M.Ed. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Magister Artium - MA / Downsizing is one of the most common organisational reactions to organisational change. The effects of global competition, mergers, and the privatisation of public sector companies, among others, are forcing organisations in South Africa to resort to workforce reduction. The purpose of the present study was to address the lack of research on the impact of downsizing on survivors. Specifically, the study examined the interactive effects of job insecurity, locus of control and sense of coherence on the organisational commitment of survivors. / South Africa

spending is regarded to be one of the major contributors to economic growth. The purpose of the study was to investigate how infrastructure projects could engender professional skills development. The topic is focused on a human resource (HR) perspective as it is one of the knowledge areas in project management. In order to achieve the research objectives and also establish the breadth of the subject issues in the literature review, a qualitative methodology was employed. Interviews were conducted and the majority of the participants were working towards professional registration in the built environment professions. The empirical findings that emerged from the study show that the majority of the respondents agreed that HR units should be aware of the legislation related to professional training and education. The interviewees further elucidate that, although professional registration is the primary duty of the candidate, HR units should ensure that interns are doing what is in line with their professional requirements, according to different councils, to ensure compliance. However, the lack of a structured approach in administering training programmes is a key factor that contributes to the lack of development of professional skills on government sponsored infrastructure projects. This must be addressed to attain the desired professional development outcomes among historically disadvantaged individuals (HDIs) that are keen on professional registration and development in the built environment professions. Other empirical findings showed that most of the respondents showed some concern regarding job security with their present employment. They explained that once the status of professional registration is attained, securing employment in the industry should be relatively easy. South Africa needs a highly skilled workforce to ensure growth of the economy therefore HR departments in organisation should adapt a systematic approach in their HR planning in order to ensure skills are engendered to HDIs as well.

Field research was used to document the psychological and contextual experience of job insecurity for 15 graduate women in jobs with limited tenure and protection. Single, hour-long, intensive focused interviews were used, employing a projective technique. Transcripts of taped interviews were analyzed for factors associated with positive and negative emotional shifts. Factors were categorized and grouped into domains, which included: the nature of the subjects' job insecurity; effects on work performance, work relations, emotional and physical health, finances, leisure, and, personal and family life. The experience was shown to fit a transition model of loss and adaption to change. Major stressors were uncertainty, financial fears, pressure to perform, loss of trust, job search and career fears. Typical cognitions included: self doubt; feeling unappreciated, disillusioned, powerless and isolated. Cynicism and feeling compromised were less common reactions. Work relations, and work performance were generally adversely affected as were leisure activities and family life. Financial retrenchment was common. All subjects reported stress and anxiety; some reported depressive symptoms. Thirteen coping strategies were identified. Cognitive coping was prominent, in particular, denial-like processes used to maintain optimism. "Good coping" and "poor coping" profiles were developed from the data. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

Although the Nordic countries have consistently ranked at the top of the Press Freedom Index for the last decade they aren’t a monolith, untouched by the rise of populism, authoritarianism and its frequent attacks on the press; a scourge of democratic nations during the last vestiges of the 2010s. Nor have their media managed to escape the rocky seas of finding viable market solutions in an increasingly accelerating and expanding digital reality.  Intimidation and harassment, heavy workloads and job insecurity are tangible threats for journalists. The aim of this study was to examine to which extent these factors are sources of stress, vulnerability and feelings of insecurity for some Swedish journalists working in the field and within editorial environs today. A qualitative approach of in-depth interviews with a few active journalists, editorial department safety representatives as well as union representatives comprise the main, albeit small, chunk of this paper’s empirical data. The results were then analysed and compared to prior research including but not limited to; Threats towards journalists, public trust and views of Swedish media, the labour market, economic prospects of Swedish media and the technical requirements and workloads of today’s journalists in Sweden.  The results showed that although threats and intimidation tactics towards journalists were commonplace – and risks stifling media discourse – it was not the main cause of the interviewed journalists’ perception of insecurity; mainly due to its intermittency and subject-related predictability. Heavy workloads were instead put forth as a major component of everyday stress, this was in part explained by personnel downsizing without corresponding reductions in production as well as a trend towards less niche multi-role journalists. Job insecurity and employer sided exploitation of employment laws were also cited as main sources of discontent and stress, leading to a high degree of job vulnerability and diminishing work satisfaction.  Although the scope of this paper did not allow for a large sample size the findings still gives an interesting insight into the real working environment of some Swedish journalists.

The main purpose of this thesis was to examine the relation between employee retention and its three variables namely motivation, job satisfaction, and job security of employees in a Pakistani organization named Varioline Intercool. The case study and deductive approach was used to conduct this study. Data was collected from a sample of forty (40) employees from different levels and data collection was undertaken through questionnaires by using Google form as platform. The results of the study were shown by using a quantitative method approach. SPSS was used to analyze the data. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze information about our respondents and Pearson’s Correlation was used to check the relation between dependent and independent variables.  The main findings from the research shows that all hypothesis that we made were accepted and all variable have a positive relation with employee retention the dependent variable which demonstrates that if these factors are not present in the company then the employee might leave the company causing decrease in employee retention. Furthermore, the study revealed that motivation has the highest correlation with employee retention which shows that for the employees in Varioline Intercool motivation including its three factors appreciation, respect and reward & recognition are the most important for employees to retain in the company. Accordingly employees who are not well motivated will have higher motive searching for job somewhere else. The results of the study therefore can be used as the basis for decision making concerning employees welfare, drafting retention strategies and future human resource planning and development.

The journalistic mission, crucial to a functioning democracy, requires journalists to act as “watchdogs”. By holding people in power accountable, journalists play their part in ensuring that our society is deserving of these lofty democratic standards. What do journalists need to fulfill this role effectively? SVT, Sweden’s major TV broadcast company and one of the country’s biggest news organizations, appears to be increasingly reliant on substitute journalists and short-term employees. This study aims to research how news editors on SVT:s local news stations gauge that the possibility of fulfilling the journalistic ideals of investigation is affected through short-term employment arrangements. SVT is financially funded through a specific tax which entails a certain responsibility on the news distribution they represent. This funding method plays a part in why this study is narrowed down to SVT, as opposed to other media companies. They are also one of the biggest employers of journalists in Sweden, whilst also being one of the country’s most trusted news sources. All in all, a very important institution that’s deserving of further scrutiny. There’s extensive research, both in Sweden and beyond, on the topic of professional journalists. However, we’ve noticed a lack of recent research regarding journalists’ performance and job safety that’s grounded in actual working conditions and terms. Our study indicates that local SVT news stations regularly change substitute journalists in order to circumvent the Employment Protection Act. To find out if these insecure employment forms affect the news stations this study made qualitative interviews with 9 news editors from different local SVT stations all around Sweden. Through a thematic analysis of the interview transcripts we discovered that the increasing use of short-term employees does affect the newsroom’s ability to fulfill their goals, particularly in transition periods when substitute journalists are replaced with new ones. Furthermore, we argue that the ability to fulfill the journalistic ideals of investigation and holding people of power accountable, will be compromised to an even bigger degree if the newsrooms’ share of short-term employees continues to grow.

While there is a growing body of literature on the effect of unemployment on individuals, and their marriages and families, a paucity of research has focused on job insecurity, or employment uncertainty, as a stressor on employees and their families. In addition, research on women in the workplace is relatively new. The incidence and severity of personal stress among male (n = 79) and female (n = 53) employees is compared during a period of job insecurity at a small midwestern university. Patterns of marital and family functioning for both male and female employees during the period of employment uncertainty also are compared. No significant differences were found in either the incidence and severity of personal stress among male and female employees or in the way their marriages and families functioned during the period of job insecurity. / Master of Science

Today, the temporary agency work is a well-established industry in the Swedish labour market. The industry has grown every year since the start 1992 and seemingly, the legislation has not kept up with its’ pace. The reason behind the growth of temporary agency work is their clients impulsion for flexibility as well as making their organisation more efficient. Employers organizations argue that the ability to be flexible is a tool to increase economic growth in the society while the unions argue that the temporary agency workers are paying the price with insecure employment-contracts. The line between cancelation of employment due to redundancy and dismissal due to personal reasons is unclear, with disadvantages to the employment protection, through this triangular relationship between the temporary agency work, user company and the employee. The question is if the goal justifies the means. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how the temporary agency work-industry is affecting the temporary agency workers employment protection, in addition, the thesis will investigate which legal impacts the legislation is creating in a diversity perspective. In order to answer the research questions properly, a traditional legal dogmatic method has been used as well as legal sociological perspective.

Downsizing is one of the most common organisational reactions to organisational change. The effects of global competition, mergers, and the privatisation of public sector companies, among others, are forcing organisations in South Africa to resort to workforce reduction. The purpose of the present study was to address the lack of research on the impact of downsizing on survivors. Specifically, the study examined the interactive effects of job insecurity, locus of control and sense of coherence on the organisational commitment of survivors.