Magister Commercii (Industrial Psychology) - MCom(IPS) / After the 1994 elections South Africa had to undergo drastic changes for it to become a more just society to address past injustices experienced by various ethnic groups. Issues such as equality and social justice have frequently appeared on top of various organisations’ agenda. The South African Government realised legislation was of paramount importance to guide organisations in promoting justice in the workplace. These changes in the legislation have had several impacts on organisations operating in South Africa, namely turnover, recruitment and retention of employees in the workplace. Attempting to preside over the promotion of social justice and eliminate inequalities experienced in the workplace, Government realised it had to intercede, not only to prevent additional discrimination, but also to promote the employment and advancement of individuals who were disadvantaged by previous policies. The Government therefore in 1998 implemented the Employment Equity Act to fulfil a constitutional mandate to prohibit discrimination in the workplace and encourage Affirmative Action (AA) measures. Describing and explaining the role of fairness as a concern in the workplace, the term organisational justice was coined. Individuals will base fairness judgements by taking into consideration the actual decision or the procedures used to reach a decision. Organisational justice can be divided into distributive, procedural and interactional justice. Organisations in South Africa face the challenge of finding ways to implement EE strategies to gain competitive advantages without creating negative employee attitudes; attention will focus on how to overcome the barriers that hinder the successful implementation of EE practices and procedures.

Global growth in mining activities has resulted in stiff competition for talented employees and characterised the mining industry with high turnover rates. The South African mining environment has not been an exception to this phenomenon. The aim of this study was to inform the design of talent retention strategies through determination of turnover intention predictors and exploration of the turnover process experienced by employees. The study hypothesised that job satisfaction and affective organisational commitment mediate the effect of overall justice, centralisation, trust and job challenge on turnover intentions. A cross-sectional survey design with a random sample of trainers and learners from a South African gold mining company was used (n=171 and n=230, respectively). Results indicate that job satisfaction mediates the effect of centralisation on turnover intention for learners. Only job satisfaction directly predicts turnover intention for trainers, and overall justice and trust play a direct role in the prediction of turnover intention for learners. It was also found that job challenge predicts job satisfaction for trainers, whilst job challenge, centralisation and trust predict job satisfaction for learners. Therefore, to retain trainers, the mining company should focus on enhancing those factors that facilitate job challenge perceptions and job satisfaction. In retaining learners, its thrust should be increasing job challenge, decentralisation, overall justice, trust and job satisfaction. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

Global growth in mining activities has resulted in stiff competition for talented employees and characterised the mining industry with high turnover rates. The South African mining environment has not been an exception to this phenomenon. The aim of this study was to inform the design of talent retention strategies through determination of turnover intention predictors and exploration of the turnover process experienced by employees. The study hypothesised that job satisfaction and affective organisational commitment mediate the effect of overall justice, centralisation, trust and job challenge on turnover intentions. A cross-sectional survey design with a random sample of trainers and learners from a South African gold mining company was used (n=171 and n=230, respectively). Results indicate that job satisfaction mediates the effect of centralisation on turnover intention for learners. Only job satisfaction directly predicts turnover intention for trainers, and overall justice and trust play a direct role in the prediction of turnover intention for learners. It was also found that job challenge predicts job satisfaction for trainers, whilst job challenge, centralisation and trust predict job satisfaction for learners. Therefore, to retain trainers, the mining company should focus on enhancing those factors that facilitate job challenge perceptions and job satisfaction. In retaining learners, its thrust should be increasing job challenge, decentralisation, overall justice, trust and job satisfaction. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.