Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Rehabilitation therapists are at risk for burnout as a result of their emotionally challenging and stressful jobs. No South African studies could be found that focus on burnout in therapists who work in the field of rehabilitation. This study attempted to determine the prevalence of burnout amongst a select group of therapists in South Africa i.e. therapy staff employed by Life Rehabilitation. In addition, contributing factors to burnout in this environment, current management of the problem and suggestions for future management were explored. A descriptive design which used both quantitative and qualitative methods was utilised. Forty-nine therapists and seven managers participated in the study. No sampling was done. Quantitative data was collected through a demographic coding sheet and the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). Data were statistically analysed and a p value of < 0.05 was deemed statistically significant. Interview schedules were used to guide the qualitative interviews on participants’ understanding of burnout, contributing factors, its impact on the therapists and company as well as management strategies. Qualitative data was analysed according to the inductive method. Regarding burnout prevalence in each of the subsections of the MBI, 57.14% of the therapy staff had high levels of Emotional Exhaustion (EE), 20.4% reported depersonalisation (DP) and 38.77% had low levels of Personal Accomplishment (PA). The variables associated with high burnout scores were: male gender (p=0.0238) (PA), absence of children (P=0.02994) (EE), (p=0.03895) (PA), ≤ four years tertiary education (p=0.03640) (PA), ≤ R15 000 income (p=0.02262) (PA), not working weekends (p=0.02882) (DP), none or poor coping skills (p=0.03180) (EE), high overwhelming work load (p=0.03972) (EE), (p=0.01227) (DP), overwhelming/too small patient load (p=0.02365) (EE), high administration load (p=0.00302) (PA), seldom achievable deadlines (p=0.03693) (DP), postponed contact with patients (p=0.02023) (DP), (p=0.01164) (PA) and a poor work environment (p=0.02162) (EE), (p=0.04034) (DP). The qualitative data identified the following factors as causes of burnout: relationship challenges, lack of planning and coping skills, personality type, disempowerment, the nature of rehabilitation work, private health care environment, ethical dilemmas, time pressures, lack of rewards, lack of space and resources, uncertainty/change, lack of support from management and high workload. The following burnout management strategies emerged from the qualitative data: psycho-social intervention, team building, decrease in workload/increase in staff, adjustment of administrative workload, acknowledgement of staff through salaries and other rewards, adjustment to leave package, improved orientation and induction of staff, “time-out” opportunities, development of staff and managers, improved treatment facilities, feedback from discharged patients as well as implementation of burnout monitoring systems and development of a burnout policy and burnout management system. Recommendations to Life Rehabilitation focus on practical strategies regarding the detection, prevention and management of burnout in therapists. The groundwork has been done through this research. Successful strategic implementation will depend on the leadership of the organisation and without these key players and all the other role players involved, commitment in terms of time, money and allocation of resources it will remain an academic exercise. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die gevaar bestaan dat gesondheidswerkers hulle kan “uitbrand” as gevolg van die emosioneel uitmergelende aspekte van hul werk en die kroniese inspanning waaraan hulle blootgestel word. Geen Suid-Afrikaanse studies kon gevind word wat op uitbranding van die terapeut of die terapeut-assistent in die rehabilitasieveld fokus nie. Hierdie studie het die oogmerk om die prevalensie van uitbranding onder ’n selektiewe groep terapeute, die terapeute in diens van Life Rehabilitasie in Suid Afrika, te bepaal. Ter aanvulling van die prevalensie van uitbranding, is die bydraende faktore van uitbranding in hierdie omgewing, die huidige bestuur van die probleem en voorstelle vir toekomstige bestuur ondersoek. ’n Beskrywende studie-ontwerp, wat sowel kwantitatiewe as kwalitatiewe metodes insluit, is vir data-insameling en -ontleding gebruik. ’n Steekproef is nie gebruik nie. Nege-en-veertig terapeute en sewe bestuurders het aan die studie deelgeneem. Die demografiese inligting is met behulp van ’n demografiese kodeblad ingesamel en maak deel uit van die kwantitatiewe data. ’n P waarde van < 0,05 is as statisties beduidend beskou. Daar is van die Maslach Uitbranding-Inventaris (Maslach Burnout Inventory) gebruik gemaak om die prevalensie van uitbranding te bepaal. Onderhoudskedules is gebruik tydens die kwalitatiewe onderhoude waartydens deelnemers se begrip van uitbranding, die bydraende faktore en die impak op die terapeute en maatskappy, asook die bestuurstrategieë te bepaal. Die kwalitatiewe data is volgens die induktiewe metode ontleed. Aangaande die dimensies van uitbranding, het die studie bevind dat 57,14% van die terapeute hoog getoets het vir emosionele uitputting (EU), 20.4% het in die hoë kategorie vir depersonalisasie (DP) geval en 38,77% het lae vlakke van persoonlike vervulling (PV) gehad. Die veranderlikes wat met hoë uitbranding-tellings verband gehou het, was manlike geslag (p=0.0238) (PV), gebrek aan kinders (p=0.02994) (EU), (p=0.03895) (PV), ≤ vier jaar tersiêre opleiding (p=0.03640) (PV), ≤ R15 000 inkomste (p=0.02262) (PV), geen werk oor naweke (p=0.02882) (DP), geen of min bybly-vermoëns (p=0.03180) (EU), hoë, oorweldigende werklas (p=0.03972) (EU), (p=0.01227) (DP), oorweldigende of ontoereikende pasiënt-belading (p=0.02365) (EU), hoë administratiewe werklas (p=0.00302) (PA), selde bereikbare spertye (p=0.03693) (DP), uitgestelde kontak met pasiënte (p=0.02023) (DP), (p=0.01164) (PV), ’n swak werksomgewing (p=0.02162) (EU), (p=0.04034) (DP). Die hoof-oorsake van uitbranding is faktore wat met individue, pasiënt/werk, bestuur en administrasie verband hou. Strategieë is geïdentifiseer wat gebruik kan word om uitbranding konstruktief in hierdie omgewing te bestuur en sluit psigiese-sosiale behandeling, spanverbeteringe, werk/pasiënt aanpassings, erkenning van personeel, verlofaanpassings, vakansietyd-geleenthede, personeelontwikkeling en bestuursverbetering, asook die implementering van moniteringsisteme en beleidsontwikkeling in. Aanbevelings vir Life Rehabilitation is onder meer praktiese strategieë vir die opsporing, voorkoming en bestuur van uitbranding onder terapeute. Die aanvoorwerk is deur hierdie navorsing gedoen. Suksesvolle implementering van die strategieë sal van die leierskap in die organisasie afhang. Sonder hierdie en ander sleutelfigure, hul toegewydheid ten opsigte van tyd, geld en toewysing van middele sal dit slage akademise waarde hê.

Folkhälsa berör många samhällsområden och därför är det av vikt att människor i olika yrkeskategorier är medvetna och väl insatta i sin arbetssituation och dess inverkan på hälsan. Jordbruksyrket är rankat som ett av de tre farligaste yrkena och därför beslutade regeringen att ett projekt vid namn Säkert Bondförnuft skulle startas. Projektet koncentrerades till att få lantbruksföretag att vidta åtgärder som leder till förbättrad säkerhet i företaget. På Lantbrukarnas riksförbund, LRF arbetar handledare som informerar lantbrukare om de arbetsmiljöproblem som finns genom utbildningen Säkert Bondförnuft. Syftet med studien är att studera LRF:s handledares uppfattningar av lantbrukares riskmedvetenhet i deras arbetsmiljö. Därutöver studeras hur handledarna upplever lantbrukarnas mottaglighet av information gällande säkerhet i arbetsmiljön som tillämpats på kurstillfällena inom projektet Säkert Bondförnuft. Då intresset låg i att ta reda på handledares uppfattningar valdes kvalitativ ansats med intervjuer av fem handledare som insamlingsmetod. Vid intervjuerna användes en semikonstruerad intervjumanual. Intervjuerna analyserades med kvalitativ, induktiv innehållsanalys. I resultatet från studien anser handledarna att de lantbrukare som deltar i utbildningen är mer benägna att upptäcka de risker som kan finnas på arbetsplatsen och anses vara mer mottagliga för information. Studien har betydelse för framtidens aktiva människor inom jordbrukssektorn. Genom denna studie har tankar och åsikter från handledare i LRF:s regi belysts när de genom projektet Säkert Bondförnuft utbildat personer i lantbruksföretag att vidta möjliga åtgärder som leder till en förbättrad säkerhet i företaget. Med hänsyn till de resultat som framgått i studien kan den i framtiden hjälpa till att utveckla kursverksamhet för lantbrukare. Förhoppningen är att materialet från studien kan användas i dessa sammanhang. / Public health concerns many areas of society and therefore it is important that people of different professions are aware and familiar with their work situation and its impact on health. The profession of agriculture is ranked as one of the three most dangerous occupations, and therefore the government has decided that a project called Farmers Safe Common Sense should start. The project concentrates on how to get farming businesses to take actions which would lead to improved security in their enterprises. Through Farmers Safe Common Sense, the supervisors at the Farmers' Association, LRF, inform farmers about problems that may exist with work environment. The purpose of the study is to study how the supervisors of LRF perceive the farmers' risk awareness in their working environment. In addition, studies on how supervisors perceive farmers' receptivity of information regarding safety in the work environment, as applied to lectures in the project Farmers safe Common sense, was made. As the interest was in finding out how the supervisor's perceptions were, interviews with a qualitative approach were chosen as a collection method. A semi-constructed interview guide was used at the interviews consisting of five supervisor´s. The interviews were analyzed by a qualitative inductive content analysis. The results of the study showed that the supervisors consider the farmers who participated in the program to be more likely to discover the risks that may exist in the workplace, and are also considered to be more receptive to the information. The study has significance for the future of the people who are active in agriculture. Through this study, the thoughts and opinions of the supervisors of LRF have been highlighted when the project Farmers Safe Common sense educated people from farming businesses, so that they can take feasible steps that lead to improved safety in the company. Given the results shown in this study it can help developing training courses for farmers in the future and it is also hoped that the material from the study can be used in these contexts.

Career success has become one of the most central issues in the 21st century as the nature of careers has undergone major changes over the past two decades. The change in perception that has taken place in terms of the nature of work has led to increased uncertainty about career development as a construct and as a practice. Career success has therefore become not only of interest and concern for individuals, but also a priority to organisations as the realisation of employees’ personal goals and success can eventually contribute to the realisation of the organisation’s goals and successes. Therefore the general objective of this study was to explore the experience and conceptualisation of career success among South African executives. This study utilised a qualitative research design with an exploratory approach to investigate executives’ conceptualisation and experience of career success. A non-probability purposive, voluntary sample of 24 participants was drawn from two seperate international financial organisations with offices located in Johannesburg. The data collection process was performed through semi-structured individual interviews and the verbatim transcriptions that were captured from these interviews, were analysed using content analysis. The twelve main themes that were extracted from the interviews are set out as follow: general conceptualisation of career success; executives’ personal meaning associated with career success; transformation of perceptions; future goals of executives; factor’s influencing executives’ career success; personality attributes related to career success; contributing factors to the career success of executives; hindering factors in career success; potential for experiencing turnover intention; consequences of career success; role of the organisation; and prerequisites for career success. It is crucial that organisations be made more aware of the significance of executives’ conceptualisation and experience of career success (as highlighted within this research).This is especially the case when considering future career and succession planning and mapping. Organisations should be familiar with the potential influencing and hindering factors (e.g. lack of opportunities, lack of support, organisational culture, etc.). They should be prepared to address the adverse impact that these factors could have as obstacles to employees and particularly for executives to attain career success. If these hindrances are not addressed it could lead to increased job dissatisfaction and consequently increased turnover intention. They should also be alert to the contributing factors and other factors conducive to career development (e.g. support and buy-in from organisation, or being given challenges and opportunities) that facilitate career success. By providing an environment that helps career development along, the experiece of career success is increased. This can lead to various positive outcomes, such as increased job performance, organisational commitment, employee engagement, career satisfaction and talent retention. Talent retention is particularly important as one can gather from the data collected among the executives. Thus, in order to retain them as valuable employees, it is crucial to address and fulfil their career needs accordingly. / Thesis (MCom (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

Career success has become one of the most central issues in the 21st century as the nature of careers has undergone major changes over the past two decades. The change in perception that has taken place in terms of the nature of work has led to increased uncertainty about career development as a construct and as a practice. Career success has therefore become not only of interest and concern for individuals, but also a priority to organisations as the realisation of employees’ personal goals and success can eventually contribute to the realisation of the organisation’s goals and successes. Therefore the general objective of this study was to explore the experience and conceptualisation of career success among South African executives. This study utilised a qualitative research design with an exploratory approach to investigate executives’ conceptualisation and experience of career success. A non-probability purposive, voluntary sample of 24 participants was drawn from two seperate international financial organisations with offices located in Johannesburg. The data collection process was performed through semi-structured individual interviews and the verbatim transcriptions that were captured from these interviews, were analysed using content analysis. The twelve main themes that were extracted from the interviews are set out as follow: general conceptualisation of career success; executives’ personal meaning associated with career success; transformation of perceptions; future goals of executives; factor’s influencing executives’ career success; personality attributes related to career success; contributing factors to the career success of executives; hindering factors in career success; potential for experiencing turnover intention; consequences of career success; role of the organisation; and prerequisites for career success. It is crucial that organisations be made more aware of the significance of executives’ conceptualisation and experience of career success (as highlighted within this research).This is especially the case when considering future career and succession planning and mapping. Organisations should be familiar with the potential influencing and hindering factors (e.g. lack of opportunities, lack of support, organisational culture, etc.). They should be prepared to address the adverse impact that these factors could have as obstacles to employees and particularly for executives to attain career success. If these hindrances are not addressed it could lead to increased job dissatisfaction and consequently increased turnover intention. They should also be alert to the contributing factors and other factors conducive to career development (e.g. support and buy-in from organisation, or being given challenges and opportunities) that facilitate career success. By providing an environment that helps career development along, the experiece of career success is increased. This can lead to various positive outcomes, such as increased job performance, organisational commitment, employee engagement, career satisfaction and talent retention. Talent retention is particularly important as one can gather from the data collected among the executives. Thus, in order to retain them as valuable employees, it is crucial to address and fulfil their career needs accordingly. / Thesis (MCom (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

O objetivo geral deste trabalho é identificar os fatores contributivos e os fatores limitadores para negócios sociais nas regiões Sul e Sudeste do Brasil, por meio do atingimento dos seguintes objetivos específicos: (a) descrever os principais modelos conceituais existentes para negócios sociais, identificando similaridades e diferenças; (b) identificar as percepções dos principais atores sobre negócios sociais nas regiões Sul e Sudeste do Brasil; e (c) desenvolver um framework com as principais dimensões de análise, fatores contributivos e fatores limitadores para negócios sociais. Foi realizada uma pesquisa exploratória, qualitativa de abordagem direta e de análise descritivo-interpretativa, em duas fases. Na primeira, com pesquisa documental, na segunda por meio de trinta e seis entrevistas semi-estruturadas com atores-chave para negócios sociais no Brasil – empreendedores, suas equipes e organizações apoiadoras. Os dados coletados foram analisados segundo a técnica de análise de conteúdo e os resultados são apresentados de forma descritiva e sintetizados no framework de análise. Foram identificados oito fatores contributivos e dezoito fatores limitadores, distribuídos em cinco dimensões de análise. / The main objective of this research is to identify the contributing and limiting factors for social businesses in the Brazilian South and Southeast regions. The specific objectives are: (a) to describe the key existing social business conceptual models, making explicit their similarities and differences; (b) to identify the perception of the main players in the field of social business in the Brazilian South and Southeast regions; and (c) to develop an analytical framework with the main analysis dimensions, contributing and limiting factor. It was a two phases exploratory research, qualitative with a direct approach, with descriptive-interpretative analysis. On the first phase, the focus was on a documental research, on the second, the focus was on thirty-six semi-structured interviews with the main players in the field – entrepreneurs, their teams, and supporting organizations. The collected data processed according to the content analysis technique, and the results are presented in descriptive format, being sintetized in the analytical framework. The result were eight contributing factors and eighteen limiting factors, spread across five analytical dimensions.

O objetivo geral deste trabalho é identificar os fatores contributivos e os fatores limitadores para negócios sociais nas regiões Sul e Sudeste do Brasil, por meio do atingimento dos seguintes objetivos específicos: (a) descrever os principais modelos conceituais existentes para negócios sociais, identificando similaridades e diferenças; (b) identificar as percepções dos principais atores sobre negócios sociais nas regiões Sul e Sudeste do Brasil; e (c) desenvolver um framework com as principais dimensões de análise, fatores contributivos e fatores limitadores para negócios sociais. Foi realizada uma pesquisa exploratória, qualitativa de abordagem direta e de análise descritivo-interpretativa, em duas fases. Na primeira, com pesquisa documental, na segunda por meio de trinta e seis entrevistas semi-estruturadas com atores-chave para negócios sociais no Brasil – empreendedores, suas equipes e organizações apoiadoras. Os dados coletados foram analisados segundo a técnica de análise de conteúdo e os resultados são apresentados de forma descritiva e sintetizados no framework de análise. Foram identificados oito fatores contributivos e dezoito fatores limitadores, distribuídos em cinco dimensões de análise. / The main objective of this research is to identify the contributing and limiting factors for social businesses in the Brazilian South and Southeast regions. The specific objectives are: (a) to describe the key existing social business conceptual models, making explicit their similarities and differences; (b) to identify the perception of the main players in the field of social business in the Brazilian South and Southeast regions; and (c) to develop an analytical framework with the main analysis dimensions, contributing and limiting factor. It was a two phases exploratory research, qualitative with a direct approach, with descriptive-interpretative analysis. On the first phase, the focus was on a documental research, on the second, the focus was on thirty-six semi-structured interviews with the main players in the field – entrepreneurs, their teams, and supporting organizations. The collected data processed according to the content analysis technique, and the results are presented in descriptive format, being sintetized in the analytical framework. The result were eight contributing factors and eighteen limiting factors, spread across five analytical dimensions.

O objetivo geral deste trabalho é identificar os fatores contributivos e os fatores limitadores para negócios sociais nas regiões Sul e Sudeste do Brasil, por meio do atingimento dos seguintes objetivos específicos: (a) descrever os principais modelos conceituais existentes para negócios sociais, identificando similaridades e diferenças; (b) identificar as percepções dos principais atores sobre negócios sociais nas regiões Sul e Sudeste do Brasil; e (c) desenvolver um framework com as principais dimensões de análise, fatores contributivos e fatores limitadores para negócios sociais. Foi realizada uma pesquisa exploratória, qualitativa de abordagem direta e de análise descritivo-interpretativa, em duas fases. Na primeira, com pesquisa documental, na segunda por meio de trinta e seis entrevistas semi-estruturadas com atores-chave para negócios sociais no Brasil – empreendedores, suas equipes e organizações apoiadoras. Os dados coletados foram analisados segundo a técnica de análise de conteúdo e os resultados são apresentados de forma descritiva e sintetizados no framework de análise. Foram identificados oito fatores contributivos e dezoito fatores limitadores, distribuídos em cinco dimensões de análise. / The main objective of this research is to identify the contributing and limiting factors for social businesses in the Brazilian South and Southeast regions. The specific objectives are: (a) to describe the key existing social business conceptual models, making explicit their similarities and differences; (b) to identify the perception of the main players in the field of social business in the Brazilian South and Southeast regions; and (c) to develop an analytical framework with the main analysis dimensions, contributing and limiting factor. It was a two phases exploratory research, qualitative with a direct approach, with descriptive-interpretative analysis. On the first phase, the focus was on a documental research, on the second, the focus was on thirty-six semi-structured interviews with the main players in the field – entrepreneurs, their teams, and supporting organizations. The collected data processed according to the content analysis technique, and the results are presented in descriptive format, being sintetized in the analytical framework. The result were eight contributing factors and eighteen limiting factors, spread across five analytical dimensions.

Raising the bar in safety performance is a critical challenge for many organizations. Contributing factor taxonomies organize information on why accidents occur. Therefore, they are essential elements of accident investigations and safety reporting systems. Organizations must balance efforts to identify causes of specific accidents with efforts to evaluate systemic safety issues in order to become more proactive about improving safety. This research successfully addressed two problems: (1) limited methods and metrics exist to support the design of effective taxonomies, and (2) influence relationships between contributing factors are not explicitly modeled within a taxonomy. The primary result of the taxonomic relationship modeling efforts was an innovative "dual role" contributing factor taxonomy with significant improvements in comprehensiveness and diagnosticity over existing taxonomies. The influence map methodology was the result of a unique graphical and analytical combination of the dual role taxonomy and influence relationship models. Influence maps were developed for several safety incidents at Kennedy Space Center. An independent assessment was conducted by a team of experts using the new dual role taxonomy and influence chain methodology to evaluate the accuracy and completeness of contributing factors identified during the formal incident investigations. One hundred and sixteen contributing factors were identified using the influence map methodology. Only 16% of these contributing factors were accurately identified with traditional tools, and over half of the 116 contributing factors were completely unaddressed by the findings and recommendations of the formal incident reports. The new methodology is being applied to improve spaceport operations and enhance designs of future NASA launch systems.

It is evident from the past forty years of research, debate and literature that the New World was far more populated in 1492 than was previously thought. However, despite the expanding field of study most works omit the effects that epidemics had on the tribes of the Great Plains, particularly those located in present-day Canada, and the works that have been published deal mainly with demographics and fail to delve into how disease affected intertribal relations. As well, almost all studies of disease and the Great Plains tribes end by 1850 or start in 1880. Therefore, the decades from 1860 through to the 1870s are largely ignored and become even more of a mystery when considering the fact that the eventual subjugation of the Plains Natives soon came when the Numbered Treaties commenced in 1871.<p>The omission of research on epidemics from 1860 to 1880 has left historians to concentrate on other reasons for the collapse of the Plains lifestyle, primarily the disappearance of the buffalo, which was crucial to Native existence in the parkland/grassland regions. Although this was obviously a very important factor in weakening warrior societies on the Plains, it was by no means the sole factor. In fact, the smallpox epidemic of 1870-71 and its after effects played an important role in debilitating Native nations, especially great tribes like the Plains Cree in present-day Saskatchewan. Food supplies could not be maintained and starvation became prevalent throughout the Great Plains in the winter of 1870-71. Malnutrition certainly would also have led to further secondary complications such as fertility problems and pulmonary illnesses, such as pneumonia, which would have contributed to the impact of the epidemic through a continued loss of population and disruption of intertribal functioning. Through analysis of the consequences of this epidemic on the Plains Cree it becomes increasingly apparent that disease played a much greater role in leading Natives towards treaty negotiations and settlement than has been formerly thought. This is not to say that epidemics in themselves were the main reason for the collapse of the Plains Cree culture, but rather they deserve to be included along with the traditional causes such as the disappearance of the buffalo.

It is evident from the past forty years of research, debate and literature that the New World was far more populated in 1492 than was previously thought. However, despite the expanding field of study most works omit the effects that epidemics had on the tribes of the Great Plains, particularly those located in present-day Canada, and the works that have been published deal mainly with demographics and fail to delve into how disease affected intertribal relations. As well, almost all studies of disease and the Great Plains tribes end by 1850 or start in 1880. Therefore, the decades from 1860 through to the 1870s are largely ignored and become even more of a mystery when considering the fact that the eventual subjugation of the Plains Natives soon came when the Numbered Treaties commenced in 1871.<p>The omission of research on epidemics from 1860 to 1880 has left historians to concentrate on other reasons for the collapse of the Plains lifestyle, primarily the disappearance of the buffalo, which was crucial to Native existence in the parkland/grassland regions. Although this was obviously a very important factor in weakening warrior societies on the Plains, it was by no means the sole factor. In fact, the smallpox epidemic of 1870-71 and its after effects played an important role in debilitating Native nations, especially great tribes like the Plains Cree in present-day Saskatchewan. Food supplies could not be maintained and starvation became prevalent throughout the Great Plains in the winter of 1870-71. Malnutrition certainly would also have led to further secondary complications such as fertility problems and pulmonary illnesses, such as pneumonia, which would have contributed to the impact of the epidemic through a continued loss of population and disruption of intertribal functioning. Through analysis of the consequences of this epidemic on the Plains Cree it becomes increasingly apparent that disease played a much greater role in leading Natives towards treaty negotiations and settlement than has been formerly thought. This is not to say that epidemics in themselves were the main reason for the collapse of the Plains Cree culture, but rather they deserve to be included along with the traditional causes such as the disappearance of the buffalo.