The purpose of the study was to identify and describe the approach and strategies used to downsize a mental health organization. This ethnographic study was conducted at a psychiatric hospital that is beginning the 4th year of a 10 year downsizing plan. Data were gathered through interviews, informal observations, and field documents. This research design facilitated an understanding of the phenomenon in the context of the practices and beliefs of the executive management team. Semistructured interviews were conducted with six executive and four middle managers who were involved in the downsizing decision making process. Freeman and Cameron's (1993) definition of downsizing was broadened to encompass not-for-profit reasons for downsizing. Cameron's (1994) downsizing model was supported and an additional best practice called alignment of purpose was proposed in which the leadership of an organization attempts to align the stakeholders with similar goals and objectives for downsizing. The emotional process of downsizing emerged as a key area to address concurrently with job security and other more pragmatic consequences of downsizing. Empathy was suggested as one method of dealing with the emotional process of downsizing. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

A Dissertation submitted to the Psychology Department, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfillment of the course of the Degree of Bachelor of Arts with Masters in Industrial Psychology. / The aim of this research was to, firstly, explore the relationship between psychological contract breach and organisational commitment, and to examine the extent to which trust mediates this relationship. Secondly, the research aimed to develop and validate a scale to measure psychological contract breach. Data was collected from a large organisation that had completed nation-wide retrenchments. The quantitative sample population consisted of 84 employees in the organisation, while 10 members of the organisation were interviewed to obtain qualitative information. A cross-sectional design was used and data was collected by means of questionnaires and interviews. The process of triangulation was used to provide a deeper understanding of the relationship being assessed. The psychological contract breach scale was analysed by means of a factor analysis and was found to be valid, and the reliability was found to be satisfactory. The results of the study showed that there is a negative relationship between psychological contract breach and organisational commitment and that trust does not appear to mediate this relationship. Explanations for the findings are offered, and the theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed. Finally, limitations of this study and directions for future research are presented. / Andrew Chakane 2018

Text in Afrikaans / Hoë werkloosheid het 'n permanente kenmerk van die moderne samelweing geword en daarom word daar huidiglik baie aandag geskenk aan die psigologiese impak van werkloosheid op die werklose persoon en sy gesin. Die teoretiese benadering van hierdie studie is dat werksverlies 'n stresvolle lewensgebeurtenis is waarvan die impak binne 'n sistemiese benadering bestudeer is. Die kwalitatiewe navorsingsmetode is gevolg. Die navorsingsresultate is verkry deur in-diepte onderhoude te voer met agt blanke getroude pare. Die resultate van die onderhoude is vergelyk met bestaande navorsing oor die impak van onwillekeurige werksverlies op die individu en sy gesin. Resultate dui daarop dat werksverlies 'n verpletterende ervaring is vir sommige pare terwyl dit in ander huwelikke lei tot groter intimiteit en persoonlike groei. Veranderlikes wat vir hierdie verskille verantwoordelik is, word geidentifiseer. Implikasies vir toekomstige navorsing word bespreek. / High unemployment has become a permanent feature of modern-day society. As a result there has been an increased interest in the psychological impact of involuntary job loss on the individual and his family. The theoretical appraoch of this study is that job loss is a stressful life event which is studies within the subsystem of the family. The research design is the qualitative method that was executed by conducting depth interviews with eight white couples. The results of the interviews were compared with those of previous research relating to the impact of involuntary job loss on the individual and his family. Results show that job loss is a devastating experience for some couples while other couples experience it as a opportunity for personal growth and increased intimacy in the relationship. Factors that account for these differences are identified. Implications for future research are discussed. / Psychology / M.A. (Sielkundige Navorsing)

M.Phil. / The Social Plan is an alternative retrenchment process to section 189 of the Labour Relations Act No. 66 of 1995 as amended. When the now defunct Mpumalanga Development Corporation was dismantled in 1997, following the speech of the then Premier of the Province, of the 5 th December 1996, South Africa saw the Social Plan route being followed for the first time in its short democratic history. While the Social plan is the better of the two routes, it still looks good on paper, but has been let down by the trade unions, the employers, the development corporations and the individual beneficiaries themselves in this case. The sad part of this is that the Government departments and the development corporations are the custodians of the objectives sought and enshrined in the Social plan. Their failure to observe this fact and live up to the expectations it genders is itself an indictment on these stakeholders. The dissertation deals with the deeper analysis and findings of the events and the omissions that took place in pursuit of the implementation of this novel concept in a real life situation. Definite recommendations are made within the text that contributes to how the effort can be rescued for the benefit of the retrenchees and the economy as a whole. The approach in this work has taken the form of a literature review as well as a field survey. The field survey did not yield a very high sample, but 20 respondents, who are former employees who were retrenched following the Social Plan route, were interviewed. These respondents had been located in the former KwaNdebele and former KaNgwane regions of the Mpumalanga Province. The main problem that resulted in this research was that the country as a whole is suffering a very high rate of unemployed at 37.5% (according to the 2001 Census Report) in the Mpumalanga Province. While that needs some attention, there is an increase in the retrenchments coming as a result of various global and domestic factors. These collectively impact the employment situation more adversely than positively. The social plan being one tool chosen to alleviate the problems identified in its own self contained rationale for being, has failed to live up to the expectations of all the stakeholders affected by it. The experience of the stakeholders in the first attempt to implement the social plan, have defeated the very objectives of the social plan, which include, inter alia, the following: a ...to avoid job losses and employment decline wherever possible. In cases where large job losses are unavoidable, it would seek to actively manage retrenchments and ameliorate their effects on individuals and local economies". The findings in this study revealed that the social plan rather deepened the problem and exacerbated rather than alleviated it. This adversity is not due to the nature of the social plan as an approach and a route to meeting the aims of its creation. It is rather reflective of the way and attitude with which parties to the social plan failed to apply their best abilities and efforts in its application. The dissertation also touches on entrepreneurships, Post employment and the currently raging broad based black economic empowerment drive that has taken the country by storm in various sectors. The attempt by this drive is to address the possible acceleration of the integration of black people into business at all levels and not just at SMMEs or post employment. One could say the whole BBBEE drive seeks to address even the pre-employment era in the life of a black South African.

Text in Afrikaans / Hoë werkloosheid het 'n permanente kenmerk van die moderne samelweing geword en daarom word daar huidiglik baie aandag geskenk aan die psigologiese impak van werkloosheid op die werklose persoon en sy gesin. Die teoretiese benadering van hierdie studie is dat werksverlies 'n stresvolle lewensgebeurtenis is waarvan die impak binne 'n sistemiese benadering bestudeer is. Die kwalitatiewe navorsingsmetode is gevolg. Die navorsingsresultate is verkry deur in-diepte onderhoude te voer met agt blanke getroude pare. Die resultate van die onderhoude is vergelyk met bestaande navorsing oor die impak van onwillekeurige werksverlies op die individu en sy gesin. Resultate dui daarop dat werksverlies 'n verpletterende ervaring is vir sommige pare terwyl dit in ander huwelikke lei tot groter intimiteit en persoonlike groei. Veranderlikes wat vir hierdie verskille verantwoordelik is, word geidentifiseer. Implikasies vir toekomstige navorsing word bespreek. / High unemployment has become a permanent feature of modern-day society. As a result there has been an increased interest in the psychological impact of involuntary job loss on the individual and his family. The theoretical appraoch of this study is that job loss is a stressful life event which is studies within the subsystem of the family. The research design is the qualitative method that was executed by conducting depth interviews with eight white couples. The results of the interviews were compared with those of previous research relating to the impact of involuntary job loss on the individual and his family. Results show that job loss is a devastating experience for some couples while other couples experience it as a opportunity for personal growth and increased intimacy in the relationship. Factors that account for these differences are identified. Implications for future research are discussed. / Psychology / M.A. (Sielkundige Navorsing)

Submitted by Milena Rubi (milenarubi@ufscar.br) on 2017-02-15T13:09:47Z No. of bitstreams: 1 SILVA_Daniela_2016.pdf: 80229234 bytes, checksum: b31611b87e5042713f6fb30cf6fd48ff (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Milena Rubi (milenarubi@ufscar.br) on 2017-02-15T13:10:02Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 SILVA_Daniela_2016.pdf: 80229234 bytes, checksum: b31611b87e5042713f6fb30cf6fd48ff (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Milena Rubi (milenarubi@ufscar.br) on 2017-02-15T13:10:08Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 SILVA_Daniela_2016.pdf: 80229234 bytes, checksum: b31611b87e5042713f6fb30cf6fd48ff (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-02-15T13:10:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 SILVA_Daniela_2016.pdf: 80229234 bytes, checksum: b31611b87e5042713f6fb30cf6fd48ff (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-05-16 / Não recebi financiamento / This research analyzes the work of the operators of a converter substation of electricity from the interior, which can be considered exhausting due to the operating modes that are intrinsic in their daily lives. The objective seeks to identify the impacts caused by organizational changes on the work of people and the system performance due to reduced staff started in 2011. The methodology used was a case study outlined by the Activity Ergonomics of Work. The results indicated that before the staff reduction procedures were performed more safely and accompanied by aspects related to learning issues and recognition of operators. It was concluded that changes in work organization impacted in accelerating the scrapping of the equipment and the precariousness of the work of operators. / Esta pesquisa analisa o trabalho dos operadores de uma subestação conversora de energia elétrica do interior paulista, que pode ser considerado desgastante devido aos modos operatórios que estão intrínsecos no seu cotidiano. Como objetivo busca identificar quais os impactos causados pelas mudanças organizacionais sobre o trabalho das pessoas e no desempenho do sistema, advindo principalmente da redução da equipe, iniciada em 2011. A metodologia aplicada foi um estudo de caso delineado pela Análise Ergonômica do Trabalho. Os resultados indicaram que antes da redução de pessoal os procedimentos eram executados de forma mais segura e acompanhados de aspectos relacionados a questões de aprendizado e reconhecimento dos operadores. Concluiu-se que as mudanças na organização do trabalho impactaram na aceleração do sucateamento dos equipamentos e na precarização do trabalho dos operadores.

Common law does recognise the concept of dismissal based on operational requirements. It recognises dismissals that are based on breach of expressed or implied terms of contract of employment. The concept of operational requirements has its roots in the Labour Relations Act 28 of 1956. This Act recognised termination of employment of a number of employees due to ability, capacity, productivity, conduct and operational requirements and needs of undertaking industry trade or occupation of the employer as legitimate. Under the 1956 LRA, employers were allowed to dismiss employees if employees refused to accept the proposed change to conditions of employment. The dismissal is called lock-out dismissal. This kind of dismissal entitled employers to dismiss employees on condition that the dismissal was temporary and the workers would be re-employed when they agree to the demands of the employer. After the contract of employment was terminated between the employer and employees, the employer was allowed to implement the changes using scab labour. The 1995 Labour Relations Act introduced section 187(1)(c) that was intended to re-enforce the abolishing of the lock-out dismissal. This section strictly forbids the dismissal of employees in order to compel them to accept demands of the employer in matters of mutual interest. Such dismissals are regarded as automatically unfair. In terms of section 64(4) of the 1995 LRA employers are not permitted to unilaterally effect changes to employees’ terms and conditions of employment. They are required to seek and obtain consent of the affected employees. If employees refuse to accept the proposed changes, the employer can use lock-out as defence. Firstly, the employer can initiate lock-out until employees accede to its demand. Secondly, the employer can lock-out employees in response to the notice of strike or strike of the employees. The employer can use scab labour during this lock-out period. Unlike the lock-out dismissal, lock-out under the 1995 LRA does not include termination of contract of employment. iv In contrast, employers are allowed to dismiss employees who refuse to agree to change to their terms and conditions of employment on the ground of operational requirements provided a fair procedure is followed. This reason for dismissal is not viewed by the courts as a dismissal to induce employees to accept the demand of the employer. The question that this study seeks to examine is the relationship between automatic unfair dismissal in terms of section 187(1)(c) of the Labour Relations Act and dismissal for operational requirements. A dispute between the employer and employees regarding change to terms and conditions of employment is a mutual interest dispute; and it therefore falls under collective bargaining. The same dispute can easily fall to rights dispute, because the reason for the proposed change to the production system and demand to the pursuit of improved efficiency and better achievement of profit objective related to operational requirement. There is obvious overlap between operational requirements and wage work bargaining. In Schoeman v Samsung Electronics, the court held that the employer is entitled to run its business in a prosperous way and this may entail affecting changes to terms and conditions of employment when the market forces demand so. In Mwasa v Independent Newspapers, the court held that change to terms and conditions of service of an employee can be proposed as a way to avoid retrenchment; dismissal of employees for refusing to accept the change is not covered by section 187(1)(c). In Fry’s Metals v Numsa, the court has rejected the notion that there is tension between section 187(1)(c) and section 188(1)(a)(ii). The court held that section 186(1) refers to dismissal or termination of workforce with the intention to end the employment contract and replacing the workforce with employees that are prepared to accept terms and conditions of employment that suit the employer’s operational requirements. The court argued further that the meaning of dismissal should be a v starting point when one wants to dispute the two sections. On the other hand, section 187(1)(c) was effected with a certain purpose, which is to prohibit the employer from dismissing employees in order to compel them to accept its demand in dispute of mutual interest. The court held that the dismissal in this case was final. The employer dismissed its employees because it did not need them anymore. This dismissal is in accordance with section 186(1). The court rejected that operational requirements is confirmed to saving business from bankruptcy. The court argued that the principle includes measures calculated to increase efficiency and profitability. The employer can dismiss and make more profit.

M. Tech. (Department of Labour Relations Management, Faculty of Management Sciences), Vaal University of Technology. / In the decade before 2005, South African organisations have had to cope with an ever-increasing rate of local and global changes. There have been considerable and ongoing socio-political changes, resulting from new Government regulations. Most organisations have experienced some type of downturn, whether due to external business factors or poor internal performance. A typical response to organisational decline is retrenchment. Retrenchment is attributed to cyclical downturns, market losses or other economic factors, which oblige the employer to reduce the labour force numbers. Though there are so many ways of responding to organisational failure, this study focused only on retrenchment. A number of psychologists and human sciences researchers have studied the results of job loss due to retrenchment. Retrenchment brings loss of skills, loss of morale and commitment, as well as physical and mental health degradation, including stress that results in employees withdrawing physically and emotionally. The main purpose of this study was to outline the employees’ perceptions of the effects of retrenchment on job stress and organisational commitment in a mining company. The research methodology used in this study is a combination of a literature review and an empirical study. The probability sampling technique, which entails using simple random sampling, was used to select the sample of the study. The primary data were collected using a questionnaire. The measuring instrument contained 43 items. The measuring instrument was pilot-tested with 50 respondents three weeks before the main survey; the questionnaire was self-administered to the participants. For the main survey, data from 294 respondents were collected and analysed. Participants in the study involved surface employees, including management, administrators, engineers and artisans. Data were analysed with the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23.0. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficients of the various sections of the measuring instrument were computed to establish construct validity. Content validity was ascertained by pre-testing the questionnaire with the employees in the mine in question. Correlations were used to establish convergent validity of the constructs. Convergent validity was assessed to measure the degree of linear association of variables using Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Discriminant validity was achieved by using regression analysis to show items loaded onto different factors in various sections which had more than one factor. Analysis was done using descriptive statistics on the demographic information of respondents. The results were also interpreted through correlation and regression analysis. The results showed that the effects of retrenchment did not have a negative impact on job stress (time stress and anxiety). This may be due to the mine in question planning and consulting with the employees prior to the retrenchment process. The results also showed that job stress (time stress and anxiety) is negatively associated with organisational commitment. Subsequent to these findings, it is recommended that employees (survivors) be updated on their future in the company in question. This could be done through regular workshops and counselling of employees. In order to motivate and engage employees, and thereby contribute to employee commitment, it was also recommended that organisations create open, supportive and fair organisational and team cultures, and ensure jobs are clearly aligned with organisational goals and have appropriate levels of autonomy, support and career development. Given that job satisfaction plays a huge role in organisational commitment, it was further recommended that managers need to actively improve their organisation’s job satisfaction to employees in order to achieve a higher level of organisational commitment. The study concludes by recommending that communication between employees and management should take place on a regular basis which can serve as a fundamental tool to retrenchment in the following manner:  Survivors will feel more committed to the organisation when the basis of retrenchment addresses the circumstances in the external environment, rather than the enrichment of shareholders or top management.  Communicating a clear vision of how retrenchment will benefit stakeholders, increases commitment since survivors can see a clear future for the organisation.  When survivors are treated with dignity and respect, they will feel more committed to the organisation because they feel appreciated.

D.Phil. (Sociology) / In this thesis I am examining the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) and Solidarity‘s responses to technological changes at the ArcelorMittal (formerly known as Iron and Steel Corporation of South Africa (Iscor)) Vanderbijlpark Plant in the south of the Gauteng province between 1989 and 2012. As part of the restructuring plans of the Apartheid government, Iscor South Africa was privatised in 1989. At that time the plant was also in a process of restructuring, which included technological changes and work reorganisation, the objective of which was to prepare Iscor South Africa and the plant for competing in a global steel market. Therefore the subsequent technological changes in the plant were also part of the plant‘s positioning in the global competition of the steel market. The ownership of the plant by ArcelorMittal International after 2006 meant that the plant was fully integrated into the global steel market because it became part of the other global plants of the ArcelorMittal International Group in other parts of the world. Technological changes and work reorganisation led to a massive displacement of workers at Iscor South Africa. For example, in 1988, Iscor had about 59 000 employees and this number was reduced to about 9 300 employees in 2010. The key objective of the thesis is to conduct a sociological analysis of trade union responses to the technological changes at ArcelorMittal Vanderbijlpark Plant. One of the discoveries of this thesis is that both trade unions – Solidarity and NUMSA- were not proactive in responding to technological changes at the plant. They argued for more consultation on technological changes, training, and deployment of workers who had been displaced by machines, work reorganisation, and retrenchment packages for retrenched workers. Solidarity, a predominantly white workers‘ union, with its skilled workforce did not use its membership‘s strategic location at the point of production to help it proactively to respond to technological changes. On the other hand, NUMSA, a predominantly black union which was part of a vibrant antiapartheid movement with traditions of grooming worker intellectuals, did not respond proactively to technological changes at the plant.Even after the wave of restructuring and technological changes of the 1990s to early 2000s, both unions did not move away from a reactive approach towards a proactive approach to production technology. The two unions did not combine reproduction and production issues in their bargaining strategies. The unions were still focusing on wages or reproduction as a strategy of engaging factory owners. Production in the form of technological changes and work reorganisation was not being addressed by the union and yet changes in production processes play a major role in determining the number of workers in a plant and the profile of the workforce as shown in this thesis. The reactive responses of both trade unions and a focus on wages is theorised as reproduction reductionism. This means that unions tend to focus on wages and other spheres of income such as politics of ‗upward mobility‘ which play a central role in reproducing workers and their leaders. The focus on these issues means that the unions are prioritising reproduction over production. This then leads to management of the plant having free reign in the sphere of production and technological changes.

Submitted by Milena Rubi (milenarubi@ufscar.br) on 2016-10-17T12:15:05Z No. of bitstreams: 1 BENATTI_Glauco_2016.pdf: 4657385 bytes, checksum: c8b25df3de46eef54924ed992b7bf785 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Milena Rubi (milenarubi@ufscar.br) on 2016-10-17T12:15:44Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 BENATTI_Glauco_2016.pdf: 4657385 bytes, checksum: c8b25df3de46eef54924ed992b7bf785 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Milena Rubi (milenarubi@ufscar.br) on 2016-10-17T12:15:55Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 BENATTI_Glauco_2016.pdf: 4657385 bytes, checksum: c8b25df3de46eef54924ed992b7bf785 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-10-17T12:16:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 BENATTI_Glauco_2016.pdf: 4657385 bytes, checksum: c8b25df3de46eef54924ed992b7bf785 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-26 / Não recebi financiamento / This paper presents a case study on the restructuring process of a Brazilian operation of a century-old Fortune 500 American multinational manufacturer of industrial equipment. The focus of the work lies with the dissonance between discourse and the result of that process, raising the hypothesis that capital market pressure is behind such restructuring. The annual reports of this company portray the restructuring as a recurring corporate strategy, through which the company seeks to boost confidence in the capital market itself and its ability to deliver better results (or reverse bad ones) without, however, such results are achieved in fact, as this case study aims to show. This institutional literature proved to be a flagship tool company speech aimed at telling the actors of the capital market, stories about the strategies set in motion in defense of the interests of shareholders. The examination of such documents for this case study revealed that these strategies unfold in sometimes more tangible actions, sometimes more performing ones and, while restructuring proved to be more performing actions; the strategy of acquisitions / divestiments in series proved to be the most tangible ones. / Este trabalho apresenta um estudo de caso sobre o processo de reestruturação da operação brasileira de uma multinacional americana centenária, fabricante de equipamentos industriais e presente na Fortune 500. O foco do trabalho recai sobre a dissonância entre o discurso e o resultado desse processo, levantando a hipótese de que a pressão do mercado de capitais esteja por trás de tal reestruturação. Os relatórios anuais desta empresa retratam a reestruturação como uma estratégia corporativa recorrente, através da qual, a empresa busca reforçar a confiança do mercado de capitais em si e em sua capacidade de oferecer melhores resultados (ou reverter os ruins), sem que, no entanto, tais resultados sejam alcançados de fato, como o presente estudo de caso pretende mostrar. Tal literatura institucional revelou-se uma ferramenta emblemática do discurso da empresa que visa contar aos atores do mercado de capitais, histórias sobre as estratégias colocadas em movimento em defesa dos interesses dos acionistas. O exame de tais documentos para este estudo de caso revelou que tais estratégias se desdobram em ações ora mais tangíveis, ora mais performáticas sendo que, enquanto as reestruturações se revelaram ações mais performáticas, a estratégia de aquisições / alienações em série revelaram-se as mais tangíveis.