Research

Our postgraduate Research Offering

With our trailblazing, in-depth postgraduate research programmes into pressing people issues, and with continuing input from global Thought Leaders, our Department’s aim is to ensure that its postgraduate research is focused, nationally and internationally relevant, and at the cutting edge of the fields of People Management and Industrial Psychology.

The Department’s primary thrust is to enable postgraduate students to complete their research successfully within the prescribed study period. It achieves this by:

• providing guidance on researchable topics through its focused, leading-edge long term research
• programmes based on challenges, issues and trends in our field
• putting students in touch with global Thought Leaders
• providing students access to web-enabled, up-to-date knowledge packs covering all research areas
  assisting students with their literature searches
• building the research skills of students through just-in-time capacity building workshops as they move through the research process
• managing the research of students according to project management principles in order to enable them to meet their deadlines
• aiding students in applying for research funding.

Our Department does not limit itself to the knowledge-generation phase of research but goes further by building relationships between students, practitioners and academics in order to bridge the divide between theory and practice. A high percentage of our study leaders of postgraduate students are senior practitioners in the corporate world. Our Department also endeavours to help students explore the practical application of their research findings. The research of the Department therefore covers the full spectrum of the knowledge-value chain, namely knowledge generation, dissemination and application.

The ultimate contribution of the Department is its scientific, validated research solutions and knowledge products, as well as information on benchmarking and leading practices that will assist organisations in enhanced decision-making with respect to their most critical success factor: their people.

OUR RESEARCH FOCUS AREAS

• Focus Area 1: Leadership Excellence – The nature, dynamics and development of leadership in the emerging new order.
• Focus Area 2: Governance and Ethics – Acting ethically; effecting sound governance; Professional ethics in Industrial Psychology and HRM; Ethics and governance in Higher Education Institutions amongst academics, students and staff; Corporate Social Responsibility; Governance at State-Owned Enterprises.
• Focus Area 3: Work Identity – Work identity: people’s identification with work; and Identity Work: the process of developing a work identity
• Focus Area 4: Positive Industrial Psychology – Creating/sustaining positive organisations; resilience; wellness
• Focus Area 5: Women in the Workplace – The creation of engaging work and work places to enable the unique contributions of working women
• Focus Area 6: Human Capital Metrics – Measuring and predicting the contribution of people to organisational success
• Focus Area 7: Reward, remuneration and performance – The what and how of rewarding and recognising people
• Focus Area 8: Globalisation, Human Resources and Talent Management – The impact of globalisation on talent management, employee relations, organisational dynamics and people management policies
• Focus Area 9: Assessment Psychology – The development and validation of cross-culturally valid assessment tools

This applied research centre has positioned itself as a knowledge broker in a synergistic partnership between practitioners and academics, where knowledge development, transfer and application will occur in a joint problem-solving manner.

Visit the UJ Postgraduate Resource Centre for funding opportunities.