Syfte: Syftet med studien är att öka förståelsen för vilka yttre faktorer som är av betydelse för personalengagemang och hur dessa är av betydelse för personalengagemang enligt mellanchefer på medelstora till stora organisationer. Metod: Metodvalet för studien utgår från ett kvalitativt, socialkonstruktionistiska perspektiv med tio semistrukturerade intervjuer med mellanchefer på medelstora till stora organisationer. Det empiriska materialet har analyserats utifrån fyra olika teman för att sedan ställa de empiriska utfallen mot tidigare forskning för att på så vis öka förståelsen för vilka yttre faktorer som påverkar personalens grundläggande mänskliga behov som i sin tur är av betydelse för personalengagemang.  Bidrag: Personalengagemang är resultatet av en kedjereaktion i tre steg. Där yttre faktorer behöver tillfredsställa personalens grundläggande mänskliga behov som i sin tur är av betydelse för olika inre sinnestillstånd hos personalen.Det teoretiska bidraget lyfter fram att personalens grundläggande mänskliga behov samt de tre yttre faktorerna återhämtning, ledarskap och kommunikation är av betydelse för personalengagemang. Studien kom även fram till att ytterligare två yttre faktorer, tillit och frihet under eget ansvar, kan vara av betydelse för personalengagemang. Det praktiska bidraget består i att förse beslutsfattare inom organisationer med praktiska teorier för att bättre förstå och arbeta med personalengagemang.  Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Vi rekommenderar att framtida forskning utför validerande tester om de tre yttre faktorerna återhämtning, ledarskap och kommunikation utgör träffsäkra och pålitliga faktorer som är av betydelse för personalengagemang. Vi anser att det vore av intresse att vidare undersöka om de två yttre faktorerna tillit och frihet under eget ansvar har någon inverkan i att bibehålla fullt personalengagemang och om det kan finnas ett samband mellan dem och behovet av självförverkligande från Maslows (1943) behovstrappa. / Aim: The purpose of this thesis is to increase the understanding of which factors that are of importance for employee engagement and how they are of importance for employee engagement according to middle managers in medium-sized to large organizations.  Method: The choice of method for this thesis is based on a qualitative, social-constructive perspective based on ten semi-structured interviews with middle managers in medium-sized to large organizations. The empirical material has been analyzed on the basis of four different themes, where the empirical outcomes were compared to previous research in order to increase understanding of which external factors affect employee’s Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to then affect employee engagement. Contributions: Employee engagement seems to be the result of a three-step chain reaction. Where external factors need to satisfy the basic human needs of the employees, which in turn is of importance for different inner state of mind within the employees. The theoretical contribution emphasizes that employee’s basic human needs as well as the three external factors of recovery, leadership and communication are of importance for employee engagement. The study also concluded that two additional external factors, trust and freedom under one's own responsibility, may be of importance for employee engagement. The practical contribution consists in providing decision-makers within organizations with practical theories to better understand and work with employee engagement. Suggestions for future research: We recommend future researchers to conduct validating tests to affirm if the three external factors recovery, leadership and communication constitute accurate and reliable performance indicators of employee engagement. We believe it to be of interest to further investigate whether the two external factors trust and freedom to act under one’s own supervision have any correlation with maintaining a full level of employee engagement, and whether there exists a causality between them and the need of self-realization from Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.

Zusammenschlüsse über Firmengrenzen hinweg sind mit Risiken verbunden, besonders bei Einbindung von Mitarbeitern. Ein neu entwickeltes Frühwarnsystem ermöglicht ein rechtzeitiges Eingreifen in die Kooperationsprozesse, bevor eine erfolgsmindernde Wirkung einsetzen könnte. Es basiert auf Forschungsergebnissen zu Führung und Mitarbeitermotivation in Projektgruppen und orientiert sich an den Erfahrungen von Managern bei der Gestaltung interorganisationaler Zusammenarbeit. Die informationsund kommunikationstechnische Umsetzung dient dem ökonomischen orts- und zeitflexiblen Einsatz sowie einer schnellen Rückmeldung. Inzwischen wurde das Frühwarnsystem in verschiedenen Kooperationsprojekten eingesetzt und von den Beteiligten positiv angenommen.

Orientation: The employee engagement approach has been utilised to combat burnout in both private and public sector institutions. With increasing research, selfperceived employability is gaining popularity as an effective tool to reduce burnout in the contemporary world of work. Knowledge of the relationship between these three constructs is therefore important for public sector institutions and researchers in industrial and organisational psychology in South Africa. Research purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between burnout, employee engagement and self-perceived employability amongst employees in the South African public sector. Motivation for study: Numerous studies have highlighted the prevalence of poor service delivery in public sector institutions as linked to employees feeling disconnected from their work as a result of numerous burnout symptoms. A plethora of studies have emphasised the significance of employee engagement in reducing burnout. With increasing research, focus has also been on the employability construct as a tool to manage burnout in the ever-changing working environment and the labour market. Both employee engagement and self-perceived employability have been utilised as approaches to reduce burnout amongst employees. However, the relationship between these three constructs is unknown, and therefore the findings of this study will be crucial for both public sector institutions and researchers in industrial and organisational psychology in South Africa. Research design, approach and method: The researcher conducted a quantitative study. It involved a non-probability sample of 158 South African public sector employees. Correlational and descriptive statistical analyses were utilised to analyse the data. Main findings: Burnout has a significant negative relationship with employee engagement; however, burnout does not significantly correlate with self-perceived employability. There are significant differences between the various biographical groups and burnout, employee engagement and self-perceived employability. Practical/managerial implications: Approaches to reducing burnout amongst employees should consider employee engagement and self-perceived employability as effective tools to enhance employees’ wellness, morale and productivity. Improving the engagement levels of employees and enhancing their employability will greatly improve the well-being of employees in public sector institutions and help alleviate the actual employee burnout. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M. Com. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

Todays’ organizations are facing low levels of employee engagement, with a tendency to decrease evenfurther. Sustainability has been found to positively affect employee engagement as it providesemployees with a higher purpose in their work. Therefore, this research study reveals leaders’perception on the contribution of sustainability towards employee engagement, with a focus onmultinational organizations in the Öresund region. This qualitative study combines Herzberg´s “Two-Factor Theory” and transformational leadership to analyze the research findings with a theoreticalframework. The results display that sustainability has a significant influence on the level of employeeengagement and various activities of organizations and leaders contribute towards this. The researchalso underlines that there is a potential for organizations to implement further strategies in this regardand thereby not only strengthen the satisfaction and loyalty of their current workforce, but also gain acompetitive advantage in the future for attracting new talents.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / In order to help individuals feel more engaged within work organizations and more satisfied with their jobs, employers have started to administer stay interviews within organizations, with the end goal being to retain organizational members. Stay interviews have become a proactive solution to the retention problem and have been seen as an alternative to the exit interview. This study proposes that through the use of stay interviews, organizational members will feel more engaged, satisfied, and committed to an organization, which will ultimately result in the retention of organizational members.

Purpose at work. Motivations of Workers of Selected Low-threshold Facilities for Children and Youth Bc. Michaela Valentová Abstract Diploma thesis focuses on the experience of purposefulness of employees of low- threshold facilities for children and youth. In theoretical part low-threshold facilities are firstly conceptualized as a part of Czech organized civil society. Secondly, relevant theories of purpose are introduced. In empirical part, qualitative research is conducted by in-depth interviews with nine employees of two typical civil society organizations. Workers of low-threshold facilities for children and youth construct their purpose around four categories: helping clients, professionality, work ethics and self-development. Each of these categories brings specific consequences for their organizations. The theory expects purpose to be inspirational for others, however research participants do not reflect on the possibility to inspire their clients that way. This work suggests it is caused by workers' strong emphasis on professionality which creates borders in relationships between clients and workers and also limits the possibility to inspire one another with purpose. Keywords low-threshold facility for children and youth, civil society organization, CSO, non-profit organization, mission, meaning of...

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Change has become a prevalent feature of today’s organizations, resulting in an increased demand for workers who are able to adapt to the dynamic nature of the environment. Recently, many have suggested that traditional models of job performance should be expanded to include an adaptive performance dimension. Research in this relatively new domain has focused on defining adaptive performance and understanding how it may be predicted. This study contributes to these efforts by testing the personality trait of conscientiousness as a predictor of adaptive performance, with both constructs being studied at their domain and facet levels. The incremental validity of conscientiousness over cognitive ability is also examined, and autonomy is investigated as a moderator of the conscientiousness-adaptive performance relationships. A sample of 212 undergraduate students who work at least 20 hours per week participated in the study by completing an online survey and a cognitive ability assessment. Conscientiousness was supported as a good predictor of adaptive performance overall. However, the predictor-outcome results did vary over the domain and facet levels, emphasizing the importance of studying both levels. At the two-facet level of conscientiousness, the achievement motivation facet was shown to have stronger relationships with the adaptive performance dimensions compared to the dependability facet. At the six-facet level of conscientiousness, the three achievement motivation facets and one dependability facet (i.e., dutifulness) were significantly related to all eight performance dimensions, but the other two dependability facets (i.e., orderliness and cautiousness) were not significantly related to all of the adaptive performance dimensions. Conscientiousness did provide significant incremental validity over cognitive ability at the domain level and for almost all of the facet-level relationships, but cognitive ability was not related to adaptive performance or any other study variables. Autonomy was supported as a moderator with 16 significant interactions uncovered at the facet level. However, these significant interactions only involved three (i.e., interpersonal, learning, and cultural) of the eight adaptive performance dimensions. Overall, these results supported the conscientiousness-adaptive performance relationship and contributed new findings to the adaptive performance domain that have implications for employee selection and performance management.

Ständig forskning pågår kring begreppet ledarskap i relation med andra viktiga delar som inkluderas i ledarskapet. Tidigare studier har undersökt ledarskapets påverkan på medarbetarnas motivation men resultaten är spretiga och trots omfattande studier tycks forskare inte vara helt överens. Forskningen kring ledarskap har gått från att främst handla om ledaren till att även inkludera följderna av ledarskapet. Det är även grunden för denna studie vars syfte är att förklara hur den transformativa och transaktionella ledarskapsstilen påverkar medarbetarnas motivation i arbetet samt beskriva på vilka sätt medarbetare inom rekryterings- och bemanningsbranschen i Sverige motiveras olika beroende på könstillhörighet. Studien är uppbyggd på en kvantitativ metod där hypoteser är utformade för att besvara studiens forskningsfrågor. Hypoteserna och forskningsfrågorna i studien undersöker ledarskapsstil och motivation indelat i inre och yttre motivation. Enkätundersökningen är utformad i Webbankäter.com och de påståenden som återfinns i enkäten är inspirerade av mätinstrumentet Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ). Utöver det är påståendena också formulerade utifrån dimensionerna inom det transformativa och transaktionella ledarskapet samt de ledarskapsbeteenden som återfinns inom respektive dimension. Studiens resultat visar att ledarskapsbeteenden inom det transformativa ledarskapet har en signifikant positiv påverkan på både män och kvinnors motivation, dock motiveras de av olika dimensioner och beteenden. Resultaten gällande det transaktionella ledarskapet visar att det endast är två dimensioner inom ledarskapet som har en signifikant positiv påverkan på män och kvinnors motivation. / Constant research is being conducted on leadership in relation to other important elements that are included in leadership. Previous studies have investigated the impact of leadership on employee motivation but the results are scattered and despite extensive studies, researchers don't seem to be in a complete agreement. Research has gone from primarily focusing on the leader to also including the consequences of leadership. That is also the purpose with this study, that aims to explain how the transformative and transactional leadership style affects employees motivation and describe in what ways employees in the recruitment- and staffing industry in Sweden are motivated differently depending on gender. The study is based on a quantitative method and hypotheses are designed to answer the study’s research questions. The hypotheses and research questions in the study investigate leadership style and motivation divided into intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. The survey is designed in Webbenkäter.com and the statements found in the survey are inspired by the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ). In addition to that, the statements are also formulated based on the dimensions within transformative and transactional leadership and the leadership behaviors found within each dimension. The results of the study shows that the behaviors within the transformative leadership has a significant positive impact on both men and women’s motivation, although they are motivated by different dimensions and behaviors within the transformative leadership. The results regarding transactional leadership shows that only two of the three dimensions has a significant positive impact on men and women’s motivation.

Foreign exchange banking organisations afford individuals great career opportunities, and therefore endeavour to attract high-caliber employees who are self-motivated and create the dynamic, innovative and professional culture characteristic of the organisation. Retaining key talent characterised by skills shortages has become an imperative for sustaining competitive business performance in a fast-changing economic environment. The general aim of this research was to develop a model of employee motivation and job satisfaction for staff retention practices in a foreign exchange banking organisation. The concepts of employee motivation, job satisfaction and employee retention were discussed with regard to their history, conceptual foundation, theoretical approaches, types, variables and consequences. The theoretical model was developed accordingly on the basis of the literature review, and revealed the factors that could influence employee retention. The main purpose of the empirical research was to operationalise the theoretically derived motivation and job satisfaction concepts, statistically determine the underlying variables of motivation and job satisfaction that influence employee retention and develop a structural equation model to verify the theoretical model. A quantitative empirical research paradigm using the survey method was followed. Explanatory and descriptive research was used in this study, with a sample of 341 foreign exchange banking individuals drawn from a financial institution. Three questionnaires and a biographical questionnaire were adapted and administered to employees. The Work Preference Inventory (WPI) measured employee motivation, the Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS) measured job satisfaction, and the Employee Retention Questionnaire (ERQ) measured employee retention intention. A structural equation model development strategy produced a new best-fitting retention model based on the new constructs postulated in the factor analysis. The model indicated that job satisfaction explained the highest variance of retention when compared to motivation. The research should contribute towards a comprehensive understanding of the factors that influence employee retention. The new model of employee motivation and job satisfaction for staff retention practices in a South African foreign exchange banking organisation could assist organisations in retaining skilled and talented staff. The study should encourage practitioners to take cognisance of the fact that organisations are different and that the motivation and job satisfaction factors for employee retention need to be considered. / Public Administration and Management / D. Com. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

The purpose of this research is to determine whether a relationship exists between two constructs, namely managerial motivation and sense of coherence and to determine whether any variance exists between two groups of people in terms of the mentioned constructs. The study was conducted on a total sample of 124 employees of the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) which was divided into two groups, namely managers and supervisors in view of the position they held at the Agricultural Research Council. The results of the study indicated that a significant positive relationship exists between the dimensions of managerial motivation and the dimensions of sense of coherence of the total sample. There is also a significant variance in terms of two dimensions between the two groups, namely power motive as dimension of managerial motivation and meaningfulness as dimension of sense of coherence. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.A. (Industrial Psychology)