A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Teams have, over the last decade, become a popular feature of workplace design. The basis for this trend Is the belief that teamwork allows Individuals to satisfy more of their work-based needs and should therefore, ultimately, improve performance. Despite the increased implementation of teams across a broad spectrum of organisations, empirical research on teams is still in its formative stages and precisely what contributes to team effectiveness remains elusive. Addressing this need, the present study embodies an exploratory empirical investigation of teams as they are practised at the rock face of a gold mine. The research involved examining a sample of these teams using three specific variables which It was hypothesised, may explain the differences In performance between these teams. More specifically, this study Investigated the impact of Job satisfaction, internal work motivation and perceived psychological participation on team performance. Each of these individual variables was examined using a previously-validated scale. The variables were incorporated into a single questionnaire which was administered In a group session with each Individual in the teams sampled. A team performance measure (m2/man) was obtained directly from the mine. Statistical analysis of this data followed a logical progression. At the outset, a one-way ANOVA was run to assess whether statistically there were significant differences between the teams on each of the factors. Indicating that differences do indeed exist, the results justified the reduction of Individual scores in each team to a single aggregate of that variable for the team. Correlation tests were then run between each of the variables and the team performance measure. The results of this study suggest that there Is a significantly positive relationship between Job satisfaction and team productivity (r=.6376). This runs contrary to much of the previous research examining job satlsfactlon and Individual productivity, although it supports some researchers' suggestion that performance should be more broadly defined. This notion is / AC 2018

The effective schools research has repeatedly concluded that effective schools are characterized by effective administrators. The desire, then, of local school boards to improve administrator performance has emerged, based upon the assumption that as building principal performance improves, so does teacher performance, and ultimately, student performance. Merit pay has received a great deal of attention in education recently as a means to motivate administrators towards improved performance. Merit pay is supported by the "physical-economic" school of thought which believes that individuals are "economically motivated". In contrast, the "work itself" or "job satisfaction" school of thought believes that individuals are best motivated by factors which affect job meaningfulness. Merit pay is viewed as a "hygiene" factor which may decrease job "dissatisfaction" but does not necessarily result in increased motivation. This dissertation compared the "physical-economic" concept of altered compensation rates or merit pay, to the "job satisfaction" or "work itself" concept of increased job meaningfulness as a means to motivate principals towards improved performance. When given a list of incentives, principals were asked to choose between merit pay and other type incentives. Of the 312 principals surveyed, 244 responded for a 78% return rate with the following results: 28% preference for merit pay at the 5% level; 47% preference for merit pay at the 10% level; 63% preference for merit pay at the 15% level; and, 68% preference at the 20% level. Frequencies tallied and percents derived indicated a consistent preference for merit pay at the 15% and 20% levels irrespective of demographics. These results would seem to indicate that "work meaningfulness" incentives are desirable to principals, but when paired against ever increasing levels of "potential monetary compensation", they lose their attractiveness. Even though merit pay received a popular response from the principals surveyed at the higher levels offered, merit pay's track record is so poor as to suggest that better measurement methods need to be devised before such a program is initiated. According to the literature reviewed, it is doubtful that such an objective and equitable means of measurement is feasible without interfering in a principal's daily routine, thus reducing the principal's effectiveness.

Research suggests that individuals who perceive their work as a calling (a deep passion and meaningfulness associated with a certain domain) experience a variety of positive outcomes such as occupational identification, career decidedness, and job satisfaction. Utilizing the tenets of Social Exchange Theory and the Job Demands Resources Model, I proposed that individuals with greater calling toward their occupation will report higher safety motivation and safety compliance. However, under conditions of high workload this relationship would be attenuated. Further, by the same rationale, individuals with lower calling will report lower safety outcomes, yet I proposed that this relationship is mitigated under conditions of high supervisor support. The study was conducted with a sample of 183 participants collected across three forests within the United States Forest Service. Although the hypotheses in the study were not supported, this study provides theoretical groundwork elucidating the link between calling and the examined outcome - safety. This, in turn, will aid in the development of a number of potential research avenues for safety scholars, with many practical implications. Further, an examination of calling with other collected variables within this industry provides avenues for future research in the calling domain. The investigation of moderators may help to explain the conflicting results found in the calling literature. Finally, this study furthers our understanding of safety, workload, and supervisor support within a "helping field."

Thesis (M.S.)--University of North Carolina at Wilmington, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves : 78-80).

Thesis (Psy.D.)--Rutgers University, 2009. / "Graduate Program in Organizational Psychology." Includes bibliographical references (p. 115-120).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oxford Graduate School, 2001. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [118]-178).

Not available / text

The main purpose of this report is to identify and describe the type of behaviors that should be promoted in a matrix organization. This report shows how the performance management system is a very important tool in promoting these behaviors. The report starts with an introduction to the relationship between the success of a matrix structure and the appropriate performance management system followed by the definition of important concepts in this topic. Next, the report provides general recommendations to the leaders of matrix organizations with respect their performance management system. Finally, a case study of a company with this type of structure is analyzed. / text

This study used a quantitative, correlational surve y method to examine the relationship between organisational commitment and job satisfact ion, and between organisational commitment and each of the five facets of job satis faction (work, pay, promotion, supervision and co workers). A biographical questio nnaire, the Job Descriptive Index and the Occupational Commitment Questionnaire were admi nistered to 56 employees at the Department of Labour in Durban to gather the data. Descriptive statistics revealed that while levels of job satisfaction were above average for this sample, organisational commitment was above average. Inferential statistic s using the Pearson Product Moment correlation coefficient showed that organisational commitment was correlated at the 99% level of confidence (p / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

No description available.