Using two samples, one comprising 864 SIOPSA abstracts of research and another comprising industrial psychology practitioners who participated in an online electronic survey (N=14) and in telephonic interviews (N=23), the study explored three main issues. First, the trends regarding industrial psychology research themes in research presented at SIOPSA conferences from 2000 to 2011. Second, the extent to which these themes matched research needs as perceived by industrial psychology practitioners in South African organisations was examined to determine their degree of congruence with practical business challenges. Third, the study explored the future research themes in industrial psychology as perceived by industrial psychologists in organisations. Results indicated that there was a general proportional increase in the amount of research presented at SIOPSA conferences in various global categories of industrial psychology across the 12-year period. Personnel psychology, organisational psychology and psychological assessment were the most commonly covered global areas in the research presented at SIOPSA conferences. Results revealed that there was congruence between research presented at SIOPSA conferences and the prevailing needs among practitioners in South African organisations. Despite this congruence, it was shown that the areas being researched on are not effectively addressing practical organisational issues or assisting in theory development for use in organisations. Additionally, the findings showed that the future research areas proposed by industrial psychology practitioners span all global themes in industrial psychology except for consumer psychology.

The aim of this study was to explore conflict as perceived by Industrial Psychologists in the workplace. The sample of (N=6) consisted of registered Industrial Psychologists. A qualitative research approach was used to explore how Industrial Psychologists in the workplace perceive and experience issues of conflict. A purposive sample was employed. Data was analysed using thematic analysis. The emerging themes were: (1) the Industrial Psychologists’ perceptions and reactions to conflict; (2) organisational structure; (3) organisational management style; (4) the nature and condition of job assignment; (5) individual characteristics; (6) mutual understanding and interaction; and (7) the consequences of conflict. The first six themes describe the sources of the conflict as well as strategies to manage them. The findings of this study reveal that issues such as the perception of and reaction to conflict, organisational structure, and organisational management style, the nature and conditions of job assignment, individual characteristics, and mutual understanding and interaction are important factors contributing to the occurrence and management of conflict. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.

This research study aims to establish the level of success of a particular stress management programme conducted at Durban Metro Electricity. The study explores the levels of stress experienced by employees before and after attending the stress management programme. This required a pre- and posttest analysis. In addition, a t-test was conducted to ascertain significant statistical or quantitative changes in stress levels. The study also explores qualitative data that reflect the perceived stressors that employees feel they face in the workplace. Five different stressors emerged from the qualitative data: management problems, safety issues at work, staff attitude problems, stressful work tasks, and general job stress. The perceived symptoms of stress are physical, emotional and cognitive in nature. The t-test yielded a fifty percent stress reduction result. Whilst this is commendable, it is important to look at further avenues for stress reduction. It is recommended that a multidimensional approach to stress management be implemented in the organisation. It is maintained that it is not enough to train and equip employees with coping skills. Stress management within the organisation should include support systems and resources to help reduce stress. This refers to a system where managers, supervisors and staff come together to actively consider organisational structure, practice and dynamics so as to find creative solutions to reduce stress. The system should also include individual problem-focused stress 90unselling on a regular basis. By implementing stress management strategies beyond a three-day stress management programme, and by encouraging co-operation of management and employees, Durban Metro Electricity can bring about further reductions in stress levels. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2002.

The topic of stress is one that has been explored for many years, as individuals have aimed to understand this phenomenon, as well as provide insight into why stress occurs and how it occurs. Besides the interest in this phenomenon, it becomes apparent when examining literature pertaining to this topic that little or no consensus exists surrounding its definition. However, what these diverse accounts do share is an extremely individualised conceptualisation of stress, which homogenises the stress experience. Hobfoll (1998) critically argues that as much as stress is interpreted and experienced at the level of the individual, the experience and interpretation transpires within a social context, a context that constructs and hence influences the experience itself (Hobfoll, 1998). One particular vehicle that plays a role in constructing one's perceptions regarding the phenomenon of stress is that of the Print Media. This study therefore aims to challenge these individualistic conceptualisations by exploring the ways in which the Print Media constructs our perceptions of the organisational phenomenon of stress. The sample for this research consists of four newspaper groups, namely the Business Day, Sunday Times, Mail and Guardian, as well as all those newspapers that fall under the company title Independent Newspapers. Only articles found between 1 January 1994 and 31 December 2004 are drawn upon. The data is organised and analysed on the 'thematic method of analysis' which consists of both 'theory-led' and 'inductive' thematic analysis. This analysis provides insight into the construction and understandings of organisational stress presented by the Print Media, understandings that tend to, on the whole, construct the stress experience at the level of the individual, independent of the role of the organisation in the process. However, there is a group of articles that move away from these constructions to critically note the role of the organisation and the social in one's understandings of organisational stress, and in the stress experience itself. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2006.

<p>Personality-type measures should be viable tools to use for selection. They have incremental validity over cognitive measures and they add this incremental validity while decreasing adverse impact (Hough, 1998; Ones, Viswesvaran &amp; Schmidt, 1993; Ones &amp; Viswesvaran, 1998a). However, personality measures are susceptible to faking; individual's instructed to fake on personality measures are able to increase their scores (Barrick &amp; Mount, 1996; Ellingson, Sackett &amp; Hough, 1999; Hough, Eaton, Dunnette, Kamp, &amp; McCloy, 1990). Further, personality measures often reveal less than optimal validity estimates as research continually finds meta-analytic coefficients near .2 (e.g., Morgeson, Campion, Dipboye, Hollenbeck, Murphy, &amp; Schmitt, 2007). Some researchers have suggested that these two problems are linked as faking on personality measure may reduce their ability to predict job performance (e.g., Tett &amp; Christansen, 2007). Empirically keyed instruments traditionally enhance prediction and have been found to mitigate the effects of faking (Kluger, Reilly &amp; Russell, 1991; Scott &amp; Sinar, 2011). Recently suggested as a means to key to personality measures (e.g., Tawney &amp; Mead, In Prep), this dissertation further investigates empirical keying methods as a means to both mitigate faking effects and as a means to increase validity of personality-type measures. A Monte Carlo methodology is used due to the difficulties in obtaining accurate measures of faking. As such, this dissertation investigates faking issues under controlled and known parameters, allowing for more robust conclusions as compared to prior faking research. </p>

<p>The objective of this study was to determine whether a relationship exists between the personality preference and career anchors of police officers. The idea that personality relates meaningfully to the kinds of careers people choose and how they perform in these careers, has a long history in career psychology.</p>

<p> Job performance aids (JPAs) have been studied for many decades in a variety of disciplines and for many different types of tasks, yet this is the first known research experiment using JPAs in a quality assurance (QA) context. The objective of this thesis was to assess whether a JPA has an effect on the performance of a QA observer performing the concurrent dual verification technique for a basic assembly task. The JPA used in this study was a simple checklist, and the design borrows heavily from prior research on task analysis and other human factors principles. The assembly task and QA construct of concurrent dual verification are consistent with those of a high consequence manufacturing environment. Results showed that the JPA had only a limited effect on QA performance in the context of this experiment. However, there were three important and unexpected findings that may draw interest from a variety of practitioners. First, a novel testing methodology sensitive enough to measure the effects of a JPA on performance was created. Second, the discovery that there are different probabilities of detection for different types of error in a QA context may be the most far-reaching results. Third, these results highlight the limitations of concurrent dual verification as a control against defects. It is hoped that both the methodology and results of this study are an effective baseline from which to launch future research activities.</p>

<p> Workplace bullying is a global problem that leaves workers emotionally harmed and organizations financially strapped; yet in many cases, business leaders fail to adequately address the problem. The purpose of this research was to determine if the top leader had a direct impact on the presence of bullying within the workplace. Based on personality trait theory as a theoretical foundation, the key issue this study explored was the relationship between the presence of workplace bullying and observed narcissistic behaviors exhibited by the top leader. Participants consisted of 84 human resources professionals reporting directly to the CEO/president of companies located in the United States. Observer-rated assessments were used to measure the leader's observed narcissistic behaviors along with the prevalence of bullying within the workplace. Logistic regression and Pearson correlation were used to analyze assessment data. Results revealed a strong and positive relationship between top leaders' observed narcissistic behaviors and the presence of bullying within the organization. These results suggest the top leader may not only directly impact the presence of workplace bullying, but may actually create the problem. This study contributes to social change by providing support for the need to use personality assessments when hiring or promoting top leaders. By identifying those who contribute to the sustainability of bullying, these individuals can be excluded from the selection process and workplace bullying will therefore be minimized, improving the well-being of employees and the financial performance of organizations, world-wide.</p>

<p> The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has experienced decreased return on investment caused by hiring too many air traffic controller specialists (ATCSs) who performed poorly in field training, thus failing to become certified professional controllers (CPCs). Based on Schmidt and Hunter's theory of job performance and biodata theory, this quantitative, archival study examined whether factors of cognitive ability and biodata could predict job performance status of 2 generations of ATCSs, poststrike (PS) and next generation (NG) controllers. For each generation of controllers, binary logistic regression analysis was conducted to determine if any of the independent variables&mdash;transmuted composite (TMC) score for PS controllers, Air Traffic and Selection and Training (AT-SAT) test score for NG controllers, average of high school arithmetic/math letter grade, overall high school average letter grade, self-estimation of time to become fully effective in the ATCS role, self-estimation of percentile ranking in the FAA program relative to the class, size of neighborhood raised, or socioeconomic status&mdash;are significant predictors of job performance status for controllers as measured by whether they pass the field OJT (i.e., certified or still in training, or failed certification or left training). The regression results for the PS and NG controllers were found to be statistically significant (&chi;² (23) = 68.377, p &lt; .001) and (&chi;² (17) = 99.496, p &lt; .001), respectively. Findings that overall high school grade point average and socioeconomic status significantly predicted ATCS job performance for both PS and NG controllers could influence the FAA's use of revised biodata to better predict ATCS job performance. Further research should include studies of socioeconomic status, gender, and race to address new evidence that the AT-SAT has adverse impact.</p>

The present study applied a combined behavioural and attitudinal approach in occupational safety in a Hong Kong-based metal house in Shenzhen, China in an attempt to modify the safety behaviours and attitudes of the workers by means of posted feedback plus goal-setting. To the best of the researcher's knowledge, this is the first study of this type to be attempted in a Chinese industrial setting. A total of 142 respondents from the four departments, namely Heavy Duty, Small Press, Hand Press and Drilling were involved in the survey with a multiple-based line design for an environment where random sampling was impossible. Meanwhile, the study also intended to explore the underlying factors that affected the safety attitudes of the respondents. These factors included influences from traditional culture and religions. A self-constructed observation checklist and a questionnaire adopted from the Health and Safety Executive Report No. 81 (HSE, 1996) on attitude investigation were the major research instruments. Percentaged analysis, ANOVA, T-Test and Fisher Exact Test set at 0.05 level were applied to determine the significance of differences in the workers' behaviours and attitudes before and after the intervention. From the results of the research, it was found that i) there were relationships between the workers' behaviours in occupational safety and posted-feedback plus goal-setting in the Heavy-duty Press, Small Press and Hand Press Departments; ii) there were relationships between the intervention and the workers' attitudes in terms of -'Supervisor Satisfaction' in the Heavy Duty and the Small Press Departments; -'Shop-floor Training' with the Heavy Duty Press and the Small Press Departments; -'Safety Meeting' with the Small Press Department; -' Safety Working Procedures' with the Heavy Duty Press and the Small Press Departments; iii) the results demonstrated that there were relationships between attitudes of the formally trained workers and those of their peer workers without formal training towards occupational safety in terms of -'Supervisor Satisfaction' with the Heavy Duty Press Department; -'Safety Meeting' with the Heavy Duty Press Department; -' Safety Working Procedures' with the Small Press department; iv) there were relationships between workers with self-reported accident rates and those without in terms of their safety attitudes towards -'Supervisor Knowledge' with the Heavy Duty Press Department; -'Shop-floor Satisfaction' with the Heavy Duty Press Department; -'Shop-floor Environment: Hardware' with the Small Press Department. Intervention was related to both the workers' attitudes and their behaviours in work safety in the Heavy-duty Press, the Small Press and the Hand Press departments. Throughout the investigation, no significant change was found with both the respondents' safety behaviours or attitudes in the Drilling Department during the periods when interventions were introduced to other departments. Concerning the controlling factors for the workers' attitudes towards work safety, cultural and religious factors could explain the workers' under-reporting of accidents and injuries. These findings implied that researchers needed to be aware of the tremendous local cultural and religious concerns when applying western rationales to constructing a safety culture in developing countries.