Union fights bank CEO

OARABILE MOSIKARE
Staff Writer | Friday June 7, 2013 00:00

 

In a petition dated May 9, 2012 presented to the NDB board chairperson, Lesego Seitei, the union expressed dissatisfaction with 'the below expectation performance of the CEO'.  'Talented, very intelligent as she is, our observation is that for the two years that the CEO has been here, and now starting to count year three, we are yet to see the sharpness and peak of her ability to lead and transform this organisation into a formidable force,' said the union.

It said that if it was a matter of time, the truth is there are CEOs that have transformed bad and larger companies in less than 24 months. 'As the employees of NDB, we now hold serious concerns about the ability of the CEO to deliver.' The union alleged that the performance of the bank has not shown significant effort-based growth as seen in the past two scorecards. It blamed the poor performance on the leadership of the bank because other managers have been able to perform better with the same employees.  'We have done our best to support and we continue to support the CEO across the various functions but her strength to lead this organisation well is not coming up.' The union alleged that staff morale has been deteriorating since the arrival of Morapedi at NDB.  It said her ignorance and slow response to staff welfare matters is unprecedented.

Leadership capability has been and remains poor as shown by various surveys, it alleged. The union said it will never forget the unfair dismissal of its high ranking executives in 2010 by Morapedi without following due process.

'This issue still weighs very painfully and heavily on the minds of all the employees as it sent striking and uncomfortable signs of a leadership that rules by intimidation and propagation of fear in the employees of the bank,' said the union.

In response to the NDBEU petition, Seitei said it was unfair and inaccurate to single out one person when issues such as team cohesion and organisational change are not occurring as well as they should be. 'It is a very strong allegation to make to the effect that the management team generally 'rules by intimidation and the propagation of fear in the employees of the bank,' he countered. He said such a harsh indictment must be supported by a pattern of conduct, substantially bad conduct for that matter, in order to be fairly levied against management.

'I wish to impress upon the union executive, that it would be extremely untoward for the board to conclude that the CEO, or any individual for that matter, has failed in their mandate, without specific reference to the measures and deliverables in respect of which they have been contracted,' Seitei said.

He dismissed the assertion that staff morale has been deteriorating since the arrival of Morapedi as baseless.Contrary to the assertion, he said the latest staff satisfaction survey indicated a 61 percent measure against a previous 52 percent. 

'It has been difficult for the board to concede to the above staff 'welfare' benefits in the absence of commensurate levels of good performance on the part of the bank. It is intriguing that this lackluster performance is fully acknowledged by the union executive in its petition, yet in the same breath there is a demand for entitlement to increments and rewards. This manner of inconsistency and subjectivity is very discouraging to see in the leadership of the NDB Employees Union,' he said.