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- ItemThe Impact of Employee Engagement on the Perfomance of an Organisation- A Case Study of Pretoria Portland Cement Zimbabwe Limited (PPC).(RSIS, 2024-06-29) Makwezi, C.; Ndlovu, M.J.; Paulos, L.; Baya, C.The objective of the paper was to investigate the impact of lack of employee engagement as a major cause for poor performance of the organisation as well as factors that influence employee engagement or disengagement at Pretoria Portland Cement (PPC). This study was geared at assisting PPC management to manage differently for competitive advantage and to lead an engaged workforce that is able to better deal with organisational change and challenges in the future. It also aims to highlight the importance of maintaining a quality work life, by having managers who will nature the employee well-being, which then provides an excellent opportunity for employees’ motivation and job satisfaction. The study adopted a mixed methods design where all 75 employees at the Bulawayo factory were given questionnaires and 70 questionnaires were returned leading to 93.3% response rate. The respondents were sampled through purposive sampling as all employees were information rich. The major findings of the study were that fifty-six percent of the respondents were very happy with career opportunities and progression within the company Pretoria Portland Cement (PPC). The reasons that were advanced by the respondents was that PPC is very encouraging to its staff members to study in their area of speciality. Fees is paid for all those who enroll in any university locally and in any SADC university. Total fees and sustenance is paid and study leave is granted. PPC has many ways of rewarding its employees. The employees at every grade are rewarded. There is a staff development programme which allows all employees to polytechnic, university to study several programs which suits them. The employees are allowed to do any of the programmes as long as they assist the organisation to achieve its best. Another system that alleviates plight of the employees which has been adopted by PPC is availing the grocery hamper to all its employees. The study concludes that PPC has an effective reward system which addresses economic and social needs for its workforce. This study recommends that other companies should study and employ the worker engagement model being adopted by PPC which is holistic in nature.
- ItemA balanced treatment of perceived organizational politics: A review of the positive influences(Human Resources Management and Services, 2024-02-22) Nyathi, M.Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to review literature in the area of perceived organizational politics (POPs) and to present a model that explains the positive role of the phenomenon in the workplace. This involves understanding how POPs have evolved from playing a much-publicized destructive role to an emerging constructive one. Design/methodology/approach: An integrative review method was used to review articles on POPs published over the last 13 years (2010–2022). The primary sources of information were several databases, such as ISI Web of Science, Google Scholar, and Scopus. Specific search terms were considered to find relevant articles, leading to 7803 articles (3894 hits on Scopus, 1723 hits on Google Scholar, and 2186 hits on Web of Science). These studies were further examined for their relevance to this study, and 103 articles were identified. The application of exclusion criteria funneled them to 66 studies. The articles, employing quantitative, mixed, and qualitative approaches were coded. The themes were subsequently determined. Findings: The review notes that the POPs literature emphasis is shifting from a negative and dysfunctional approach to one where positive organizational outcomes are possible. The review concludes that POPs have functional consequences too. The phenomenon could illuminate favorable workplace outcomes if viewed as an enhancer rather than a hindrance. POPs should be viewed as a phenomenon that for all purposes is essentially neutral. It is individuals who label the otherwise neutral construct as negative (negative POPs) or positive (positive POPs). Practical implications: The paper reveals how antecedents help organizational members label politics as positive. Perceived organizational politics is largely a neutral construct until the perceiver decides to label it otherwise. A positive perception of politics is significant in predicting important employee outcomes such as motivation, employee satisfaction, and job performance. Management needs to invest in antecedents and moderators to help employees label the construct as positive rather than negative. Originality/value: The study is an original review of the positive POPs literature to identify the significant antecedents, moderators, and work outcomes, vital to organizational success.
- ItemEvaluating the effectiveness of blended learning in learning business courses in lowincome economies(Emarald Insight, 2024-05-10) Nyathi, M.Purpose This paper evaluated the effectiveness of blended learning of business courses in higher learning institutions (HEIs) in developing economies. Design/methodology/approach A survey, involving 215 learners, was used to collect data. A stratified sampling technique was used in this study. The data were analyzed using the PROCESS macro in SPSS. Findings In the blended learning approach, student attitudes, social presence, IT infrastructure and flexible learning are all favorable predictors of learner satisfaction. The impact of blended learning on learner satisfaction is further mediated by IT infrastructure, social presence and learner attitude. Practical implications HEIs need to invest in planning and resource mobilization in order to realize several benefits derived from the use of blended learning. For optimal learning outcomes, this should be combined with training on IT infrastructure usage for both facilitators and learners. In order to assist learners in developing competencies through consistent use, institutions should also invest in tailored blended learning technologies. In addition, emphasis should be placed on training all actors in order to better manage change. Originality/value This paper presents and ranks several dimensions for blended learning success in low-budget universities. In addition, the study contributes to the understanding of intervening variables necessary for enhancing the potential of pedagogy in maximizing learner satisfaction.
- Item‘Return us where we can hunt and gather’: Hierarchies and social structures that sustain exclusion of San minority in Zimbabwe(Emerald, 2024) Chirambwi, K.The paper seeks to analyse the constellation of social structures, administrative institutions and hierarchies that sustain the exclusion of the San minority group in Zimbabwe, with a particular focus on how the European expansion in the 18th century, the modern state, and private property owners have colluded to perpetuate exclusion from accessing forest as their natural habitat. The purpose of this paper is to therefore highlight the various abuses, including those social, administrative legislative frameworks that discriminate against the San minority and it advocates for actions the right to consultation and the right to free, prior, and informed consent to proposed developments. Through the modern ethnographic approach, data generation was guided by the principles of indigenous and decolonizing research methodologies which place emphasis on the importance of San people telling their own stories thereby shifting the power of a researcher to the indigenous participants. This is a qualitative study that gives prominence to the descriptions of experiences (phenomenology) and interpretations (hermeneutic) of their survival. The paper employed cultural ecology theoretical framework as a lens through which to see the San`s exclusion from forest resources and how this has tragically shifted their egalitarian lifestyle characterised by reciprocity, sharing and levelling to adaptation to the unfamiliar sedentary farming practices. The technical implementation of forest boundary demarcation and forcing the San to join sedentary farming form part of the state`s territorialisation that excludes, restricts and disrupts the San minority from accessing forest products. The treatment of the minority group reveals not only the enormous authority of the state to transfer alienation to individuals and companies but also to legitimise the exclusion by establishing laws and policies that safeguard the interests of those favoured by the state. The San, who are already overly dominated by the social administrative structures of the Ndebele and Kalanga tribes, lack systematic and organised responses to their marginalisation. The San community in Zimbabwe is under-researched and under-theorised particularly in relation to how historically formed postcolonial hierarchies of exclusion and marginalization manifest themselves in contemporary resource governance. Less is known about how those that are powerful – government officials, private property owners and Kalanga/Ndebele tribes benefit more from the environmental resources than the powerless minority San, whose livelihoods depend on the primary natural resources. The unequal power relations have been demonstrated by the evictions of the minority from wildlife areas that were converted into game parks. The study reveals how indigenous San not only resists exclusion but also develop adaptable strategies through negotiations to improve their situation with social and administrative institutions.
- Item(A)symmetrical conflict between medical doctors and traditional and faith healers in the era of Covid-19 in rural communities of Zimbabwe.(2020) Chirambwi, K.The paper examines the tension in the social construction of pandemic by doctors, traditional healers, and faith-based healers and considers the potential public health implications. Methodologically, the author uses a case study of Mwenezi District in Masvingo Province in Zimbabwe and draws on autoethnographic experiences to observe and analyse local level asymmetric confrontations as the Coronavirus pandemic unfolded. What emerges is how values, beliefs and scientific interpretations are contributing factors to conflict, and more significantly, the deleterious impact it has on mobilizing community action against the pandemic. Research findings reveal how untenable and inconceivable it will be to contain the pandemic without paying appropriate attention to apostolic sects and traditional healers. Interventions have so far ignored this social capital.