Maleka, M.J., South Africa; Rankhumise, E.M., South Africa
The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of management practices on job satisfaction. The literature shows that employers in the private sector are struggling to retain black employees, and implementation of the Employment Equity Act (EEA) is moving at a slow pace in this sector. At the time of the study, there is a dearth of literature on the impact of management practices on job satisfaction in the South African context, especially research soliciting employees' views about EEA implementation and their sexual harassment experiences. In this study, the researchers adopted a qualitative research approach, using a state-owned institution as a case study. The interview protocol is developed from the literature, and data are collected from sixteen participants. The findings indicate that there are challenges with regard to management practices, including the implementation of affirmative action, with which participants are not happy. In addition, there are clear cases of sexual harassment in the institution, and most of all, top management is adopting a bureaucratic management style. This study contributes to the body of knowledge in relation to the factors that lead to the dissatisfaction of employees, since it reveals that if the management practices identified above are not properly addressed by the management of the state-owned institution in question, it would find it difficult to retain employees and keep them satisfied. © Molefe J. Maleka, Edward M. Rankhumise, 2014.