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South African companies are being exposed more than ever to the effects of the world economy, technological advancement, and tough international competition. Organisations are confronted with ever increasing, turbulence and change in their environment and the telecommunications market in particular has had to face large changes and challenges during the past ten years, and will continue to do so. This industry is changing shape with the continuous emergence of new technologies and the rapidly declining market for voice service is due to people increasingly using wireless telephones. / Thesis (M.B.A.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006.

The flexibility of the labour market is considered as an instrument for increasing economic growth.Therefore has the use of flexible employment, also called atypical employment, increased. The atypical employment is characterized by insecurity in comparison with a traditional permanent full- time employment. One of the most common atypical employments is the manning employment, which is insecure whether it is permanent or not. The insecurity in the industry is based on insecure income, unpredictable working hours and poor psychosocial work environment. In order to encourage a continued increase of flexibility in the labour market while the need for security for staffing employees would be satisfied was Directive 2008:104 adopted. A certain amount of security has been achieved. Despite this, remains high mental illness among the staffing employees. Mental illness is based on job insecurity, where, for example unpredictable working hours and high expectations are contributing factors. Young people and immigrants are those groups that in the staffing industry are significantly overrepresented, and young people as a group are also overrepresented both in the general labour market and the industry with temporary employment. Young people are also the group in society who suffers from very high mental illness. The purpose of this essay is to, based on legal regulations and other relevant literature, examine how the staffing industry function and it’s need for flexibility relate to the workers need of security, and potential consequences of flexibility for workers and labour market. I also aim to investigate how already vulnerable groups in society and labor market may be affected by flexibility emergence.

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.

Univ., Diss.--Köln, 2003. / Literaturverz. S. 345 - 372.

Visstidsanställda inom bemanningsbranschen har en utsatt position på arbetsmarknaden på grund av att de riskerar att med kort varsel förlora sin anställning. Bemanningsbranschen är väletablerad i Sverige och många arbetare har någon gång haft en relation till ett bemanningsföretag genom att själva arbeta via dem, eller via vänner eller kollegor med erfarenhet av det. I studien undersöks frågan kring hur bemanningsanställda med visstidskontrakt upplever sin anställningstrygghet. Genom att undersöka bemanningsanställdas upplevda oro för framtiden, närvarande ledarskap, sysselsättningstrygghet, inkomsttrygghet och flexibilitet ger studien en bild av hur bemanningsanställda mår i sin anställning. Studien bygger på intervjuer med åtta bemanningsanställda som är visstidsanställda. Studiens resultat visade att visstidsanställdas livssituation och kontakt med sin chef på bemanningsföretaget har en stor betydelse för den upplevda anställningstryggheten. Dessutom upplevde de anställda att otryggheten kring anställningen bidrog till en viss oro inför framtiden. Studien kan bidra till en ökad förståelse för de faktorer som har betydelse för bemanningsanställdas upplevelse av sin anställningstrygghet. / Fixed-term employees in the staffing industry have a vulnerable position in the labour market, due to the risk of losing their employment with a short notice. The temporary agency industry is well established in Sweden and many workers have at some point had a relationship with a temporary agency company by working with them themselves or through friends or colleagues with experience of it. The study examines the question of how temporary agency employees with fixed-term contracts experience their job security. By examining temporary employees' perceived concerns about the future, present leadership, occupational security, financial security and flexibility, the study provides a picture of how temporary employees feel in their employment. The study is based on interviews with eight temporary agency employees with fixed-term contracts. The results of the study showed that the life situation of fixed-term employees and contact with their manager at the temporary agency company were of great importance for the perceived job security. In addition, the employees felt that the insecurity concerning their employment contributed to uncertainty concerning the future. The study can contribute to an increased understanding of the factors that are important for temporary agency workers experience of their job security.

This research explores the relationship between job insecurity, organisational commitment and work engagement amongst staff in a tertiary institution. The research was conducted through computer-aided telephone interviews and self-completion techniques. Of the total population (N=4460), a proportion of survey participants (n=260) were selected using a two-stage stratified probability sampling technique, proportional to size, across the different departments. Three instruments were administered among the survey participants, namely the Job Insecurity Scale (JIS), the Organisational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ) and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES). On the basis of the outcome of the study, a theoretical relationship was determined between job insecurity (JIS), organisational commitment (OCQ) and work engagement (UWES). An empirical study provided evidence on the relationship that exists between the three concepts. The results revealed that a statistically significant relationship exists between JIS and OQC as well as UWES, although the relationship is positive and weak (r=.286** for OCQ; r=.270** for UWES). These results are incongruent with previous studies and might suggest that previous studies failed to examine whether the nature and strength of the relationships between job security and its outcomes are different in situations with different levels of insecurity or threat. However, further analysis revealed a statistically significant relationship between some of the subscales. For instance, a positive statistically significant relationship was observed between perceived powerlessness and affective commitment (r=.304**), vigour (r=.346**), dedication (r=.350**) and absorption (r=.279**). The results imply that as participants feel insecure about the various job features and the job as a whole, they simultaneously express their commitment and energy as well as dedication to their work responsibilities and the organisation. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.A. (Industrial & Organisational Psychology)

Thesis (M. Tech. (Labour Relations Management)--Vaal University of Technology / When the South African authorities decided, in the 1970's, to recognize statutorily other Black workers who were engaged in other spheres of employment as employees, domestic workers were excluded from all Industrial Legislation. This resulted from the fact that domestic work, as an occupation, had been excluded from the definition of an employee. It is estimated that over one million people are engaged in this service, comprising eleven percent of overall employment in the informal sector of the South African economy. This significantly large sector of the labour market performs its work under some of the most oppressive working conditions and such exploitation is unchallenged, as it has been noted that some domestic workers do not sign contracts of employment with their employers on appointment, which can lead to insecurity in the domestic worker sector. The purpose of this research was to determine the efficiency of the contract of employment and its effect on the job security of domestic workers. Through a theoretical foundation, a number of studies have advocated that the contract of employment can be trusted to be the perfect instrument in securing jobs in the domestic sector. A survey was carried out for measuring job security. The research instruments used for data collection from 203 domestic workers, were interviews and questionnaires. The SPSS program was used to analyze the data. The results of the empirical study are presented and discussed in detail. Findings of this study revealed, that the majority of domestic workers don't have contracts of employment while a very small percentage of domestic workers do have contracts. Conclusions drawn, indicated that domestic workers who have signed contracts, enjoy reasonable conditions of employment and employment benefits than those without contracts. Recommendations based on this study are that the government encourages a very strong Trade Union Movement in the domestic sector services. The Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) and/or the Department of Labour facilitates annual workshops for employers of domestic workers. The CCMA, Trade Unions and/or the Department of labour facilitate training programmes for domestic workers. The government makes it a binding norm, for every employer in the domestic sector, to conclude a contract of employment with his/her domestic worker and furnish such employee with a copy of the contract, regardless of the nature of services rendered by employee. Ongoing research on many aspects of domestic workers will enhance better conditions of employment in making the lawmakers aware of other hidden agendas that require attendance in the domestic sector.

The purpose of this study was to (a) explore the lived experiences of school district employees who have sustained on-the-job injuries with specific attention to employee perceptions of employer response after injury and (b) examine whether purposeful empathetic response from the employer after workplace injury was related to changes in employee perceptions of employer response. This study included both qualitative and quantitative methods. In Phase 1, the sample for the interviews included nine workers from a large school district in South Florida who had active injury claims within two years before the study began. The Phase 1 findings were that the level of assistance and type of support received after reporting an injury varied among participants, despite working for the same employer; that the perceived response from the employer was more influential in affecting the participants' experience of workplace injury than participants' perception of the response of their coworkers; t hat the reaction from a majority of the school district employees (6 of 9) who were injured at work mirrored perceived employer response; and that more than half of the nine participants had unmet expectations of their employer with respect to how they were treated after experiencing workplace injury. In Phase 2, the 91 subjects that participated in the organizational response survey (See Appendix E and Appendix F) were employees from the same school district who were injured during an eight-week period. Data from three subscales (organizational support, return-to-work policies, and post-injury job satisfaction) on the survey instrument were compared between two groups. / An experimental group received purposeful empathetic response from both the employer at the local school or department level as well as contact from the employer's Risk Management department. Analysis of variance was used to compare responses of the groups. A Bonferroni adjustment of .05/3 or .017 was applied: the result was non-significant. This finding suggests that purposeful, empathetic contact alone was not enough to significantly affect the participants' scores. / by Nancy S. Patrick. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010? / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Understanding the wide range of outcomes achieved by firms trying to implement TQM and similar process improvement initiatives presents a challenge to management science and organization theory: a few firms reap sustained benefits from their programs, but most efforts fail and are abandoned. A defining feature of such techniques is the reliance on the front-line workforce to do the work of improvement, thus creating the possibility of agency problems; different incentives facing managers and workers. Specifically, successfully improving productivity can lead to lay-offs. The literature provides two opposing theories of how agency interacts with the ability of quality-oriented improvement techniques to dramaticlly increase productivity. The 'Drive Out Fear' school argues that firms must commit to job security, while the 'Drive In Fear' school emphasizes the positive role that insecurity plays in motivating change. In this study a contract theoretic model is developed to analyze the role of agency in process improvement. The main insight of the study is that there are two types of job security, internal and external, that have opposite impacts on the firm's abilty to implement improvement initiatives. The distinction is useful in explaining the results of different case studies and can reconcile the two change theories. / National Science Foundation, grant SBR-9422228, the Ford Motor Company and the Harley-Davidson Motor Company. MIT Sloan School of Management, Center for Innovation in Product Development