The current study aimed to explore the positive aspects of Psychological Capital (PsyCap) and attempted to explain how the psychological resources inherent in PsyCap can aid against the negative effects of Burnout in educators in the Umlazi Region of Kwa-Zulu Natal. The general objective of this research study was to explore the relationship between PsyCap, Subjective Wellbeing, Burnout and Job Satisfaction. The study used a quantitative research design and was conducted using the Positive Psychology framework. This study made use of the Conservation of Resources Theory as its theoretical framework. Convenience samples (n=103) were taken of educators across four educational institutions in the Umlazi Region. The Psychological Capital Questionnaire; Satisfaction with Life Scale; Oldenburg Burnout Inventory; and Minnesota Job Satisfaction Questionnaire (short form) were administered to the participants. The results confirmed that there were statistically and practically significant relationships between PsyCap, Subjective Wellbeing, Burnout and Job Satisfaction. The results revealed that Subjective Wellbeing was a statistically significant predictor of PsyCap. It also indicated that PsyCap and Subjective Wellbeing were both statistically significant predictors of Burnout. The results confirmed that the relationship between Subjective Wellbeing and Burnout was mediated by Psychological Capital (PsyCap). / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

Introduction: La participation sociale "optimale" peut se définir comme une congruence parfaite entre les attentes de l'individu et sa réalité. La conciliation travail-famille fait appel à l'équilibre des différentes sphéres de vie du travailler. On peut alors s'interroger sur la perception de l'optimalité qu'ont les professionnels de la réadaptation quant à leur propre niveau de participation, conciliant plusieurs sphéres de vie et les facteurs qui influencent cette participation. But: Explorer la perception de l'optimalité de la participation sociale chez des professionnels de la réadaptation et les facteurs identifiés par ces derniers comme l'influençant. Méthode: Étude qualitative d'orientation phénoménologique auprés de treize professionnels de la réadaptation à l'aide d'un guide d'entrevue composé de questions ouvertes. Les données recueillies ont été enregistrées sur bande audio et transcrites intégralement (verbatim) suivi d'une analyse de contenu. Résultats: Les participants, majoritairement des femmes (12/13) étaient âgés de 31 à 44 ans et avaient entre un et trois enfants dont l'âge variait de 7 mois à 12 ans. L'optimalité de la participation est perçue comme: la possibilité (ou non) d'accomplir ses activités significatives tout en prenant en charge ses différentes responsabilités. Parmi les cinq facteurs environnementaux perçus comme ayant une influence (l'aspect financier, le soutien du conjoint, le temps, la flexibilité des horaires au travail et la structure familiale) la structure familiale apparait comme déterminante du possible et influence ainsi grandement les attentes individuelles.Conclusion: La conciliation travail-famille est un phénomène complexe qui gagne à être étudié dans sa globalité plutôt qu'en silo. / Introduction: Optimal social participation, which is the ultimate goal targeted by rehabilitation professionals for their clients, can be defined as perfect congruence between an individual's expectations and reality. Work-family dynamic requires balance between the different spheres of a worker's life. This raises questions about the perception that rehabilitation professionals have regarding their own optimal social participation, reconciling various life spheres, and the factors influence this participation. Purpose: To explore the perception of rehabilitation professionals regarding their optimal social participation, and the factors they identify as influencing this participation. Method: Qualitative study with a phenomenological orientation among 13 rehabilitation professionals using an interview guide consisting of open questions. The data was audio-recorded and transcribed in full (verbatim) followed by content analysis. Results: Participation were mostly women (12/13) aged 31 to 44 years having one to three children aged from 7 months to 12 years old. Optimality of participation is perceived as the ability (or not) to carry out important activities while fulfilling one's various responsibilities. Of the five environmental factors perceived to have an influence (financial aspects, spousal support, time, flexible work schedule, and family organization), family organization appears to be a determinant of possibility and thus greatly influences individual expectations. Conclusion: Work-life balance is a complex phenomenon that should be studied holistically rather in a siloed mode.

The aim of this thesis is to describe Political Science students’ experiences of studies and work life. Students’ reflections on their study situation as well as their envisaged and later experienced work life have been analysed through cross-sectional as well as longitudinal data. Central research questions are how students at the beginning and the end of their studies perceive their study program, how the communication patterns between teacher and students are negotiated, and what discourses of knowledge and competence operate in the program and in work life as well as how students of Political Science experience the transition from higher education to working life at two Euro-pean universities, and how Political science students and students in two professional programmes experience the transition from higher education to work life. The empiri-cal studies are presented in four articles. Ethnography, phenomenography and dis-course analysis have been applied. The results show that students embark on the pro-gram with dreams of being in the halls of power in Brussels or becoming famous by appearing in the media. They are, however, also driven by a Bildung incentive. Towards the end of their studies, more down-to-earth visions of the future as investigators have replaced their previous dreams. Another result is the ongoing negotiations about their role and the purpose of e.g. seminars, which convey double messages about what to say and when to contribute. They also report a rational and generic relationship between their studies and the work tasks, indicating that they have acquired a set of general skills that are helpful for them in their work. When moving from studies into work life, they report having a feeling of being squeezed between the politicians and the general public. Surprisingly, few of them regard themselves as having power in the decision-making arena. Keywords: Higher education, Work life, Trajectories of learning, National comparisons, / Syftet med avhandlingen är att beskriva studenter inom statsvetenskap och deras resa genom akademin ut i arbetslivet. Genom att undersöka studenternas reflektioner och tankar kring sin studiesituation och hur de ser på sitt kommande arbete genom att an-vända en undersökningsdesign som består av en tvärsnittsstudie och en longitudinell studie. Med utgångspunkt i syftet har ett antal forskningsfrågor formulerats; Hur upp-fattas utbildningen av studenter i början och slutet av sina studier? Vilka diskurser kring kunskap och kompetens återfinns i studieprogrammen? Vilka diskurser kring kunskap och kompetens återfinns i arbetslivet? Hur upplever studenter i statsveten-skap vid två europeiska universitet övergången mellan akademi och arbetsliv? Hur upp-lever studenter i statsvetenskap och studenter från två professionsutbildningar över-gången mellan akademi och arbetsliv? De empiriska studierna rapporteras i fyra upp-satser. Etnografi, fenomenografi och diskursanalys är de metoder som använts vid ana-lyserna av empiriska data. Många studenter väljer att läsa statsvetenskap på grund av ett allmän- bildningsin-tresse, de uttrycker också drömmen om att få arbeta i maktens korridorer eller bli kän-da som experter i media. I slutet av sin utbildning infinner sig snarare en bild av en framtida roll som utredare. Eftersom studier i statsvetenskap har en rationell karaktär med fokus på generiska färdigheter är detta inte särskilt förvånande. En grupp studen-ter som följdes under sina första fem veckor i en seminarieserie fick dubbla signaler rörande sin roll vid seminarier. Relationen mellan utbildning och arbete beskrivs som i första hand rationell och generisk, dvs de har förvärvat allmänna färdigheter som är dem till stor hjälp i arbetet. När de som nya på arbetsmarknaden talar om sin identitet, framgår att de beskriver sig som klämda från två håll i sin roll som förmedlare mellan allmänheten och makthavarna. Förvånansvärt få anser att de har någon reell makt när det gäller beslutsfattande. Nyckelord: Högre utbildning, arbetsliv, lärande, identitet, nationella jämförelser, inter-nationella jämförelser, nybörjare, erfarna studenter, professionella noviser.

Workplace misbehaviour is seen to be a neglected feature of organizational study (Ackroyd and Thompson; Vardi and Weitz, 2004). Where research has been undertaken into misbehaviour the emphasis tends fall into two broad categories. First of all, organizational behaviour theorists use the term misbehaviour as a means to highlight how the ‘negative’ behaviour of employees gets in the way of formal organizational goals. Secondly, radical sociologists tend to use the term misbehaviour as a means to critique Foucauldian labour process theory. Here an argument is made that suggests the disciplinary affects of new management practices associated with human resource management and total quality management have been overstated. Furthermore, radical sociologists also use the term misbehaviour as means to critique organizational behaviour accounts, which are believed to paint overly optimistic accounts of organizational life. However, on further examination it was discovered that neither a radical sociological approach, nor a traditional organizational behaviour approach, sufficiently addresses the current deficit in our understandings and explanations for workplace misbehaviour. Hence, one of the main themes of this thesis was to design a theoretical and methodological framework to address the deficit in our understandings and explanations. As such, a view was taken of how a radical sociological approach (orthodox labour process analysis) combined with an emerging social psychological perspective (a social identity approach (Haslam, 2001)) could help overcome previous theoretical problems associated with researching misbehaviour. Empirical support for this approach is provided by the detailed examination of the objective and subjective working conditions of four different sets of low status workers. The findings are based on longitudinal covert participant observations, as well as covert interviews and the covert gathering of company documents. The findings depart from previous insights into workplace misbehaviour in stressing the importance of acknowledging and investigating both the organizational and sub-group social identities of low status workers, in relation to such activities. As such, a great deal of the misbehaviour noted in the findings can be attributed to the poor treatment of low status workers by management, yet misbehaviour is equally if not more attributable to the empowering or inhibitive qualities of the many psychological groups that worker can associate with or disassociate themselves from. Recommendations are made about the direction of future research into workplace misbehaviour. There are many suggestions made and include examining misbehaviour in a wider range of settings, sectors and levels of organizations.

Drawing upon case studies of three organisations operating six call centres in Australia, this thesis explores the manifestations and interplay of employee resistance and accommodation in response to five facets of employer control: electronic monitoring; repetitious work; emotional control; the built environment; and workplace flexibility. Accommodation refers to the ways workers protect themselves from and adapt to the pressures that make up their day-to-day experiences of work. Accommodation, unlike resistance, which implies opposition to control, may superficially resemble consent to control. I argue that resistance and accommodation are not polar opposites; rather they are both reflections of the conflict and tensions that lie at the heart of the employment relationship. At the study sites, employees utilised resistance and accommodation both separately and concurrently. An explanation of these seemingly contradictory responses and of the links among accommodation individual resistance and collective resistance lies in the concept of ???self???. In this thesis, ???self??? refers to workers??? perceptions of fairness, dignity and autonomy. I examine how these notions frame worker discontent and promote employee solidarity. ???Everyday resistance???, a concept first developed by Scott (1985) in relation to peasant struggles, is employed to highlight the existence of subterranean struggles in workplaces that otherwise appear to be harmonious. At the study sites, everyday resistance was a multi-faceted, widely employed strategy whose strength lay primarily in its immediate impact. There was, however, no necessary sequential development from accommodation, through everyday resistance to overt, formal forms of conflict. What was evident was that multiple responses to employer control could co-exist and inhibit or promote one another. But it was through organised collective resistance that more formalised gains were made and widely held grievances addressed. I suggest that, although everyday resistance may lay the groundwork for more formal struggles, one should not conclude that traditional collective resistance is ???genuine??? resistance and everyday resistance is simply a second-best prelude to it. Although conflict is always present, its intensity differs. If we are to understand the complexity of worker responses to managerial control, we need to expand the theoretical frameworks within which we analyse and interpret conflict.

L’invecchiamento della popolazione in atto, l’entrata in massa della donna nel mercato del lavoro, verificata negli ultimi anni, l’aumento delle aspettative di vita e l’allungamento dell’età pensionabile con la Riforma Fornero-Monti, contribuiscono al mutamento della morfologia della famiglia, dei contesti lavorativi e della società nel complesso rendendo palese l’esigenza di comprendere meglio le dinamiche che questi cambiamenti comportano. Nonostante l’invecchiamento delle lavoratrici rappresenti un cambiamento importante, non ci sono ancora molti studi che hanno analizzato questo fenomeno. Il presente studio ha avuto l’obiettivo di comprendere e far luce sulle caratteristiche delle lavoratrici over 50, in particolar modo conoscere le peculiarità delle loro relazioni familiari/extra-lavorative e lavorative attraverso il concetto sociologico di Capitale sociale ritenuto di estrema importanza per comprendere il potenziale delle lavoratrici. La ricerca ha coinvolto, attraverso la compilazione di un questionario, 4962 lavoratrici tra i 50 e i 69 anni di 18 aziende associate a Valore D, su tutto il territorio italiano. Dallo studio emerge che le lavoratrici hanno ancora un buon livello di potenziale e che il CSF e CSL possono rivestire un ruolo importante come risorsa nella vita delle donne in questa fase di vita, ma anche per le aziende e la società stessa. / The aging of the population, the mass entry of women into the labor market, verified in recent years, the increase in life expectancy and the lengthening of the retirement age with the Fornero-Monti Reform, contributed to the change of the morphology of the family, of working contexts and of society as a whole, making clear the need to better understand the dynamics that these changes entail. Although the aging of female workers represents an important change, this phenomenon has not been analyzed yet. The present study aims to understand and shed light on the characteristics of of workers over 50, especially to know the peculiarities of their family / extra-work and work relationships through the sociological concept of Social Capital considered of extreme importance to understand the potential of female workers. The research involved 4962 workers between 50 and 69 years of 18 companies associated with Valore D, throughout Italy, who completed a questionnaire. The study shows that female workers still have a good level of potential and that the CSF and CSL can play an important important role as a resource for women in this phase of their life, but also for companies and society itself.

This thesis addresses the problematic of part-time jobs in condition of Czech Republic. Goal of this thesis was to analyze part-time jobs as the flexibility tool of labor market on one side and as a tool for reconciliation between family life and work life on the other side. In this thesis are described individual possibilities of part-time jobs utilization in the terms of labor law of Czech Republic. Three companies, which are working in different branches, are compared based on questionnaire survey. Results of questionnaire survey found out, that the divergence and a nature of a working position differs the analyzed companies in possibilities of applying part-time jobs on individual working positions. Theoretical manual was made for utilization part-time jobs to reconciliation and harmonization between work life and family life in Czech Republic.

The objective of this study was to explore the relationship between perceived career mobility, career mobility preference, job satisfaction and organisational commitment. A secondary objective was to determine whether various age, gender, tenure, marital status and race groups differed significantly regarding their perceived career mobility, career mobility preference, job satisfaction and organisational commitment. A perceived career mobility scale and career mobility preference scale, the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (short form) and the Organisational Commitment Scale, were applied to a non-probability convenience sample consisting of 82 South African accountants, auditors and financial staff members. Significant relationships were observed between the variables. Significant differences were found between age and race groups‟ perceived career mobility, gender and tenure groups‟ career mobility preference, and age and tenure groups‟ organisational commitment. The findings contribute valuable new knowledge that may be used to inform retention practices in the financial sector. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.A. (Industrial & Organisational Psychology)

The purpose of this study is to explore the EAP environment and provide a better understanding of the related roles of the Employee Assistant Practitioners/Professionals (EAPs) in respect of their treatment of various forms of illnesses in the workplace – particularly HIV and AIDS. The EAP role is not aligned to any individual profession, as it is designed to match employees’ holistic needs. It is in this context that the repertoire of EAP roles would include caring, psycho-social, therapeutic and technical skills. The EAP role is therefore endowed with the potential to meet a range of inter-departmental and multi-disciplinary needs – such as Nursing, Allied Health Professions, and Healthcare Sciences. A generic Assistant Practitioners Performance Management system (scorecard) had to be developed and agreed to with the City of Johannesburg’s (CoJ) Management in order to maintain consistency when developing APE programmes and roles. Notwithstanding the fact that the Employee Assistant Practitioners do also address the growing HIV/AIDS concerns in the workplace – including psycho-social problems of employees and their families – there is minimal acknowledgment of the EAPs’ roles, and little recognition of their welfare and well-being programmes. Drawing eclectically from various inter-related disciplinary terrains, the study centripetally explores the roles of EAPs as well as HIV/AIDS frameworks in the workplace. Quantitative and qualitative descriptive research methods were employed to assess challenges encountered by the City of Johannesburg (C.o.J) employees and their dependants. Questionnaires were used for the data collection of this study. The repertoire of participants in the study (n=55) comprised of doctors, social workers, nurses, HR officers, and other CoJ employees themselves. vi The questionnaire became the pivotal quantitative data analysis reference point ias it focused on numbers or quantities, and less on the qualitative analysis, which focused on differences in quality. The results of the study are based on numeric analysis and statistics to quantify the qualitative analysis. The prevalence of fewer participants was largely influenced by the depth of the data collection process, which did not allow for large numbers of research participants. The findings of the study revealed, amongst other factors, that there was an unsurpassed need to integrate different HIV/AIDS frameworks in order that the roles of EAPs becomes more effectively and efficiently defined and executed. The roles of EAPs were hitherto not well defined, resulting in duplication and confusion of service delivery to some employees utilising the EAP services. However, some of the EAP roles are highly appreciated and increasingly supported by managers and employees. Based on the findings of the study, recommendations were made for clarifying and extending the criticality of EAP roles and functions. / Health Studies / Ph. D. (Health Studies)

Text in Afrikaans, abstract in Afrikaans and English / Die doel van hierdie navorsing was om te bepaal of betekenisvolle verskille bestaan tussen werknemerdoeltreffendheid en persepsies van gehalte van werklewe van bemagtigde en niebemagtigde skofwerkers in die Suid-Afrikaanse petrochemiese bedryf. Skofwerknavorsing het gedurende die afgelope dekade internasionaal toegeneem. Hiermee gepaardgaande het verskeie intervensies ontstaan om die doeltreffendheid van skofwerkers en hulle gehalte van werklewe te bevorder. Deur gebruik te maak van 'n gekombineerde vraelys ("Standard Shiftwork Index") en werklike data ten opsigte van afwesigheid en prestasiebeoordelings, is 'n steekproef van 102 gevalle geanaliseer. 'n 90 persent betroubaarheidinterval is gebruik om waardes ten opsigte van elke veranderlike te bepaal. Daar is bevind dat werknemerbemagtiging weinig invloed het op skofwerkers se werkbywoning. Daar is ook gevind dat werknemerbemagtiging nie lei tot 'n meer positiewe persepsie, by toesighouers, van skofwerkwerkers se algemene werkprestasie nie. Daar is egter bevind dat skofwerkers se persepsies van hulle gehalte van werklewe, ten opsigte van werkdissatisfaksie, chroniese vermoeidheid en tevredenheid met sosiale omstandighede, wel positiefbelnvloed word deur werknemerbemagtiging. Aanbevelings is gemaak ten opsigte van die aanwending van werknemerbemagtiging, as intervensie in skofwerkomgewings, asook vir verdere skofwerknavorsing in Suid-Afrika. / The purpose of this research was to determine if significant differences exist between employee effectiveness and perceptions of quality of working life of empowered and non-empowered shiftworkers in the South-African petrochemical industry. By using the Standard Shiftwork Index and real absenteeism and appraisal data, a sample of 102 cases was analysed. A 90 percent confidence interval was used to determine t-values for variables. It was found that empowerment has little influence on the work attendance of shiftworkers and that empowerment does not lead to more positive perceptions of general work performance of shiftworkers, among their supervisors. It was, however, found that shiftworkers' perceptions of their quality of working life are improved by empowerment in respect of work dissatisfaction, chronic fatigue and satisfaction with social circumstances. Suggestions were made concerning the use of empowerment, as an intervention, in shiftwork environments and for future shiftwork research in South-Africa. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.Comm. (Bedryfsielkunde)