Dr Karen Luyt

Dr Karen Luyt received her PhD degree in Organisational Behaviour at the April 2013 graduation ceremony of the University of Pretoria. The title of the study is “A managerial framework for the enablement of the performance of virtual knowledge workers”. Her supervisors were Prof Karel Stanz, Head of the Department of Human Resource Management and Prof Stella Nkomo, Deputy Dean: Research of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences.

The research done deals with the increasing use of mobile technologies in modern organisations and the dilemma that managers are facing of having to manage the performance of individuals who are removed from their direct sphere of control, while using performance management principles that have not necessarily been adapted to accommodate this. The study investigated, analysed and described the management and measurement of the performance of these virtual knowledge workers from the perspective of the manager, with the aim of proposing a new conceptual framework to assist managers in this task. In addition, the study identified the organisational context and individual contribution required to support such a framework.

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Dr Yvette Pienaar

For the last few years, Dr Yvette Pienaar did research on the relationship between talent mind-set, organisational energy and work wellness for a PhD degree in Industrial and Organisational Psychology. The title of the study is “A structural model of the relationship between talent mind-set, organisational energy and work wellness”.

The overall purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between talent mind-set, organisational energy and work wellness in order to develop a structural model, which incorporates these dimensions. This study set out to describe, explore and understand the concepts talent mind-set, organisational energy and work wellness and the interrelationships between them and how these relationships can contribute to the enhancement of performance for both the employee and the organisation as a whole, as well as the overall well-being of the employees.

Prof Yvonne du Plessis, Head of the PhD programme offered by the Department Human Resource Management, Dr Yvette Pienaar and Prof Karel Stanz, Head of the Department of Human Resource Management.

Dr Vanessa de Sousa-Ikin

Dr De Sousa-Ikin did research on family-work conflict and working women with children for a PhD degree in Organisational Behaviour. The title of her thesis is “Family-work conflict, job satisfaction and burnout of working women with children” and her supervisors were Prof Mias de Klerk and Prof Pieter Schaap, a staff member of the Department of Human Resource Management

Vanessa reported that work and family embody two of the most fundamental areas of adult life. The increased participation in the labour force of working women with children has had a major impact on the work and family interface. Theories of work and family have been incorporated to analyse potential relationships of conflict with undesirable work outcomes, such as reduced job satisfaction and burnout. The study investigates whether work-family conflict ultimately leads to working women with children’s experiences of burnout and lower job satisfaction. The research study also explores the effects of the mother-role identity on the manifestation of family and work conflict in working women with children and posits that working women with children experience role salience differently from other working women without children.

Dr Vanessa De Sousa-Ikin

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