3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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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 Sex-role identity, workplace stress and thriving in South African employees(2017) Helfer, Kayla MerylThe present study aimed to explore levels of perceived stress and workplace thriving in a sample of 485 South African employees, within the framework of sex-role identity. A number of research to date has begun to explore the influence of sex-role identities on a number of different organisational outcomes; however few have explored both the positive and negative aspects of gendered personality traits and thus this study aimed to contribute to existing research through utilising a differentiated model of sex-role identity. Three self-report questionnaires were completed by participants, namely the EPAQ-R to assess sex-role identity, the Job Related Tension Index developed by Kahn et al. (1964) to establish levels of perceived stress and the thriving scale developed by Porath et al. (2012) was used to measure workplace thriving. The results of the study highlighted a number of statistically significant differences between sex-role identities and perceived stress and thriving respectively. A number of these results were in line with the proposed hypotheses; however, negative masculinity proved to be inconsistent with the proposed hypotheses as these individuals did not differ from the positive identities in terms of workplace stress. Furthermore, negative femininity did not experience statistically significant differences with the positive identities. The findings of the study provide support for a differentiated model of sex-role identity, as well as support for the Androgynous model of psychological well being. Practical and theoretical implications of this research are discussed in the study.