Provincial Government of the Western Cape : senior management perceptions of their social-structural and psychological empowerment in the workplace

The South African work place is a dynamic one. All sectors are Iegislatively obligated to ensure that groups marginaIized p re-1994 are developed and fast-tracked into positions that would ensure greater representivity of the population. The result of this inclusive process has been that the Provincial Government of the Western Cape's working context is diverse with respect to gender and race bringing with it a myriad of cultures and so meaning into the workplace. Considering the context of workplace empowerment the researcher endeavoured to explore the perceptions senior managers of the Provincial Government of the Western Cape had on their psychological and social-structural empowerment using Sprietzer ( 199S) and Kanter's ( 199 3) em power ment principles in combination as a theoretical framework. A quantitative research design was chosen to reach a large sample and the total population comprised 1 622 senior managers selected using a probabiIity sampIing methodology. High representivity was gained across all twelve departments of the Provincial Government of the Western Cape which included Senior Management Service designations as well as junior level management from saIary levels 9 through to 16. The researcher expanded the provincial government's definition of senior management to include junior management to ensure a valid and comprehensive dataset which included women. Using a 5 point Likert structured questionnaire, the entire sample received an email link to the electronic survey and a 17.3% response rate meant that 281 senior managers completed the survey.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Department of Social Development

Year dc:date.issued

2013

Author dc:creator

• Orgill, Jade

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Smit, André de V

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/13949

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/13949