While the scale of an organization has been huge and runs for ages, it is not merely the bureaucracy we have to consider but to properly adjust the main structure of the organization that is adverse to boost up the competitiveness. What Taiwan urgently requires is to enhance the nation¡¦s competitiveness; nevertheless, the fundamentals of four-rank government are necessary to make an adjustment. What is more, they are required to alter and simplify the great overlapping in terms of provincial and central government¡¦s human resource, cost, controlled land and numbers of population. The reasons that influence the success and failure of the government reengineering might be sophisticated; however, the key element is undoubtedly the employees¡¦ support and cooperation. In Taiwan, the researches with regard to the government reengineering are mostly concentrated on the domain of system; as to the impacts of government reengineering on staff¡¦s job satisfaction, organization commitment, job involvement and their intention to quit are lack of related-research. Based on the above stated incentives, and with a view to realizing the influences on reengineering government as to staff¡¦s job satisfaction, organization commitment, job involvement and their intention to quit, this research is attempted to study the staff attitude after simplifying the provincial structure and come up with suggestions as guides on formulating human resource¡¦s strategies when carrying out government reengineering by central government organizations. The suggestions that propose in this research are as follows: communicating with the staff by holding the colloquiums frequently; conducting second-job-skill-training seminars based on individual¡¦s needs; appropriately granting authority to the staff to increase their job satisfaction, organization commitment, job involvement as well as decrease job insecurity and their intention to quit.

This study examined the role of mentoring support played in the relationship between mentors’ and protégés’ perceived job insecurity. Using survey data collected from 153 ongoing mentoring dyads from several industries in Taiwan, regression results indicated that mentors’ job insecurity was positively related to protégés’ job insecurity whereas mentors’ job insecurity was negatively related to mentoring support protégés received. Furthermore, mentoring support was negatively related to protégés’ job insecurity. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Tyrimo tikslas – panagrinėti darbuotojų kvalifikacijos kėlimo ir charakterio stiprybių sąsajas su nesaugumu dėl darbo vietos. Tiriamieji darbo vietose pildė apklausos anketą, kurią sudaro kvalifikacijos kėlimą vertinantys klausimai, L. Francis ir J. Barling (2005) sukurta 5 punktų skalė, matuojanti nesaugumą dėl darbo vietos, Bendrojo saviveiksmingumo skalė, sukurta M. Jerusalem ir R. Schwarzer (1979) bei VIA Charakterio stiprybių klasifikacijos trumpasis variantas. Tyrime dalyvavo 149 valstybinių įstaigų darbuotojai: 61 Valstybinio miškotvarkos instituto darbuotojas, 62 dviejų Kauno miesto vidurinių mokyklų darbuotojai ir 26 dėstytojai iš dviejų Kauno aukštųjų mokyklų. Iš jų 69 vyrai ir 80 moterų. Buvo nustatytos darbuotojų nesaugumo sąsajos su jų profesija: miškininkai patiria mažesnį nesaugumą dėl darbo vietos nei pedagogai. Skiriasi ir kvalifikacijos kėlimo bei nesaugumo dėl darbo sąsajos. Miškininkų grupėje buvo nustatyti ryšiai tarp darbuotojų dalyvavimo su darbu susijusiuose mokymuose ir nesaugumo dėl darbo, bei darbdavio palaikymo keliant kvalifikaciją ir nesaugumo dėl darbo. Pedagogų nesaugumas nesisiejo nei su jų kvalifikacijos kėlimu, nei su darbdavio palaikymu. Taip pat buvo nustatytos saviveiksmingumo, geranoriškumo, narsos, lyderystės bei entuziazmo sąsajos su nesaugumu dėl darbo miškininkų grupėje ir saviveiksmingumo, atkaklumo, meilės bei dvasingumo sąsajos su nesaugumu dėl darbo pedagogų grupėje. / This study aimed to determine employees training, character strengths and job insecurity links. 61 Forest Inventory and Management Institute employees, 87 teachers of two Kaunas secondary schools and two Kaunas High schools took part in a survey. Employees in their workplaces filled in questionnaires which included Job insecurity scale, The General Self-Efficacy scale and The VIA Classification of Strengths and Virtues (Short form). Demographic questions as well as the questions about employees training during a year period were included. After performing data analysis, the study found that job insecurity differs in groups according to employees profession. Foresters feel less insecure than teachers does. The data demonstrates that job related training and support of employer is directly related to job insecurity of foresters. The same relationship wasn’t detected in teachers group. The analysis of correlations among job insecurity and character strengths demonstrates that job insecurity is negatively associated with employees self – efficacy, bravery, kindness, love, leadership, zest, perseverance and spirituality.

Organisations throughout the world have to cope with an increasing rate of change. These organisational changes are due to a number of reasons, which include social, technological, economic and political reasons. These result in a change in government regulations. In South Africa, the changes include the merging of higher education institutions and changes in the educational landscape. The public higher education institutions were reduced by the Department of Higher Education and Training from 36 to 23. Same changes include new universities of technologies and mergers of other universities plus more comprehensive universities. Recently, government established two new universities, one in Mpumalanga and another in the Northern Cape. Job insecurity, job satisfaction, occupational stress, sense of coherence, and general health are key aspects of the higher education institutions during and after the transformation process. This study aimed to determine the relationship between job insecurity, job satisfaction, occupational stress, sense of coherence, and general health of employees in a higher education institution. The literature reviewed showed that job insecurity occurs as a result of a merger, which is one of the multiple antecedents in a job insecurity model. However, a merger, as an organisational condition, changes individual perceptions about job insecurity and its consequences. Job satisfaction, occupational stress, and general health are consequences of job insecurity. From the reviewed literature, it is clear that the employees’ lack of resources is a very serious challenge in their endeavour to perform their duties. Lack of resources results in the poor performance of employees and their inability to use their capabilities to deal with every day work-related challenges. A cross-sectional design with employees in higher education institution (N=229) was used. The Job Insecurity Inventory, Minnesota Job Satisfaction Questionnaire, An Organisation Stress Screening Tool, Orientation to Life Questionnaire, and General Health Questionnaire, and a biographical questionnaire were utilised. Statistical analyses were carried out for the three articles in the study with the help of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (IBM-SPSS) program. Statistical methods used in this article consisted of descriptive statistics (for example, means, standard deviations and frequencies), Cronbach alpha coefficients, explanatory factor analyses, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients, multiple regression analysis and mediation analysis (Omnibus procedure). The results of article 1 showed that job insecurity was statistically significantly related to general health (somatic symptoms, social dysfunction, hopelessness and worthlessness). This implies that employees who experience high job insecurity also experience problems with their health. General health had a practically significant negative correlation with sense of coherence. Literature reviewed states that a weak sense of coherence leads employees to perceive situations as threatening (that is, high job demands and low job resources), and could lead to ill health. The research findings clearly indicate that sense of coherence does not moderate the relationship between job insecurity and general health. Regarding the results of article 2, a practically significant negative relationship exists between occupational stress and job satisfaction (intrinsic, supervision, extrinsic). This means that employees with high levels of occupational stress display lower job satisfaction and vice versa. Occupational stress and general health have a negative relationship, implying that different occupational stress factors (work demands, insecurity and work relations) relate to the general health of employees. Employees, who experience high work demands, are insecure and experience poor work relations with their colleagues or supervisors, have problems with their health and do not enjoy normal day-to-day activities in the organisation. Job satisfaction displays a practically significant negative correlation with general health. This implies that employees who are not satisfied with the intrinsic satisfaction of their job and working environment experience headaches and lack physical energy. Such employees generally feel sick. They do not enjoy every day activities since they doubt their own competence and the meaning of life. Both occupational stress and job satisfaction are statistically significant predictors of general health. In conclusion, the results of this article report that job satisfaction mediates the relationship between occupational stress and the general health of employees in a higher education institution. The results of article 3 showed that practically significant positive relationships exist between sense of coherence and job satisfaction. Employees with a higher sense of coherence are more satisfied and motivated to work. They are more comfortable with other colleagues and the general working conditions. Employees with a strong sense of coherence are more resourceful in handling different work-related aspects, and they tend to experience higher job satisfaction. It was concluded that sense of coherence moderates the relationship between job satisfaction and some aspects of general health. The results imply that people with lower levels of sense of coherence are more dependent on job satisfaction to experience good health. This has direct implications for vocational and industrial psychologists, as well as higher educational institutions. Recommendations for future research were made. / PhD (Industrial Psychology) North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2014

Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2006.

The reduction of workplace accidents and improvement of workplace safety is a concern for most mining houses. Pressure from the labour movement and legislative requirements do not make the burden any lighter. There are circumstances directly and indirectly relating to accidents and therefore a need to obtain an in-depth analysis of underlying causes of accidents in order to draw relevant conclusions exists. There are workplace environmental matters as well as individual attitudinal issues that need to be addressed. The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship of work stress and job insecurity with safety compliance, job satisfaction and commitment in a mine. A cross-sectional survey design was used with an availability sample (n=158). A survey booklet including a biographical questionnaire, scales on job insecurity, job satisfaction, affective organisational commitment, workplace accidents and safety compliance as well as a work stress measure comprising dimensions of role clarity, conflict and overload was administered. The results indicated that when miners experience work stress and job insecurity, their safety compliance is low. Job satisfaction was found to be a positive predictor of safety compliance among miners. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

A new era dawned for the higher education system in South Africa, after approval was announced by Cabinet regarding the final proposals for the restructuring of the higher education institutional landscape in December 2002, which required merging to take place between various higher educational institutions. Mergers are intrinsically stressful for employees due to the potential for change and loss, as well as the perceived decline in the organisation and a highly competitive labour market. A stable and productive higher education system is of fundamental importance to any country to ensure continuous development at economic, social and political level, hence the importance of this research. The objectives of this study were to establish the relationship between job insecurity, job satisfaction, organisational commitment, burnout, and work engagement of personnel (N = 83) after an incorporation of two tertiary educational institutions, and to determine whether job insecurity can be used to predict job satisfaction, organisational commitment, burnout, and work engagement. A cross-sectional survey design was used. The study population included both academic and non-academic staff members of the two institutions. Job insecurity was found to be practically significantly related to a reduction in intrinsic job satisfaction. No statistically significant relationship was found between job insecurity and extrinsic job satisfaction, between job insecurity and organisational commitment, and between job insecurity and the exhaustion component of burnout. Job insecurity was found to be practically significantly related to increased levels of cynicism and decreased levels of work engagement. Regression analyses, controlling for the influence of demographic variables, indicated that job insecurity held predictive value with regard to intrinsic job satisfaction (lo%), cynicism (7%), vigour (l8%), dedication (7%) and absorption (10%). / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2006.

During the last decade, dramatic changes have been experienced in workplaces because of technological growth, globalisation, ever increasing competitive markets, changing industrial relation laws and better management skills (Cappelli, 1999). Amidst this change, the biggest issue is for organisations to gain dedication from their employees. Maslach et al (2001) explains that the impact of the changing world of work is perhaps most evident in changes in the psychological contract. Employees are expected to give more in terms of time, effort, skills and flexibility, whereas they receive less in terms of lifetime employment and job security. In security companies, the employer obligations and employee obligations also went through a process of change. Crime has become a very serious concern in South Africa. In Gauteng, crime has increased with 69,2% (SAP Statistics, 2005) from 1994 to 2004. Because of crime, many independent security companies were formed to help prevent crime, working together with the South African Police Force. A lack of research exists regarding employees' work outcomes like job insecurity, organisational commitment and intention to quit associated with the psychological contract within a service company. The objectives of this study are to investigate the relationship between employer obligations, employee obligations, job insecurity, organisational commitment and intention to quit of employees (N=217) in a service (security) company. A cross - sectional design was used. Constructs were measured by means of an employer obligations questionnaire, employee obligations questionnaire, job insecurity questionnaire, organisational commitment questionnaire and intention to quit questionnaire. The research method for each of the two articles consists of a brief literature review and an empirical study. Exploratory factor analysis, as well as Cronbach alpha coefficients are computed to access the reliability and validity of the different measurement instruments. Descriptive statistics are used to analyse data and Pearson product moment correlation coefficients, as well as regression analysis were used to examine the relationship between the constructs employed in this research. Significant differences are found between various biographical groups and the scores of the psychological contract (employer obligations scale and employee obligations scale), the job insecurity scale, the organisational commitment scale and the intention to quit scale. Conclusions are made, limitations of the current research are discussed and recommendations for future research are put forward. / Thesis (M.Com. (Industrial Sociology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2009.

Current day organisations must revert to many measures to survive in the very competing business environment. One of these measures is to reduce the number of employees. This leads to perceptions of job insecurity, not only in the employees who are not made redundant but also in employees in so-called stable organisations who are aware of these measures being implemented in other organisations. Researchers found conflicting results of job insecurity regarding performance of employees experiencing job insecurity. On the one hand it was reported that job insecurity leads to higher job performance and on the other that it leads to lower job performance. To reconcile these conflicting findings Jordan, Ashkanasy and Hartel (2002) developed a model. In their two stage model in which they postulate that perceptions of job insecurity could lead to lower affective organisational commitment and higher job-related stress and this in turn could lead to negative coping behaviour (stage one). They then include emotional intelligence (EI) as moderator of all the links between the above mentioned constructs (stage two). They are of the opinion that employees with high EI will experience higher affective organisational commitment and lower job-related stress than employees with low EI when perceptions of job insecurity are experienced. They also postulate that employees with high EI will be less inclined to revert to negative coping behaviour. The main objective of this study was to investigate whether this model would be applicable to employees of private health care organisations in Gauteng. In the first article a literature review was conducted to determine how job insecurity, affective organisational commitment, job-related stress and coping were conceptualised as well as the relationships between these constructs. This was done to investigate the first stage of the model of Jordan et al. (2002). In the second article a literature review was conducted to determine how job insecurity, affective organisational commitment, job-related stress, coping and EI were conceptualised. The relationships between these constructs and the role of EI as moderator of these relationships were also determined. This was done to investigate the second stage of the model of Jordan et al. (2002). A non-experimental correlation research design was used. Employees of private health care organisations were the participants. The Job Insecurity Inventory, the Organisational Commitment Questionnaire, the Experience of Work Life and Circumstances Questionnaire, the Cope Questionnaire and the Emotional Intelligence Scale were used, as well as a biographical questionnaire. The SPPS program and partly STATISTIKA were used to perform the statistical analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data. Cronbach alpha coefficients and factor analyses were used to assess the reliability and validity of the measuring instruments. Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients were used to specify the relationships between the variables. Multiple regression analysis was used to determine the moderating influence of emotional intelligence. It was determined that, in this specific research group, job insecurity has a negative correlation with affective organisational commitment. Job insecurity has a positive correlation with job-related stress levels. A positive correlation was found between job-related stress levels and certain negative coping behaviours, such as denial, behavioural disengagement and mental disengagement. A negative correlation was found between affective organisational commitment and negative coping behaviour, specifically the use of drugs or alcohol. All of these correlations were statistically and practically significant. It was found that job insecurity as independent variable explains 12.1% of the total variance in affective organisational commitment. It was also found that job insecurity as independent variable explains 21.1 % of the total variance in the job -related stress levels. These findings indicated that the first stage of the model of Jordan et al. (2002) could be supported. Multiple regression analyses were performed to determine the moderating effect of EI as discussed above. The results indicated that EI had only a slight but significant moderating effect on the job insecurity -affective organisational commitment relationship and no effect on the job insecurity - job-related stress relationship. The results also indicate that EI moderates the strength of the relationship between affective organisational commitment and coping behaviour to such an extent that affective organisational commitment's predictive value is reduced to closely insignificant whilst EI emerges as the primary predictor of coping behaviour (both positive and negative). This may imply that emotionally intelligent employees will tend to use more problem-focused coping behaviour irrespective of the affective organisational commitment that they experience. Although to a lesser extent in this study, it was found that emotionally intelligent employees also make use of emotion-focused coping behaviour appropriate for managing affective states associated with experienced stress. Concerning avoidant coping strategies EI significantly negatively moderates alcohol-drug disengagement as a coping strategy, meaning employees with high EI will tend not to revert to the use of drugs or alcohol as coping strategy. It was concluded that EI does not buffer employees against the emotional consequences of job insecurity in this research group, as proposed by the model of Jordan et al. (2002), but rather enables them to cope with these emotional effects using problem-focused- and emotion- focused coping strategies, but not avoidant strategies. The latter finding is in line with the proposed model of Jordan et al.(2002). Conclusions, the limitations of this research and recommendations for private health care organisations and for future research were made. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2009.

Understanding the employment relationship in the chemical industry in South Africa and organisational change within it is crucial to the understanding of the changing employment and psychological contract within this industry. This study focused on the employment- and psychological contracts, as well as employees ' work-outcomes (organisational commitment, job insecurity, job performance and intention to quit). Employees from the chemical industry were targeted and a cross-sectional survey design was used to obtain the research objectives. Descriptive statistics, factor analyses, Cronbach alpha coefficients, correlations, multiple regression analyses were used to analyse the data. In Article 1 the objectives were to investigate the reliability and validity of the measuring instruments, and to study the relationships between employment- and psychological contracts and other employment relation outcomes. The Psychological Contract Questionnaire (PCQ) and demographical questionnaire were administered. Three internally consistent factors, namely Employer Obligations, Employee Obligations and Status of the Psychological Contract were extracted. Statistically significant differences were found between employee obligations and state of psychological contract. Statistically significant relationships were also found between employee obligations and violation of psychological contract. In Article 2 the objective was to determine the relationship between employer obligations, employee obligations, and the state of psychological contract, violations of psychological contract and various demographical characteristics of employees in the chemical industry. The PSYCONES were administered. Practically significant relationships with a large effect were found between employer obligations, state of psychological contract and violation of psychological contract. Gender and age were statistically significantly related to experiences of the psychological contract. In Article 3 the aim was to assess the relationship between employer obligations, employee obligations, the state of the psychological contract, violations of the psychological contract, work-outcomes and the demographic of employees. The PSYCONES were used as measuring instruments. A practically significant relationship was found between the state of psychological contract, violation thereof (a large effect), job insecurity (a medium effect) and organisational commitment (a medium effect). Regression analyses showed that psychological contract violation predicted organisational commitment. A negative relationship was found between the violation of the psychological contract, as associated with the state of the psychological contract, and intention to quit. Theoretically, it was expected that job insecurity would have a negative impact on organisational commitment, but the results showed that a statistically and practically significant positive relationship exists between job insecurity and organisational commitment. Only the type of contract and qualifications of employees resulted in a statistically increase in the prediction of variance in job insecurity. Demographical characteristics (age, gender, tenure, supervision, qualifications, and type of contract) did not contribute to oganisational commitment. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Sociology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010.