Quantitative (N = 130) and qualitative (N = 30) data were collected to explore the experiences of nonprofessional trauma counselors in the workplace. Counselors, on average, did not experience symptoms of secondary traumatic stress (STS) requiring clinical intervention. Changes to cognitive schemata regarding counselors' world views were found to be present 6 weeks after their last trauma counseling incident. Counselors reported experiencing considerable role satisfaction. Factors related to the nature of the trauma counseling task and counselors' exposure to work and nonwork related trauma were not significantly associated with counselors' STS or role satisfaction scores. Program coordination, self-efficacy, stakeholder commitment, sense of coherence, and perceived social support were significantly related to counselors' experiences of STS and role satisfaction.

Orientation: This paper represents a broader study which explores how South African women business leaders construct power in their life and leadership narratives. The research was approached with a feminist paradigm in its review of constructions of power and their potential for transformation of patriarchal power dynamics.Research purpose: The purpose was to critically analyse emerging models of power among South African women business leaders to include their perspectives in the process of theory building.Motivation for the study: Women in senior leadership positions are not necessarily enabling the transformation of organisations to include greater representation of women at senior levels. A critical understanding of women’s models of power may highlight unconscious processes contributing to this as well as emerging models that can facilitate change.Research design, approach and method: Qualitative research was conducted within a feminist social constructionist framework, using the method of discourse analysis of narrative texts to identify emerging models of power. The 10 women in the study included executives within corporations across a range of industry sectors in South Africa.Practical/managerial implications: The findings may guide approaches to gender transformation efforts in organisations and raise women leaders’ awareness of their conscious and unconscious impact on gender empowerment.Contribution/value-add: A novel contribution of this study is the emerging transformative model of power and the tensions women experience in asserting this power.

Career salience was defined and operationalised by Greenhaus in 1971. His scale and conceptualisation of this construct have attracted critical review. Numerous authors have tested various alternative conceptualisations of career salience. However, these approaches have tended to neglect some of the valuable ideas in Greenhaus’ original construct. The present authors suggest that career salience constructs and measures have also been contaminated with an associated but unrecognised construct, namely, work salience. In this study, new work and career salience scales were developed and validated on a sample of 1078 office workers. The data supported the independent definition and measurement of work salience. Opsomming Loopbaanmarkantheid is in 1971 deur Greenhaus gedefinieer en geoperationaliseer. Sy skaal en konseptualisering van hierdie konstruk het kritiese kommentaar ontlok. Menige skrywers het verskeie alternatiewe konseptualiserings van loopbaanmarkantheid getoets. Hierdie benaderings is egter geneig om sommige van die waardevolle idees van Greenhaus se oorspronklike konstruk te verwaarloos. Die teenswoordige outeurs suggereer dat loopbaanmarkantheidkonstrukte en -maatstawe deur ‘n geassosieerde en minder, bekende konstruk, naamlik werkmarkantheid gekontamineer word. In hierdie studie is nuwe werk- en loopbaanmarkantheidskale ontwikkel en gevalideer op ‘n steekproef van 1078 kantoorwerkers. Die data ondersteun die onafhanklike definisie en meting van werkmarkantheid.

Personality disposition is consistently noted in the literature as a critical component in the dynamics of stress — strain relationships. However, the precise nature of the role played by personality dispositions is still open to debate. In this study personality disposition is operationalised as a form of global perceptual disposition, namely, Antonovsky's Sense of Coherence. The role of Sense of Coherence in the potential experience of secondary traumatic stress forms the focus of this study. Data were collected on a sample of 130 trained non-professional trauma counsellors in the South African banking sector. Sense of Coherence was found not to be a consistent moderator of the relationship between the work-related experiences of the trauma counsellors and the indicators of secondary traumatic stress. Instead Sense of Coherence emerged as having a statistically strong main effect on the indicators of secondary traumatic stress.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to, firstly, present the findings of an empirical study in which the human resource management practices associated with the employment of people with disabilities were investigated. The human resource management challenges related to employment of people with disabilities were also identified in the empirical study and are presented in this paper. A further purpose of this paper is to propose a number of recommendations focused on human resource management practices and principles aimed at assisting managers and human resource management specialists in their endeavours to effectively deal with the employment of people with disabilities. Design/Methodology/Approach: This paper is based on an empirical study in which interviews were conducted with respondents from 19 different organisations identified in the Financial Mail's 'Top 100 Organisations in South Africa' list. Findings: The findings from the empirical study suggest that very few organisations are dealing with the employment of people with disabilities as a priority in their equity strategies. Where attention is being given to this issue, respondents seem to either address it as a legal compliance issue or a social responsibility 'project'. Furthermore, very little has been done to review current human resource management practices to determine whether they are discriminatory towards people with disabilities. Based on the insights gained from these findings and in line with best practice principles identified in the relevant literature, a number of recommendations focusing on human resource management practices and principles in relation to the employment of people with disabilities are proposed. Implications: This paper provides a number of practical steps to consider as part of an organisation's response to equity strategies related to the employment of people with disabilities.Originality/Value: In the Employment Equity Commission's Annual Report (2003-2004), it is noted with concern that there is no indication of real change being achieved in the employment of people with disabilities. Furthermore, there is a dearth of empirical research in this field and thus the exploration of issues related to the employment of people with disabilities is clearly an area requiring urgent attention in terms of South Africa's transformation agenda.