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This teaching case covers aspects of leadership development, strategy, change management, organisational behaviour, and people management. The case explores the following themes:

• Workplace transformation and culture: the challenges and opportunities of remote/hybrid work in large government enterprises and maintaining the culture when moving remote

• Leadership and change: the different perspectives that a leader can take into consideration when leading the business during turbulent and uncertain times and managing the change process in large organisations

• Strategic decision-making: the application of analytical skills by senior management when making strategic decisions in a business

Workplace transformation and culture: the challenges and opportunities of remote/hybrid work in large government enterprises and maintaining the culture when moving remote

Leadership and change: the different perspectives that a leader can take into consideration when leading the business during turbulent and uncertain times and managing the change process in large organisations

Strategic decision-making: the application of analytical skills by senior management when making strategic decisions in a business

The primary audience for this teaching case is management education programmes including: Master of Business Administration (MBA), Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip), specialist Masters in Management, and certain Executive Education programmes.

This case deals with a public-sector entity that collects taxation revenue for the South African government. In 2020, the operations of this public entity are severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The mandatory shift of the workforce from in-office to a remote work-from-home set-up, results in the entity switching to a hybrid work model in order to achieve its goals as an essential service. Protagonist Dr Zanele Twazi, executive head of the public entity's research department, is tasked by the commissioner to conduct a review on the hybrid work model. As the commissioner is also in the process of reviving the organisational culture to regain public trust following multiple corruption scandals, the pandemic adds to this pressure. Dr Twazi must share employee feedback on the remote work option. Meanwhile, the leadership team has to decide if the work model will serve this public entity in achieving its strategy, and from an organisational culture viewpoint, if it is the best fit for the future.

The key learnings from this case include the following:

• Organisational work model: A suitable work model is dependent on the organisational mandate as well as its culture.

• Culture and organisational goals: An organisational work model additionally impacts the future sustainability of the organisation and its ability to achieve its short- and long-term goals.

• Change management framework: For teams to effectively adapt to a hybrid work model, managers have to be empowered to lead and be able to facilitate the change.

Organisational work model: A suitable work model is dependent on the organisational mandate as well as its culture.

Culture and organisational goals: An organisational work model additionally impacts the future sustainability of the organisation and its ability to achieve its short- and long-term goals.

Change management framework: For teams to effectively adapt to a hybrid work model, managers have to be empowered to lead and be able to facilitate the change.

The extreme demographic misrepresentation of organisations is a key business and societal issue in South Africa (SA). The purpose of this paper is to provide organisations that are committed to the creation of a diverse and inclusive environment with key considerations that need to be managed in order to create more diverse drive transformation.

This research uses a combination of quantitative and qualitative techniques to gain an understanding of the elements that need to be managed to enhance perception of inclusion in the SA workplace.

The study finds that key inclusion elements that need to be transformed at an organisational level include “senior leadership”, “organisation climate”, “organisational belonging”, “communication” and “transparent recruitment, promotion and development”. At an interpersonal level or relational level, inclusion components include respect and acceptance, the “line manager/subordinate relationship” (which includes the subordinates experience of dignity, trust and recognition), “engagement” which includes decision-making authority and access to information, and finally the “individual's relationship with the organisation's vision and values”. Finally, at an individual level, factors which influenced inclusion, and therefore required attention in recruitment or management were “personality”, “locus of control”, self-confidence which includes self-esteem and “power”.

While this research facilitated “deep” insight into the diversity and inclusion components, this study could have been enriched through exploring diversity and inclusion in other organisational contexts. Second, while the InclusionIndex™ survey provided a useful base measure of inclusion for this research, the use of a survey as the primary research tool might have been leading to the respondents. Third, because the InclusionIndex™ survey was used as the exploratory tool, and was the respondents’ first exposure to the diversity and inclusion terminology, the survey became the informal frame of reference for diversity and inclusion, and thus might have influenced the focus group discussion and semi-structured interview responses.

Using these diversity and inclusion considerations, leaders of pluralistic and multicultural organisations can focus their attention on developing inclusion areas that are weak and require more consideration. Second, this research aims to establish that inclusion extends beyond recruitment of diverse individuals to a process driven at organisational, interpersonal and individual levels.

These management considerations are important and valuable because they can be used to guide systemic change in organisations, driven at organisational, interpersonal and individual levels. This approach will help organisations to move beyond employment equity compliance, to a commitment to multicultural diverse and inclusive organisations.

The extreme demographic misrepresentation of organisations is a key business and societal issue in South Africa. This research provides organisations that are committed to the creation of a diverse and inclusive environment with key considerations that need to be managed in order to drive transformation. The final output of this research is a set of diversity and inclusion management considerations. It is a blueprint that organisations can use to move beyond compliance recruitment (employment equity), to a commitment to systemic change, driven at organisational, interpersonal and individual levels.