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EDUCOR-MULTIDISCIPLINARY-JOURNAL-2020-1-Final
Abstract
The article provides a glimpse about the community development concept in the rural communities of South Africa. It highlights the conceivable benefits of developmental paradigm both at micro and macro levels of development. The developmental paradigm model is reckoned as a system capable to transform the livelihood of most South Africans. The article goes on to allude to the impact of various community work projects/programmes, for example, gardening, poultry, and piggery among other projects. However, the article also pin points the challenges impeding the implementation of strategies designed to propel community development/community work projects in remote communities of South Africa.
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The continuing crisis of Coronavirus-19 disease (COVID-19) has changed our lives considerably; imposing the need for various modifications for organizations and individuals to cope up in this testing time. This study is undertaken to have an insight on how organizations and individuals adapt to these changes and challenges. The impact of coronavirus on human body is well known and more research is underway but what it does to the human behavior and the psychosocial effects are yet to be unraveled. To dive deep into the behavioral consequences of such pandemic, 23 in-depth interviews (Male 12; female 13, average age of 39 years) were conducted with middle level managers in public and private service industry of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Using the Conservation of resource theory (COR), this paper explores the employee's perception of different types of stressors and examine a variety of coping mechanisms including the type of organizational support provided during this crisis. The findings of the interview suggest that the stress levels were moderate to high among all the participants. The main themes emerged from the interviews were categorized into five; (i) Triggers of stress (ii) Organizational support (iii) Coping strategies & resources (iv) Blurred boundaries during WFH and (v) Positivity in this crisis. The study presents an integrated Stress Model with key triggers, coping strategies (resources), organization support and outcome. The triggers inducing stress includes fear of unknown, ineffective communication at work, lack of clarity and direction, interruptions during WFH resulting in loss of resources like time and energy. All this might disturb employee's mental health leading to prolonged stress or even psychosomatic diseases. Therefore, it is an important issues which need to be given priority in all organizations. The findings support the notion that there is a dire need for psycho-social support, community support and an effective system of organizational support to sustain employee's emotional and mental wellbeing. The findings of the study are valuable and have urgent policy implications for devising a special EAP for crisis like COVID-19 and any future cases. Although the lockdown would be gradually eased, organizations need to rethink about different alternatives to work. The need of the hour is to be more agile and flexible to foster creativity and innovation.
Research studies have it that public policy analysis is a specialised field that has traditionally tended to favour the study of the policy making process by concentrating on the participants and their interests; compromise through bargaining and negotiation; expertise in policy-making and the role of analysis. However, the observation is made that public policy making and its ramifications, notwithstanding the traditional emphasis, are not the only significant aspects of the public policy process but also the way policy is implemented. This constitutes therefore the subject of this article.
Focus is a critical component in solution focused brief therapy (SFBT; de Shazer et al., 1986), yet little research has been conducted on how SFBT therapists utilize the clients’ focus on their awareness of needs to relationally build solutions (Reiter & Chenail, 2016). To address this gap, we reviewed the notion of utilizing clients’ focus in SFBT conceptually and presented the results of our discovery-oriented qualitative study of a classic training case conducted by one of SFBT’s co-developers, Insoo Kim Berg (1994). We explored how Berg appeared to demonstrate relationally focused solution development. The findings suggest that Berg’s therapeutic style and recursive nature facilitates the clients’ awareness of needs in all stages, tapping into the clients’ internal wisdom to enhance movement towards solutions.
A step-by-step guide to conducting a thematic analysis within the context of learning and teaching.
The purpose of this article is to present research on the importance of requisitely holistically selected organisational climate components and to determine their impact on work engagement of employees in 626 medium-sized organisations in Slovenia, the EU. The quantitative research is based on the implementation of an exploratory factor analysis, a simple linear regression analysis and the CFA 6-factor solution for validity purposes. Based on the research results, we confirmed the hypothesis that organisational climate components leadership, employee relations, employee commitment, employee satisfaction and employee motivation have a significant positive impact on work engagement of employees in medium-sized organisations. The results help users to better understand the importance of organisational climate in the Slovenian organisations. Successful organisations should realise the importance of organisational climate components, which enhance job performance and work engagement. Thus, they must fully master all of the employee-related processes of the organisation. The article is based on examination of the selected components of organisational climate with which organisations can impact work engagement of their employees. A new conceptual model was developed and confirmed.
The study sought to assess the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic in motivating digital transformation in the education sector in South Africa. The study was premised on the fact that learning in South Africa and the rest of the world came to a standstill due to the lockdown necessitated by COVID-19. To assess the impact, the study tracked the rate at which the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) tools were used by various institutions during the COVID-19 lockdown. Data were obtained from secondary sources. The findings are that, in South Africa, during the lockdown, a variety of 4IR tools were unleashed from primary education to higher and tertiary education where educational activities switched to remote (online) learning. These observations reflect that South Africa generally has some pockets of excellence to drive the education sector into the 4IR, which has the potential to increase access. Access to education, particularly at a higher education level, has always been a challenge due to a limited number of spaces available. Much as this pandemic has brought with it massive human suffering across the globe, it has presented an opportunity to assess successes and failures of deployed technologies, costs associated with them, and scaling these technologies to improve access.
Background: This paper examines the impact of coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak on employees’ mental health, specifically psychological distress and depression. It aims at identifying the main stressors during and post COVID-19, examining the main moderating factors which may mitigate or aggravate the impact of COVID-19 on employees’ mental health and finally to suggest recommendations from a human resource management perspective to mitigate COVID-19’s impact on employees’ mental health.
Methods: This paper is a literature review. The search for articles was made in Google scholar, Web of Science and Semantic scholar. We used a combination of terms related to coronavirus OR COVID-19, workplace and mental health. Due to the paucity of studies on the COVID-19 impact on employees’ mental health, we had to draw on studies on recent epidemics.
Results: The identified literature reports a negative impact of COVID-19 on individual’s mental health. Stressors include perception of safety, threat and risk of contagion, infobesity versus the unknown, quarantine and confinement, stigma and social exclusion as well as financial loss and job insecurity. Furthermore, three dimensions of moderating factors have been identified: organizational, institutional and individual factors. In addition, a list of recommendations has been presented to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the employee’s mental health, during and after the outbreak, from a human resource management perspective.
Conclusions: Coronavirus is new and is in a rapid progress while writing this paper. Most of current research are biomedical focusing on individuals’ physical health. In this context, mental health issues seem overlooked. This paper helps to broaden the scope of research on workplace mental health, by examining the impact of a complex new pandemic: COVID-19 on employees’ mental health, from social sciences perceptive, mobilizing psychology and human resource management.
The purpose of this study is to analyze the relationships between workplace violence, occupational stress, and sustainable work performance. Multiple dimensions of workplace violence (harassment, mobbing, ostracism, and stalking) were used in this study. A questionnaire survey was used, composed of 48 items with a 5-point Likert scale (1, strongly disagree, to 5, strongly agree). Data were collected from 15 hospitals in the vicinity of Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad, Pakistan. The target population of this study consisted of doctors, nurses, and paramedical staff. We distributed 500 questionnaires among the target population. In total, 345 usable questionnaires were returned, resulting in a response rate of 69%. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to test the direct and indirect effects. The results of this study highlight that in both direct and indirect relationships, workplace violence negatively influences sustainable work performance. The findings of this study are as follows: First, harassment reduces employee morale, which consistently lessens employees' work performance. Second, mobbing at the workplace reduces productivity, increases levels of stress, anxiety, depression, and irritability, and increases low work engagement, work absences, and work destruction. Third, ostracism at the workplace reduces motivation among workers and organizations, which reduces work efficiency. Work performance is undermined due to stalking at the workplace because it creates a bad image and brings toxicity among colleagues and peers. Fourth, occupational stress is considered a stigma among employees who are facing stress at the workplace. We can conclude that if employees are happy and healthy, they can be their most productive. So, organizations need to construct a culture where employees can be at their best and shine.
Irritated, stinging, tired, and dry eyes continue to be among top-two reported acute symptoms in modern office-like environments, despite use of new ventilation strategies and low-emitting building materials. In this perspective, we disentangle why the prevalence of external eye symptoms has remained stable without a noticeable decline over the last decades. Furthermore, we explore the association between dry eye symptoms, perceived dry air and deteriorated office work performance. The overall prevalence of external (as opposed to internal) eye symptoms is caused by a combination of many environmental (climatic), occupational, and personal risk factors, which alter the stability of the precorneal tear film, essential for ocular surface health and ocular comfort. The composition and structure of the outer lipid layer of the precorneal tear film is critical for a healthy stable ocular surface. Identified major risk factors are apart from age and gender, eye diseases (gland dysfunctions), particle (combustion) exposure, environmental (e.g. climatic condition), occupational (visual demanding work) and personal (e.g. use of medication) conditions that aggravate the precorneal tear film stability, which increases its vulnerability to aggressive air pollutants. It is, however, salient to recognize that (mild) eye diseases (generally non-diagnosed) contribute and may further overlap with both external and internal eye causalities. Thus, maintenance of a healthy and stable ocular surface is essential for relief of dry eye symptoms. Studies indicate that perceived indoor dry air, a top-two indoor air quality complaint, in part induced by low indoor air humidity, negatively affects the office work performance. Visual complaints like dry eyes are generally associated with eye fatigue as office workers, that feel eye fatigue during typical intensive vision work, self-report lower work performance to be associated with dry eye symptoms; this may further exacerbate the symptoms and the performance among office workers with eye diseases and elderly female workers.
Background:
Since the advent of democracy, the South African government has been putting charters, policies, strategies and plans in place in an effort to strengthen public health system performance and enhance service delivery. However, public health programme performance and outcomes remained poor while the burden of disease increased. This was also the case in the Free State Province, where major public health system challenges occurred around 2012. Assessment was necessary in order to inform health system strengthening.
Methods:
The study entailed a multi-method situation appraisal utilising information collated in 44 reports generated in 2013 through presentations by unit managers, subdistrict assessments by district clinical specialist teams, and group discussions with district managers, clinic supervisors, primary health care managers and chief executive and clinical officers of hospitals. These data were validated through community and provincial health indabas including non-governmental organisations, councils and academics, as well as unannounced facility visits involving discussions with a wide range of functionaries and patients. The reports were reviewed using the World Health Organization health system building blocks as a priori themes with subsequent identification of emerging subthemes. Data from the different methods employed were triangulated in a causal loop diagram showing the complex interactions between the components of an (in) effective health system.
Results:
The major subthemes or challenges that emerged under each a priori theme included: firstly, under the 'service delivery' a priori theme, 'fragmentation of health services' (42 reports); secondly, under the 'health workforce' a priori theme, 'staff shortages' (39 reports); thirdly, under the 'health financing' a priori theme, 'financial/cash-flow problems' (39 reports); fourthly, under the 'leadership and governance' a priori theme, 'risk to patient care' (38 reports); fifthly, under the 'medical products/technologies' a priori theme, 'dysfunctional communication technology' (27 reports); and, sixthly, under the 'information' a priori theme, 'poor information management' (26 reports).
Conclusion:
The major overall public health system challenges reported by stakeholders involved fragmentation of services, staff shortages and financial/cash-flow problems. In order to effect health systems strengthening there was particularly a need to improve integration and address human and financial deficiencies in this setting.
Following the work of Standing (2011), Clarke (2006) and others, I use the precariat theory to define the existence of precarious working conditions within the minibus taxi industry. I use precariousness to describe how the employment practices in the industry, labour legislation from the Department of Labour (DoL), regulations and public transport policies by the Department of Transport (DoT) define the nature of the industry. This article is situated in the broader context of my PhD thesis which investigated the impact of the Taxi Recapitalisation Programme (TRP) on precarious working conditions within the minibus taxi industry in Johannesburg. Using qualitative research methods, I conducted a total of fifty-eight interviews for my thesis. Results revealed the existence of precarious working`conditionsworking`conditions within the minibus taxi industry-in the Global South. The article contributes to the study of precarity in the Global South, similar to Clarke (2006) who examined precarious work in post-apartheid South Africa. The minibus taxi industry's labour conditions place its drivers in a position of precarity. This means that taxi drivers are daily exposed to bad working conditions which are not in line with the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA) or the Sectoral Determination (SD) on wages.
Construction disputes have a greater effects on the construction industry as opposed to other industries. Especially negative effects are prevalent on the project participants which lead to poor execution of the project. The study investigated the impact of disputes in construction projects in the Mpumalanga Province. The data used in this paper were derived from both primary and secondary sources. The secondary data was collected via a detailed review of related literature. The primary data was collected through a survey questionnaire which was distributed to project participants. Out of the 90 questionnaires sent out, 80 were received back representing 89% response rate. Data received from the questionnaires were analysed using descriptive statistics procedures such as Ms Excel and SPSS software. Findings from the study revealed that; bad relationship between parties, loss of productivity, cost and time overruns, loss of company reputation, loss of professional reputation delayed payment and rework were the main effects of construction disputes in construction projects. Therefore, construction dispute have an effect on most of the project participants which may lead to poor execution, reduced profit margins and budget escalation. Hence Dispute must be resolved as soon as possible to avoid mostly all the effect they have on projects and stakeholders. Furthermore, risk have been identified to be associated with construction dispute, if risk are well managed the occurrence of construction dispute will be reduced.
There are a number of approaches used in this research method design. The purpose of this chapter is to design the methodology of the research approach through mixed types of research techniques. The research approach also supports the researcher on how to come across the research result findings. In this chapter, the general design of the research and the methods used for data collection are explained in detail. It includes three main parts. The first part gives a highlight about the dissertation design. The second part discusses about qualitative and quantitative data collection methods. The last part illustrates the general research framework. The purpose of this section is to indicate how the research was conducted throughout the study periods.
Citizen participation is a much contested and conflicting term, whereby the general consensus highlighted its value for a democratic society. However, various complex issues regarding its understanding and implementation from power holders and citizens alike are abundant in practice. Therefore, this paper aims to make sense of the issues of citizen participation from the perspective of different stakeholders, such as power holders and have-not citizens. Purposive sampling on 45 informants was utilized in this study to facilitate a qualitative research design using in-depth interviews. Meanwhile, open and axial coding allowed the formation of themes regarding the understanding on the specific phenomenon of citizen participation in city programs conducted by the local authorities of the state of Selangor, Malaysia. The themes that surfaced as issues included the dependency on government resources, mismatch of interest, organized and collective citizen force, and life cycle approach and realistic volunteerism. This study contributed to the enrichment of knowledge on citizen participation issues, clarifying for citizens and power holders alike in fostering genuine participation that truly benefited all. Additionally, it underlined findings fundamental for further academic quantitative participation research. Keywords: Citizens’ dependency, conflicting needs, organized and collective opinion, power distribution, realistic volunteerism.Cite as: Abdul Malek, J., Lim, S., & Tahir, Z. (2019). Understanding the issues of citizen participation. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 4(1), 1-22. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol4iss1pp1-22
This study ascertains the predictive relationship that sustainable organisational practices have with organisational effectiveness and the mediating role of organisational identification and organisation-based self-esteem in this relationship. One-hundred and forty-five participants (62 males and 83 females) were sampled from 31 privately-owned organisations in Delta State, Nigeria. Regression analysis revealed that sustainable organisational practices positively and significantly predict organisational effectiveness, β = 0.42, p < 0.001, and that organisational identification and organisation-based self-esteem mediate the relationship. It was recommended that privately-owned organisations intensively implement sustainable organisational practices for organisational effectiveness, organisational identification and organisation-based self-esteem.
Some policies fail to achieve their goals and some succeed. More often than not, it is unclear whether a policy has been a success or a failure, sometimes because the goal was not clear, or because there were a multitude of goals. In this introduction to this special issue we discuss what we mean by policy success and failure, and assume that policy success or failure is ultimately the result of the decision-making process: policy success results from good policies, which tend to come from good decisions, which are in turn the result of a good decision-making process. We then set out a framework for understanding the conditions under which good and bad decisions are made. Built upon factors highlighted in a broad literature, we argue that a potential interaction of institutions, interests and ideology creates incentives for certain outcomes, and leads to certain information being gathered or prioritised when it is being processed. This can bias decision-makers to choose a certain course of action that may be suboptimal, or in other cases there is an absence of bias, creating the possibility for making successful policy choices.
Resources theories of occupational stress (e.g., conservation of resources theory) argue that job demands deplete employees’ resources, and the challenge– hindrance model of occupational stress proposes that some demands tend to be appraised by employees more as challenges and others more as hindrances.
Focusing on challenge demands, we propose and test a model in which work demands influence two resources (employees’ sense of self-worth and work meaningfulness) via appraisal processes, and the
resources subsequently contribute to employees’ flourishing in their lives. Data were collected from U.S. employees at two separate points with a 1-month interval. Challenge appraisals of demands had positive
effects on the two motivational resources, organization-based self-esteem and perceptions of meaningful work, and hindrance appraisals had negative effects on them. The findings suggest adapting conservation of resources theory to add appraisals as mediators between demands and resources. Overall, the present
study shows a spillover effect and extends well-being research by providing evidence that resources created by positive organizational experiences contributed to promoting general positive well-being in
employees’ lives in the form of flourishing.
Qualitative research has gained in importance in the social sciences. General knowledge about qualitative data analysis, how to code qualitative data and decisions concerning related research design in the analytical process are all important for novice researchers.
The purpose of this paper is to offer researchers who are new to qualitative research a thorough yet practical introduction to the vocabulary and craft of coding.
Having pooled, their experience in coding qualitative material and teaching students how to code, in this paper, the authors synthesize the extensive literature on coding in the form of a hands-on review.
The aim of this paper is to provide a thorough yet practical presentation of the vocabulary and craft of coding. The authors, thus, discuss the central choices that have to be made before, during and after coding, providing support for novices in practicing careful and enlightening coding work, and joining in the debate on practices and quality in qualitative research.
While much material on coding exists, it tends to be either too comprehensive or too superficial to be practically useful for the novice researcher. This paper, thus, focuses on the central decisions that need to be made when engaging in qualitative data coding in order to help researchers new to qualitative research engage in thorough coding in order to enhance the quality of their analyses and findings, as well as improve quantitative researchers’ understanding of qualitative coding.
This paper analyses poor service delivery at local government level, which is attributed to the politicisation of administrative components in municipalities, resulting in poor local governance. The public service delivery system has been perceived as one of the most important ways of reducing poverty through poverty alleviation programmes. As part of the South African government's cooperative system, key stakeholders in municipalities ought to adopt an integrated approach to public service delivery. An integrated approach to public service delivery demands that local municipalities, together with relevant stakeholders, integrate processes and services to ensure effective and efficient service delivery. This ultimately will result in an improved standard of living and sustainable livelihood for communities. With regard to public service delivery, local municipalities have the obligation of creating income opportunities people, especially the poor, with the sole aim of contributing towards poverty reduction and the realisation of the expectations of people, as stated in the South African government's White Paper of transforming public service delivery. The political interface in local municipalities greatly affects effective and efficient administration, as well as growth opportunities. Administrators, therefore, have the important function of ensuring that explicit assignments of objectives and administrative functions are wholly separated from the policymaking activities of government. This paper, therefore, suggests that municipalities adopt the merit system and abandon the spoils system that is highly characterised by political favours and political interferences. Political favours and interferences are dominant in local South African government, and they hinder the process of providing services equally.
In South Africa, the transition from a politically-sanctioned, racially segregated society to a democratically-based administration was, on all levels, an overwhelming task. The positive policies that were designed to improve the country's economy were accompanied with a policy of cadre deployment that advocated for ANC party loyalists to occupy prominent positions in the public sector. This political patronage-implemented via state jobs-led to poor performances in government institutions and in the nation as a whole. This paper assesses the effects of the cadre deployment policy on performance management in the public sector by focusing on significant elements of economic growth and expansion. It presents a proposed framework, based on control theories that illustrate how aspects of cadre deployment and performance management contribute to present knowledge of the African academic and administrative environment. An extensive literature review incorporated various sources providing information on cadre deployment and other relevant documents such as various reports on political structures and performances. The results of this study confirm that cadre deployment exacerbated problems related to corruption, poor procurement systems, wasteful expenditure and the deteriorating state of local government. The article promotes calls for the review and an overhaul of the authoritative structure that governs local municipalities, with the goal to supplement Section 152 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. The article further recommends the ANC-led government to 2 revise its cadre deployment policy to combat the challenges of skills shortages and poor service deliveries in various municipalities, which have resulted from ingrained nepotism, overt politicisation and the appointment of unqualified personnel.
Water is an essential but scarce resource. Worldwide, an estimated 663 million people do not have access to sufficient and safe water for domestic use, and the demand is on the increase. It is estimated that the world will have to cope with a 40 per cent water supply shortfall by 2030, which will unavoidably affect the availability of drinking water, sanitation and food production. South Africa faces a particularly gloomy water reality. Not only is South Africa plagued by severe drought conditions, but it also has a poor record of water conservation, outdated and inadequate water treatment infrastructure, and lingering concerns about the quality and degradation of the already limited volume of available water. South Africa's political history, characterised by a reality of unequal access to water, adds additional and unique challenges as far as water resource regulation is concerned. Following the advent of the constitutional era, a novel legal framework for water resources regulation was developed in South Africa. The National Water Act 36 of 1998 (NWA) was promulgated with the primary aim of reforming the law relating to water resources. The NWA broke new ground by inter alia introducing the concept of public trusteeship into the South African water law. Section 3 of the NWA provides that all water use rights fall under the centralised control of the state, or public trustee, to improve the distribution, management, use, conservation and equitability of access to this scarce resource. Although the concept of public trusteeship entered the South African legal realm without much fanfare, it fundamentally changed the foundation and regulatory practices of the South African water law dispensation. The water regulatory framework changed from one that linked access to water to land ownership and differentiated between private and public water, to a framework that applies to “all water” in South Africa and that acknowledges that the country's water “belongs to all people”. Accordingly, the old system that provided for exclusive water use rights, and that was generally to the detriment of the majority of South Africans, has been replaced by a system that provides for water allowances granted at the discretion of government. The introduction of the notion of public trusteeship therefore denotes a major transformation in which existing property rights are re-defined. With this new system of the NWA, the South African government has effectively nationalised all of the nation's water resources. It has been almost 20 years since the transformation of South Africa's water regulatory framework, but the reality is that, despite the transformation brought about by the NWA, studies show a decline in the quantity and quality of South Africa's water resources. Adding to the problem that South Africa is a water scarce country, the demand for water is on the increase. Severe pollution such as the fact that approximately 4 billion litres of raw or partially purified sewage are discharged daily into South Africa's dams and rivers, as well as the widespread destruction of wetlands by mining and agricultural activities continue to impact negatively on the quality of the scarce water resource. One of the consequences of this is the growing presence of toxic blue-green algae in the water resources of South Africa, with an estimated 62 per cent of aquatic bodies already contaminated with cyanobacteria - the highest incidence in the world. In light of this water crisis, some may argue that the new regulatory framework, with its statutory objectives and strategies, is flawed. In order to determine whether the new regulatory framework for South Africa's water resources is indeed flawed, or whether the NWA is rather a beacon of hope amid the country's water crisis, this article analyses the novel water regulatory framework with specific reference to the concept of public trusteeship. In the second part, the article scientifically describes the state of South Africa's water resources. The third and last part of the article provides a legal response to the growing pressure on South Africa's water resources. It considers how the public trusteeship paradigm can be used to ensure that water is protected, used, developed, conserved, managed and controlled in a sustainable manner, for the benefit of all persons. The article confirms that the public trust regulatory regime is sufficient for water regulation in South Africa, and particularly relevant to a solution to the country's water crisis, as it offers the necessary mechanisms to achieve lasting protection for water resources, and ultimately to enhance sustainable water resource management.
This study explores how corruption impacts the failure of government projects in developing countries with evidence from the
Ghanaian context. This study solicits the perceptions of project management practitioners (14), contractors (6), government
officials (clients; 5), and the general public (5) on the subject. The findings indicate that corruption influences government project failure on all the failure criteria that were used for the evaluation. However, corruption influences failure at two different levels: project management and product phase. At the project management level, corruption has direct influence, while at the product
phase level, the influence is indirect.
The aim of this paper was to investigate the reasons why learners absent themselves from schools. This paper was underpinned by a critical discourse analysis theory in which the researchers expressed their comments or judgements based on written or spoken communications, discussions or conversations with the participants. In this paper, the researcher applied a qualitative research approach in order to investigate the fundamental factors that contribute to learner absenteeism in the selected primary schools. The sampling method was purposive sampling. Data collection strategies used in this paper included in depth interviews and focus group interviews. Structured questions determined biographical data of participants and unstructured questions probed factors that contributed towards learner absenteeism. Factors that contributed to learner absenteeism in these primary schools were lack of parental involvement, unhealthy relationship between learners and teachers, lack of sporting facilities, and unreliable class attendance registers. The researchers discovered that these factors were mostly found to involve learners, teachers and principals at school level and impacted negatively on daily teaching and learning. The school should invest in education programmes and communication initiatives to highlight to parents the importance of their involvement in their children's education. Both teachers and learners should improve their communication skills and this can be achieved by teachers and learners knowing their roles and responsibilities and interesting subject teaching which will encourage learners to be in class. Learners should take their school work seriously. For learners who are chronically absent from school, teachers should design a diary which learners, teachers and parents will sign every day to ensure the learner's attendance.
This literature review paper discusses the proper use of qualitative research methodology to discuss several research aspects for the improvement of the readers' skill. During the last few decades, the use of qualitative research has been increased in many institutions. It can be used to explore several areas of human behavior for the development of organizations. The purpose of this study is to provide inspirations to the new researchers for the development of their qualitative articles. The paper analyzes the design of qualitative research giving some methodological suggestions to make it explicable to the reader. In this paper, an attempt has been taken to study the background of the qualitative research methodology in social sciences and some other related subjects, along with the importance, and main features of the study.
Representative democracy entails governments that are both responsive and responsible. Mair argued that political parties find it increasingly difficult to balance these two tasks. With an increase in international commitments and interdependence, governments cannot always follow the wishes of its citizens but need to be responsible instead. Our study examines the responsiveness–responsibility link from the angle of citizen perceptions. We argue that when governments are seen as responsive they build a “buffer” of support, allowing them to make decisions that are not necessarily responsive but possibly responsible. By being responsive, governments build a reservoir of goodwill, which they can use to survive more difficult periods. Using data from the 2012 European Social Survey, we test whether perceived responsiveness feeds into this reservoir and whether this reservoir consequently increases perceived responsibility. We find support for this link, suggesting that responsiveness and responsibility do not need to be trade-offs but can complement each other.
In recent times, the continent of Africa has found itself at the crossroads caused by economic recession, criminality, corruption and ineptitude leadership that has led to national insecurity and poverty. It is the better time now to join forces in searching for solutions to address the multifaceted challenges facing sustainable development in Africa. The study, therefore, examines the challenges of policy implementation in Africa and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with a particular reference to Nigeria. In doing this, a survey study was carried out, and a questionnaire administered while chi-square was used to test the hypotheses. All the data obtained were computer processed through Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS). Key informant interview was also carried out. The study discovers that Nigeria and most countries in Africa have entered economic recessions because of policy implementation challenges such as unrealistic goal setting, political patronage, neglect of target beneficiaries and lack of consideration of policy environment. The study recommends that Africa should set policy goals that are implementable. The SDGs should be reviewed by African countries to domesticate the goals with environmental considerations properly. Africa should do more to check corruption. Policies designed for implementation by the Federal government in Nigeria should include the state and local government contents. There should be the participation of the target beneficiaries in any policy design to better their lives. These will ensure ownership and avoid sabotage. With these, SDGs will make the significant impact in Africa.
It is widely acknowledged that unless an appropriate strategy has been put into place and successfully implemented, it will prove challenging for businesses, organisations, or any endeavour to succeed in the quest to realise the set objectives. The purpose of this paper is to identify the importance of Leadership Ethos (LE) as a backbone for Culturally Oriented Strategic Management (COSM). As a strategic resource, LE provides a behavioural foundation based upon ethical and moral obligations to create organisational wealth, serve society, and honour relationships owed to stakeholders.
Objective
To build upon research evaluating stress interventions, this qualitative study tests the framework of the extended Job Demands-Resources model to investigate employees' perceptions of the stress-reduction measures implemented at 13 Australian universities.
Methods
In a cross-sectional survey design, tenured and contract staff indicated whether their overall level of stress had changed during the previous three-four years, and, if so, they described the major causes. A total of 462 staff reported that their level of stress had decreased; the study examines commentary from 115 academic and 304 nonacademic staff who provided details of what they perceived to be effective in reducing stress.
Results
Thematic analyses show that the key perceived causes were changes in job or work role, new heads of departments or supervisors, and the use of organizational strategies to reduce or manage stress. A higher percentage of academic staff reported reduced stress due to using protective coping strategies or their increased recognition and/or success, whereas a higher percentage of nonacademic staff reported reduced stress due to increases in staffing resources and/or systems.
Conclusion
These results identify the importance of implementing multilevel strategies to enhance employees' well-being. Nonacademic staff, in particular, specified a variety of organizational stress-reduction interventions.
To better connect the concept of policy problems to policy solutions, this article builds on Guy Peters’ framework for identifying and applying ‘attributes’ of policy problems. It does so by applying the seven attributes of policy problems identified in Peters’ past work to a range of policy problems in the United States. The problems investigated include access to healthcare, the organization of public health services, and water pollution. By applying Peters’ attributes to these policy problems, we assess the range of the framework’s application to different types of policy problems. We also identify insights that can be used to enable improvements to the framework over time, which may enhance our ability to characterize policy problems in ways that guide policy design.
In the current #FeesMustFall activism, financial relief and support for higher education students are promoted as strategies to enhance access, persistence and progression in higher education. However, despite the increases in government and allied funding for higher education students, high-attrition and unsustainably low graduation rates persist. This reality has dire consequences for individual students, their families and the capacity of higher education to meet the development needs of the country. This article draws on data
from an ethnographic study which used interpretive methods to explore the academic experiences of South African university students who despite receiving financial assistance for their studies, continued to be classified ‘at-risk’ of academic failure and exclusion. The findings suggest that an ostensibly positive outcome (such as receiving financial assistance) may have unintended negative academic consequences, including increasing students’ risk of academic exclusion, by virtue of the tendency for such funds to be utilised to ameliorate family poverty. While the cultural capital framework is a valuable tool in understanding student spending behaviours from economically advantaged communities, its explanatory power diminishes when applied to students from low socio-economic backgrounds, who manage competing demands on their student funding. The authors signal the need for higher education institutions to design alternative funding models and interventions to curb financial illiteracy in order to minimise the potential for misappropriation of financial
assistance, which compromises academic success.
There is a growing consensus among citizens and members of local government that citizen participation is desirable for local government. However in practice, there are differing perceptions between them regarding the level and extent of citizen participation. As citizen participation is a multi faceted concept, its meaning is construed differently by both the members of local government and the citizen groups. This paper attempts to describe the conflicts that arise from participation. The paper is based on the study of the process of citizen participation in local government carried out in Torbat-Heydarieh city, Iran. A qualitative research method is seen as the most suitable approach of collecting and analyzing the data. The method employed for data collection in this research is in-depth interviews. In-depth interviews were conducted to gauge the existence of conflicts regarding participation. The findings reveal four areas that give rise to conflicts. This study also attempts to highlight two different views regarding citizen participation; the people-centered view and authority-centered view.
This paper explores the politics inherent in public policy making in Africa with particular reference to Ghana's National Health Insurance Scheme. A quantitative study that used a questionnaire and data collected was analyzed using simple statistical tools. The study revealed that affordability is a problem to some people; others complained the treatment they receive does not merit the premium they pay. Discrimination between NHIS card holders and non – card holders also militates against the quality of service. Also, health education on the NHIS seems to have reached a large portion of the population, the only problem is ignorance of the health cases it covers and those it does not as well as the drugs it fails to provide. Further, the study reveals delay in issuance of cards still persists and limits the effectiveness of the scheme. The study again reveals the relevance, but over ambitiousness of the NHIS due to its comprehensive and universal nature in a growing and developing country like Ghana. The study therefore recommends that, the government, private entities and the entire citizens of Ghana join hands in bipartisan agreement, weed out corruption, ensure meritocracy in employment, strengthen institutions and develop positive ownership of public policies to lift the NHIS and other policies to a level of effective and efficient performance for all to gain maximum benefit.
Policy implementation involves translating the goals and objectives of policy into action. Although seen as an integral part of the policy cycle, substantial research has not yet been carried out in this area. This paper examines the state and status of policy implementation as a discipline and the factors associated with implementation performance, based on a review of the literature and analysis by researchers. The assessment in this study confirms the dearth of theoretical development of this subject as a major concern for this discipline and a barrier for perfect execution. It was also found that multiple factors are linked to poor policy performance, such as a lack of coordination, funding, commitment, capabilities among implementers and top-down support. Finally, by critically looking into loopholes associated with performance in policy implementation, five theoretical models were developed for improving performance. These respectively had a rational, organisational, political, bureaucratic and management basis. It is expected that the application of these standards would help to overcome issues, leading to successful policy performance.
Through examining violence in the township of Imizamo Yethu in Cape Town, we show that leadership in this community is not based on violence, despite its pervasiveness in the settlement. Further, rule by local leaders and the state is often weak, and normally not violently enforced. This account challenges three common views in the literature. The first is that, under conditions of weak rule, violence is primarily about contests over political power. The use of violence by a variety of social actors in Imizamo Yethu, but rarely by political leaders or parties, challenges this assumption. The second is that violence is central to maintaining local rule - but in Imizamo Yethu leaders have seldom used coercion. Lastly, our case illustrates that effective local rule is not necessarily a condition of party identification, which is rooted in larger dynamics of state patronage and race politics that may even weaken local rule.
This study was part of the VUNA project aimed to develop an affordable sanitation system that produces a valuable fertiliser, reduces pollution of water resources and promotes health. Urine diversion dry toilets (UDDTs) simplify the on-site hygienisation of faeces and allow for nutrient recovery from urine. Social acceptance is vital for the implementation of the UDDT because sanitation is only effective if the system not only provides a well-designed toilet and effective waste management, but also offers users a facility that caters to their needs and is sensitive to their cultural lifestyle. This study used qualitative and quantitative to investigate acceptance, use and maintenance of UDDTs. Key findings indicate lower levels of acceptance of UDDTs among the elderly, who are accustomed to traditional pit toilets. The users aspire to own a flush toilet, perceived to be indicative of household wealth. A dominant concern was emptying the pit and the quality of the building material. Community interventions are required that will promote acceptance, understanding and encourage proper use and maintenance of the UDDT, and may need some technology modification. There is an urgent need for increased community participation to address users' perceptions, attitudes and behaviour concerning the UDDT.
The post-1994 democratic developmental South African state opted for a strong local government system which has been constitutionalised, in terms of Chapter 7 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act 108 of 1996. The politicisation of the local bureaucracy was inevitable as the ruling party sought to ensure that the executive leadership of municipalities shared the same political ideology and vision to facilitate local development. This raises the question, where does politicisation commence and end, and what is the ideal local political interface for efficient and effective service delivery and, more importantly, to ensure good governance? These questions have to take cognisance of the fact that South Africa is a ‘struggle democracy’ and development has to take place in historically disadvantaged areas, where services have been poor or non-existent. The historically advantaged areas have to also be maintained and upgraded, as they are key to financial sustainability of the municipalities. The increasing service delivery protests is a matter for concern, if one has to take cognisance of the popular adage highlighted in official literature, ‘if local government fails, South Arica fails’. Given that the struggles for a democratic South Africa were fought at the grassroots level, this has to translate to an improved quality of life for local communities. Consequently, sound political management is key to enhanced municipal service delivery and ultimately good local governance. This paper reviews political trends and developments up to 2016, but excludes any discussion on the recent local government elections.
Communication is the first most important tool towards workplace success. Effective communication ethics increases workplace productivity in various ways, as the management and the employee's alike employee is capable of making the right decisions concerning various issues within a workplace. Effective commination ethics govern all the decisions made within any workplace situation. It is established that ethics guide and direct all the business operations, an element that is crucial in the overall success of any business. The database has been reviewed to inform the system review. Besides, the finding was that communication ethics is key in any business decision-making process. There is a need for any workplace management to understanding the role of effective workplace communication ethics and culture or integrate such ethics in everyday practice within the workplace. The systematic review does reveal the impact of workplace communication ethics on the decision-making and the overall productivity of a workplace.
In today's highly competitive service world, many companies face rapid and dynamic changes, especially in the 4.0 industrial revolution. Therefore companies must focus on innovative work behavior (IWB) to gain competitive advantage. This study examines the effect of transformational leadership and company climate on work performance through innovative work behavior as mediation by taking a service company in Indonesia. Data collection methode is simple random sampling via electronic to the population of service employees in Indonesia. The returned and valid questionnaire results were 1199 samples. Data processing using SEM method with SmartPLS 3.0 software. Data collection techniques using a questionnaire with a Likert scale. The result of data analysis is that transformational leadership and corporate culture have positive and significant effects on work performance, both directly and indirectly through mediating innovative work behavior. Innovative work behavior has a very positive and significant effect on work performance. This new research proposes a model for building work performance among employees of transformational leadership companies and corporate culture with corporate learning as mediation.
Organizations have often implemented Knowledge Management programs to connect employees better and promote knowledge sharing (KS). In the context of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), this is particularly valid as knowledge creation and dissemination direct their mission and vision. Academics are one of the pillars of HEIs, where knowledge is created and shared. Nonetheless, as HEIs strive to promote academics’ knowledge
sharing culture, the actual behaviour of academics might remain inhibited by numerous issues, namely the organizational. Prior research has been focused primarily on individual, technological and scarce aspects of organizational elements. Therefore, this study assesses the role of organizational climate operationalized by organizational leadership and trust in academics’ KS in HEIs. Partial Least Square (PLS) method where variance based
Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was applied in this study. Results from 257 surveyed academics indicate that organizational climate has an exceptionally strong influence on academics’ KS practices. Additionally, organizational leadership and trust had a positive relationship with academics’ KS behaviour. These findings indicate that it is necessary to consider organizational elements and their interactions when
understanding and fostering academics’ knowledge sharing behaviour in HEIs context
The study of determinants of university students’ performance has been an ongoing research in the last decade. Whether or not class attendance is a major factor has been debated over the years, but the empirical studies have been few and inconclusive. This study investigated the impact of classroom attendance on academic performance of university students in an Organic Chemistry course. It also looked into the moderating effect of gender on attendance and academic performance. Data was collected through expo-facto survey involving real time documentation of attendance for each student at each class lesson throughout a particular (3 months) semester. Data collected were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) 17.0 to present the descriptive and inferential statistics. The results revealed a significant effect of attendance marks on academic scores at p<0.05 (t=0.00). However there was no significant effect of gender on academic scores (t=0.484), p<0.005 and also, no significant effect of gender on attendance (t=0.986) at p<0.05. Recommendations were made for policies and classroom practices that would improve class attendance of university students.
The paper attempted to identify and proffer possible solutions to the various problems facing developing nations as regards implementation of policies. Apart from discussing the general overview of policy implementation problems in both developed and developing nations, focus was on Nigeria while a great number of examples were taken from the Nigerian experience. The Better Life Programme (BLP) and the Family Support Programme (FSP) embarked upon by Nigeria’s successive First Ladies between 1983 and 1998 (Mrs. Maryam Babangida and Mrs. Maryam Abacha respectively) were highlighted for empirical studies. Some implementation problems identified in the study include corruption, lack of continuity in government policies, inadequate human and material resources, all of which often lead to implementation gap, i.e. the widening of the distance between stated policy goals and the realization of such planned goals. The study concluded that it is apparent that policies are rolled out regularly in developing nations but, most of the time, without achieving the desired results.
In the recent past (2008-2013), the African National Congress (ANC) led government in South Africa has experienced an outcry from different communities around the country, concerning a lack of provision of services. These conditions to a certain extent led to the outbreak, of what became known as the service delivery protests in South Africa. The basic services which were needed included the following: access to clean water; provision of sanitation; and the redress of housing backlogs. The study investigates the theories around the origins of the service delivery protests and their socio-political impact on such communities. The study argues that the ability by the ANC government to deliver services, particularly to those residents in the poor areas, is its basic function as part of social programmes in response to people’s needs. Consequently, the study contends that the purported failure to respond to such needs, contributes to service delivery protests. Furthermore, it argues that the slow pace of providing services to the poor in South Africa has created a socio-political problems. Examining the above arguments in the context of political transition, the study looks at different debates and political strategies, and the ways in which they draw on and shape socio-political discourses of power and rights. It concludes by indicating that meaningful address of service delivery protests by the ruling party require a combined strategy with those affected. It should be noted that although the issue of service delivery protest is a local government question, it has been elevated into a national issue in South Africa.
Aim:
To increase understanding of workplace bullying and its relation to work climate and different outcomes among nurses. Examine a proposed bullying model including both job resource and job demands, as well as nurse outcomes reflected in job performance, job satisfaction, and work ability.
Background:
Workplace bullying has been identified as some of the most damaging mechanisms in workplace settings. It is important to increase understanding of workplace bullying in relation to work climate and different outcomes among nurses.
Design:
This study adopted a cross-sectional web based survey design.
Method:
A sample of 2946 registered nurses from four public Norwegian hospitals were collected during October 2014. We analysed data using descriptive statistics, correlations Cronbach's alpa, confirmatory factor analyses and structural equation modelling.
Results:
The majority of work climate characteristics confirmed to influence workplace bullying, and additionally had direct influence on nurse outcomes; job performance, job satisfaction, and work ability. Bullying had a mediational role between most of the work climate dimensions and nurse outcomes.
Conclusion:
This study increases our understanding of organisational antecedent of bullying among nurses. Workplace bullying among nurses functions as a mediator between the majority of work climate dimensions and outcomes related to job satisfaction and work ability. Strategies to reduce bullying should look at the study finding and specifically job resources and job demands that influence bullying and nurse outcomes. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.