Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

South Africa's business environment is changing dramatically. Companies are continuously placed under pressure to reform. Government introduced clear guidelines in the form of transformation strategies to assist companies in moving towards a more democratic, non-racial and fully representative organisational structure. The two major strategies are coined Black Economic Empowerment and Affirmative Action. The aim of the strategies is to empower and uplift the previously disadvantaged communities of the Apartheid era. These communities include black people; who consist of Africans, Coloureds and Indians; women and disabled individuals. However, these strategies are perceived with mixed emotions. A sense of negativity is evident within the attitudes of all race groups. This may give rise to a new problem in the workplace: pessimism. Pessimism is associated with undesirable characteristics such as external, unstable and specific explanations for bad things and has emotional links to depression. Pessimists view problems as long lasting and inescapable, and tend to blame all misfortunes on their own ineptness and incompetence. On the other hand, optimism is associated with characteristics such as positive mood and good morale, happiness, perseverance and effective problem solving, achievement and health and even a long life and freedom from trauma. It is characterised by internal, stable and global explanations for bad things. A cross-sectional design with an availability sample (N 68) of junior and middle management workers working in a multinational industry was used. Nonprobability purposive sampling was applied in the selection of the study population. The results indicated that males experience more dispositional pessimism than women. Black employees also experienced more dispositional pessimism and optimism than white employees, and employees who attended Affirmative Action induction programmes displayed higher levels of optimism than those who have not attended such programmes. If the tendency towards pessimism increases the result may have devastating effects on the organisation as a whole. It is possible that performance will decline and organisational targets will not be reached. To address these issues organisations may need to change their structural planning in order to utilise males more productively, and to enhance a sense of empowerment. Companies should formulate clear goals with regard to what they want to gain from Affirmative Action programmes. Programmes should also be constantly revised and continuing evaluations must be carried out in order to track the effect of the programmes on the workforce. Recommendations were made for future research. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

South Africa's business environment is changing dramatically. Companies are continuously placed under pressure to reform. Government introduced clear guidelines in the form of transformation strategies to assist companies in moving towards a more democratic, non-racial and fully representative organisational structure. The two major strategies are coined Black Economic Empowerment and Affirmative Action. The aim of the strategies is to empower and uplift the previously disadvantaged communities of the Apartheid era. These communities include black people; who consist of Africans, Coloureds and Indians; women and disabled individuals. However, these strategies are perceived with mixed emotions. A sense of negativity is evident within the attitudes of all race groups. This may give rise to a new problem in the workplace: pessimism. Pessimism is associated with undesirable characteristics such as external, unstable and specific explanations for bad things and has emotional links to depression. Pessimists view problems as long lasting and inescapable, and tend to blame all misfortunes on their own ineptness and incompetence. On the other hand, optimism is associated with characteristics such as positive mood and good morale, happiness, perseverance and effective problem solving, achievement and health and even a long life and freedom from trauma. It is characterised by internal, stable and global explanations for bad things. A cross-sectional design with an availability sample (N 68) of junior and middle management workers working in a multinational industry was used. Nonprobability purposive sampling was applied in the selection of the study population. The results indicated that males experience more dispositional pessimism than women. Black employees also experienced more dispositional pessimism and optimism than white employees, and employees who attended Affirmative Action induction programmes displayed higher levels of optimism than those who have not attended such programmes. If the tendency towards pessimism increases the result may have devastating effects on the organisation as a whole. It is possible that performance will decline and organisational targets will not be reached. To address these issues organisations may need to change their structural planning in order to utilise males more productively, and to enhance a sense of empowerment. Companies should formulate clear goals with regard to what they want to gain from Affirmative Action programmes. Programmes should also be constantly revised and continuing evaluations must be carried out in order to track the effect of the programmes on the workforce. Recommendations were made for future research. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2007.

The 21'' century business environment can be described in terms of globalisation, intensified competitiveness on a global level, and ever-increasing customer expectations. In the changing nature of the world of work, with its increasing complexity, competition and accelerated pace, the issue of leadership development is critical. Executives are pressured to continuously improve their performance, skills and contribution to the organisation. In the mining industry, executives are experiencing ongoing skill shortage, increased job stress, increased job dissatisfaction and the need to redress social imbalances via affirmative action and accelerated career development. This highlights the need to find effective ways of developing executives. In South Africa more traditional forms of executive development, such as prescribed training programmes, courses and business schools are used. Training programmes, courses and business schools do not address specific individual needs but tend to be more generic in content. Over the course of the last 10 years, executive coaching, an oneon- one intervention with middle and senior managers for the purpose of improving or enhancing management skills has become widely adopted by the corporate community. Executive coaching is one of the fastest growing executive development processes in adult learning. Recent literature in the field of coaching purports the advantages of coaching such as increased performance, job satisfaction, team effectiveness, self awareness, decreased job stress, higher optimism and change management. The objectives of this study were to develop an executive coaching programme and to determine the effect of this programme on the general wellbeing, job characteristics, coping strategies, personality characteristics (both pervasive and situational), work-related wellness, as well as the performance of executives in the mining industry in South Africa. A longitudinal design was used. The participants (n = 29) consisted of General Managers, Mine Overseers and Production Managers from one area in a large mining company in South Africa. The Maslach Burnout Inventory - General Survey (MBI-GS), the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES), the Life Orientation Test - Revised (LOT-R), the Job Characteristics Survey - Mining (JCM), the Learned Optimism Scale (LOS), the ituational Sense of Coherence Scale (SSOC), the Perceived Wellness Scale (PWS) and a 360" Performance Evaluation Measurement (PEM) were used. The results showed that the xecutive Coaching Programme developed for this study increased the general wellbeing, job characteristics, performance and coping strategies of the executives in the mining industry. The study also found an increase in the situational personality characteristics (situational sense of coherence and learned optimism) after the completion of the coaching programme. Furthermore, the results showed an increase in the positive affective evaluation of work (engagement) (vigour and professional efficacy), as well as a decrease in the negative affective evaluation of work (burnout) (exhaustion and cynicism). In terms of coping strategies passive coping decreased, while problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping increased. Interestingly, the findings showed an increase in pervasive personality characteristics and a decrease in absorption of executives after completion of the coaching programme. The qualitative results from the dairy study showed very positive reports in relation to the executives' experiences of the performance evaluation process and the executive coaching programme in relation to their development. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2007.

The 21'' century business environment can be described in terms of globalisation, intensified competitiveness on a global level, and ever-increasing customer expectations. In the changing nature of the world of work, with its increasing complexity, competition and accelerated pace, the issue of leadership development is critical. Executives are pressured to continuously improve their performance, skills and contribution to the organisation. In the mining industry, executives are experiencing ongoing skill shortage, increased job stress, increased job dissatisfaction and the need to redress social imbalances via affirmative action and accelerated career development. This highlights the need to find effective ways of developing executives. In South Africa more traditional forms of executive development, such as prescribed training programmes, courses and business schools are used. Training programmes, courses and business schools do not address specific individual needs but tend to be more generic in content. Over the course of the last 10 years, executive coaching, an oneon- one intervention with middle and senior managers for the purpose of improving or enhancing management skills has become widely adopted by the corporate community. Executive coaching is one of the fastest growing executive development processes in adult learning. Recent literature in the field of coaching purports the advantages of coaching such as increased performance, job satisfaction, team effectiveness, self awareness, decreased job stress, higher optimism and change management. The objectives of this study were to develop an executive coaching programme and to determine the effect of this programme on the general wellbeing, job characteristics, coping strategies, personality characteristics (both pervasive and situational), work-related wellness, as well as the performance of executives in the mining industry in South Africa. A longitudinal design was used. The participants (n = 29) consisted of General Managers, Mine Overseers and Production Managers from one area in a large mining company in South Africa. The Maslach Burnout Inventory - General Survey (MBI-GS), the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES), the Life Orientation Test - Revised (LOT-R), the Job Characteristics Survey - Mining (JCM), the Learned Optimism Scale (LOS), the ituational Sense of Coherence Scale (SSOC), the Perceived Wellness Scale (PWS) and a 360" Performance Evaluation Measurement (PEM) were used. The results showed that the xecutive Coaching Programme developed for this study increased the general wellbeing, job characteristics, performance and coping strategies of the executives in the mining industry. The study also found an increase in the situational personality characteristics (situational sense of coherence and learned optimism) after the completion of the coaching programme. Furthermore, the results showed an increase in the positive affective evaluation of work (engagement) (vigour and professional efficacy), as well as a decrease in the negative affective evaluation of work (burnout) (exhaustion and cynicism). In terms of coping strategies passive coping decreased, while problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping increased. Interestingly, the findings showed an increase in pervasive personality characteristics and a decrease in absorption of executives after completion of the coaching programme. The qualitative results from the dairy study showed very positive reports in relation to the executives' experiences of the performance evaluation process and the executive coaching programme in relation to their development. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2007.