Magister Commercii (Industrial Psychology) - MCom(IPS) / The financial industry revolves around organisations that provide financial services to people in the community. The largest contributor is the banking sector followed by the insurance sector. Financial services organisations face an ever-changing working environment that is constantly increasing in its complexity. New market entrants such as banks provide insurance products, customer preferences change, technology changes quickly, and ever-changing legislation governs the way in which insurance organisations conduct business with customers. Having to continuously contend with the losses, regulatory changes, and risk management, while having to increase the shareholders’ value, all impact on the global financial services industry. They in turn increase the job demands on employees.

Nursing in South Africa has become a difficult and stressful profession. Nurses are faced with many challenges on a daily basis, including; heavy workloads, shortages of staff, lack of resources and reduced managerial support (Von Holdt & Murphy, 2007). The demands of their job exceed the resources they have to cope with, which in turn, leads to conflict, which ultimately affects their wellbeing. The objective of this is research is to investigate the most and least employed conflict handling styles of nurses in public hospitals and to investigate the relationship between job demands, job resources and the different conflict handling styles, among nurses in public hospitals. A cross-sectional survey design was used. A convenience sample of nursing staff (N=205) was taken from three different public hospitals on the West Rand area in the Gauteng province. The following scales were used in this study: Rahim‟s Organisational Conflict Inventory (ROCI-II) and a self-developed job characteristics questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, Cronbach Alpha Coefficients and inferential statistics such as; MANOVAS, ANOVAS, product-moment correlations and standard regression analysis were used to analyse the data using the SPSS programme. The results indicated that nurses used the integrating style most frequently and used the dominating style least when dealing with a conflict situation. Furthermore, time demands, crisis management and colleague support predicted an avoiding style; while, workload, time demands, job security, feedback and colleague support predicted the use of an integrating style. The obliging conflict handling style was predicted by time demands and payment; workload, crisis management and payment predicted the use of a dominating style and finally, colleague support predicted the use of a compromising style. Further discussion and recommendations were made for future research and for the nursing profession in general. One of the recommendations is that a model can be constructed to help prevent or reduce conflict within public hospitals. / MCom (Labour Relations Management), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Nursing in South Africa has become a difficult and stressful profession. Nurses are faced with many challenges on a daily basis, including; heavy workloads, shortages of staff, lack of resources and reduced managerial support (Von Holdt & Murphy, 2007). The demands of their job exceed the resources they have to cope with, which in turn, leads to conflict, which ultimately affects their wellbeing. The objective of this is research is to investigate the most and least employed conflict handling styles of nurses in public hospitals and to investigate the relationship between job demands, job resources and the different conflict handling styles, among nurses in public hospitals. A cross-sectional survey design was used. A convenience sample of nursing staff (N=205) was taken from three different public hospitals on the West Rand area in the Gauteng province. The following scales were used in this study: Rahim‟s Organisational Conflict Inventory (ROCI-II) and a self-developed job characteristics questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, Cronbach Alpha Coefficients and inferential statistics such as; MANOVAS, ANOVAS, product-moment correlations and standard regression analysis were used to analyse the data using the SPSS programme. The results indicated that nurses used the integrating style most frequently and used the dominating style least when dealing with a conflict situation. Furthermore, time demands, crisis management and colleague support predicted an avoiding style; while, workload, time demands, job security, feedback and colleague support predicted the use of an integrating style. The obliging conflict handling style was predicted by time demands and payment; workload, crisis management and payment predicted the use of a dominating style and finally, colleague support predicted the use of a compromising style. Further discussion and recommendations were made for future research and for the nursing profession in general. One of the recommendations is that a model can be constructed to help prevent or reduce conflict within public hospitals. / MCom (Labour Relations Management), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

M. Tech. Business Administration / The aim of the study is to determine the influence of the implementation of job rotation on employees perceived job satisfaction and to identifiy the key factors that would influence the adoption of a job rotation strategy by the Registrar's environment of the Tshwane University of Technology.

M. Tech. Business Administration / The aim of the study is to determine the influence of the implementation of job rotation on employees perceived job satisfaction and to identifiy the key factors that would influence the adoption of a job rotation strategy by the Registrar's environment of the Tshwane University of Technology.

The United States Department of Education issued a blueprint in 2010 outlining intended changes for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Included was a focus on selecting effective teachers per new criteria. Information about teacher selection and assignment systems as related to teacher retention is beneficial to school district leadership as they prepare for the new federal expectations. This study extends previous research by Liu and Johnson (2006) that examined the experiences of newly hired teachers and introduced the construct of an information-rich hiring process, in which a district hiring process provides both the teacher applicant and district employer with sufficient interaction and adequate information-exchange to make informed decisions leading to a position fit of teacher to teaching position and campus. In addition to the use of an information-rich hiring process as a hypothetical construct, other theories incorporated in this research include: realistic job preview theory; human resource management theory; person-job-fit, person-organization-fit, and person-group-fit theories; and two-sided matching theory. The problem addressed in this study: The selection and assignment of teachers is often done in complex systems leading to poor matches that culminate in job dissatisfaction and teachers’ intentions to leave the classroom. The purpose of this study was to examine how newly hired teachers perceived their hiring experience and their fit with their campus and classroom assignments in order to determine if these perceptions predicted their intentions to remain in the classroom. This study used a nonexperimental approach with an ex-post facto design and a quantitative methodology to examine associations between variables. Participants in the study included 1,430 newly hired teachers at 92 campuses located across 13 Texas school districts who were administered an electronic survey instrument. / text

This study was designed to determine whether role conflict and role ambiguity are problems among Arizona secondary school counselors. Role conflict and role ambiguity were treated as mediating variables. The relationship of these to a number of personal background and organizational variables were studied, as well as their relationship to the consequent variables of propensity to leave, job satisfaction, and job related tension. The data were gathered by means of a 47 item questionnaire which was sent to all of the 487 secondary school counselors in the state of Arizona. Of the questionnaires, 82 percent were returned in usable form. The data were analyzed in four phases. First, descriptive statistics were developed. In a second stage of analysis, the relationships between all of the variables were explored by means of an intercorrelation matrix. A third stage of analysis employed a multiple regression procedure to determine whether a significant amount of the variance in the consequent variables could be explained by role conflict and role ambiguity. In a final stage of analysis, t-tests were used to determine whether a number of groups that theory would predict should differ in role conflict levels actually had mean scores on the role conflict scales that were significantly different. The eight hypotheses tested resulted in the following findings: The personal background and organizational antecedents having the strongest relationships with role conflict and ambiguity were incongruence between a counselors work ideal and actual job duties, and between a counselors training and the skill demands of the job. Role conflict also seemed to be higher among counselors with excessively large case loads. Both role conflict and role ambiguity had negative relationships with job satisfaction and positive relationships with propensity to leave and job related tension. All of these relationships were significant. In addition, role conflict and ambiguity were shown to account for a significant amount of the variance in these variables. The overall conclusion of the study was that a number of personal background and organizational factors predispose secondary school counselors in Arizona to role stress on the job. This stress in turn predisposes them to a number of undesirable personal outcomes in relation to their work.

Nurses of today have many more responsibilities and duties they must cope with. With the HIV and AIDS numbers rising in South Africa it is important that the morale of nurses be kept healthy. The strain of their work environment can be hard to cope with, so it is necessary that nurses learn how to manage their emotions when working in order to avoid burnout and disengagement from happening. and to make better use of job resources. The objective of this research is to determine the relationship between emotional intelligence, job characteristics. burnout and engagement within the nursing environment in South Africa. A cross-sectional survey design was used. A non-probability convenience sample was taken from 511 nurses in hospitals and clinics in the Gauteng- and North-West Provinces. The Emotional Intelligence Scale, Maslach Burnout Inventory) - Human Services Survey, Utrecht Work Engagement Scale and Work Evaluation Scale were used as measuring instruments. Cronbach alpha coefficients. Pearson-product correlation coefficients and Spearman-product correlation coefficients were used to analyse the data. The results showed that positive state is positively related to vigour/dedication, professional efficacy. own emotions: emotions: other and emotional management. Own emotions and emotional management also correlated positively with professional efficacy and emotions: other. Workload and communication demands are positively related to payment, emotional labour, work environment and emotional exhaustion. The results also identified emotional exhaustion and mental exhaustion to be negatively related to vigour/dedication. while emotional exhaustion is positively related to mental exhaustion, job security, and staff support. Payment correlates positively with staff support, while emotional labour and overtime are positively related to work environment. The proposed structural model show that there are clear paths between job demands and job resources; job demands. emotional intelligence and work wellness; job resources, emotional intelligence and work wellness: job demands and burnout; and job resources and work wellness. Recommendations were made for the nursing profession and for future research purposes. / Thesis (M.Com. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

Over the last decade, numerous changes have occurred in the insurance industry due to international expansions and stiff competitiveness. As a result of these changes, employees are suffering from stressful work conditions such as pressure to perform and work-life conflict, which lead to feelings of distrust, tension, strain in interpersonal relations, interpersonal conflict and difficulty in coping with pressure to perform. Tracking and addressing the work wellness of these employees are important to improve their work-related performance, as well as the quality of their service. Burnout, work engagement and workaholism are focal points in this regard. In order to measure these constructs it is important to have valid and reliable instruments. However, there is a lack of research which measures burnout, engagement and workaholism in the South African context. The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between burnout, work engagement and workaholism amongst employees in the insurance industry. The research method consisted of a brief literature review and an empirical study. A cross-sectional design was used. An availability sample (N = 153) from employees in the insurance industry was taken. The Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI), Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES), an adapted version of the Work Addiction Risk Test (AWART), and a biographical questionnaire were administered. The statistical analysis was conducted with the aid of the SPSS program and AMOS program. The statistical method employed in the study consisted of descriptive statistics, Cronbach alpha coefficients, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients and a structural equation modelling method. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to determine the significance of differences of workaholism between demographic groups. It was evident in this study that employees in the insurance industry experience workaholism due to their tendency to work long hours overtime, to work weekends and to take work home. Results indicated that work wellness of employees in the insurance industry does comprise well-being (Burnout and Work Engagement) and Workaholism. Recommendations for future research were made. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

In the new world economy the hey differentiator of competitive advantage is an organisation's human resources. Increasingly, employees have to cope with multiple demands arising from various roles. often with limited resources and no guarantee of job security. In monitoring and improving employee effectiveness in coping with multiple new demands. stimulating their growth and enhancing their well-being as well as organisational performance, burnout and engagement are specific research areas. 'The objectives of this study were to investigate the relationships between burnout, engagement, job demands. job resources and organisational commitment of management staff at a platinum mine in the North-West Province, and to determine which variables best predict burnout, engagement and organisational commitment. A cross-sectional survey design was used. The study population consisted of management staff at a platinum mine in the North West Province (N = 202). The Job Demands-Resources Scale, Utrecht Work Engagement Scale: Maslach Burnout Inventory - General Survey. a Health Questionnaire, and an Organisational Commitment scale were administered. Descriptive statistics, product-moment correlation coefficients and multiple regression analyses were used to analyse the data. The results indicated that burnout correlated significantly with job demands, job resources. engagement, health and organisational commitment. Engagement. correlated significantly with job resources. health, and organisational commitment. Exhaustion was best predicted by workload. job insecurity and lack of resources whilst cynicism was predicted by poor organisational support and advancement opportunities. Engagement was best predicted by organisational support. and organisational commitment was predicted by both burnout and engagement. Ill health was predicted by exhaustion. Recommendations were made for future research. / Thesis (M.Com. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.