M.Phil. ( Industrial Psychology) / Orientation: The aim of this study was to frame psychological testing in a specific and clear manner that is grounded in beneficence. This could potentially be used to positively contribute toward the development, control, and use of psychological testing in South Africa. This was attained by looking at psychological testing through a beneficence lens, so that it is grounded beyond the preventative stance of regulation, in beneficence. The principle of beneficence was explained to the participants, who were then encouraged to approach psychological testing from a beneficence perspective. Research purpose: Despite considerable literature existing on the moral principle of beneficence in various contexts, there is restricted research on its association with psychological testing. Hence, this study explored how to ground psychological testing in the moral principle of beneficence, for application in the South African workplace. This was formulated to explore the essence of beneficence as positively contributing to the welfare of others, from which actions were identified to promote understanding in grounding psychological testing in this regard.

This study examines key factors that affect opportunities for employment of disabled people in Malaysia. Four factors are covered by the study; these are namely, the organisational commitment to employment of disabled people, attitude towards disabled workers, the organisational policies on disability, and the employment opportunities for the disabled people. The first three factors constitute the independent variables, and the last one, the dependent variable. For further understanding of these factors, the independent variables were each additionally split into related elements. The first variable - organisational commitment to employment of disabled people - consists of two elements: recruitment of disabled people, and employee training for disability-related issues. The second variable - attitude towards disabled workers - is composed of three elements: co-workers perception of disabled workers, managements perception of work attendance of disabled workers, and managements perception on the need for supervision. The third variable - organisational policy on disability - is composed of only one element which is the organisational policies on the employment of disabled people. Overall, these three independent variables significantly explain the variance in the dependent variable, i.e. employment opportunities for disabled persons. / The findings of this study show that the organisational commitment to the employment of disabled people is fairly favourable. This is indicated by a higher organisational commitment by companies that employ disabled workers; it is also shown by a higher emphasis for training employees towards disability issues. However, there is no significant difference in the recruitment of disabled workers between organisations that employ no disabled persons and those that employ disabled persons. / Thesis (DoctorateofBusinessAdministration)--University of South Australia, 2007.

Employee retention is one of the challenges facing many business organisations today. For many organisations, strategic staffing has become a concern because the ability to hold on to highly talented core employees can be crucial to future survival. This empirical study examined the current human resource management (HRM) practices of Australian organisations in the retention of their core employees. In particular, the research identified the core elements of HRM practices, which strongly influence the decision for core employees to stay. The study comprise three phases: (1) a preliminary investigation, utilising the Delphi Technique to obtain the opinions of an expert panel of thirteen, (2) in-depth interviews, involving twelve human resource managers of Australian organisations and (3) a quantitative survey of 800 employees from nine Australian organisations. The findings revealed greater insights into the HRM-retention relationship and provided empirical validation of the relationship. More specifically, the research identified eight retention factors that influence the decision of core employees to stay. These specific factors consisted of two bundles of practices: HR factors (e.g., person organisational fit, remuneration, reward and recognition, training and career development, challenging job opportunities) and Organisational factors (e.g., leadership behaviour, company culture and policies, teamwork relationship and satisfactory work environment). The outcome of the HRM-retention relationship was examined through organisational commitment and turnover intention using multiple regression analysis. The findings of this study revealed positive significant co-relationships between the eight factors and organisational commitment. Moreover, it was highlighted that commitment acted as a partial mediator of remuneration, recognition and reward, training and career development and work environment on intent to stay. Commitment fully mediated the relationship person organisational fit, teamwork relationship, culture and policies and intention to stay. The study produced a model suitable for use by human resource practitioners as a guide in determining what initiatives an organisation should adopt to retain their critical employees. This research has also made a contribution by illuminating the current employment relationships in Australian organisations and providing relevant empirical evidence to support the theoretical model of Human Resource Architecture, developed by Lepak and Snell (1999) and, as a result, creating a configuration for an Australian Human Resource Architecture model.

Thesis (B.A.)--Haverford College, Dept. of Psychology, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (doctoral)--Nova Southeastern University, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 86-97).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Dept. of Psychology. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2005. / "A dissertation in psychology." Advisor: Sharon Portwood. Typescript. Vita. Title from "catalog record" of the print edition Description based on contents viewed June 27, 2006. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 86-102). Online version of the print edition.

This study aims to contribute to our understanding of how transformational leadership (TFL) influences organisational learning capability (OLC), psychological contract and performance, as well as the process by which OLC and psychological contract mediate the relationship between TFL and performance. These concepts are widely studied in the western context. This study also aims to examine how applicable these concepts are to a nonwestern context. This study furthermore focuses on investigating two sample groups, namely subordinates and managers, who represent the employee as well as the employer perspective, in contrast to the vast majority of existing works which focus only on one of these two perspectives. This study selected a mixed-methodology case study as its research methodology. This study selected a market-leading company in the consumer-electronics business in Thailand for its single case study, in order to investigate the contextual dimension through in-depth analysis, particularly looking at the relationship and friendship culture emphasised in Thai culture, which is ignored in the western context. The mixed-methodology approach, including quantitative and qualitative methodologies, is utilised. The quantitative research focuses on surveys. In the qualitative research, semi-structured interviews are conducted, together with observations and documentary analysis. The findings reveal that TFL directly influences OLC, psychological contract and performance. However, the challenge comes when we seek links in the research with OLC and work performance. This study suggests that the TFL concept based on Bass (1985) may not be entirely applicable to the Asian context. This research found instead that managers who support only the development of their subordinates' competence cannot be expected to enhance performance. It is important for managers to engender commitment in subordinates. The relationship between managers and followers is a significant factor for performance improvement. If the relationship between managers and subordinates is good, they will help each other to achieve their goals. Therefore, this study suggests that, in applying the TFL concept to the Asian culture, the definition of TFL should be changed to focus not only on the development of subordinates' competence, but also their commitment. This research suggests that HR plays a key role in the organisation by developing managers so that they feel effective enough to develop their subordinates. This research also identifies that senior management has a powerful role to play in reinforcing trust and loyalty to the employees.

As human resources become part of strategic management in many organisations, employees are said to play a crucial role in helping their organisations fulfil their goals. It is a fact that organisations are now relying heavily on the competence of their human resources to gain a competitive edge over their competitors. It is therefore important that organisations should have employees that are committed and motivated in order to be able to compete. This study seeks to improve organisational commitment of the employees in the maintenance section of the selected telecommunications company, by investigating whether variables such as appreciative leadership, organisational citizenship behaviour, psychological empowerment (as measured by perceived control, perceived competence and goal internalisation), job satisfaction and employee rewards are significantly or not significantly related to the organisational commitment of the employees in the selected company. A sample, consisting of 120 employees, including technicians, supervisors and managers, was selected. The study achieved a response rate of about 52% (51.7) after 120 questionnaires were distributed. The empirical results of the study showed that only psychological empowerment (as measured by goal internalisation) and job satisfaction were significantly related to organisational commitment of the employees of the selected company. The implementation of the recommendations of this study should contribute to increased organisational commitment in the selected company.

This study was an assessment of the importance of age, gender, organizational tenure, perceived organizational support, perceived fairness, and perceived autonomy in explaining affective organizational commitment among high school principals in the United States. Stepwise multiple regression was used to determine which independent variables explained a portion of the dependent variable, affective organizational commitment. A sample of 396 high school principals, stratified by gender, was drawn from a national data base developed by Quality Education Data of Denver, CO. The sample consisted of 132 females and 264 males. Data were collected from responses to a questionnaire that was mailed to all persons in the sample. Usable responses were received from 60 females and from 142 males. Results of the stepwise multiple regression indicated that 58 percent of the variation in affective organizational commitment among high school principals was explained by perceived fairness, organizational tenure, perceived organizational support, and high school principals' age. Perceived fairness explained the greatest percentage of variation; age, which entered the regression equation last, explained the least amount of variation. This study indicates that high school principals, first and foremost, valued fairness from school districts in return for their commitment to school districts. The challenge for superintendents and others who work with high school principals is to maintain fairness in educational settings where there are many diverse and competing student needs in the same school district. / Ed. D.

Theoretically grounded and empirically testable conceptualizations that offer alternative explanations regarding sales force performance and turnover can: (a) enhance understanding regarding these pivotal outcomes, and (b) augment an organization's capability to increase sales and decrease turnover. The study advances one such explanation by conceptualizing and testing a perceptual model that links a salesperson's psychological climate dimensions to organizational commitment, performance, and turnover. The framework the study proposes respecifies the leadership and work group dimensions of psychological climate into four distinct perceptions (i.e., a salesperson's perceptions regarding the behaviors of work group, sales manager, senior management, and non sales employees in the organization). These climate dimensions are posited to influence positively a salesperson's organizational commitment which consequently influences positively the salesperson's effort and intention to stay with the organization. The proposed outcomes of organizational commitment result in increased performance and decreased turnover. Success beliefs and perceived behavioral control are posited to moderate the relationship between the salesperson's organizational commitment and effort. The study tests the hypothesized relationships on a sample of salespersons belonging to a telecommunications organization utilizing path and hierarchical regression analyses.