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Articles by our readers about culture. Do you want to contribute to this category too? Please subscribe to be an author.

WORKPLACE STRESS: A REAL ORGANISATIONAL RISK

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Article by Dr Dicky Els and Terrance M. Booysen

It is imperative that the impact of work-related stress and the negative impact of distress be incorporated into the organisation’s enterprise-wide risk management framework. A Bloomberg study conducted in 2013 revealed that South Africa is the second-most ‘stressed’ country out of a study of 74 countries. This is hardly surprising given the high prevalence of political instability, economic uncertainty, high unemployment and growing crime rates in South Africa. The recent cabinet reshuffle and the decision of Standard & Poor’s (S&P), including Fitch rating agencies to downgrade the country’s credit rating below investment grade to BB+ further exacerbates the political and economic uncertainty in South Africa.
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POLYGRAPH TESTING: IS IT A LEGITIMATE MEANS TO CURTAIL CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR IN THE WORKPLACE?

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By Terrance M. Booysen and reviewed by Osborne Molatudi (Partner: Hogan Lovells)

On a worldwide basis, criminal activity in the workplace — detected or undetected — is at an all-time high. Fraud, corruption and other forms of economic crimes are rife, and perceptions of increasing illicit behaviour are backed by reputable subject matter experts and research agencies, with alarming statistics. Research conducted by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) show that workplace fraud has steadily increased between 2012 and 2016. In 2012, case studies showed that the median loss caused by workplace related occupational fraud was US$140,000. But by 2016, figures showed that the median loss caused by such cases had increased to US$150,000.
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Why do we have corporate governance regulation?

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What drives corporate governance regulation? Is it media focus, political pressure, or a need to ’do something’? Or is it sound analysis leading to thoughtful prescriptions? I suspect that pretty much everyone accepts that the answer is somewhere in the former list. Why does it have to be like this?
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Is Your Business Performance Lack Luster? Then Start at the Top

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In many businesses where performance does not reach the desired targets you will have finger pointing. It is a natural reaction at all levels, there is always another person, department or group that is the reason why performance targets are not achieved. In my experience, when business performance is lacking the first place I start is at the top, the Board of Directors.
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ANTI-HATE SPEECH BILL INTRODUCES NEW BUSINESS RISKS

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By Robert Davies (CGF: Lead Independent Consultant) and reviewed by Terrance M. Booysen

Saying or doing something racist, or performing various deeds which falls within a long list of things the Bill deems to be hate speech — or a hate crime — could see you ending up with a criminal record. It could also severely jeopardise your business, even if you had nothing to do with the original incident.
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ETHICS: HAVE WE LOST HOPE?

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By Terrance M. Booysen and peer reviewed by David Loxton (Chief Executive Officer: Africa Forensics & Cyber)

Being able to speak the truth, without the fear of being intimidated or being politically incorrect is a liberty that sets a person free, both physically and psychologically. However, this attribute is increasingly more difficult to find in the leadership and structures of the ‘new’ democratic South Africa. This is ironic, in fact also bizarre and especially so in a country equipped with a Constitution that is considered to be one of the best in the world. But are the people of South Africa truly as liberated as they think they are, or are we slowly but surely sinking into the abyss of lower moral standards with most people too scared to speak out, and act decisively against the cancerous rot of corruption and unethical leadership?
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WHY ALL ORGANISATIONS SHOULD PUBLISH A MEANINGFUL INTEGRATED REPORT

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By Terrance M. Booysen and peer reviewed by Michael Judin (Director: Judin Combrinck Inc.)

Most modern, well-governed organisations are acutely aware of the need for their businesses to be run in an ethical and socially-conscious manner and for this ethos to be communicated to their stakeholders. This being the case, it is well documented that the influential set of so-called Millennials — unlike their older generational ‘Baby Boomers’ and Xennials — actively support organisations whose tenets are based upon transparency, including the preservation of society and the environment. Moreover, it is common knowledge that the legitimacy of an organisation is not solely linked to its purpose of creating returns for shareholders and investors. If this were true, the long-term sustainability of the organisation would be brought into question, and its viability in the context of the community and environment in which it operated would be reduced.
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Why do we have corporate governance regulation?

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What drives corporate governance regulation? Is it media focus, political pressure, or a need to ’do something’? Or is it sound analysis leading to thoughtful prescriptions? I suspect that pretty much everyone accepts that the answer is somewhere in the former list. Why does it have to be like this?
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Having your cake and eating it too – Evolving Virtual Shareholder meetings

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While there has been a steady evolution of greater digitalisation/dematerialization in AGMs and shareholder meetings over the last couple of decades, the move to so-called virtual meetings has generated a lot of attention. The US has led the way, but other regions have seen growing interest, including adoption in the UK ( https://goo.gl/rcRmdA ) and Canada ( https://goo.gl/QFnfsb ), as well as garnering the support of the Australian Shareholders Association ( https://goo.gl/EgSwiK ). In the US, the format is commonplace (see figure 1), and the debate has moved on from whether or not to run a virtual meeting but rather how to run a virtual meeting.
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RESILIENCE: A POSITIVE DEVIATION AMID DIFFICULTY

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Article by Dr Dicky Els and Terrance M. Booysen

With the accelerated pace of global development, fuelled by South Africa’s socio-economic and political uncertainty, there are obvious knock-on business implications that increase business risks, not least of which includes dampening the mood for local investment. It is therefore not surprising to see many organisations downsizing, restructuring and even being forced to shrink their trading operations in the face of declining revenue and higher cost pressures. Since the 2007-2008 global financial market crisis, organisations are operating in turbulent markets and have to constantly adapt to increasing business uncertainty and changing circumstances. Whilst there may be numerous economic challenges the organisation’s leadership must deal with in order to remain a sustainable and profitable concern, they also have to be acutely aware of the manner in which these severe economic stressors impacts their workforce.
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