African workplace spirituality in South African mines

This research explores the role of spirituality in an African mining context with specific reference to spinal cord-injured mine workers. In this study, spinal cord-injured, black male South African workers were interviewed using a specifically constructed questionnaire. Their responses were analysed in conjunction with the perspectives of the mine managers, medical team members, indigenous healers, pastoral care workers and mine-managing directors (MDs) or owners. These perspectives were gathered by way of face-to-face interviews using specifically constructed questionnaires. However, some managing directors and medical specialists completed the questionnaire and sent it by post or fax. Many researchers have investigated the role of “workplace spirituality” with the aim of generating research data that would firmly entrench this construct as vital in the workplace. There are however, only a few that has investigated spirituality in the mining workplace. None has looked at the workplace spirituality of pastoral care workers. In this study, both are investigated, and a framework of workplace spirituality (WPS) is proposed, wherein the variables that may constitute workplace spirituality in this context are investigated. This framework (WPS) was used as a foundation to develop structured and semi-structured questionnaires, with which interviews were conducted with miners, mine managers, medical team members, indigenous healers, pastoral care workers and mine managing directors (MDs) or owners in various settings. In total, 224 miners were interviewed over a period of three years, and 45 pastoral care workers, 10 indigenous healers, 20 mine managers, 20 medical and allied professionals, and 12 mining CEOs/directors/owners were additionally interviewed. The variables that the researcher proposed to constitute the WPS framework were the following: * Spirituality at the workplace as connected with personal identity (CPI) * Spirituality at the workplace as connected with safety and well-being (WS) * Spirituality at the workplace as connected with physical well-being (CPW) * Spirituality at the workplace as connected with relationship to community- Ubuntu (CC) * Spirituality at the workplace as connected with God (religion) (CG) * Spirituality at the workplace as connected with meaning (locality and salience) (CM) Using the SPSS statistical package, and the qualitative analysis software tool Atlas ti, the research data was analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The quantitative results suggested that there is a positive relationship between the dependent variable, workplace spirituality, in relation to the following independent variables: workplace safety (weak but positive relationship, God (strong and positive relationship), salience (strong and positive relationship, community (strong and positive relationship), personal identity (moderate and positive relationship), meaning (weak and positive relationship), and physical well-being (strong and positive relationship). These results were further supported by the qualitative analysis.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

GSB: Faculty

Year dc:date.issued

2009

Author dc:creator

• Makgoba, Thabo Cecil

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• April, Kurt

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8960

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/8960