Darryl Forsyth

The purpose of this study is to examine how the leadership competence of school leaders supports the implementation of psychosocial safety climate (PSC) within an educational workplace. While recent studies have considered how various leadership styles influence PSC, the processes through which school leaders at different levels enact and develop PSC in practice continue to receive limited attention. This study addresses this gap through a qualitative case study at a school in Aotearoa, New Zealand, which employed a sequential data collection process comprising 26 interviews and three focus groups. This investigation found that exemplary leadership, overcoming complexity, and multiskilled leadership are pivotal competencies that enable PSC implementation within a school setting. More broadly, we discuss how these key leadership competencies facilitate the development of policies, practices, and procedures that promote teachers’ psychological health and the four domains of the PSC framework. Finally, we propose a Leader Competence–PSC Framework as a practical tool for investigating and evaluating school leader competence across specific PSC domains.

Purpose: Current research provides an incomplete picture of the challenges facing human resource personnel (HRP) tasked with managing a workplace bullying complaint. The purpose of this paper is to provide a holistic model of the complaint management process in order to advance the theorising of HRP’s role in this important process, and the challenges they face in undertaking it. Design/methodology/approach: Cases of workplace bullying heard before the legal system were analysed – a novel data source in research on workplace bullying. Thematic analysis was undertaken on the case determinations to identify the challenges HRP faced that prevented the resolution of the complaint. Findings: The analysis indicated two key phases in the complaints management process with five associated challenges. The first two challenges were related to HRP’s ability to assess the substance of the complaint. HRP’s ability or inability to “sort out” conflicting accounts and to follow the process saw the complaint follow one of three “resolution pathways”. Three further challenges were associated with HRP communicating the outcome to the complainant. Failure to overcome these challenges left the complainant aggrieved at the unfairness in which their complaint had been handled – triggering legal action. Originality/value: This paper draws on a novel data source to provide a holistic model of the complaint management process related to workplace bullying which details the various components and challenges related to HRP throughout the process. Alongside advancing theory, this research has practical value for improving HR practice.

Objective. Public social policies in New Zealand assume that there are fundamental differences between Maori views of health phenomena and non‐Maori perceptions. The biomedical model and a Maori model known as Te Whare Tapa Wha are commonly employed to characterise these differences. Using the categorical ethnicity demarcation ‘Maori/non‐Maori’ we investigate this claim with respect to mental health literacy about depression. Design. Participants were randomly selected from the General and Maori Electoral Rolls and recruited by post (N=205). A vignette methodology was employed and involved the development of a fictional character as a target stimulus who exhibited the minimum DSM‐IV‐R criteria for a major depressive disorder. Participants responded to items regarding problem recognition, well‐being, causal attributions, treatment preferences, and likely prognosis. Results. The majority of Maori and non‐Maori participants correctly identified the problem the vignette character was experiencing and nominated congruent attributions for the causes of the problem. In relation to treatment strategies and likely prognosis, independent of self‐assigned ethnicity, participants rated professional treatments above alternative options. Overall the categorical ethnicity distinction ‘Maori and non‐Maori’ produced no systematic variation with regards to individual evaluative responses about a major depressive disorder. Conclusions. Contrary to the embedded assumption within New Zealand's public health strategies that there are essential differences between the way Maori and non‐Maori view health problems, and that the categorical ethnicity demarcation reliably reflects these differences, we found no evidence for the veracity of this claim using a major depressive disorder as a target for judgements. Alternative explanations are canvassed as to why this assumption about fundamental differences based on categorical ethnicity has gained ascendancy and prominence within the sphere of New Zealand health.