3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item The value of transitional coaching for women managers post maternity leave in the South African business context(2019) Roy, SarikaWomen are a critical resource to organisations, yet they are often not given the adequate support during their transition back to the workplace, post maternity leave. Whilst there are policies in place that afford women a leave of absence to care for their new-born baby, the lack of reintegration support structures may lead to women feeling discouraged and resigning from their current roles. The research study explores the value of transitional coaching to first time mothers post maternity leave, as they reintegrate into their organisations. A social constructivist approach was utilised, and the coaching sessions incorporated a narrative psychology coaching approach. The respondent group was made up of six first time mothers specifically at management level, that have returned to work post maternity leave in the last two years. A qualitative research approach was utilised and the data was manually coded by using constant comparative analysis or the coding of key words. Each participant completed a pre-session interview guide, received three coaching sessions and provided close out feedback on the value that they received. The coaching sessions aimed to support the new mothers as they identified goals for themselves and worked on tangible outcomes towards attaining these goals. The key themes that emerged from the research study noted that women are personally impacted during maternity leave (physically, financially, psychologically, hormonally, emotionally and socially). They struggle with balancing the priorities of their new-born baby’s needs whilst also managing deliverables at work. Guilt (work and baby) as well as elements of perfection and control also created more anxiety and stress for these new mothers. Role identity, especially in taking on the new role of mother, was another key theme that emerged. All the participants found value in the coaching sessions and each of the participants successfully implemented an action plan to realise their identified goals. All participants noted that there was a lack of organisational practices and processes to support women as they reintegrate into their previous roles post maternity leave. The recommendations provided are offered towards organisations, new working mothers, line managers, business coaches as well as the media, as they have a pertinent role in shaping societal norms and gender roles.Item Black female managers perceptions’ of integration into informal social networks at work(2018) Motlhamme, Kelebogile FaithThe objective of this research was to identify Black female Managers perceptions’ of integration into informal social networks at work. Informal social networks have been identified as one of the ways of improving career success. Given the low representation of Black female managers in South African organisations, identifying their perceptions of informal social networks could assist in increasing the number of Black women in managerial roles. Two specific aims were established for this research, firstly to distinguish the participants’ perceptions of informal social networks at work, and to identify the strategies that they use to manage their integration into these informal social networks. The study was carried out using a qualitative research design, where data was collected through face-to-face interviews using a semi-structured interview guide. The sample consisted of 9 Black female managers from various organisations in Johannesburg, ages between 24-55 years. The data was analysed using thematic analysis. The results showed that majority of the participants do not see themselves as being involved in informal social networks in the workplace although most participated in informal relationships with certain colleagues at work. Implications of the study include reviewing the concept of informal social networks, due to the complexity involved in distinguishing the relational properties of informal social networks at work and understanding the impact sense of agency has on the integration strategies used by Black female managers.Item An exploration of the leadership journeys of black women executives-implications for coaching(2017) Diseko, Gaahele Salome SylviaThis qualitative study explored the leadership journeys of black women executives (BWEs), to understand those elements they perceived to enable and those they perceived to inhibit their career progression, as well as to establish implications for coaching. Eighteen participants were interviewed. The sample included BWEs who had been coached, those who had not, human resources managers, and line managers to create some triangulation. The BWEs were all in the top two organisational levels, as defined by the Employment Equity Act. A semi-structured interview guide was utilised for the BWEs and another for HR and line managers. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and uploaded into ATLAS.ti analysis software. Coding was conducted inductively to identify themes that emerged. The study highlighted the importance of ensuring that all parties to the coaching intervention are fully briefed, aligned, and coaching-ready before implementation. If readiness is not ensured, the process can be negatively affected. A key finding was that a minimum of a bachelor’s degree, but preferably a postgraduate degree, enabled the career progression of BWEs. Once in the workplace BWEs need to continue with self-development. Elements that were found to enable career progression for BWEs were hard work, networking, self-development, and access to mentors. Resilience was found to be important in managing the challenges the BWEs’ experience in the workplace. Elements that inhibit BWEs’ career progression were found to be lack of implementation of employment equity (EE) or transformation in the workplace. It was also found that BWEs operate in challenging work environments where they experience marginalisation, stereotyping, and racism. Work-life integration is an issue as they are the homemakers. Another key finding was that coaching could contribute to BWEs’ career progression. It is important that all parties in the process are coaching-ready. It was also found that coaching heightened resilience for BWEs. Coaching was shown to be utilised for leadership development, including improving communication skills. Line managers were unsure of the objectives for which their BWE charges were being coached. This highlighted the importance of aligning all parties and ensuring coaching readiness before coaching implementation. This point is also important because to be successful, coaching needs the support of organisational leadership. It was encouraging to realise that the line managers viewed coaching as confidential between coach and coachee; however, they appeared to have had no input into development needs identification. This could point to a missed opportunity to align coaching with business needs. The intrapersonal skills of self-confidence and self-awareness were shown to have been developed through coaching. These skills are vital to effective leadership. The BWEs’ experiences of coaching were found to be challenging, and uncomfortable, and BWEs found that the coach did not understand or trivialised the coachee’s issues. Coaching conversations are meant to be challenging, however too much challenge can derail the process. BWEs experienced coaching as uncomfortable because the conversation delved directly into deep personal issues without preparing the coachee or building rapport and a trusting relationship. Two BWEs felt that their coaches had trivialised or misunderstood their issues. The finding that line managers were unaware of the development needs being addressed in their BWEs’ coaching, the BWEs’ experiences of discomfort in the coaching process, and coachees feeling that the coach had trivialised the coachee’s issues, highlights the important matter of coaching readiness. Coaching readiness is important to the success of any coaching engagement. Without participants being fully ready for coaching, the process might be compromised. Coaching was found to be an appropriate tool for leadership development and improving the career progression prospects of BWEs. It was also found that it is important to ensure that every party to the coaching is coaching ready.Item Factors affecting entrepreneurial intentions among black managers in the banking sector: a South African perspective(2017) Modiba, ZaneleIn South Africa, very little research has been conducted to test the entrepreneurial intentions of highly educated and skilled black professionals. A significant portion of entrepreneurial intention research is primarily focused on students. Very little is known about the entrepreneurial intentions of mid-career individuals who are in highly specialised industries. More specifically, no research has looked at testing the entrepreneurial intentions among managers within the banking sector. Specifically, the study is aimed at determining whether self-efficacy, family background and the role of government influences entrepreneurship intentions among black managers within the banking sector. The study was done within the major banks in the Gauteng province of South Africa. 220 questionnaires were sent to bank employees who are managers and specialists in their role. The testing for hypothesis involved the relationship between dependent variable, entrepreneurship intention and the independent variables; desirability of self-efficacy, family background, government support. The analysis was done using SPSS version 23 using descriptive statistics and hierarchical multiple regression analysis. ANOVA was carried out where there was a need to compare groups of cases for differences in their means along particular variables. The analysis concludes that the independent variables, such as self- efficacy, family background and government support have a significantly positive relationship to entrepreneurship intention. The regression analysis also verified that there is a significant influence between independent variable and attitudes toward entrepreneurship among black bank managers. The findings suggest that there are high levels of self-efficacy among black managers in the banking sector. The results revealed that entrepreneurial self-efficacy has the most significant and positive impact on their intention to become an entrepreneur. It is also worth noting that government support plays an integral part in influencing the entrepreneurial intentions of the respondents. Although this study focused on the antecedents of intentions to start a business, future research must also explore relationships between intentions and behaviour.