Pan-Pacific Conference XXXIV. Designing New Business Models in Developing Economies

elatively stable collection of social practices
consisting of easily recognised roles coupled with
underlying norms and a set of rules or conventions
defining appropriate behavior for, and governing
relations among, occupants of these roles [11, p.
34].
Fourthly, assertiveness is described as the ability to
state positively and constructively one`s rights or
needs without violating the rights of others [2, p.
367]. In other words it refers to the ability of being
self-assured and confident, expressing thoughts,
feelings and beliefs in direct, honest and appropriate
ways [3, p. 218].
Fifthly, resilience can be seen as an ability of people
to adapt and cope successfully, to overcome or
"bounce back" from disadvantaged life
circumstances, risk, serious threats and adversity
[22, p. 82]. It refers to the capacity to withstand
stressful and difficult situations and recover quickly
and bounce back [3, p. 222].
Lastly, self-efficacy is defined as people’s
judgements of their capabilities to organise and
execute courses of action required to attain
designated types of performance, it is a judgement
of what one can do with whatever skills one
possesses [15, p. 79]. In this study self-efficacy,
refers to a person’s beliefs about their ability and
capacity to accomplish a task or deal with the
challenges of life [3, p. 223].
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Problem statement and objective
The labour relations practitioner functions in an
intimidating, stressful and emotionally loaded
environment under circumstances that require
patience and specific temperamental skills together
with the ability to withstand pressure.
The objective of this research was to explore the
emotion management competencies challenges that
labour relations practitioners face in the South
African Public Service.
Research approach and design
The research is conducted on the emotion
management competencies challenges that labour
relations practitioners face in the South African
Public Service. This type of research lends itself to
qualitative research. The reason for this is that
qualitative research methods are intended to better
understand the human interactions, meanings and
perspectives, how these perspectives are shaped by,
their physical, social and cultural contexts as well as
the specific processes that are involved in
maintaining or altering these phenomena and
relationships [14, p. VIII].
Research strategy
For the purpose of the research the researcher used
direct content analysis, where existing theory from
the literature review guided him in identifying key
concepts or variables as initial coding categories
[23, p. 308].
Research population
The target population for this study was the labour
relations practitioners in the South African public
service covering a variety of State departments as
well as all provinces in South Africa, thus ensuring
geographical representivity.
Research sample
A purposive sampling technique was used to
identify 17 participants for this study. Purposive
sampling enabled the researcher to use his
judgement to select participants that would best
enable him to answer the research questions for this
study [19, p. 237]. The 17 participants were from all
nine provinces in South Africa, and their
qualifications varied between 4 with Masters
degrees, 4 Post graduate degrees and the rest
relevant three-year tertiary qualifications. Their
experience varied between 12 -24 years.
Data collection
The researcher used semi-structured interviews as a
data collection method, “to explore, probe, and ask
questions that will elucidate and illuminate that
particular subject…to build a conversation within a
particular subject area, to word questions
spontaneously, and to establish a conversational
approach [17, p. 343]. All the interviews were
recorded on a digital recorder and transcribed
verbatim.
Data analysis
Data analysis in this phase of the research occurred
as soon as the researcher had received the
transcription of the first interview. The research
process was inductive in nature. Researchers use
inductive data analysis where they construct their
patterns, categories and themes from the bottom up
by organising data into progressively more
theoretical units of information [5, p. 194]. The
researcher applied Tesch’s data analysis process,
which involves preliminary analysis of the data by
reading and rereading the transcripts and identifying
possible themes and topics, which are then
organised, leading to the development of categories
without destroying the meaning of the data through
intensive coding [20, p. 142].
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS
Conflict management
There is testimony from the participants about the
high frequency of conflict resolution experiences
within departments that leads to pressure on the
labour relations practitioner, whose responsibility it
is to manage the whole process. In addition
evidence about the complexities of the
manifestations of conflict as well as the advising
and consulting role the labour relations practitioner
plays in this regard corresponds well with the value
attached to it by the Queen’s University in Canada
[10, p. 7].
Emotional Intelligence
Participants agree on the intimidating environment
in which they function where there are lots of
emotions involved because one is dealing with
human relations and its various challenges.
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