Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2006. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 111-119). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

Originally presented as the author's Thesis (doctoral)--Universität Mainz, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [486]-503) and index.

Thesis (M.A.)--Brock University, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [61]-77).

Authentic leadership, its fundamental values, and its mediated effects on employee outcomes were studied. Past leadership studies have had different situational or environmental objectives, have concentrated mostly on the short or medium terms and have not focused on the core, fundamental values of leadership. Most of the existing leadership studies with different situational or environmental objectives have focused on the personality or behaviour of the leader and on the resulting psychological and financial outcomes, rather than on employee outcomes. Situations and environments have become increasingly complicated and their complexities cannot be explained by a single leadership style. As a result, concerns about the effectiveness of conventional leadership styles have been well noted. Both business practitioners and academic researchers are interested in finding a leadership style that works in different situations and environments, and has the potential to deliver the best, legitimate, ethical follower outcomes. Authentic leadership is the recent research focus. Harter (2002) described the fundamental concept of leader authenticity as to 'know thyself' and 'to thy own self be true'. Walumbwa, Avolio, Gardner et al. (2008, p. 94) further defined authentic leadership as 'a pattern of leader behaviour that draws upon and promotes both positive psychological capacities and a positive ethical climate, to foster greater self-awareness, an internalised moral perspective, balanced processing of information, and relational transparency on the part of leaders working with followers, fostering positive self-development'. In this study, the authenticity of a leader and the mediated effects of authentic leadership on employee outcomes were studied. Possible boundary conditions and limitations of the work were also considered. Demographic information was included with tenure-related control variables. The mediated effects of authentic leadership on employee outcomes through the psychological capital, social exchange, and uncertainty management mediation processes were examined. Drawing on the well-established theoretical background of psychological capital theory and social exchange theory, the psychological capital and social exchange mediating processes were empirically tested. The uncertainty management process was also empirically tested, by considering how employees prioritise decisions when facing uncertainties during interactions between leaders and followers. A research model was developed to study the effects of authentic leadership on the follower attitude outcome of job satisfaction and the behavioural outcomes of helping behaviour and employee voice behaviour. The direct and mediated effects of authentic leadership on employee outcomes were investigated. Questionnaires were prepared based on past studies and data were collected to empirically test the research model. The data were collected in dyads, giving 409 pairs of validated questionnaires from leaders and followers. The 409 followers worked with 103 direct supervisors or leaders in 50 organisations in Hong Kong. The study achieved its aims. Authentic leadership was found to play a significant role in followers' perceptions and to affect the followers' helping behaviour and job satisfaction. Post-hoc testing indicated that authentic leadership can be a leader's core value, regardless of the situation or environment that the leader is in. The results reinforced that authentic leadership plays an important role with a transformational objective. The psychological capital process of the self-efficacy of the leader played a full mediating role in employee voice behaviour, but not in the other two processes using trust and psychological safety as mediators. All three mediating processes had partial mediation effects on job satisfaction, possibly due to the high authenticity of the leaders in the sample. The social exchange process of trust in leaders fully mediated helping behaviour, but the other two processes using self-efficacy and psychological safety as mediators did not. Using psychological capital theory and social exchange helped to explain and understand the mediating mechanisms by which authentic leadership affects employee outcomes. The results reinforced the construct validity of authentic leadership theory. The study achieved all four of its objectives. The contributions of the study, its implications for future studies and business practitioners, and its limitations are discussed. Recommendations for future research are also included.

Experience and previous research indicate that the effective transfer of management training to the work environment requires a holistic approach, embracing several important factors. These include interpersonal skills, resistance to change, mentoring, attitudes towards training, and organizational climate and culture. During this investigation a brief, flexible treatment programme was drawn up. This involved discussing the application of managerial skills with trainees who had completed a management training course some time ago, in the presence of their supervisors. Other activities included in the treatment ranged from retraining to psychotherapy. The treatment was applied to 32 trainees. Some three month's later a role play situation and questionnaire were used to assess their application of the skills taught during management training in their work, in comparison with an untreated control group. The results indicate that the treatment programme resulted in much improved transfer of managerial training to the work environment. / Psychology / M. Sc. (Psychology)

M.Ing. / The loss of skills and knowledge of technical professionals experienced by many organizations in South Africa has serious implications on the competitiveness of these organizations in the local and international markets. Organizations should come to realize that they should find creative ways to retain critical skills and knowledge and ensure continuity in terms of succession management. Technical professionals play a crucial role in society. They are responsible for maintaining the technologies that they developed — technologies that are used extensively everyday. The extent of society's reliance on technical professionals is staggering. They ensure that people have clean water, transportation, communication, and countless other necessities. Organizations cannot afford to lose their technical professionals and must find ways to retain them. Research was done on the retention of technical professionals and the research indicated that there are fundamental differences between technical professionals and the other staff in organizations. The characteristics of technical professionals require that they be treated differently from other employees. Separate reward systems should be designed for technical professionals because they have different motives for joining and staying with organizations than other employees. Rewarding and compensating technical professionals, with retention as the objective, require that more attention be given to non-financial rewards. Technical professionals require opportunities to develop themselves and to keep abreast of the latest developments in their fields. Very importantly, they have to be assured proper career development. Performance management of technical professionals is a contentious issue because many of the outputs of technical professionals are intangible and difficult to measure. Performance appraisal systems have to be very well designed and alternatives to conventional performance appraisals should be considered. Some alternatives are peer control, selfevaluation, and evaluation by subordinates. Structural accommodations should be made to accommodate technical professionals because of the cultural differences between professionals and non-professionals. Various accommodations could be effective depending on the nature of the business and the level of dependence the organization has on technical professionals. Some options are dual ladders, triple hierarchies, and broadbanding amongst others. These structural accommodations can ensure that technical professionals do not have to make the transition to management in order to obtain more responsibility, recognition and status in an organization. The transition to management, of a technical professional, might in some cases have detrimental effects on the organization and the individual. For example, the best engineer in a project team is promoted to manage the team. The consequence may be that the team loses their best engineer and the organization gains a manager with little or no management skills. The success of retention strategies are organization-dependant, however, the strategies discussed in this dissertation can help ensure that organizations retain their competitive advantage by effectively managing and retaining their technical professionals.

The research problem in this study was to identify what mentoring strategies organisations can use to facilitate the objectives of the Employment Equity Act (Act 55 of 1998). To achieve this objective a nine-phase theoretical model for organisational mentoring was presented. The presentation of the theoretical model consisted of the following three sub-processes: -The first consisted of a survey of literature related to the development of the Employment Equity Act (Act 55 of 1998) and the implications of the Act for organisations: The second comprised surveying the literature dealing specifically with the impact of mentoring programmes on career development, organisational success and career satisfaction, particularly in terms of employees from designated groups; The third surveyed the literature dealing with various mentoring strategies and models used by organisations for facilitating management development. The theoretical model served as a basis for drawing up a survey questionnaire to establish the extent to which individuals at different levels in the organisations agree with the theoretical model developed in the study. The survey questionnaire was sent to a random sample of individuals employed in the automobile industries of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality and the Buffalo City Metropole. The empirical results obtained from the survey indicated a strong concurrence with the theoretical organisational mentoring model presented in the study. These results were included in the theoretical model, leading to the development of an integrated model for organisational mentoring. From the survey literature and the study it became evident that if organisations plan to introduce mentoring strategies that will contribute towards facilitating their employment equity objectives, it is necessary to ensure that a transformational culture exists. Many South African organisations are currently experiencing problems in recruiting, training and retaining individuals from designated groups. The introduction of a mentoring programme based on the integrated model for organisational mentoring cannot be considered as the sole strategy for alleviating these problems and for facilitating management development to achieve the objectives of the Employment Equity Act (Act 55 of 1998). However, when this programme is effectively managed and incorporated into the overall development programme of an organisation committed to transformation, the potential to ease these problems and achieve the objectives of the Employment Equity Act (Act 55 of 1998) is greatly enhanced.

Doctorat en sciences psychologiques / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished