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

<p><font face="Times New Roman"> <p align="left">The results emanating from the study indicate that Work Environment variables played the most crucial role in retaining Black talent in the organisation at which the research was undertaken. There were significant relationships between some of the biographical variables and retention, and the four retention factors significantly explained the variance in retention. Recommendations based on the data were made to various stakeholders in order to address the existing problem, while simultaneously protecting the rights to confidentiality of the respondents.</p> </font></p>

Higher education is important to the country's economic growth. Due to globalisation, it is important for higher education institutions to keep up with change. The introduction of universities of technology in response to this places a new demand on academic institutions in South Africa, creating more occupational stress on employees. Other expectations, for example demands for more research and publication exert more pressure on staff, which escalates these stress levels. Workload of staff fluctuates between higher and lower and with this, a change of fluctuating periods of stress from acute to chronic is described. This chronic stress has a negative impact on the individuals' physical and psychological health, their interpersonal relationships at work and the quality of their work, as well as on workplace morale. The objectives of the study were to establish how occupational stress, ill health and commitment are conceptualised in the literature; to establish what the occupational stress levels of staff at a university of technology are and to assess the mutual relationships among occupational stress, organisational commitment and ill health of employees at the specific institution. The research method consisted of a brief literature review and an empirical study. A cross-sectional survey design was used. A stratified random sample was taken of academic and support staff at a specific university of technology (N = 334). The ASSET Organizational Stress Screening Tool and a biographical questionnaire were administered on the personnel. Cronbach alpha coefficients were used to determine the significance of dimensions of the ASSET. Exploratory factor analysis was used to investigate the factor structure of the occupational stress items of the ASSET. Pearson correlation coefficients were used to specify the relationship between the variables. Standard multiple regression analyses were used to assess whether occupational stress predicts ill health and organisational commitment. The results showed that two occupational stressors, namely control and work relationships were higher than the norm. Physical and psychological ill health was predicted by occupational stress due to job demands and lack of organisational support. Occupational stress because of job demands had a significant effect on both affective and behavioural commitment of employees. Recommendations for future research were made. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

<p><font face="Times New Roman"> <p align="left">The results emanating from the study indicate that Work Environment variables played the most crucial role in retaining Black talent in the organisation at which the research was undertaken. There were significant relationships between some of the biographical variables and retention, and the four retention factors significantly explained the variance in retention. Recommendations based on the data were made to various stakeholders in order to address the existing problem, while simultaneously protecting the rights to confidentiality of the respondents.</p> </font></p>

Higher education is important to the country's economic growth. Due to globalisation, it is important for higher education institutions to keep up with change. The introduction of universities of technology in response to this places a new demand on academic institutions in South Africa, creating more occupational stress on employees. Other expectations, for example demands for more research and publication exert more pressure on staff, which escalates these stress levels. Workload of staff fluctuates between higher and lower and with this, a change of fluctuating periods of stress from acute to chronic is described. This chronic stress has a negative impact on the individuals' physical and psychological health, their interpersonal relationships at work and the quality of their work, as well as on workplace morale. The objectives of the study were to establish how occupational stress, ill health and commitment are conceptualised in the literature; to establish what the occupational stress levels of staff at a university of technology are and to assess the mutual relationships among occupational stress, organisational commitment and ill health of employees at the specific institution. The research method consisted of a brief literature review and an empirical study. A cross-sectional survey design was used. A stratified random sample was taken of academic and support staff at a specific university of technology (N = 334). The ASSET Organizational Stress Screening Tool and a biographical questionnaire were administered on the personnel. Cronbach alpha coefficients were used to determine the significance of dimensions of the ASSET. Exploratory factor analysis was used to investigate the factor structure of the occupational stress items of the ASSET. Pearson correlation coefficients were used to specify the relationship between the variables. Standard multiple regression analyses were used to assess whether occupational stress predicts ill health and organisational commitment. The results showed that two occupational stressors, namely control and work relationships were higher than the norm. Physical and psychological ill health was predicted by occupational stress due to job demands and lack of organisational support. Occupational stress because of job demands had a significant effect on both affective and behavioural commitment of employees. Recommendations for future research were made. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

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.

The use of social networks, as a business tool is becoming more and more frequent in this day and age. Companies are exploring various ways in which to optimise social media in gaining a competitive advantage. Social platforms give organisations the ability to communicate better with their staff, to market their products more effectively to potential customers and also to drive behaviour within the workplace. Employee engagement, sense of belonging and organisational commitment can be considered as components of employee well-being. Companies are investing large amounts of resources to lower employee turnover by creating an environment that is favourable for the employee. Within the call centre environment a well established technological infrastructure exists. This creates a setting that is very prone to launch a social media platform. The average age of employees is also quite young, which in most cases means that they understand and interact on social networks with ease. The applications for social media also seems to become second nature for younger generations and this also speaks volumes as to implement social network strategies within working environments. The experimental research design included a pre- and post assessment with samples of 74 employees for the pre-test and 36 employees for the post test. A qualitative and quantitative approach was utilised in order to gain better insight of what employees define as social networks and what effect it has on employees. To measure the various constructs, the following instruments were utilised: Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES), a self-constructed Sense of Belonging Questionnaire and the Affective Organisational Commitment Questionnaire (AOC). The results indicated that the exposure to a social network resulted in lower levels of employee engagement and lower levels of sense of belonging. The exposure to a social network however increased the levels of participants? affective organisational commitment. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

The objective of this Study was to identify any relationships that may exist Main job insecurity, burnout and organisational armament. To determine the levels of job insecurity, burnout and organizational commitment, how different demographic p u p s experience different levels of job insecurity and whether job insecurity can predict burnout and orgauisational commitment. A -sectional w e y design was used. A random sample of human resource workers (N = 146) was used & on a financial institution in Gauteng. The Job Insecurity Survey Inventory (JISI), Maslach Bumout Inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS) and Organisational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ) wae administered with a biographical questionnaire. The regression analyses indicated that 29, 8% of the total variance was explained by job insecurity on burnout and that 28, 7% of the total variance was explained by job insecurity on organisational commitment / Thesis (M.Com. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2005.

During the last few decades economic changes leading to transformations in the labour market have taken place in the industrialised world (Mauno & Kinnunen, 1999). These changes have had to be implemented as a result of economic recession, new information technology, industrial restructuring and accelerated global competition (Hartley, Jacobson, Klandermans & Van Vuuren, 199 1 ; Hellgren, Sverke & Isakson, 1999). South African organisations, to remain competitive in these harsh conditions, have been forced to improve organisational effectiveness and streamline operations (Human, Buitendach & Heyrnans, 2004). Many have had to engage in downsizing and restructuring in order to reduce labour costs and to improve competitiveness. These efforts usually result in the reduction of a large number of staff (Labuschagne, 2005). In addition to having adverse effects for those people who lose their jobs, it may also lead to increased stress among the survivors (Ashford, 1988; Ketz de Vries & Balazs, 1997). The primary objective of this research was to investigate the relationship between job insecurity, organisational citizenship behaviours and affective organisational commitment. Constructs were measured by means of the Job Insecurity Questionnaire (JIQ), the Organisational Citizenship Behaviours Questionnaire (OCB), the Organisational Commitment Questionnaire (OC) and a biographical questionnaire. A cross-sectional survey design was conducted among the 80 employees of a privately-owed franchise store of a large retail supermarket. A response of 66 completed questionnaires was received. / Thesis (M.Com. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2006.

The world that is becoming more advanced and complex, induces acute competitiveness and immense challenges for organisations and employees. This, along with the increased demands from current operating economic conditions around the globe oblige organizations to embark on adaptive strategies such as downsizing, restructuring and temporary employment as a mechanism to sustain their continued existence in a hastened transformation era. Although these impetuses affect the content and structure of work directly, they also have indirect inherent effects as they create pressures of uncertainty and feelings ofjob insecurity. It is apparent that job insecurity may negatively affect employees' job satisfaction and affective organisational commitment. It is deemed important to identify the negative impacts of these changes on individual employees and devise change management and coping interventions to empower employees in lowering the stress that they may experience due to transformations within their organisations. Thus, the objectives of this research was to investigate the relationship between job insecurity, job satisfaction, affective organisational commitment and work locus of control and how demographic groups might differ in their experience of job insecurity among employees (N = 286) in a co-operation industry. A cross-sectional survey design was used. The constructs were measured by means of the Job Insecurity Scale (JIS), Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ), Organisational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQAffective- subscale), Work Locus of Control Scale (WLCS) and a demographic questionnaire. The research method consists of a brief literature review and an empirical study. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess the construct validity of the MSQ, OCQAffective, and WLCS. Alpha coefficients were also computed to assess the internal consistency of the scales. Descriptive statistics, Pearson-product moment correlation coefficients, MANOVA, and ANOVA were used to analyse the data. Multiple regression analyses were used to further examine the potential mediating effect of work locus of control in the job insecurity-outcomes relationships. Simple principal component analyses confirmed appropriate factor structures for the JIS. MSQ and OCQ. Although Spector proposed that the WLCS is a unidimensional scale, various previous studies have obtained evidence supporting a two-factor structure. In a similar vein, simple principle component analysis delivered a two-factor structure. All scales used demonstrated an adequate level of internal consistency. Job insecurity indicated a practically significant positive correlation with intrinsic job satisfaction, although the relationship between job insecurity and extrinsic job satisfaction was not statistically significant. A statically significant positive correlation was found between job insecurity and affective organisational commitment. Work locus of control demonstrated a practically significant correlation with job insecurity. Work locus of control demonstrated a practically significant positive correlation with affective organizational commitment, as well as both job satisfaction dimensions. Regression analyses indicated that work locus of control mediates the relationship between job insecurity and intrinsic job satisfaction. Work locus of control was also found to be a mediator of the relationship between job insecurity and affective organisational commitment. It was established that employees with tertiary qualifications such as degrees and postgraduate degrees experienced lower job insecurity as compared to employees with lower qualifications such as Grade 10 to Grade 12. No further significant differences were established in terms of gender, culture, age and tenure in the experience of job insecurity. Conclusions are made, limitations of the current research are discussed and recommendations for the organisation and future research are outlined. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2007.