Organisations in the chemical industry face many demands. They have to distinguish themselves from their competitors in the market through technological advancement, market changes and the constant drive to be the best. Other demands include political pressures, e.g. employment equity and diversity management. Furthermore they have to attempt to reduce costs as well as to increase productivity. These pressures may have either a negative or positive effect on employees which could in turn impact on their energy and motivation. Higher job demands and a lack of job resources could result in high levels of exhaustion, demotivation, dissatisfaction and disengagement. Job demands refer to those physical, psychological or organisational aspects of the job that require specific effort and are associated with physiological and psychological costs. Job resources refer to the aspects of the job that may be functional in meeting task requirements and may reduce the physiological and psychological costs; they may also stimulate growth as well as the development of an individual. The objective of this study was to test a structural model of work-related well-being showing the relationships amongst the variables of job demands, job resources, exhaustion, mental distance, vitality, work devotion, health and organisational commitment. A cross-sectional survey design was used. The participants (JV=265) included employees working for a business within the chemical industry. The South-African Employee Health and Wellness Survey (SAEHWS) was used to gather data on the work-related well-being of employees. Descriptive statistics, Cronbach's alpha coefficients, correlation coefficients and structural equation modelling were used to analyse the data. The results indicated that high job demands and insufficient job resources resulted in high levels of burnout (exhaustion and mental distance), which led to physical and psychological ill health. Adequate job resources on the other hand resulted in work-related well-being (low burnout and high work engagement), which in turn resulted in organisational commitment. Growth opportunities within the job and organisational support played an important role in the well-being of the employees. Recommendations for future research were made. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Magister Commercii (Industrial Psychology) - MCom(IPS) / The primary objective of the study was to gain a deeper understanding of the impact of job resources and job demands on work engagement and employee turnover intentions within the IT division of a South African bank. The Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model was applied as theoretical framework to identify the unique job resources and job demands driving work engagement and turnover intentions of employees within this highly specialised section of the South African banking industry. Quantitative data was collected from 239 IT professionals via a self-administered, web-based survey comprising of four sections. Participation in the survey was voluntary, anonymous and confidential. The first section of the survey consisted of gathering of the participants’ biographical and employment information. The subsequent sections provided a measurement of the specific latent variables using valid and reliable measuring instruments, including the the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES-17) designed by Schaufeli, Salanova, González-Romá and Bakker (2002), the Job Demands- Resources Scale (Jackson & Rothmann, 2005), and Roodt’s (2004) Turnover Intentions Scale (TIS).

Th is study was limited to 165 farmers involved in various segments of production agriculture in the state of Utah. County agents and vocational agriculture teachers in each county nominated these farmers as candidates according to their respective farming operations. The following six defined areas of production agriculture were used as selection criteria to insure equal input in the study: Beef, Dairy, Swine , Sheep, Poultry, and Crops. All farmers were surveyed by means of persona l interviews conducted by either county agents or vocational agriculture instructors in their respective counties. The surveying instrument used was developed through a thorough review of the National Agricultural Competency Study list of skill quest ions. Farmers were asked to rank on a likert-type scale, the importance each skill had on their operation. Farmers· were also asked to reply yes or no to whether or not they needed additional training in each skill area. Eleven categories of competencies were-used in the study in an attempt to highlight all areas of production agriculture. Data were compiled and a Burroughs 6700 computer was utilized for program evaluation to find means, rankings, ranges, and frequencies. A review of the study revealed that: 1. Over one- third of all farmers surveyed terminated their formal education after high school . This places a great deal of emphasis on high school agriculture curriculum as well as adult education programs. 2. Many areas of production agriculture have overlapping areas of skills and competencies. 3. There is a commonality of competencies needed by all those entering the production agriculture industry. 4. Areas of anima l health, equipment maintenance, soil preparation, and planting as well as legal practices and safety precautions, all placed very high in ranks of importance throughout the study. 5. Most employment figures are projected to remain relatively constant with a 10% or less fluctuation projected over a five-year period. The only exception is that of part-time non-family employees which shows a decrease of 18%. 6. One-hundred-ten of the one-hundred- fourteen competencies surveyed in the study were considered to be of some importance to the agriculture industry.

Today, increases in expenditures are creating tremendous strains on the financial resources of state and local governments. As these demands for services increase, the state and local governments continuously find their financial resources incapable of bending to meet these needs. Currently state and local governments together combined spend twice as much as the federal government to provide public services to the citizens. Education, roads, welfare, public health, hospitals, police, sanitation are all state and local responsibilities with the cost of providing these services falling primarily upon state and local sources of revenue. Consequently, state and local taxes have been raised almost to the saturation point and the bases of old taxes have had to be enlarged. / Master of Arts

No description available.

Hög arbetsbelastning har i tidigare forskning lyfts fram som särskilt påtagligt i skolkuratorers arbetsmiljö. Yrkesrollen beskrivs som ensam och på grund av komplexa arbetsuppgifter finns inte tid för främjande och förebyggande arbete. Studiens syfte var att undersöka hur skolkuratorer upplever sin organisatoriska och sociala arbetsmiljö. Semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes med 11 skolkuratorer i åldrarna 26-57 år. Materialet analyserades med tematisk analys. Den teoretiska utgångspunkten var krav- och resursmodellen. Resultatet visade att skolkuratorerna upplevde ansvar över ett stort antal elevärenden vilket gav upphov till kvantitativa krav, samt komplexa arbetsuppgifter som krävde stor kognitiv ansträngning. Dessutom hade skolkuratorerna en otydlig arbetsbeskrivning och upplevde rollkonflikt. Gällande resurser upplevde skolkuratorerna gott socialt stöd från kollegor och genom handledning, samt emotionellt stöd från ledningen. Ytterligare framträdande resurser var upplevd autonomi och återkoppling från elever. Trots en jämn fördelning mellan antalet funna krav och resurser beskrevs kraven som något tyngre vilket resulterade i en obalanserad arbetsmiljö.

Tidigare forskning har visat att det finns mellanchefer som anser att deras arbetsrelaterade stress är relaterad till krav från både över- och underordnade (Skagert, Dellve, Eklöf, Ljung, Pousette & Ahlborg, 2004). Syftet med den föreliggande studien var att i en offentlig organisation undersöka om mellanchefers upplevda arbetskrav från över- och underordnade har samband med deras upplevda arbetsrelaterade stressnivå. Följande frågeställning formulerades: I vilken grad kan upplevda arbetskrav från överordnade, underordnade, ålder och antal år som mellanchef predicera grad av upplevd arbetsrelaterad stress. Deltagarna i studien var 63 mellanchefer, varav 52 kvinnor och 11 män. Resultatet visade att upplevda arbetskrav från underordnade var den enda oberoende variabeln som statistiskt signifikant predicerade uplevd arbetsrelaterad stress. Antal år som mellanchef hade en negativ statistiskt signifikant korrelation med upplevd arbetsrelaterad stress. Dessa resultat var delvis i linje med presenterad teori och tidigare forskning. / Previous research has shown that middle managers believe that their work-related stress is connected to the demands from both superiors and subordinates (Skagert, Dellve, Eklöf, Heather, Pousette & Ahlborg, 2004). The aim of the present study was to in a public organization investigate whether the middle managers perceived job demands from superiors and subordinates are related to their perceived work-related stress level. The following research question was formulated: To what extent can the perceived job demands from superiors, subordinates, age and number of years as middle manager predict levels of perceived work-related stress. Participants in the study consisted of 63 middle managers (52 women and 11 men). The results showed that perceived job demands from subordinates were the only independent variable that statistically significantly predicted perceived work-related stress. Number of years as middle manager had a negative statistically significant correlation with perceived work-related stress. These results were partially in line with the presented theory and previous research.

Nursing in South Africa has become a difficult and stressful profession. Nurses are faced with many challenges on a daily basis, including; heavy workloads, shortages of staff, lack of resources and reduced managerial support (Von Holdt & Murphy, 2007). The demands of their job exceed the resources they have to cope with, which in turn, leads to conflict, which ultimately affects their wellbeing. The objective of this is research is to investigate the most and least employed conflict handling styles of nurses in public hospitals and to investigate the relationship between job demands, job resources and the different conflict handling styles, among nurses in public hospitals. A cross-sectional survey design was used. A convenience sample of nursing staff (N=205) was taken from three different public hospitals on the West Rand area in the Gauteng province. The following scales were used in this study: Rahim‟s Organisational Conflict Inventory (ROCI-II) and a self-developed job characteristics questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, Cronbach Alpha Coefficients and inferential statistics such as; MANOVAS, ANOVAS, product-moment correlations and standard regression analysis were used to analyse the data using the SPSS programme. The results indicated that nurses used the integrating style most frequently and used the dominating style least when dealing with a conflict situation. Furthermore, time demands, crisis management and colleague support predicted an avoiding style; while, workload, time demands, job security, feedback and colleague support predicted the use of an integrating style. The obliging conflict handling style was predicted by time demands and payment; workload, crisis management and payment predicted the use of a dominating style and finally, colleague support predicted the use of a compromising style. Further discussion and recommendations were made for future research and for the nursing profession in general. One of the recommendations is that a model can be constructed to help prevent or reduce conflict within public hospitals. / MCom (Labour Relations Management), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Nursing in South Africa has become a difficult and stressful profession. Nurses are faced with many challenges on a daily basis, including; heavy workloads, shortages of staff, lack of resources and reduced managerial support (Von Holdt & Murphy, 2007). The demands of their job exceed the resources they have to cope with, which in turn, leads to conflict, which ultimately affects their wellbeing. The objective of this is research is to investigate the most and least employed conflict handling styles of nurses in public hospitals and to investigate the relationship between job demands, job resources and the different conflict handling styles, among nurses in public hospitals. A cross-sectional survey design was used. A convenience sample of nursing staff (N=205) was taken from three different public hospitals on the West Rand area in the Gauteng province. The following scales were used in this study: Rahim‟s Organisational Conflict Inventory (ROCI-II) and a self-developed job characteristics questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, Cronbach Alpha Coefficients and inferential statistics such as; MANOVAS, ANOVAS, product-moment correlations and standard regression analysis were used to analyse the data using the SPSS programme. The results indicated that nurses used the integrating style most frequently and used the dominating style least when dealing with a conflict situation. Furthermore, time demands, crisis management and colleague support predicted an avoiding style; while, workload, time demands, job security, feedback and colleague support predicted the use of an integrating style. The obliging conflict handling style was predicted by time demands and payment; workload, crisis management and payment predicted the use of a dominating style and finally, colleague support predicted the use of a compromising style. Further discussion and recommendations were made for future research and for the nursing profession in general. One of the recommendations is that a model can be constructed to help prevent or reduce conflict within public hospitals. / MCom (Labour Relations Management), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 18-21, 2004 / Town & Country Resort, San Diego, California / The system architecture of an onboard FTI-System is specifically designed to fulfil highly demanding flight test requirements. Since these flight test requirements are steadily increasing with the growing complexity of test aircraft and mission systems, a corresponding improvement in the performance of the FTI-Systems is mandatory to satisfy those flight test demands. In addition, the individual test flights have to provide the maximum of flight test data obtainable in order to improve test efficiency and to cut project costs. Increased performance, miniaturisation, more reduced design and installation costs are the challenges for future system architectures. The developments of commercial and consumer electronics have an increasing influence on the layout of FTI-Systems.