◽  
Mark H.R. Bussin
Keyword(s):  
Agency Theory ◽  
Individual Performance ◽  
The Body ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Incentive Schemes ◽  
Hybrid Approaches ◽  
Executive Remuneration ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Value Add ◽  
The Impact

Orientation: Classic agency theory posits that the impact of uncontrollable factors should be excluded from executive remuneration. Existing research, however, shows a departure from this theory.Research purpose: This study sought to determine the approaches organisations take and the reasons thereof to account for uncontrollable factors in the design of their executive incentive schemes.Motivation for the study: There is little research in South Africa on how organisations account for uncontrollable factors in the design of their incentive schemes.Research approach/design and method: An exploratory qualitative research using semi-structured interviews was conducted.Main findings: South African organisations are not strictly conforming to the classic agency theory prediction for uncontrollable factors as some allow the impact of uncontrollable factors to be included, and further, hybrid approaches may be applied.Practical/managerial implications: The menu of approaches presented will aid designers of incentive schemes to identify a tried and tested approach to adopt or improve their incentive-related policies.Contribution/value-add: An expanded list of uncontrollable factors identified from South Africa’s uniqueness is presented. Models for (1) accounting for uncontrollable factors in incentive schemes and (2) pay for individual performance versus firm performance dilemma are presented. These add to the body of existing literature.

scholarly journals Other oriented perfectionism, player-coach relationships and performance in tennis

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (78) ◽  
pp. 4-7
Author(s):  
John Hollowell ◽  
Richard Buscombe ◽  
Andry Preston
Keyword(s):  
Phenomenological Analysis ◽  
Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
High Standards ◽  
And Performance ◽  
High Level ◽  
Unrealistic Expectations

Other oriented perfectionism describes a pre-occupation with the expectation that others will achieve excessively high standards of performance.  Projecting unrealistic expectations on to each other in a player-coach dyad may disrupt the working relationship and impact on the athlete’s experience within the sport.  This study uses Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis to explore, from the coach’s viewpoint, the effects of other oriented perfectionism in tennis coaching.  After conducting semi-structured interviews with high level coaches from the United Kingdom, two superordinate themes emerged. ‘Negative effects of coaches’ other-oriented perfectionism’ and ‘Redefining perfectionism’. The findings of this study assist in highlighting areas for possible intervention as well as identifying avenues for future research.

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