South African IT professional facing possible dismissal after role/responsibility dispute — seeking objective advice

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for objective advice from people in IT, management, and HR. I would appreciate honest feedback, including where I may have handled things incorrectly.

I work as an IT Technician/Administrator at a small company in South Africa. When I joined, there was very little formal handover or documentation. Over time, I took ownership of improving, stabilising, and developing the company’s IT environment.

My concern is that the role I was hired for and the actual responsibilities I ended up performing became significantly different.

Some of the responsibilities and projects I handled included:

• Designing, building, and configuring Microsoft 365 environments from scratch
• Building and managing Microsoft 365 tenants and services
• Exchange Online migration projects
• Active Directory to Entra ID (Azure AD) hybrid identity implementation
• User identity, access management, security, and permissions
• Group Policy, DNS, DHCP, networking, and infrastructure troubleshooting
• Firewall and network configuration
• Backup architecture and Disaster Recovery planning
• Veeam backup implementation/support
• SharePoint restructuring and collaboration improvements
• Building Python-based reporting and automation tools to improve business processes
• Supporting critical business applications
• Resolving complex infrastructure issues that required senior-level troubleshooting

A significant portion of my work involved designing solutions, improving systems, and building processes rather than only handling day-to-day user support.

My employment contract was for one specific company. However, I was also expected to assist other businesses connected to the owner’s group. My understanding is that my contract did not contain a clause requiring me to provide IT services across associated companies or subsidiaries.

I raised concerns that my responsibilities had moved beyond an IT Technician role and were closer to a senior infrastructure/ICT role.

During a previous meeting with management, the discussion focused on my career growth, salary expectations, and future within the company. Management stated that they recognised my technical ability, but that a senior IT position did not currently exist within the business structure. They explained that the company did not have the budget or operational need for that type of role.

During the discussion, I was told that I was not content with my current situation and that I was “chasing rainbows” — meaning I was constantly looking for the next opportunity or higher expectations rather than accepting the current situation.

Their position was that the company’s needs did not justify creating a senior role, even though my skills and responsibilities were at a higher level.

Recently, we had another meeting regarding my employment situation. During that meeting, I became extremely frustrated. I raised my voice, used inappropriate language, and left the meeting. The company has indicated they intend to address this through disciplinary procedures.

I accept that my reaction was not professional and I could have handled the situation better.

I’m looking for honest opinions:

1. Was it reasonable to expect my role and compensation to align with the level of technical work I was performing?
2. If a company does not have a senior position available, is it reasonable for them to continue relying on someone performing senior-level work?
3. Should work across multiple related companies normally be covered in an employment contract?
4. Was management’s position reasonable?

Thank you