The topic of motivation continues to command substantial attention in the field of industrial or organisational psychology. Motivation has always been an essential factor in managing personnel and is a crucial variable in creating a high performance organization. Public administration research has largely ignored motivation as a topic, contrary to research of private sector management. Nurses represent one of the biggest profession group in South Africa's health care services and forms the vertebrae of the Primary Health Care in South Africa. South Africa has experienced large numbers of nurses immigrating to other foreign countries due to poor working conditions in South Africa. Government has a responsibility of ensuring that there is always a motivational climate in the institutions where nurses work. Several investigations have been conducted by various organisations regarding the state of South African Health Care System, due to a high rate of reported deaths in South African hospitals. Dispatch investigation team in 2005 revealed a number of findings that related to various motivational issues at the Eastern Cape Frere Hospital maternity ward. These motivational issues included but not limited shortage of nurses and doctors; use of interns on night duty without qualified doctors and anaesthetist; a cleaner confirmed to have been seen delivering a baby in the labour ward while wearing a doctor‟s coat, as well as accessing and dispensing medicine; no security to prevent people from wandering the labour ward and the entire maternity section; deaths due to negligence; inappropriate appointment of personnel, a situation causing problems for the nurses; employees complaining of work overload; absenteeism and sick leave leaving one nurse on duty at night in the nursery; lack of equipment like oxygen points, suction catheters, CPAPs and CTG machines, alleged by some nurses to be directly responsible for a number of avoidable deaths; staff shortages thus forcing inexperienced nurses to carry duties beyond their experience; detrimental shortages of labour beds; a general assistant dressed in a green nurse‟s gown rinsing blood-soaked linen before dishing up for, and serving food to patients, still wearing the same clothing. Since the Dispatch investigation and the subsequent investigations by political parties and the National Department of Health, no scientific research or investigation has been done around challenges at Frere Hospital maternity ward. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the levels of staff motivation and staff motivation levels' impact on job performance in the Frere Hospital maternity ward. In conducting this study the researcher explored five motivation theories which are amongst a group of motivational theories that have shaped worker motivation in both the public and private sectors. The study explored Maslow hierarchy of needs, Herzberg two factor theory, Vroom's expectancy theory, Locke's equity theory and Festinger‟s goal setting Theory. These theories were used with a view of gathering an understanding of staff motivation and job performance. The reasons for the researcher to choose these five motivational theories is that they are amongst the most popular theories used by scholars to measure staff motivation and performance both in the private and public sectors. These theories were also used due to their relevance to the organisation investigated. This study followed a quantitative approach and empirical study was conducted using a questionnaire with closed and open-ended questions. The empirical results from the nine sections researched showed some distinct findings, from which the following recommendations were drawn: management should consider employees' involvement during goal setting in the department; management should work towards building in job motivators into the employees’ jobs; management should ensure that there is a reputable performance reward and recognition system in place that is agreed upon with staff, instead of imposing the system; management should support nurses in ensuring that their working conditions and salaries and benefits are improved; and It is therefore the responsibility of managers to ensure that staff are always kept motivated in order to increase job performance.

After a review of the literature relevant to performance management systems both over time and across different types of organizations, this thesis confines its research To a case study of the Role of Performance Management in The Motivation of Employees in an organization. Important insight was gained into the relative importance of the performance management practices to promote desired employee outcomes. In view thereof that a discussion of performance in organizations is incomplete without reference to the construct of organizational culture, this study also provided propositions to prompt further research on the role of performance management in reinforcing a high performance organizational culture. Insightful conclusions were drawn from the results obtained and recommendations are made for future research.

The South African national government has bestowed certain authority on local governments in order for community services to be delivered by officials who are closer to the community and who will consider community needs. Post-apartheid South Africa is confronted with a major challenge in ensuring that municipalities deliver optimal and professional services to ratepayers of all ethnic and diverse cultures. Municipalities have important objectives to implement, while service delivery is one of its major goals. The ratepayers in the NMBM have complained and protested against poor service delivery that resulted from poor job performance by NMBM employees. It is therefore necessary to investigate the obstacles that are hindering the NMBM employees in exhibiting effective and satisfactory job performance in order to deliver the required services to the customers. The primary objective of the study is improving employee job performance in the NMBM by investigating the factors that influence such performance. More specifically, the study investigates the influence of job involvement, team work, organisational communication, skills development and training, recognition and pay and rewards on the job performance of NMBM employees. Convenience sampling was used to select a sample of 250 respondents from the large population of about 2 000 NMBM employees. The sample was stratified to include all occupational levels including the executive mayor, portfolio councillors, executive directors, and financial officers, operating officers, chiefs of staff, directors, assistant directors, senior managers, professionals and blue collar staff. Two hundred and fifty questionnaires were distributed, but only 200 usable questionnaires were returned, producing a response rate of 80 percent. The empirical results showed that recognition systems, job prestige, skills recognition, and skills development and training were significantly related to the job performance of the NMBM employees. Job involvement, fringe benefits, pay and rewards, teamwork and organisational communication were not significant related to the job performance of the NMBM employees. The study provides managerial and future research recommendations in this regard.

This study evaluated the levels of job satisfaction experienced by warrant officers and constables at crime intelligence, protection and security services in King William’s Town. Job satisfaction is a personal appraisal of the job and the psychological experience at work. It is a measure of the general attitudes to work of a specific individual rather than of a collection of attitudes of an employee to a number of aspects related to his / her job. These include the work itself, workplace interactions and relationships, rewards and incentive schemes, and personal characteristics. The main purpose of this research paper was to identify certain factors impacting on job satisfaction. The literature study was completed on the factors that influence job satisfaction. The factors were work itself, promotion, pay, work group and working conditions. The literature study revealed which methods were used in selecting factors impacting on job satisfaction. The employees at Crime intelligence, protection and security services (CIPS), specifically the warrant officers and constables were asked questions in an empirical study and were asked to complete questionnaires. After the previous steps were completed, the findings of the study and the empirical study were made. The recommendations were also made to improve levels of job satisfaction experienced by warrant officers and constables at Constables at CIPS. The recommendations made were to assist the management assist the management as to what needs to be done to motivate members to achieve their objectives.

M.A. (Clinical Social Work) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Engineering/Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering. September 2018 / Leadership, even though very difficult to define, is a process by which an individual tries to influence others to achieve a holistic organisational goal. Literature categorises leadership into three common styles namely, transactional, transformational and laissez-faire leadership, with transformational leadership and transactional leadership being the most domineering. Literature also proposes that leadership styles influence job satisfaction. The first objective of this study was to determine the leadership style within FNB Business: Projects and Operations and thereafter to investigate the effect of that leadership style on job satisfaction within the business. A descriptive research study using qualitative and quantitative methods was done. Questionnaires were distributed to all employees and the results were analysed. The results of Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire showed that a transformational leadership style, specifically inspirational motivational, prevailed within the department. The MLQ also showed that employees were very satisfied with their jobs. The Job Satisfaction Survey outlines the specific factors, namely, supervision and nature of work that lead to employees being satisfied in their work place. Finally, the Minnesota Satisfaction Survey solidified the high job satisfaction rate within FNB Business: Projects and Operations highlighting minimal variance between extrinsic and intrinsic satisfaction. The results, however, challenge the initial problem statement stating that there was job dissatisfaction due to leadership. This could be due to employees being afraid of being honest, employees not taking the survey or employees moving teams. Therefore, a recommendation is that the survey should be executed again and tracked at a team level. For example, respondents should answer which team they belong to. This field should also be a multiple-choice question as opposed to free text. In this way, leadership style and responses from individuals would be traceable to a specific leader. This would highlight the outliers for more accurate results and actions post this research survey. / MT 2019

Thesis (MTech (Public Relations Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2015. / This study was conducted to determine the extent to which strategic employee communication existed in Parliament of the Republic of South Africa during the period of transition. Its objectives were to test the communication skills of the parliamentary supervisors in various divisions; to investigate communication satisfaction amongst employees; to establish communication channels to get the message through, and to discover how often feedback was provided. This study sought to achieve the research objectives by using a quantitative research methodology in order to measure the level of communication skills. The researcher collected data using questionnaires as a measuring instrument in order to determine the levels of communication satisfaction. Questionnaires were distributed to 45 participants in all divisions irrespective of race, gender or age. The results of the study revealed that communication at Parliament needed to be aligned. It was also revealed that employees and supervisors were not familiar with the vision of the institution. It was recommended that Parliament needed to conduct SWOT analysis before bringing about any changes. Employees should be provided with communication skills training. Managers should pay serious attention to internal communication. There should be constant feedback regarding progress when a process of change is embarked upon. It was also recommended that Parliament, as the highest democratic institution in the country, should lead in putting strategic internal communication in place in order to set an example for other institutions.

Traffic officers are employed to protect and serve the community, but various sources including annual reports and newspaper articles cast doubt on whether these goals are attained in the Eastern Cape. These sources further allege that the failure to serve can be attributed to dissatisfaction and poor employee commitment. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to explore the relationship between the Employee Value Proposition, organisational commitment and intention-to-serve among provincial traffic officers. A literature study was conducted on the three above-mentioned variables to achieve this objective. The empirical study consisted of a survey with a self-administered questionnaire. Five components of the Employee Value Proposition, as established by the Corporate Leadership Council (CLC) (2006), were measured. These included career opportunities, organisation itself, relationships, remuneration/reward and work itself. The Three Component Model (TCM) developed by Meyer and Allen (1991) was used to measure affective, continuance and normative commitment. The Intention-to-Serve Scale was adapted from the Employee Work Passion Appraisal (EWPA) Model (Zigarmi, Nimon, Houson, Witt and Diehl, 2011) and was used to measure intent-to-perform and intent-to-use discretion. The questionnaire was completed by 357 provincial traffic officers across the six districts of the Eastern Cape, which represented a 95 percent response rate. The results from the empirical study indicated that the majority of respondents had less positive perceptions of the Employee Value Proposition offered to them. Affective commitment, regarded as the desired type of organisational commitment, was scored the lowest. However, positive scores were obtained for intention-to-serve. A statistical and practical significant relationship was found between the Employee Value Proposition and organisational commitment, and between the Employee Value Proposition and intention-to-serve as well as between organizational commitment and intention-to-serve. The results suggest that a more appealing Employee Value Proposition could result in improved organisational commitment as well as improved intention-to-serve. It is therefore recommended that the Eastern Cape Department of Transport reconsider the Employee Value Proposition offered to traffic officers and use it as a tool to improve commitment and service delivery.

Summary: The central purpose of this study was to establish whether there is a positive relationship between a high achievement motive (as measured by the Thematic Apperception Test, using the Arnold's scoring system) in Blacks and Good Job Performance (as measured by good merit and supervisory ratings). Factors taken into consideration in the study were: (i)level of urbanization (ii)resistance to change (iii)job satisfaction. An alternative method of scoring the T.A.T. (McClelland) was compared with the Arnold System. A novel T.A.T. was designed with pictures with which the Blacks could easily identify, so that the writing of stories was facilitated. The level of urbanization and resistance to change were measured on the Urban- Rural Scale. Job satisfaction was measured by means of the Job Satisfaction Index. The measures of job performance were obtained by means of 'man specifications' and merit ratings. The Achievement Motivation Score was found to be significantly positively correlated at the ,05 level with job performance ratings, but a predictive study would have to be carried out before it can be accepted as predictive of job performance. Level of urbanization had no significant effect on the achievement, motivation scorer (Arnold System) whereas 'the 'Resistance to Change' factor was found to be significantly negatively correlated at the ,05 level with the achievement motivation scores (Arnold). 'Too little information was available to establish the relationship between high achievement motivation scores (Arnold), low job performance ratings and low job satisfaction scores. No significant correlations was obtained between the McClelland scores on the T.A.T., and the Arnold scores as well as between the McClelland scores on the T.A.T. and job performance ratings. The T.A.T., using the Arnold scoring system, proved to be a reliable test (both test - retest and inter - scorer reliabilities This study showed that the T.A.T. has strong possibilities of playing a large role in the selection of Blacks for higher level jobs in industry.

Organisations face many obstacles in maintaining high quality standards and enhancing their competitive positions. It is not just the external factors, such as market fluctuations, but also internal obstacles, that have an effect on the competitiveness of organisations. Most of the internal factors are the result of poor management practices such as insufficient employee development paths, lack of mentorship programmes or job insecurity which results in the poor performance and commitment levels of employees. However employees are more willing to provide efficient and effective practices if they are committed to the organisation. A committed workforce can be created through many practices. Some of these practices include, creating an environment where employees feel as though they are part of the organisation and that their actions directly influence the success of the organisation (Kingston 2007); building long lasting and fair relationships between staff and supervisors (Manetje 2009:50); providing partial organisational ownership for employees through employee share ownership schemes (Employee share ownership plan guidelines 2007:3); creating an organisation structure which binds employees and groups together and removes bureaucratic practices (Brooks 2009:190) and creating management styles that encourage employee involvement (Manetje 2009:51) Unfavourable conditions within the economy are not making it any easier for organisations to become more competitive. Organisations have had to downsize, restructure and transform in order to cut costs as the demands for goods and services slowed down. However, these practices have resulted in an insecure work environment for employees and have posed complex challenges for management. (Coetzee 2005). Employment contracts have therefore become popular tools for managing economic downturns. Organisations opt for more temporary staff so as to easily reduce headcount when costs need to be lowered. Employment contracts give organisations the advantage of flexibility which is a key area for success in turbulent business environments (Krausz, Bizman & Braslavsky 2001:302). Previous research on temporary contracts has revealed lower commitment levels of staff than other types of contracts such as permanent and fixed-term contracts (Guest 2004:12). Therefore, there needs to be a balance between various employment contracts; a balance which brings out the best in organisational performance. The different types of employment contracts are also important tools to use to enhance commitment within the organisation. For that reason, it is essential to understand the linkage between the types of contracts and organisational commitment and whether certain contracts result in higher levels of organisational commitment. The primary objective of the study is to identify factors which influence organisational commitment as well as to investigate whether organisational commitment and the different types of employment contracts can increase employee motivation and job involvement within the automotive industry environment. Given the primary objective of the study, a quantitative research paradigm was followed in testing the relevant hypotheses. A five-point Likert scale questionnaire was conducted to gather empirical data from the respondents employed within the automotive industry. The target population of the study was the employees within the automotive industry (Volkswagen of South Africa). A convenience sampling technique was used to distribute the questionnaires and the researcher made use of both manual hand-outs and an online system called the Survey Monkey to gather the data. The sample was restricted to 260 respondents. The main findings of this study revealed that the dimensions, workplace culture, job security, career development and personality were statistically significant and had a positive influence on organisational commitment. Workplace culture proved to be the most significant positive influence on organisational commitment. Thus, if an organisation adjusts this dimension to better suit the employees, the result could be an enhanced level of employee commitment. On the other hand, management style and mentoring were found to be the least important in influencing organisational commitment in the automotive industry. Furthermore, the results illustrated a significant positive relationship between organisational commitment and the dependent variables, employee motivation and job involvement. The study also identified the link between employment contracts and organisational commitment, job involvement and employee motivation. However, a statistically significant relationship only existed between employment contracts and job involvement. Thus the different types of contracts have an effect on the level of employee involvement within an organisation. The implications of the findings are that organisations within the automotive industry should focus on areas that have a substantially greater impact on organisational commitment. These areas include workplace culture, job security, personality and career development. Organisations thus need to find methods or processes which facilitate the development of these areas. In order for organisations to move from good to great, a workforce that is committed to the goals and objectives is required.