Abstract
Orientation: The study addresses the question of how employees of the South African Police Service (SAPS) cope with intercultural relations in an increasingly diverse organisation.Research purpose: A dual-process model of diversity outcomes was tested in which a distinction is made between a positive (work-related) stream that links positive diversity conditions through active coping to work outcomes and a relatively independent health related) stream of negative antecedents, mediating passive coping skills and ill-health related outcomes.Motivation for the study: To test the viability of a dual-process model to understand diversity outcomes in the workplace.Research design, approach and methods: A convenience sample (n= 158) was recruited from members of the SAPS in Gauteng, using a cross-sectional design. Instruments used in previous acculturation research were adapted to measure contextual factors, coping and diversity outcomes.Main findings: A very good fit for the proposed hypothetical model was found. Approach coping partially mediated the relationship between positive acculturation conditions and the subjective experience of work success whereas avoidance coping fully mediated the relationship between discrimination, and ill-health symptoms are related to ill-health symptoms.Practical/managerial implications: Mainstream-facilitating conditions and discrimination influence individual coping styles, which in turn impact on ill-health and the subjective experience of work success. In addition, ill-health also impacts negatively on work-success experiences amongst the sampled SAPS members. It would thus make sense for the SAPS to sanction discrimination.Contribution/value added: A variation of the mediated dual-process model for diversity (Jackson & Van de Vijver, in press), using coping strategies as mediators was supported. The model adds new insights in diversity in organisations.
Highlights
The current study addresses the question of how employees of the South African Police Service (SAPS) cope with intercultural relations in their increasingly diverse organisation
Scree plots suggested that unifactorial solutions were obtained for acculturation context and outcomes scales: Multicultural Norms (41.8% explained by first factor), Multicultural Practises (42.7%), Tolerance (47.7%), Ethnic Vitality at Work (35.6%), Ethnic Social Support at Work (44.7%), Discrimination at Work (43.5%), Work Success Scale (38.6%) and Ill-Health (86.83%)
The meansscale scores of multicultural norms, multicultural practices, tolerance, ethnic vitality and ethnic social support were merged into a single observed factor and in an exploratory factor analysis a single factor was extracted, which was labelled positive acculturation conditions
Summary
South-African workers at all levels have colleagues from other cultural groups at the same or different rank. The second involves differences between the employee’s home culture and the culture of the workplace. There is a disparity between the cultures of the home and the workplace for many South Africans. The business world as currently conceptualised and structured in most South African corporations is generally cast in a Eurocentric mould (Khoza, 2002). Many Black groups ( considered as the mainstream from a political perspective based on their ability to mobilise votes) experience their economic (work) life as belonging to a different culture. If little or no consideration is given to indigenous cultures and worldviews, there is a serious danger of imposing the business culture on employees and alienating them from their organisations
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