Editorial note 2020

Abstract

Introduction

I believe that all of us have experienced most probably one of the most dramatic situations in modern day work life, namely Covid-19. It has impacted on all spheres of society, from Global, National, organisational and personal levels. This was evident in the recent articles received by AJER, many of them has a broad, or even a direct Covid-19 theme, specifically from an employee relations, leadership and human resource perspective.  The AJER wants to provide a forum of learning opportunities, also during these challenging times for all those interested and involved in the management of human resources including practitioners, researchers, academics, trainers and educators as well as to policy makers in the private, public and semi-public sectors of South Africa (SA), Southern Africa, Africa and other countries.

The direct impact on the journal was also felt, specifically with the availability of reviewers, as well as the slower than usual turnaround time of reviews. It is with this in mind that I want to invite all our readers who are interested and qualified to become part of the pool of reviewers of AJER. You can send an e-mail indicating your interest to me as Chief Editor (grobla@unisa.ac.za).

2020 content

As mentioned in the introduction, AJER has adopted a more continental approach, and it is evident that there is a growing African interest, especially if one looks at the articles published in 2020. Although the papers from SA are still the majority, there were also articles from Kenya, Zimbabwe, and Nigeria.

Four articles typically falls within the Industrial Psychology domain, with the first one determining the relationship exists between the state of the psychological contract and emotional intelligence, and whether emotional intelligence is a predicting variance  of the state  of  the psychological  contract. The second article from this category studied whether the   socio-demographic variables of age, race, gender, marital status, educational level, years employed, employment   status, and   home   language   predict   work engagement, psychological capital and turnover intention of teachers. Both these studies were conducted with a SA. In the third article, a measure of the maturity of the organisational leadership development process that is fit for use in southern Africa across the different levels of leadership, was developed and validated. The fourth study was conducted in Ghana, looking to determine the relationship between mental health and innovative behaviour among bank employees, as well as the effect of age on the mental health of the respondents.

Two articles broadly focused on labour issues, with one investigating the impact of setting minimum wages in the environment and culture sector as an appropriate wage strategy intervention policy under the South Africa’s Expanded Public Works Programme. The other article sought to unveil the factors behind the precariat who soldier on despite challenges faced at the workplace with specific reference to the agricultural and hospitality industries in Zimbabwe.

One article focused on union matters and typical human resource management respectively. The union related article investigated the challenges female union members encounter while seeking or assuming labour union leadership positions in Kenya.

In the forum section, an article was placed that examined the linkage between the Nigerian Declaration Project and the levels of commitment to industrial peace among the employers’ associations, labour unions and government agencies in Nigeria.

Closing remarks

I believe we are now nearing a point where we are becoming a true Continental publication, and we are therefore inviting submissions from all over Africa. Africa-related themes are especially encouraged in the context of the dire need to develop indigenous theory and understanding of people management in the African context.

Authors are further invited to contribute to the academic as well as industry discourse related to the impact of Covid-19 on the work force and work force practises. You are urged to look long term, by investigating and recommending possible actions to mitigate the impact, not only of the current pandemic, but any major crisis and disruption that might impact the work environment in future.