Exploring a framework to manage bullying in South African academia: Human resources perspective

Orientation: Bullying is widespread at South African universities and has short- and long-term negative consequences for employees and organisations. Research purpose: The study explored human resources (HR) practitioners’ challenges in managing bullying at work and sought to establish a framework for managing bullying above and below the surface in the organisation from their viewpoint. Motivation for the study: Human resources practitioners are a strategic link between diverse constituencies in the organisation and consequently encounter several challenges in their attempts to address and manage bullying. Research approach/design and method: A qualitative constructivist grounded theory research was exploited to examine nine HR practitioners’ standpoints in two universities in the Gauteng province. Main findings: Human resources practitioners’ roles remain dichotomised between serving dissimilar stakeholders with diametric expectations while protecting employees from prospective bullying circumstances. The proposed framework to manage workplace bullying above and below the surface from the HR practitioners’ context has both pragmatic and theoretical noteworthiness. Practical/managerial implications: The combinations of the power dynamics, roles and factors at play have acute ramifications on the HR practitioner’s dexterity to circumvent, administrate and investigate bullying incidents. A proposed framework can help organisation management, practitioners and employees to be unconditionally alert about bullying multiplicities, expedite holistic determinations and preventative interventions to embrace diversity and panoramically reprehend bullying occurrences. Contribution/value-add: This study adds a noticeable contribution to the field of workplace bullying, HR management and attendant remedial measures from HR practitioners in South Africa’s academic institution context

Transformational leadership in the South African public service after the April 2009 national elections

Orientation: The implementation of transformational leadership in public services after national elections has been well recorded in other parts of the world. However, this is not the case in South Africa. Research purpose: The purpose of the study is to determine whether transformational leadership has a beneficial relationship with subordinate leadership acceptance, job performance and job satisfaction. Motivation for the study: Leadership is a critical issue that the public sector needs to address in order to survive and succeed in today’s unstable environment. According to Groenewald and Ashfield (2008), transformational leadership could reduce the effects of uncertainty and change that comes with new leaders and help employees to achieve their objectives. Research design, approach and method: The sample comprised 1050 full-time employees in the public sector based in head offices. The measuring instruments included the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ), the Leadership Acceptance Scale (LAS), the Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS) and the Job Performance Survey (JPS). Main findings: Transformational leadership had a positive correlation with subordinate leadership acceptance, performance and job satisfaction. Practical/managerial implications: Managers can train public sector leaders to be transformational leaders because of the adverse effect lack of transformation can have on employees’ attitudes in areas like satisfaction, performance and commitment. Contribution/value-add: This study makes an important contribution to our understanding of transformational leadership processes and to how the public service can improve its practices in order to render quality service to South Africans