Michelle May
Biographic Data
| ID | 151817 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Michelle May |
| GIVEN NAMES | Michelle |
| FAMILY NAME | May |
| SIGNATURE | MAY M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Johannesburg |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-9445-7591 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 55 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 4 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 48 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 7 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1999 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Attachment, Intimacy and Love in Camille Rosalie Claudel’s Life: A Psychobiographic Investigation
Camille Rosalie Claudel was one of the most important and creative sculptresses of 19th- and 20th-century France. Her life and work were strongly influenced by her love affair with Auguste Rodin, a famous sculptor of the time. The relationship ended, and Claudel was later taken to a psychiatric clinic by her family, where she spent the last 30 years of her life. Many individuals have written about this love affair and its effect on Claudel; howev…
International Handbook of Emotions: Resourceful Cultural Perspectives, Vol. 2
Intercultural Autoethnographies: Voices of South African Gen Z
South Africa's Gen Z is currently navigating a dynamic landscape of social, cultural, and political change, balancing issues of identity, belonging, and connecting in a diverse world. Their intercultural experiences are shaped by their personal journeys, anchored in their socio-cultural backgrounds, influenced by a society that is rapidly evolving. Intercultural Autoethnographies brings together 20 personal narratives, each offering a deep explor…
Cross-cultural perspectives on sentiments and leadership
Adolf Hitler: Hatred driven destructive leadership
This study proposes a social identity theory-based and multi-level model that describes destructive leadership as contingent on social categorization of the in- and outgroups and mediated by hatred. We describe Adolf Hitler’s destructive leadership behavior as contingent on his social categorization of non-Aryans, and as mediated by his hatred for the outgroups of Jews, Communists, Roma and Sinti, Disabled, Freemasons, Gay men, Jehovah Witnesses …
Exploring students’ perceptions of Kenya during a study abroad programme
Systemic perspectives on love in South Africa through the lens of Bronfenbrenner's theory
Shame and Gender in Transcultural Contexts: Resourceful Investigations
Women’s Experience of Shame, Poverty and Gender: An Empirical Investigation
Negative sentiment – a rhetorical device to reconstruct relationships of power (between tribal-ancient and new populist leadership)
This article presents the role of negative sentiment as a tool for re-constructing power relationships in socio-cultural relations as intentionally used by political and religious leaders across cultures. Negative sentiment facilitated the symbolic disempowerment of enemies and was an important part of the anti-language for the creation of a new or alternative reality across cultures and times. Irony, contempt and disgust have played a special ro…
Developing Intercultural Competences in the Study-Abroad Programme Semester at Sea (SAS)
Semester at Sea is a US-American study abroad programme during which students spend a semester on a ship studying while visiting various countries. The purpose of this article is to determine the intercultural competence development in the students during the Fall voyage through a self-assessment questionnaire. The research is anchored in a post-positivistic research paradigm, using an intercultural competence survey questionnaire to determine th…
Beyond Weird: Psychobiography in Times of Transcultural and Transdisciplinary Perspectives
The volume presents psychobiographical work in non-WEIRD contexts and samples, focusing on culture, transcultural and transdisciplinary research.
Women's Empowerment for a Sustainable Future: Transcultural and Positive Psychology Perspectives
The book focusses on women’s empowerment paying special regard to balanced cultural, transcultural and positive psychology perspectives.
Gendered Self-Views Across 62 Countries: A Test of Competing Models
Social role theory posits that binary gender gaps in agency and communion should be larger in less egalitarian countries, reflecting these countries’ more pronounced sex-based power divisions. Conversely, evolutionary and self-construal theorists suggest that gender gaps in agency and communion should be larger in more egalitarian countries, reflecting the greater autonomy support and flexible self-construction processes present in these countrie…
Psychobiographical trends: Untold stories and international voices in the context of social change
OBJECTIVE: This article describes the increase of publications in the area of psychobiography, thereby analysing the trends in the articles published in the special issue on psychobiography and social agency and activism. It further highlights the specific approaches taken by autobiographers who write psychobiographical accounts of extraordinary individuals and "everyday heroes" in their attempt of creating social impact in specific socio-cultura…
Emotional experiences and psychological well-being in 51 countries during the Covid-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic presents challenges to psychological well-being, but how can we predict when people suffer or cope during sustained stress? Here, we test the prediction that specific types of momentary emotional experiences are differently linked to psychological well-being during the pandemic. Study 1 used survey data collected from 24,221 participants in 51 countries during the COVID-19 outbreak. We show that, across countries, well-being…
Women experiencing and transforming terror and death anxiety during Covid-19
The Robben Island Diversity Experience: It’s about the Journey, Not the Ride
The Robben Island diversity experience (RIDE), a conference using a group relations training model, was held annually from 2000 to 2013, (with RIDE not taking place in 2004). During RIDE, underlying, unconscious, and covert South African diversity dynamics are studied as they manifest among managers and officials in the fields of change, diversity management, transformation, and human resources management. The participants (staff and membership) …
International Handbook of Love: Transcultural and Transdisciplinary Perspectives
Psychometric Properties and Correlates of Precarious Manhood Beliefs in 62 Nations
Precarious manhood beliefs portray manhood, relative to womanhood, as a social status that is hard to earn, easy to lose, and proven via public action. Here, we present cross-cultural data on a brief measure of precarious manhood beliefs (the Precarious Manhood Beliefs scale [PMB]) that covaries meaningfully with other cross-culturally validated gender ideologies and with country-level indices of gender equality and human development. Using data …
Understanding Wildlife Crime from Eco-Existential and African Perspectives: A Psycho-Philosophical Investigation
Wildlife crime has huge consequences regarding global environmental changes to animals, plants and the entire ecosystem. Combatting wildlife crime effectively requires a deep understanding of human-wildlife interactions and an analysis of the influencing factors. Conservation and green criminology are important in reducing wildlife crime, protecting wildlife and the ecosystem and informing policy-makers about best practices and strategies. Howeve…
The Impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution on Managers’ Sense of Coherence
The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) disrupts the world of work, new technologies change the nature of individuals' work and their tasks, and therefore it is necessary to determine how managers cope with these changes, specifically relating to their salutogenesis. There is a lack of research conducted on the salutogenesis of managers in times of the 4IR. The purpose of this study is to investigate the level of managers' sense of coherence (SOC)…
Sense of Coherence in Managers during Covid-19 and the New World of Work: A Mixed-Method Study
During COVID-19, the working world has changed inevitably, and many managers experience extreme strain and stress. This study determines how managers cope with the changes during COVID-19 from a positive psychology and salutogenic perspective. It employs a hermeneutical research design and an interpretivist paradigm by using a mixed-method research approach in which managers' sense of coherence (SOC) is investigated quantitatively through the 29-…
Navigating Contact Zones in 21st Century Schools: Creative Identity Development in Two Complex Transcultural Spaces
This article describes the experiences and the creative identity development of A., an 11-year-old bicultural and bilingual boy who attended school in two different cultural contact zones (CCZs), in South Africa and Germany. The study is anchored in a single case qualitative research paradigm and follows an ethnographic approach by using qualitative interviews, observation and field notes. Findings show A.’s identity development within the two CC…
Narrations on intercultural experiences in South African contact zones
Developing Intercultural Competences in the Study-Abroad Programme Semester at Sea (SAS)
Semester at Sea is a US-American study abroad programme during which students spend a semester on a ship studying while visiting various countries. The purpose of this article is to determine the intercultural competence development in the students during the Fall voyage through a self-assessment questionnaire. The research is anchored in a post-positivistic research paradigm, using an intercultural competence survey questionnaire to determine th…
Managing cross-cultural conflict in organizations
Conflict is part of being human and thus it is a pervasive aspect of socio-cultural and professional interaction. People who have never experienced conflict at the workplace are ‘living in a dream world, blind to their surroundings or are confined to solitary confinement’ (Boohar, 2001). Over the past decades there has been an increase in research on conflict and its management both internationally and at an interdisciplinary level (Rahim, 1989; …
Managerial Values in Transcultural Conflicts in South Africa Findings from the Schwartz-Value-Model
The significant globalisation and post-apartheid challenges faced by managers in international organisations in South Africa are well known. Coping with transcultural conflicts is one of the major challenges. The aim of this article is to assess managerial values and their occurrence in transcultural conflicts in the international automotive organisation in South Africa. The Schwartz Value Model is used as theoretical background. This empirical s…
The Props are Falling Down and We Want to Make Music: A Narrative Perspective on Organisations in Transition (Violins/Violence in Organisations)
The Props are Falling Down and We Want to Make Music: A Narrative Perspective on Organisations in Transition (Violins/Violence in Organisations)
Making group relations theory at home in South Africa
The aim of the research is to facilitate dialogue around the contextualisation of the group relations training model in South Africa in order to assist South Africans to negotiate transformation in this country. The first section of this paper explains the theory of group relations and group relations conferences. This discussion is based on psychoanalytic and group dynamic principles derived from Bion and Klein, and as practised by the Institute…
Identity and health in transcultural mediation: The Model of Culture-Synergetic Transcultural Mediation and its Impacts
Over the past decades, interest in the field of conflict research has developed worldwide. A broad range of literature evaluates conflicts as stressors with negative health effects. Particularly in transcultural situations conflict parties experience stress due to the lack of transcultural understanding, differences in value-orientations and culture-specific attitude and behaviour. This article introduces the model of "Culture-Synergetic Transcul…
Spiritual insights in cross‐cultural conflicts and mediation in ecclesiastical organizations in Tanzania
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into cross‐cultural conflicts and their management in ecclesiastical organizations in Tanzania. It aims at increasing the understanding of these complexities from an emic perspective of employees with a Christian background, thereby providing in‐depth information on the topic. These new insights provide fresh ideas for further research on this topic in the Tanzanian context. Design/methodol…
Mediation erforschen
Konfliktmediation ist sowohl in Nordamerika als auch in Europa ein vergleichsweise junges Praxisfeld, das erst in den 1980er und 1990er Jahren schrittweise einer sozialwissenschaftlichen Erforschung z
Implementing an Operational Risk Management Framework: Psycho-Social Factors in Tanzania
This qualitative study explored the psychosocial factors that affect the implementation of an operational risk management framework in a financial institution in Tanzania. A purposive sample of 39 participants from three financial institutions was interviewed using semistructured interviews. The data were analysed by means of qualitative content analysis and the open coding procedure of grounded theory was used to identify the highlighted themes.…
Managing cross-cultural conflict in organizations
Conflict is part of being human and thus it is a pervasive aspect of socio-cultural and professional interaction. People who have never experienced conflict at the workplace are ‘living in a dream world, blind to their surroundings or are confined to solitary confinement’ (Boohar, 2001). Over the past decades there has been an increase in research on conflict and its management both internationally and at an interdisciplinary level (Rahim, 1989; …
Managerial Values in Transcultural Conflicts in South Africa Findings from the Schwartz-Value-Model
The significant globalisation and post-apartheid challenges faced by managers in international organisations in South Africa are well known. Coping with transcultural conflicts is one of the major challenges. The aim of this article is to assess managerial values and their occurrence in transcultural conflicts in the international automotive organisation in South Africa. The Schwartz Value Model is used as theoretical background. This empirical s…
Grundlagentexte: Begriffe und Konzepte im Kontext interkultureller Öffnung
Women leaders in higher education: A psycho-spiritual perspective
Demands on women in middle and senior leadership positions in higher education institutions inevitably challenge their well-being. How they manage these demands is strongly related to their sense of coherence and their spirituality, constructs that have demonstrated positive relations with general and work-related well-being. This study aims to explore the construction of sense of coherence and spirituality of women leaders in higher education in…
Travelling inner landscapes: A Longitudinal Study on Transcultural Identity Development
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate insights into the identity construction and development of a selected single male individual in Cape Town, South Africa. It aims at increasing the in-depth understanding of the complexities of identity construction in a transcultural setting and provides emic perspectives on a micro-individual level over a period of ten years. Design/methodology/approach – This research study is based on the p…
Constellation Work and Zulu Culture: Theoretical Reflections on Therapeutic and Cultural Concepts
Enhancing Sense of Coherence and Mindfulness in an Ecclesiastical, Intercultural Group Training Context
A Longitudinal Case Study: The Development of Exceptional Human Experiences of Senior Ecclesiastical Professionals in the Catholic Church
Constellation Work and Zulu Culture: Theoretical Reflections on Therapeutic and Cultural Concepts
The purpose of this paper is to reflect on constellation work (CW) as a therapeutic intervention method and its commonalities and differences with Zulu cultural concepts. It has been stated that Bert Hellinger, a pioneer in CW developed this intervention method whilst being inspired by the Zulu culture in South Africa where he worked for 16 years as a missionary. The connections, commonalities and differences have never been explored in-depth. Th…
The meaning of work for South African women: A phenomenological study
This study sought to gain an in-depth understanding of the meaning that women attribute to their work in the South African context. The six women informants were 27–32 years old, all with tertiary education, in senior positions, without children. Data on the meaning of work for South African women were collected using semi-structured interviews. Findings indicate that the meaning of work for South African women changes when they experience work a…
Developing Senior Eccleasiastical Professionals’ Emotional and Cultural Intelligence - A Longitudinal Preliminary Case Study Research Investigation
Emotional intelligence (EI) and cultural intelligence (CQ) are constructs that have recently received much attention and have been investigated in work contexts. It is possible that a high EI and CQ both contribute generally to improved intercultural and interreligious understanding and dialogue. However, this relationship has hardly been researched in eccleasiastical contexts in Germany. This study investigates the development of EI and CQ durin…
Constellation work principles, resonance phenomena, and shamanism in South Africa
The pioneering work of Bert Hellinger in ‘Familien-Stellen’ (constellation work) started in the 1970s in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was the beginning of the international therapeutic movement, which is contemporarily based on different theoretical and therapeutic intervention approaches. Since then, constellation work has received recognition in Europe, followed by the United States, Australia, and later Asia. Scientists and practitioners ha…
Experiences of shame by race and culture: An exploratory study
This study explored experiences of shame in the context of racial and cultural belonging. Participants were a multiracial purposive sample of 11 South Africans (five females and six males, four white, two coloured, two Indian and three black Africans; in the age range between 40 to 61 years). The participants completed a semi-structured interview on their perceptions of shame in the context of family and community. The interview data were analyse…
“Can One Put Faith and Work in the Same Sentence?” Faith Development and Vocation of a Female Leader in the Engineering Profession
Women Leaders as Containers: Systems Psychodynamic Insights into their Unconscious Roles
The purpose of this article is to explore the self-defined roles of women leaders working in higher education institutions (HEIs) in South Africa. The aim is to explore women leadership roles in the context of systems psychodynamics to increase the understanding of unconscious dynamics in HEIs from the perspective of women leaders. The article reports on a qualitative study based on the research paradigm of Dilthey's modern hermeneutics. Intervie…
Of being a container through role definitions: Voices from women leaders in organisational autoethnography
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to reflect critically on the roles that women leaders in higher education institutions (HEIs) take on. Therefore, a systems psychodynamic view is used from a theoretical stance, while an autoethnographical methodology is applied to provide an in-depth emic view of, and reflections on, women leaders' roles in the described context.Design/methodology/approachThe study draws on the authors' personal and organisati…
The Bright Side of Shame: Transforming and Growing Through Practical Applications in Cultural Contexts
Language as potential space for relational positioning: Exploring language use as a manifestation of leadership anxiety dynamics
This exploratory study considered language use as a manifestation of anxiety in work and everyday settings. Respondents were seven psychology practitioners from across the discipline (following a psychodynamic approach), who reflected on the dynamics of language use associated with their social and occupational roles. Hermeneutic phenomenological analysis revealed the way in which participants characterised their language use in managing the lang…
Managing Chinese-African Business Interactions: Growing Intercultural Competence in Organizations
Psychology (42 works) · Sociology (38 works) · Political science (24 works) · Social Psychology (23 works) · Social science (16 works) · Qualitative research (15 works) · Social Psychology (15 works) · Public relations (10 works) · International Student and Expatriate Challenges (9 works) · Aesthetics (8 works)