This research explores the relationship between organisational climate and job satisfaction in an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) organisation within South Africa by means of quantitative research. An organisational climate questionnaire was developed to measure the organisational climate and job satisfaction of the organisation and was administered to a sample of 696 employees across three regions. The results indicate that there was a strong positive correlation (0.813 at the 0.01 level) between organisational climate and job satisfaction, therefore supporting the research hypothesis. A stepwise regression was conducted and nine dimensions of organisational climate were found to predict 71% variance in job satisfaction. The interaction of biographical and organisational variables on organisational climate and job satisfaction was studied by means of t-tests and ANOVA. Although statistical significant differences were found, in terms of practical significance, the effect sizes were generally found to be small. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.A. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

The purpose of this study was to determine whether organisational restructuring of business units within a South African Fast Moving Consumer Goods company had any effect on the organisational climate of the organisation. An organisational climate survey was used before and after the restructuring over a two-year period. Five manufacturing plants formed part of the study; with four plants undergoing the restructuring (experimental group) and one plant being the control group, where no organisational restructuring took place within the two-year period under review. The total population consisted of 3700 employees. The samples for 2010 and 2011 were drawn from the population of the five manufacturing plants’. The sample of employees that took part in the survey from the five manufacturing plants was, in 2010, 778 versus a headcount of 1802, yielding a response rate of 21.02%, and in 2011, 904 versus a headcount of 1736, yielding a response rate of 24.43%. The research results show that organisational restructuring did have a significant impact on organisational climate; with a drop in the organisational climate from 2010 prior to the organisational restructuring, to 2011 after the organisational restructuring at four of the manufacturing plants (experimental group). Interestingly, the control group (the 5th manufacturing plant) also showed a significant drop in its organisational climate scores from 2010 to 2011; without organisational restructuring taking place. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / MCOM (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

Text in English / Research on employee turnover dates back many decades. However, this research traditionally focused on either understanding turnover intentions or the factors preceding turnover, such as job satisfaction. Despite the challenge in SA being huge and organisations struggling to keep their talent, the research on employee turnover is quite limited. Understanding the different variables that influence employee turnover and providing practical solutions on how to mitigate turnover would be valuable to many organisations. The aim of this research project was to understand the role of personality and organisational climate in employee turnover. In addition, a comprehensive model of employee turnover was developed and tested. The Five Factor Model was used to conceptualise personality, while (due to the limited nature of existing models) a new model was designed to conceptualise organisational climate. A sample of 1 536 people was drawn from a large retail organisation in SA, with 807 stayers and 729 leavers. Biographical, personality and organisational climate information was collected over a two-year period for both samples. Results of the study were mixed; there were no significant differences in the two samples regarding the big five personality factors, except when nine bipolar scales were used. On these scales, leavers were found to be more assertive, persuasive and optimistic than stayers. All five personality factors moderated HR policies & procedures in determining turnover. There were differences between the stayers and leavers samples with regard to age, gender, tenure and absenteeism. Organisational climate was a key determinant of whether people left or stayed and organisations had more than one climate. Personality, organisational climate and absenteeism accounted for 29% of turnover. The proposed model of employee turnover met most of the requirements of goof fit measures when using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). / Psychology / D.Litt. et Phil.

<p>The present thesis follows an intensive care unit during four year of hard work and demanding organisational changes (1998-2001). The changes were mainly initiated by diminishing resources and a legislative claim to pay regard to the quality aspect of health care service. The process of implementing a quality system was the main focus for the thesis. Triangulation was used aiming at explore the process from different views. Two interviews studies were conducted one with the staff and another with the leadership. Both interviews were analysed thematically combined with a phenomenographic technique (e.g. using the how, and what aspect). A longitudinal quasi experimental time-series study was also accomplished. The correlation between staff variables and workload were measured once a year. The result show a 20 % increase in workload per staff and year. The staff judged the organisational climate for innovativeness stable over the period. Sick leave increased, and more so, than the general trend in the society. In spite of this increase the prevalence of stress related symptoms was the same. Two different systems emerged, a complex adaptive system and a mechanical system. The two systems exist and functions intertwined. Because of the construction of the patient register it is possible to see that the situation around a patients being admitted ≥ 5 days functions according to the complex systems character while the situation around the acute patients functions according to a mechanical system. Sick leave correlated with number of patient admitted ≥ 5 days (P=,000). It seemed the problem found had its root in the unawareness of the existing of a complex system. The result has implications for a need of increased awareness about how to manage the situation when the ICU is functioning according to the complex adaptive system.</p>

The present thesis follows an intensive care unit during four year of hard work and demanding organisational changes (1998-2001). The changes were mainly initiated by diminishing resources and a legislative claim to pay regard to the quality aspect of health care service. The process of implementing a quality system was the main focus for the thesis. Triangulation was used aiming at explore the process from different views. Two interviews studies were conducted one with the staff and another with the leadership. Both interviews were analysed thematically combined with a phenomenographic technique (e.g. using the how, and what aspect). A longitudinal quasi experimental time-series study was also accomplished. The correlation between staff variables and workload were measured once a year. The result show a 20 % increase in workload per staff and year. The staff judged the organisational climate for innovativeness stable over the period. Sick leave increased, and more so, than the general trend in the society. In spite of this increase the prevalence of stress related symptoms was the same. Two different systems emerged, a complex adaptive system and a mechanical system. The two systems exist and functions intertwined. Because of the construction of the patient register it is possible to see that the situation around a patients being admitted ≥ 5 days functions according to the complex systems character while the situation around the acute patients functions according to a mechanical system. Sick leave correlated with number of patient admitted ≥ 5 days (P=,000). It seemed the problem found had its root in the unawareness of the existing of a complex system. The result has implications for a need of increased awareness about how to manage the situation when the ICU is functioning according to the complex adaptive system.

A survey of literature has revealed that there is a need for a reliability study of the Denison Organisational Culture Survey (DOCS) for use in a financial institution in South Africa. The major objective of this research was therefore to determine the internal consistency reliability of the DOCS - in other words, to determine the accuracy or consistency with which the set of survey items measures one particular scale. The total sample of 2 735 individuals used in this research consisted of both male and female full-time employees of a financial institution in South Africa. The results of this introductory study on the reliability of the DOCS in South Africa demonstrated clear support for similar research conducted abroad and proved to be compatible with the cognitive-behaviouristic psychology movement's original concept of organisational culture. The reliability of the DOCS, as applicable to this South African sample, reflects statistical significant internal consistency. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M. Comm.

This research explores the relationship between organisational climate and job satisfaction in an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) organisation within South Africa by means of quantitative research. An organisational climate questionnaire was developed to measure the organisational climate and job satisfaction of the organisation and was administered to a sample of 696 employees across three regions. The results indicate that there was a strong positive correlation (0.813 at the 0.01 level) between organisational climate and job satisfaction, therefore supporting the research hypothesis. A stepwise regression was conducted and nine dimensions of organisational climate were found to predict 71% variance in job satisfaction. The interaction of biographical and organisational variables on organisational climate and job satisfaction was studied by means of t-tests and ANOVA. Although statistical significant differences were found, in terms of practical significance, the effect sizes were generally found to be small. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.A. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

Text in English / Research on employee turnover dates back many decades. However, this research traditionally focused on either understanding turnover intentions or the factors preceding turnover, such as job satisfaction. Despite the challenge in SA being huge and organisations struggling to keep their talent, the research on employee turnover is quite limited. Understanding the different variables that influence employee turnover and providing practical solutions on how to mitigate turnover would be valuable to many organisations. The aim of this research project was to understand the role of personality and organisational climate in employee turnover. In addition, a comprehensive model of employee turnover was developed and tested. The Five Factor Model was used to conceptualise personality, while (due to the limited nature of existing models) a new model was designed to conceptualise organisational climate. A sample of 1 536 people was drawn from a large retail organisation in SA, with 807 stayers and 729 leavers. Biographical, personality and organisational climate information was collected over a two-year period for both samples. Results of the study were mixed; there were no significant differences in the two samples regarding the big five personality factors, except when nine bipolar scales were used. On these scales, leavers were found to be more assertive, persuasive and optimistic than stayers. All five personality factors moderated HR policies & procedures in determining turnover. There were differences between the stayers and leavers samples with regard to age, gender, tenure and absenteeism. Organisational climate was a key determinant of whether people left or stayed and organisations had more than one climate. Personality, organisational climate and absenteeism accounted for 29% of turnover. The proposed model of employee turnover met most of the requirements of goof fit measures when using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). / Psychology / D.Litt. et Phil.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether organisational restructuring of business units within a South African Fast Moving Consumer Goods company had any effect on the organisational climate of the organisation. An organisational climate survey was used before and after the restructuring over a two-year period. Five manufacturing plants formed part of the study; with four plants undergoing the restructuring (experimental group) and one plant being the control group, where no organisational restructuring took place within the two-year period under review. The total population consisted of 3700 employees. The samples for 2010 and 2011 were drawn from the population of the five manufacturing plants’. The sample of employees that took part in the survey from the five manufacturing plants was, in 2010, 778 versus a headcount of 1802, yielding a response rate of 21.02%, and in 2011, 904 versus a headcount of 1736, yielding a response rate of 24.43%. The research results show that organisational restructuring did have a significant impact on organisational climate; with a drop in the organisational climate from 2010 prior to the organisational restructuring, to 2011 after the organisational restructuring at four of the manufacturing plants (experimental group). Interestingly, the control group (the 5th manufacturing plant) also showed a significant drop in its organisational climate scores from 2010 to 2011; without organisational restructuring taking place. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / MCOM (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

ABSTRACT The researcher set out to gain an in-depth understanding of the possible influence of a reality-altering event on interaction behaviour (communication). The alteration in interaction behaviour referred to within the context of this study, is the communication phenomenon identified, explained and labelled as part of the study, which the researcher termed “re-communication”. This study partly aims at developing a re-communication conceptual framework that explains the re-communication phenomenon. In order to explain this unexplored communication phenomenon and develop a re-communication conceptual framework for it, the study focuses on how either strategic or spontaneous communication could be utilised in any reality-altering event to disclose information that would alter the co-constructed social reality between people. This information could be communicated either by the individual, who experienced a reality-altering event, or by persons or forms of communication external to the individual. Within the context of this study, the disclosure becomes the reality-altering event. Therefore, the proposed re-communication conceptual framework firstly addresses the elements that influence disclosure or non-disclosure. Secondly, it focusses on self-preservation communication strategies used to avoid disclosing or concealing the reality-altering event. Thirdly, the framework focuses on the actual reality-altering event, which, in this case, occurs when a gay individual’s sexual identity is disclosed to colleagues. Lastly, the framework looks at re-communication, which involves a perceived alteration in communication post-disclosure due to the altered reality. It is argued that the co-constructed social reality between a gay individual and a colleague is altered from a position of being unaware of the individual being gay to becoming aware. It is further argued that, because heterosexuality is regarded as the norm and the language and meaning ascribed to dominant symbols in society support heteronormativity, people often assume that a colleague is heterosexual and construct their reality based on this notion. Going into an interaction, both the gay individuals and their colleagues have their own social reality, which they have constructed through their experiences, as well as the co-constructed social reality they share with each colleague with whom they interact. This study was conducted within an interpretivist research paradigm and from the position of the theoretical foundation of symbolic interactionism, social constructionism and constructivism. A qualitative, exploratory research design was selected to collect the data by means of in-depth semi-structured interviews and narratives. Based on the insights provided by the participants, re-communication as a communication phenomenon was identified, explained and labelled and the resultant re-communication framework was developed. The re-communication conceptual framework was synergised by means of a thematic textual analysis and was guided by a number of assumptions and postulations arising from a strong theoretical foundation and a comprehensive literature review, which were supported by the findings. In this study, it was found that a reality-altering event is complex and multiple elements influence the way in which gay individuals’ sexual identity are disclosed or not disclosed within the organisational context. However, it has been discovered that communication is the vehicle for self-preservation and for disclosing information that will lead to a reality-altering event. Regardless of how small the influence or how limited the time, post the reality-altering event, the disclosure influences interaction behaviour (communication) and alters the co-constructed social reality between gay individuals and their colleagues. The colleagues go from a position of not knowing an individual was gay to knowing. It is noted that disclosure of a sexual identity and/or any other reality-altering event is not a once off reality-altering event, but rather a continuous process for gay individuals, because each time a new colleague enters the organisational contexts of gay individuals, they need to consider if – and if so, how – they want to disclose. In some cases, disclosure take places by others and the gay individual needs to decide how to deal with colleagues now knowing s/he is gay. The most significant contribution of the study is the identification, explanation and labelling of a previously unexplored communication phenomenon – that of re-communication – and the development of a re-communication conceptual framework that could contribute to the organisational reality in a two-fold manner. Firstly, such a framework will provide insights into and possible sense making of the disclosure experiences of gay individuals in the organisational context. Secondly, the outcome illustrates the importance of inclusive and positive organisational climates and/or cultures and the concomitant impact of positive engagements on organisational practices such as inclusive climates and cultures for sharing, employee loyalty, better team cooperation, trust among employees, increased employee wellbeing and more effective communication processes within organisations. / Communication Science / D. Phil. (Communication)