| dc.description.abstract | In South Africa, January 2011 was characterised by above average rainfall which
resulted in many provinces being flooded. On the 17th of January 2011, the
government of South Africa declared the City of Tshwane a National Disaster Area. It
is in the city of Tshwane where a hotel was flooded causing great damage and
disruption to the lives of the hotel workers. Given the lack of existing research
focusing on the social dimensions of natural disasters, this provided an opportunity
to study the social impact of the flood on the community of hotel workers at a
Pretoria hotel. Four sub-aims were set for the study, which involved an exploration of
the strengths that were exhibited, discovered or developed as a result of the flood;
investigating the subjective experiences in relation to the flood; exploring the
interactional patterns and relationships of the hotel workers; as well as investigating
how the leadership of the hotel impacted on the manner in which the hotel workers
dealt with the flood. A qualitative methodology, guided by a social constructivist
epistemology was adopted as basis for the study. Data was gathered by means of
individual semi-structured interviews, semi-structured questionnaires, and a focus
group interview with a number of employees at the hotel. The data was subjected to
qualitative content and grounded theoretical analysis. Five main themes emerged
from the analysis, which include: Emotional responses, which included negative
emotions such as shock, fear, frustration and anger, as well as positive emotions
such as happiness and appreciation; a variety of interactional patterns and
relationships; increased cohesiveness; enhanced leadership, and the development
of group resilience. | en_US |
