Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 52-55). / There is limited research that explores the work-life issues of single employees. The purpose of the study was to explore the relationship between a work-life culture that supports the work-life balance of single employees and organisational commitment.

Bibliography: leaves 82-86. / With the entrance of South Africa into the global market, companies are facing enormous challenges in competing in a constantly changing environment. Organisations are using strategies such as mergers and acquisitions to ensure their survival. The impact of these organisational changes on employees is high, and the need to understand how employees deal with these changes is critical. The aim of this research study was to discover whether senior managers experience changes that result from the acquisition of their company as a breach of their psychological contract. An embedded case study design was deemed appropriate due to the need to understand the experience of change over a period of time from the perspective of the subjects. Seven senior managers were selected to be part of the longitudinal study, and three indepth interviews were conducted with each of the subjects over a period of six months. The results confirm that psychological contracts are dynamic and resilient in nature. Though changes were perceived as breach of the psychological contract, subjects were willing to re-negotiate their contracts with the organisation. This openness to renegotiation can be attributed to the way in which the organisation generally handled the changes, the nature of the psychological contracts, the high level of trust that subjects had in the organisation, and the personal circumstances of the individual subjects. The perception of and relationship with management also had a significant impact on the outcome of perceived psychological breach.

Includes bibliographical references. / The presence of anchoring and adjustment within structured interviews has been widely observed in research over the years. However, the unstructured interview is a more extensively used selection tool than the structured interview, making it important to understand anchoring and adjustment in the unstructured interview setting. The present study investigated the presence of the anchoring and adjustment heuristic in unstructured interviews using a between-subjects, post-test only experimental design. The sample consisted of 78 managers and human resource personnel from various organisations. Subjects were required to watch a short video of an unstructured interview, and then provide an overall rating of the candidate's communication skills. Subjects were divided into high, low, and control conditions. A high, low, or no anchor was provided in the question asking subjects to rate the video candidate. Results indicated that anchoring and adjustment does not occur in simulated unstructured interviews. Limitations of the study and implications for future research are discussed.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 68-77). / This study examined the nature and outcomes of work-family enrichment amongst South African retail employees (N = 336). Exploratory factor analysis evidenced the multi-dimensionality of work-family enrichment, its bi-directionality, and its distinctiveness from work-family conflict. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis showed that work-to-family enrichment explains a significant proportion of the variance in organisational commitment, job satisfaction, and career satisfaction and that the affect component of family-to-work enrichment explains a significant proportion of the variance in family satisfaction. Implications for both work-family theory and management practice are discussed.

There are value and importance for inpatient and day-patient psychiatric units, particularly for children and adolescents. These facilities, which are scarcely established in South Africa, offer multidisciplinary and multifaceted treatment to persons experiencing varying symptoms and conditions of mental illness. This dissertation presents the findings of an implementation evaluation conducted for the Therapeutic Learning Centre (TLC), a child inpatient psychiatric unit in Rondebosch, Cape Town. The evaluation aimed to compare the TLC’s service and programme implementation with international standards. The Quality Network for Inpatient Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (QNIC) checklist was used to assess the TLC on seven focused categories of service and implementation quality. Data were provided from selected TLC team members, which included mental health practitioners from various fields (e.g., psychology, psychiatry and social work to name a few). Overall, the programme established within the TLC was found to be implemented with fair fidelity when compared to the international unit standards. Most unit standards required and expected to be carried out by an inpatient unit were found to be satisfied by the TLC. There are, however, key aspects of the unit’s environment and facilities, staffing and training, care and treatment, and clinical governance that were highlighted as needing improvement. While the research yielded mostly positive results, the evaluator was able to make several recommendations to the TLC stakeholders. This evaluation contributes to limited research and implementation evaluations within the context of child inpatient psychiatric units. Furthermore, the findings are intended to support the promotion of quality psychiatric and behavioural treatment and mental health service policy in these units within South Africa.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 70-81). / This study tested the generalisability of the Commitment to Organisational Change construct (Herscovitch & Meyer, 2002) in the context of an information system change within a non-Western environment. The sample comprised 106 employees (70% response rate) of a large Namibian organisation and responses were analysed using STATISTICA 7.0. Results suggest that the construct comprises three dimensions and can indeed be generalised to apply to an information system innovation change. Affective and Normative Commitment to Organisational Change were both positively related to Compliance, Co-operation and Championing, whilst Continuance Commitment to Organisational Change was negatively related, or unrelated. Commitment to Organisational Change was not a better predictor of behavioural support than Organisational Commitment. Interestingly, Change Significance and Change Impact both play an important role in predicting behavioural support for information system change.

The aim of this study was to first identify which competencies are important to enable the academic Head of Department (HOD) to be more effective in people management, and secondly, to understand the factors which hinder the HOD in achieving this important function of the role. The HOD is pivotal to the running of an effective university in that he or she ensures the academic discipline is well-functioning and successfully operational. An essential requirement to do this is to manage and develop the staff employed to meet these goals. The literature on academic people management was reviewed and the results of this review produced propositions which were used as a basis for the study. To identify the important competencies, data was collected from staff reporting to HODs at the University of Cape Town (UCT) via way of an online questionnaire. To gain insight and understand the perceptions and perspectives of HODs, a qualitative research approach and an interpretative phenomenological inquiry-based research design was used, and data was collected via semi-structured interviews. The data was analysed, making it possible to identify whether the propositions made via reviewing the literature, were able to be supported. A summary of the key findings and a discussion of what needs to be considered for effective people management by HODs at UCT is presented. Recommendations for further studies conclude the dissertation.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references. / This study examined the impact of volunteering on the development of perceived graduate employability amongst student and graduate volunteers at the University of Cape Town (N = 279). Path analysis revealed significant relationships between volunteerism and graduate employability, when facilitated through the development of graduate competencies.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 61-67). / The objective of this study was to; firstly, investigate the construct validity of a three dimensional perceived support construct; secondly, establish the direct relationship between perceived support and intention to quit as well as the indirect relationship when mediated by affective commitment, organisational citizenship behaviour and job satisfaction; and finally, explore the relative importance of the constructs in relation to intention to quit.

Includes bibliographical references. / The current research attempted to answer the following question: Can voluntary employee turnover be predicted? The study made use of regression analyses to examine the relationship between employee turnover and a range of worker demographics. Data covering 2 592 employees in a South African general insurer formed the basis for the analysis. Several demographic variables (available in the HR management information system), were identified and investigated with the aim to develop a voluntary turnover prediction model. Fourteen variables were identified in the human resources information system to be included for analysis. From 14 potential predictors, the procedure selected only five variables, i.e. cost centre, years of service, performance, age and tenure - family size interaction for inclusion in the regression equation.