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This chapter examines and discusses the unintended outcomes of the production bonus scheme the mine had instituted to motivate and increase the productivity of the frontline mining teams. This is crucial given that the maladministration of the bonus system could lead to a range of undesired outcomes such as deteriorating levels of trust between management and frontline workers, prioritisation of production at the expense of safety, poor work relations and ultimately low levels of organisational, employee and team performance. There are a number of organisational, management and labour factors that can render a production bonus scheme effective or ineffective. These factors influence the nature and extent of worker reactions to the bonus scheme.

This chapter examines and discusses the factors that influenced the reaction of the mining teams to the team-based production bonus scheme and the extent to which mine management fulfilled its side of the bargain in the implementation of the production bonus. The chapter highlights the manner in which the team-based bonus system influenced teams of stope workers to engage in their informal organisational practice of making plan (planisa) in order to offset the snags that jeopardised their prospects of earning the production bonus. The chapter reveals that, to a large extent, the productivity bonus generated conflict rather than cooperation at the point of production down the mine. As a result, the incentive scheme failed to live up to expectations by not eliciting the desired levels of organisational, worker and team performance at the rock-face.

This chapter provides an ethnographic account of conducting organisational research in a deep-level gold mining workplace. The ethnography presented in this book entailed living in the mine hostel, observing and participating in the production tasks of the underground mining teams for a full production shift for a period stretching over six months. The chapter discusses the day-to-day running of the production process at the rock-face down the mine. This section is important for understanding the organisation of the production cycle and the actions of the mining teams, foremen and management to ensuring the smooth daily running of the production process inside the pit. Furthermore, the chapter presents an overview of AfricaGold’s business performance in terms of operational efficiency, productivity and safety.

This chapter examines the changing nature of frontline supervision in light of the supervisory training and development programme which was provided to shift-bosses in order to complement the workplace change processes that AfricaGold embarked on to improve operational efficiency, productivity and safety of its mining operations. Although the training course was an important workplace change initiative taken by top management to improve organisational, individual and team performance at the rock-face where it mattered most, lack of organisational and managerial support prevented frontline supervisors from effectively implementing what they learned on the training course. The chapter highlights the importance of not only providing organisational change-focused training, but also systematically and strategically involving frontline supervisors in the conceptualisation, design, execution and evaluation of workplace change initiatives. It is only when frontline supervisors are supported, managerially and organisationally, that they can be deal-makers rather than deal-breakers for a successful introduction and execution of change initiatives on the shop-floor.

This chapter introduces the book through discussing the context in which it came about, namely a conference to mark the centenary of the publication of Dewey’s Democracy and Education. The first section relates to the book’s subtitle by describing and analysing the context in which speakers at the conference engaged in a ‘fightback’ against educational policies found to be narrowly based on economic aims, and to have lost sight of the humanistic aims of education, aims which Dewey analysed and championed. The book is structured around three key areas, all related to Dewey’s philosophy of education – the first concerns technology, the second, embodiment and the third, democracy and development. A discussion on the significance of each of these areas for contemporary educational theory is followed by detail on the individual chapters within them. This chapter concludes with an introduction to the cautiously optimistic and forward-looking epilogue by Gert Biesta on the matters and issues raised in the book.

The quest for a set of generic ethics principles remains a challenge, not least because the generation of new sets seems to be continuing unabated. This chapter has been developed from the first of a series of stimulus papers, delivered in symposia, organised as part of the Academy of Social Sciences’ initiative to promote discussion between learned societies aiming for a consensus on what might comprise generic ethics principles in social research.

This chapter questions the role of virtues in health professional medical ethics. It distinguishes between the ethics of conduct – usually expressed as moral principles – and the ethics of the character – expressed as virtues. It questions whether virtues are intrinsically valued or valued instrumentally as the means to right conduct. It poses two problems for virtue theory: (1) The “naked virtue” problem – whether instilling virtues increases the probability of correlative morally right conduct, and (2) the “wrong virtue” problem–which of many sometimes controversial virtues should be promoted. The chapter ends by arguing that these are less serious problems for the morality of conduct.

This chapter explores the question of harm to others, either inflicting it or alleviating it, and whether it is the overriding determinant of ethical conduct. The purpose behind this exploration lies in the benefits that a dominant measure, or perhaps even a single measure, could bring to ethical behaviour in our companies and government agencies. A single measure bypasses the multiplicity of competing and conflicting ethical theories on what constitutes ethical or unethical behaviour.

The chapter points out the problems arising from the conflicting moral theories, and the benefits that would arise for ordinary people if we could simplify the process. It then documents those moral philosophers who assign a high ethical priority to avoiding the harming of others, or redressing harm already incurred.

One problem is that harm can be defined widely. The possibilities of harm in the future, of offending others, or failing to respect others are examples. We also frequently face a choice between two harms. Numerous examples include business or government decisions which will be of advantage to one party, but of disadvantage to another. Analytical techniques to help make these choices are of limited applicability.

Helping others is part of the harm scenario, for we almost invariably help them overcome some possible or actual harm they are facing. But such thinking is normally considered as an altruistic act, not avoiding harm. A more universal approach is a three-part guideline ‘do-no-harm/correct for or prevent harm/do good’.

Trust is an important element for healthy human relationships, and it has notable implications for organizations and stakeholder groups. This chapter explains how trust can promote effective communication and cooperation. It highlights the role of trust in human relationships as a solution to modern-day socioecological challenges especially as they relate to corporate interactions. Building genuine human connections within the context of changing social landscapes and busier life schedules are essential to counteract the rising loneliness epidemic. The absence of trust may be a barrier to genuine human communication and connection. The absence of trust may be a barrier to genuine human communication and connection, however the presence of pro- social norms can contribute to building and maintaining trust between people. Cooperation and social trust increases subjective well-being and happiness. In an organizational context, trust-based cooperation between stakeholders can create strong relationships.

This chapter argues that trust nurtures face-to-face social interactions and can be strengthened through social and emotional competencies and the creation of policies that support the notions of community and belongingness in the corporate landscape.

The purpose of this chapter is to build a new framework for understanding the antecedents of emotional well-being across different psychological states, situations, and cultural settings. In this regard, we develop propositions regarding causal relationships between self-uncertainty and emotional well-being in the context of social comparison and in two different culture types: dignity and honor.

Based on a literature review, this chapter connects empirical evidence in three areas of research. (1) self-uncertainty literature, (2) emotional well-being, and (3) cross-cultural psychology to propose a new conceptual framework for understanding the relationship between self-uncertainty and well-being across different cultural settings.

The main finding of this chapter is a model that explains how emotional well-being is comprised of three elements of the psychological state, situation, and culture. We seek to explain how and why different cultures and psychological states might have different effects on human emotions. We propose mediators in order to demonstrate how culturally determined notions of self-construal, self-worth, and social order mediate the relationship between self-uncertainty and emotional well-being.

We limited our theorizing to investigate only two broad culture types: honor and dignity. Clearly, there are many more nuances of national culture than this. In addition, our model limited to investigate the role of social comparison among other possible mechanisms to reduce the uncertainty.

The practical implication of our theory is that it enables leaders to gain a more holistic perspective of emotional well-being in their organizations. In particular, in international organizations, leaders have to pay attention to the cultural background of their employees. This, in turn, enables leaders to understand the antecedents of social comparison and emotional well-being in their employees.

This chapter proposes a holistic model that explains the simultaneous effects of different psychological states, situations, and cultures.