Abstract
M.Ed.
The birth of a democratic South Africa demanded that all people of this country be integrated into one society (Hariparsad, 2005:1). This implies that people from various cultural backgrounds brought with them their individual, cultural and normative values into the integrative process. For example, there were more than one education system in this country and all were integrated into one system (Bray, 2000:31).
According to Bennet (1997:71), the term 'work ethic' describes the preposition that work is a moral obligation and that work occupies a central position in a person's life. Van der Westhuizen (2003:71) argues that a school reflects traits of both societal relationships and organizations. The school is a formal organization consisting of structure and activity that has to be managed to fulfill the intended function. A fundamental management function is leadership (Smith & Cronje, 2001:278), which Gunter (2001:19) defines as the process of directing the behaviour of others towards the accomplishment of objectives and goals of the organization. In a school environment, the task of leadership is accorded to the principal, who needs to be responsible in his/her job for maintaining an effective school environment.
Organizations do not achieve their objectives on their own. Someone has to deploy the basic resources that the organization has at its disposal to help it achieve its goals. This important element is management. Managers must activate and guide the organization (Hariparsad, 2005:4), and the responsibility for professional management of a public school is also vested in the principal (South African Schools Act, 1996:16[3]).
The researcher believes that the work ethic of the educators will dictate the manner in which the school functions. Hariparsad (2005:5) states that if the work ethic of the educators is based on sound principles of efficient and effective work practices, emerging from a sound value system and a strong individual moral fibre, it can be expected that the school will function as a meaningful organization in society. It seems, however, that some schools face management problems which emanate from the work ethic of the educators. In addition, the management practices and procedures selected by the principal impact on the ethos of the school which in all likelihood will affect the work ethic of the educators (Hariparsad 2005: 6).
Educators in South Africa have recently been accused by the public of going on strike far too easily; and hence have been labeled as having a poor work ethic (Makgoba, 2007:7). The work ethic among South African educators has, however, not been determined in any empirical way and this research will attempt to obtain a benchmark for educators in the Limpopo Province of South