Thesis (doctoral)--Fernuniversität, Hagen. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [154]-165).

Thesis (M.App.Psy.)--University of Waikato, 2007. / Title from PDF cover (viewed May 28, 2008) Includes bibliographical references (p. 108-117)

Diss. Helsingin yliopisto, 2006. / Myös verkkojulkaisuna.

Committed employees are increasingly becoming a valued asset in organisations. For the purpose of this study employee commitment is viewed as commitment to the organisation as well as employees' commitment to their occupations. The purpose of the research was to determine whether there is a correlation between perceived self-efficacy and employee commitment in a South African sugar manufacturing company. Self-efficacy, a social cognition construct, which refers to a person's self-beliefs in his/her ability to perform specific tasks, has been shown to be a reliable predictor of both motivation and task performance and to influence personal goal setting. Despite this, little attention has been given to its organisational implications. The General Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (GSE), and an Employee Commitment (CM) questionnaire based on the Conversion Model were used as measuring tools. The results of this study indicate that there is a positive correlation between self-efficacy and employee commitment (Ambassador, Career oriented, Company oriented). Uncommitted employees show a lower level of self-efficacy. The implications of these results are discussed. Further research from a predictive validity perspective is suggested in order to substantiate the findings and to improve the generalisability thereof. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.Com. (Industrial Psychology)

This study focused on a topic at the intersection of two contexts, namely curriculum responsiveness and industrial/organisational psychology (IOP). The rationale for this study is based on two considerations. Firstly, a review of the IOP curricula offered at ten prominent South African universities revealed little overlap. This suggests that academic departments are not guided by shared principles when they implement decisions about the content or sequencing of curriculum content. Secondly, the Department of Education urges academics to design curricula that are relevant and responsive to contemporary conditions. These two considerations motivated the investigation of the following research question: What key performance areas (KPAs) do employers specify when they advertise positions suitable for IOP graduates? The investigation had two aims, namely (a) to systematically analyse the KPAs specified in job advertisements and (b) to compile KPA templates that may be used by IOP departments who wish to revise or transform their curricula. The research design of this study has five characteristics, namely that it is: (a) qualitative, (b) naturalistic, (c), descriptive, (d) applied, and (e) strategic. The study employed a purposive sampling strategy that involved the collection of documentary data (job advertisements aimed at recruiting IOP graduates) over a 52-week period (N=1115). The data was content analysed by means of a six-step documentary analysis method. Specific strategies were employed to enhance the validity of the findings. These strategies focused on credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability. Similarly, the ethical standing of the investigation was promoted by addressing four considerations, namely autonomy and respect for dignity, non-maleficence, beneficence, and justice. The data analysis procedure produced comprehensive and detailed qualitative descriptions of (a) 21 occupational categories, (b) 4070 KPA themes and (c) 84 KPA clusters. In addition, the number of occupational categories, KPA themes and KPA clusters were recorded and interpreted. In addition, the data analysis procedure produced comprehensive KPA templates that IOP departments may find useful. The templates reflect the KPAs specified by advertisements aimed at recruiting IOP graduates for a range of occupational categories and were designed to be used as benchmarks against which the economic responsiveness of curricula can be compared.

The utilisation of an operational risk management (ORM) model is one of the compulsory activities during mergers and acquisitions in the financial sector. However, the implementation of such a model is often not as effective as intended. A cause of this might be situated in human behaviour and the influence of cultural differences, especially during cross-border business. This study determined how Tanzanians perceive risk, and identified the psychosocial components that affected the implementation of an ORM model in a target organisation in Tanzania. This resulted in the development of a conceptual framework, which integrated these psychosocial components into a theoretical psychosocial model of OR management. This qualitative study was situated within the hermeneutic phenomenology research paradigm. During the research, 35 semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted, providing rich data. Participants were selected by means of criterion sampling. Most of the interviews sessions were conducted with one participant present. However, some of the interview sessions involved two or three participants resulting in a total of 46 participants being interviewed. Data were analysed using the hermeneutic circle, and incorporated content analysis. The findings of the study are of value to both the fields of psychology (social and organisational psychology) and OR management. Engaging in cross-border business is in itself a ‘risky’ business. Identifying the psychosocial components and incorporating them into ORM models, enables organisations to implement their ORM models more effectively (Renn, 2008). The theoretical model developed as a result of this research enables industrial and organisational psychologists and OR managers to manage growth initiatives, such as cross-border mergers and acquisitions in the financial industry, more accurately. Industrial and organisational psychologists and risk managers will consequently understand better how psychosocial components shape people and this will enable them to adapt their management approach accordingly. / Department of Industrial and Organisational Psychology / Ph. D. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is a relationship between perceived emotional intelligence and job performance among inbound call centre leaders in the medical aid environment. The sample consisted of 268 participants (45 leaders and 223 raters) across different age and race groups. A convenience sample was used, since it was easier to focus on call centre leaders working in the same office. All of the participants completed the 360º Emotional Competency Profiler (ECP) in order to measure emotional intelligence whereas the job performance data were obtained from the management team and an average score of their performance over a one-year period was examined. The research results show that there was no statistically significant relationship between emotional intelligence and job performance among the call centre leaders. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.A. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology )

This dissertation focused on identifying personality traits, as measured by the Occupational Personality Questionnaire 32 (OPQ32r) that may act as job performance predictors for customer service centre (CSC) agents in the banking industry. The purpose of this research was to determine whether there are relationships between certain personality traits of customer service centre agents and their job performance. Purposeful sampling was used to involve the entire agent base as participants (N=89). A quantitative empirical study was conducted in which the relationship between the independent variable (personality) and dependent variable (job performance) was investigated. Several personality traits that predicted job performance were identified. Identifying the personality characteristics of individuals who are successful in a CSC environment should aid organisations in creating a better/suitable fit between employees and the requirements of such an environment, thereby improving organisational outcomes. This research adds to current literature gaps in establishing the relationship between personality traits and performance in the context of a customer relations management call centre environment. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.Com. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

This thesis is based on research aimed to develop and test a systematic framework to describe and analyse dysfunctions in underperforming schools in South Africa, the Explanatory Model of School Dysfunctions. The theoretical foundation of the model was created by synthesising the literature from various disciplines and conceptualising dysfunctions in relation to their antecedents, motivations, and consequences. The model was then applied and refined on three different data sets. The three data sets included data from principals, teachers, and learners. The principal data consisted of 80 essays written by principals or their representatives, the teacher data of 40 essays from teachers in the Gauteng area, and the learner data of 1,500 open-ended responses from recent high school graduates in South Africa. Content Configuration Analysis explored how school dysfunctions varied in degree, kind, and interconnectedness. Four groups of dysfunctions were identified: dysfunctions relating to rules and rule breaking, issues of competence, resources, and issues extrinsic to the school context. After application and refinement, the Explanatory Model of School Dysfunctions was found to be a suitable model to account for the problem sets experienced by these three actor groups. The goal of this model is to provide a theory-based approach to analyse dysfunctions within schools and to invite researchers to explore these and other problems within this framework. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Psychology / Patrick A. Knight / A commonly accepted practice in employment selection is to collect biographical information in the form of resumes. Surprisingly, little research is conducted in this area to learn how reviewers evaluate relevant biographical information and considerable less research is devoted to exploring possible methods on how to improve this evaluation process. Current research explored one possible training method that may later show great utility in improving accuracy and consistency in ratings for a number of work-related constructs. Frame-of-reference training, which is primarily utilized in the field of performance appraisal, was hypothesized to be a beneficial training technique in an effort to improve accuracy. Frame-of-reference (FOR) training attempts to create a common frame of reference among raters when assessing rates' behaviors. Through a process of practice and feedback, FOR training tunes raters to common notions of what good or poor would be on a particular dimension. The result is often more accurate ratings with less variation between raters. Personality (conscientiousness, extraversion, and agreeableness only), general cognitive ability, and organizational citizenship behaviors were the constructs of interest. The analysis provided initial support for most of the hypotheses which suggested that frame-of-reference training would create more accurate and reliable estimates of applicant's personality, cognitive ability, and even organizational citizenship behaviors. In addition to influencing participants' estimates of applicant's scores on a number of workplace constructs, it was also found that participants were influenced as a function of type of training on their willingness to interview and overall impressions of the applicants. Limitations and suggestions for future research are also discussed.