M.Phil. / Organisational wellness is a relatively new concept. Although a few models can be found in the relevant literature, there is a lack of holistic models for the engineering field, or more specifically for the mechanical engineering employee within the power-generating industry. The aim of the study was to develop an organisational wellness model for a company within the power-generation industry, by addressing the main research question: “What are the experiences and perceptions of five engineers on organisational wellness?” and the following sub-questions: 1. What events or incidents shaped the perceptions of these five engineers regarding organisational wellness? 2. What themes materialised from the stories and interviews? 3. Can any other organisational evidence be found in support of Sub-question 1? 4. Can stories provide the information that is needed for generating knowledge that can further the study of the concept of organisational wellness? The stories of five engineers and their views on organisational wellness that were extracted from mostly unstructured interviews, were packaged unconventionally as a movie script, aiming at contributing to the pool of knowledge on organisational wellness by adding a new holistic model to the field of study. The study also explored an alternative application of arts-based research methodology, and broadened the relevant industry’s knowledge on the topic of organisational wellness. ii It is clear that members of the younger generations relate more easily to visual media like movies and documentaries. The dissertation was thus designed to inspire their creativity and thoughts about the subject matter, moving away from the exclusiveness of an academic audience. I have created seven moments in time that reflect on different aspects of the dissertation, they are referred to as research moments. The main focus, or first research moment, is the movie script entitled “Discovering Wellness” with behind-the-scenes moments, which could be viewed as stand-alone documentaries and movies, nevertheless contributing to the overall research moment. The second moment focuses on relevant literature on organisational wellness, while the third moment encapsulates the qualitative approach, as well as the epistemological and oncological aspects of the research. Moments four to seven individually contain behind-the-scenes information that contribute to the various perspectives of the research setting in order to provide the reader with an in-depth view of the context. Music, photographs and art were also added for the purpose of directing the reader or audience member’s attention to the mind-set and perspective of the writer, as well as to provide richer information on the research setting or context. Themes materialised in the stories collected through the unstructured interview process, which enabled the recommendation of a new model for the industry or field. It also compares favourably with themes and constructs that have been identified in other wellness models which are relevant to other industries or fields. In conclusion, the research is not finite, and the story does not come to a definite end, as it simply showcases a perception on a moment in time. If it stimulates further research, it will have fulfilled its purpose. Key words: organisational wellness, holistic model, arts-based research, script writing, performatory art.

Workers have the right to a safe working environment. This right is encapsulated in the Bill of Rights (1996) wherein strong emphasis is placed on the right to a healthy and safe work environment. The construction industry has been labeled as dangerous owing to regular incidents, serious accidents, and fatalities. Road workers’ safety is at high risk in road construction areas, as they perform their work activities alongside moving vehicles that are often large and sometimes moving at high speed. It was determined that very few secondary sources provided information regarding the safety of South African road construction workers. Therefore, the knowledge obtained from this study contributes to the body of knowledge on the subject matter. To collect data, three descriptive surveys were conducted on two different road construction projects within the Eastern Cape. The survey participants included engineering consultants, contractors, traffic safety officers, general road construction workers, as well as random motorists driving through the work zone. Further data was collected from a speed measuring instrument placed in the work zone of the Port Elizabeth. The findings of this research report indicate that road users are not cognizant of the risk to workers in the work zone and that signage and advance warning signs alone are not sufficient to slow motorists’ speed. A further significant threat to road worker safety, is plant operator visibility. This study recommends that government and construction firms educate the public regarding the risks associated with speeding through a work zone. Construction firms should use electronic speed measuring devices prior to the work zone to make road users aware of their speed in relation to the speed limit. To limit plant related accidents, companies should install sensors or cameras on the rear and side panels of plant, so that plant operators have all round vision. Furthermore, road workers could be educated on the controlled use of their mobile phones to reduce the risks associated with the use of mobile phones inside work zones.

In a globally competitive market place companies strive to become as efficient as possible. Absenteeism is a worldwide problem as it impacts on company efficiency and cost effectiveness. A large portion of absenteeism can be attributed to ill health absences. Companies have prioritized the need to find ways of managing and reducing absenteeism. In South Africa such processes have to occur within the confines of a constitutional right to fair labour practices and other prescriptive labour legislation. The issue is somewhat complicated by the fact that employees have a right to paid time off due to illness. It is thus clear that not all ill health absenteeism can be deemed problematic. A balancing act needs to occur between the operational needs of the employer and the rights of employees. Ill health absenteeism becomes problematic once a threshold is reached at which point it becomes intolerable for the employer, thus deemed excessive. Excessive ill health absenteeism is not a difficult concept to understand, however it is not specifically defined. A universal concept of when absence is deemed to have reached the threshold of excessiveness does not exist and varies from one employer to the next. Excessive ill health absence is a multi-facetted concept (as a result of the various types of ill health absence) and thus a universal process cannot be adopted to deal with all types of excessive ill health absenteeism. In an attempt to deal with the different types of ill health absenteeism it is pertinent to categorize the issues. The author suggests various ways of dealing with ill health absenteeism, depending on the facts of each case. A misconduct process should only be applicable in instances where it can be proved that sick leave is used inappropriately or the reason for absence is unknown. Although case law suggests the prevalence of dealing with ill health absence as misconduct, especially in the case of persistent short term absence, these cases rarely prove that abuse is taking place. Suspicions regarding abuse without proper evidence to support such claims will not satisfy the substantive fairness requirements. In the event that illness is of a medium to long term nature, an ill health incapacity process may be the most appropriate process to apply, as in such instances a clearly distinguishable illness exists, which makes accommodation less problematic. Such a process is less suited to persistent short term absence as this can be the result of many illnesses or injuries. In the case of persistent short term absence, the individual may be fully capable of performing their duties upon returning to work, however their frequent absence causes unreliability and inefficiency. It is clear in this instance that accommodation cannot take place due to the unpredictable nature of the absences. The concern with persistent short term absence is less with the illness or illnesses displayed and more with the absences itself. The author suggests that it may be appropriate to deal with such absences on the basis of incapacity due to poor work performance. This assertion is based on the fact that the concern is with frequent short term absence that causes the employee to be unreliable; however the illnesses are not of such a nature that it can warrant accommodation. If it is accepted that the employee is not malingering or if the malingering cannot be proved the employee has failed to meet a performance standard (attendance standard). It is suggested that as part of any incapacity investigation consideration should be given to whether the illness or injury can be deemed a disability. This is necessary as disabled individuals are afforded special protection and treatment. A dismissal of an incapacitated individual that is actually deemed “disabled” could be held to be automatically unfair and therefore it is pertinent that this is established at the outset.

This research explores whether a firm's psychosocial stressors contribute to strains or outcomes important to the organization. The psychosocial stressors chosen for study include: role conflict and ambiguity, workload (qualitative and quantitative), participative decision making, autonomy, and security. Independent variables were the emotional strains of job satisfaction and job commitment. The independent variables for behavioral strains included injury, lost days, workers' compensation claims, and absenteeism. Three moderators: age, gender, and social support were evaluated for interaction effects. The study sampled 77 occupationally injured and 81 non-injured employees from one medium sized Army community hospital. This study uses multivariate hierarchical multiple set regression as its principal analytical method. The hierarchial procedure orders the sets into an a priori hierarchy and enters each set sequentially from the hierarchy, evaluating the increase in $\rm R\sp2.$ The results suggest that psychosocial stressors are significant variables to consider when investigating workers' emotional and behavioral strains. For example, age, participation, and satisfaction were found statistically significant in differentiating between the occupationally injured and the non-injured samples. The study also found that ambiguity, participation, and autonomy influenced emotional strains. Additionally, age and social support appear to moderate the relationship between some psychosocial factors and emotional and behavioral strains. Age moderated the relationship with only emotional strains, while social support moderated both emotional and behavioral strains. Further, social support was found to have a main effect on the emotional strains of satisfaction and commitment, but not on any behavioral ones. Age was found to have a direct effect on the behavioral strains of workers' compensation claims. Finally, although not statistically significant when entered as a set and evaluated using the statistical analysis techniques in this study, a relationship between age and workers' compensation claims and qualitative workload and absenteeism were suggested. The economic and human costs associated with occupational injury are staggering. These findings suggest that attention to psychosocial factors within control of the employer, can promote good management outcomes, improve employee quality of worklife, and contain costs.

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<p>A global prospecting and mining leader recognizes HIV/AIDS as a threat to the company and its employees. The management has committed them to have a proactive approach trying to minimize the impact of this killing disease by putting in place effective workplace programmes. However, programmes can only be successful if the employees&rsquo / needs regarding knowledge, attitudes and sexual practices have been thoroughly researched identified. The aim of this study was to do an explorative descriptive study of the knowledge, attitudes, perceptions and behaviours of the employees of a mining company in Namibia on HIV/AIDS. The objectives were:<br /> &diams / To measure the overall knowledge levels as well as attitudes and sexual practices of DBMN employees on HIV and STD&rsquo / s.<br /> &diams / To determine whether there was a difference in the knowledge levels, attitudes and sexual practices of employees in different job categories, age groups, marital status, religion and education level.<br /> &diams / To measure risky sexual behaviours of participants.</p> <p><br /> All employees (550) of this mining company were invited to participate in the survey and 226 employees responded. A self-constructed questionnaire was used to collect data administered in a group setting. The questionnaire was regarded as having content validity and the SPSS program was be utilized for descriptive statistics. Utilizing the ratio data developed through the indexes, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to determine significant difference between the means of the groups in comparison. Because multiple comparisons were done, a post hoc test (Fisher LSD) was used to determine significant differences between group means.</p>

This study evaluated the relationship of varying body mass index and average annual health care costs and absenteeism in a group of 524 municipal employees. The 269 employees with health care claims and the 487 employees with attendance records were categorized into five different BMI categories based on self-reported weight and height. Findings from the study suggest that as BMI increases, average annual health care costs and average annual absenteeism increase. However, BMI was only significantly related to absenteeism. The study also found significant relationships between education and health care costs and absenteeism. No significant differences for health care costs or absenteeism were found based on race, age, gender, wellness center membership, or smoking status.

Nine physiological measures were evaluated pre- to post-intervention on subjects participating in a university health promotion program over a seven-month period. Frequency of program attendance and choice of activity were also assessed. Of the 88 employees initially screened, most of the subjects were staff members (n=82, 93%),with a majority being female (n=68, 77%). Significant differences in physiological measures were found pre- to post-intervention between "higher" and "lower" cardiovascular risk participants, primarily due to the type of activity chosen. .The results indicate that health promotion programs at a university are an effective way to have an impact on employees in reducing their cardiovascular risk factors.

The purpose of this study was to explore, from readily available data, the best predictors of medical claims costs at Ball State University (BSU). Multiple regression equations were developed to predict BSU's medical claims costs from selected demographic and health-related measures among 1,799 BSU employees. The predictors were chosen from data previously collected during the three-year study period: July 1, 1995 to June 30, 1998. Regression equations were developed for the entire BSU population and the high-cost population. The linear composite of number of emergency room visits, number of chronic health problems, gender and age predicted 17.86% of the variation in transformed medical claims costs for the entire BSU population. The linear composite of age, number of emergency room visits and gender predicted 9.95% of the variation in transformed medical claims costs for high-cost BSU employees. Logistic regression, performed on the entire BSU population, did not differentiate low and highcost employees well: only 15.0% of high-cost employees were classified correctly. / Fisher Institute for Wellness

<p>A global prospecting and mining leader recognizes HIV/AIDS as a threat to the company and its employees. The management has committed them to have a proactive approach trying to minimize the impact of this killing disease by putting in place effective workplace programmes. However, programmes can only be successful if the employees&rsquo / needs regarding knowledge, attitudes and sexual practices have been thoroughly researched identified. The aim of this study was to do an explorative descriptive study of the knowledge, attitudes, perceptions and behaviours of the employees of a mining company in Namibia on HIV/AIDS. The objectives were:<br /> &diams / To measure the overall knowledge levels as well as attitudes and sexual practices of DBMN employees on HIV and STD&rsquo / s.<br /> &diams / To determine whether there was a difference in the knowledge levels, attitudes and sexual practices of employees in different job categories, age groups, marital status, religion and education level.<br /> &diams / To measure risky sexual behaviours of participants.</p> <p><br /> All employees (550) of this mining company were invited to participate in the survey and 226 employees responded. A self-constructed questionnaire was used to collect data administered in a group setting. The questionnaire was regarded as having content validity and the SPSS program was be utilized for descriptive statistics. Utilizing the ratio data developed through the indexes, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to determine significant difference between the means of the groups in comparison. Because multiple comparisons were done, a post hoc test (Fisher LSD) was used to determine significant differences between group means.</p>