HRM and the Commitment Rhetoric: Challenges for Africa

This paper highlights some contemporary issues in the commitment research as it relates to HRM. A comparative evaluation of the meaning of commitment as espoused by academics and managers was also made. Some African empirical evidence was reported and examined with its implications for managerial practice discussed. The paper finally identifies certain contemporary issues that should be of interest for managerial practice, and, perhaps, guide future research given the realities of the African situation

Ritualism, Symbolism and Magic in Consultancy Practice: An Exploratory Investigation

Purpose – The paper is an exploratory attempt to examine the practice of management consultancy and the cultural components of rituals, symbolism and magic in Botswana. Management consultants as catalytic agents of change remain relevant in organisational life and this study aims to investigate how they are perceived and how they perform their tasks in the African context. Design/methodology/approach – In-depth unstructured interviews were conducted with seven top management consultancy firms in Botswana, who agreed to participate in the study, focusing on six key research questions. Findings – Findings revealed that the role of cultural values, while relevant, does not affect actual consultancy practice. It also establishes that consultation process is limited to mainly big organisations and government departments. The activities of consultants may be ritualistic to the extent of repetitiveness; there are also symbolic practices, there is, however, no evidence of superstitious or magical acts. Research limitations/implications – Qualitative data generally struggles with the accusation of researchers bias, while a sample size of seven consultants, certainly limits the generalisability of the findings, how much can we possibly learn from such a small size? Practical implications – The need to reposition the consultation process for long-term survival in the non-Western context by inculcating indigenous values and mores was discussed as well as other policy implications. Originality/value – The paper demonstrates the need for a re-conceptualisation of what should constitute an effective management consultancy practice in non-Western settings. Since managers are not divorced from their socio-cultural environment their mental images reflect axioms that are deeply located in the uniqueness of their cultural settings

Parastrophic invariance of Smarandache quasigroups

The study of the Smarandache concept in groupoids was initiated by W.B. Vasantha Kandasamy in [18]. In her book and first paper on Smarandache concept in loops, she defined a Smarandache loop as a loop with at least a subloop which forms a subgroup under the binary operation of the loop

Stress at Work: Any Potential Redirection From an African Sample?

Research on workplace stress has generated a massive interest and following in the management and behavioural literature in the Western world, but not much data has come out of Africa. This study explored the relationship among Perceived stress, Perception of sources of stress, Satisfaction, Core self-evaluation, Perceived health and Well being. Survey data was collected from 355 employees in Botswana. Result from descriptive data and correlational analysis indicates significant links between Perceived stress, Satisfaction, Core self-evaluation and Well being. Overall, much of our findings are consistent with what has been reported in the literature. Managerial implications of the findings were discussed

Wellness at Work: Profile of Employees in Botswana

This study investigates awareness and understanding of wellness, health consciousness, personal well-being, gender differences, health improving activities and employer assistance desired by employees. Survey data was obtained from 523 randomly selected employees from 52 participating organisations in Botswana. Overall, the findings indicated that respondents have good awareness and knowledge of health promotion. Respondents indicated that training supervisors to address employees’ concerns, more open communication, providing or supporting recreational or exercise programmes and other health benefits are effective ways to jump-start improving the health process. Potential benefits of the study, management implications of findings and limitations were also articulated

Perceived Stress, Performance Appraisal Discomfort and Core Self-evaluation in a Non-Western Context.

The study is an exploratory investigation of the relationship among perceived stress, performance evaluation discomfort and beliefs, and employee’s self-evaluation – specifically core self-evaluation. Little has been done exploring perceived stress as a possible consequence of the discomfort experienced by appraisers and this study attempts to fill this gap. This cross-sectional survey obtained usable data from 167 public and private sector employees in Gaborone, Botswana, with about 81% from the public sector. Respondents were 51.5% males, 45% unmarried and 54% having over 10 years work experience. Respondents were well educated with 70% possessing basic university degree or higher and over 65% earned over $1500.00 monthly indicating a fairly well paid African sample. Data were collected using structured questionnaires with 47 standardised items from four scales (perceived stress – 10, performance appraisal discomfort – 20, performance appraisal beliefs – 5 and core self-evaluation – 12). Data was analysed using Pearson’s coefficient correlation multiple regression (stepwise). The result indicated direct but insignificant correlation between performance appraisal discomfort and performance appraisal belief; inverse relationship between performance appraisal discomfort and perceived stress; inverse relationship between performance appraisal discomfort and core self-evaluation. All these results though in the predicted direction were non-significant. A significant and direct relationship was however found between perceived stress and core self-evaluation. This is perhaps indicative of a strong link between how a person sees, views and values self as a possible reflection of the state of the individual’s perceived stress. Also core self-evaluation and performance appraisal discomfort emerged as predictor variables for perceived stress, with the former being the stronger predictor and together explaining about 7% of the variance. Limitations and future research direction include: the small number of predictor variables explored; a need for cross-cultural and multi-cultural investigation of the variables to enhance and enrich our understanding of the constructs; and a sampling limitation imposed by a somewhat self-selecting organisational sample used. Managerial implications include: albeit performance appraisals are infrequently done, the importance attached to it by managers and organisations makes discomforts with it critical as issues such as individual advancement, reward obtainable and disciplinary issues are all associated with it. Similarly core self-evaluation may be a key to high levels of individual performance. These issues may impact on perceived and actual stress experienced by individuals hence the need to direct more attention to the investigation of this linkage – a process that this study attempts to promote

Academic Ethics: What has Morality, Culture and Administration got to do with its Measurement?

While there is no dearth of studies on ethical issues, the specific subject of examination misconduct has attracted fewer studies, especially in Africa. This study is an ongoing exploratory attempt to develop a measure of examination misconduct. Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect data from 450 undergraduate business students of the Universities of Botswana and Swaziland. A nine-item measure of examination misconduct was correlated with a measure of perception of business ethics, ethical value assessment and Hofstede's four dimensions of culture. The results indicated significant inter-correlations among the variables (especially the three measures of ethics) and limited construct validity for the examination misconduct scale. The results of factor analysis suggest three factors for the emerging scale: cheating behaviour, intervention and desperation. The ethical inferences of the findings, managerial implications for university administrators and practitioners, study limitations and directions for future research are discussed

Corruption Perception and Sustainable Development: Sharing Botswana’s Anti-Graft Agency Experiences

Unethical practices and corruption issues have become one of the greatest challenges to Africans and their leaders, threatening to undermine economic growth, democratic stability and sustenance, and general developmental efforts. Against this background, this paper examines corruption perception in Africa using indicators of Transparency International as benchmark. The costs of corruption to the continent’s progress were highlighted. The paper also focused on Botswana’s efforts to fight corruption through its Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC). The factors that have aided the qualified successes of the anti-corruption efforts as well as lessons that may be learnt by other African countries were discussed

An holomorphic study of the Smarandache concept in loops

If two loops are isomorphic, then it is shown that their holomorphs are also isomorphic. Conversely, it is shown that if their holomorphs are isomorphic, then the loops are isotopic