The reduction of workplace accidents and improvement of workplace safety is a concern for most mining houses. Pressure from the labour movement and legislative requirements do not make the burden any lighter. There are circumstances directly and indirectly relating to accidents and therefore a need to obtain an in-depth analysis of underlying causes of accidents in order to draw relevant conclusions exists. There are workplace environmental matters as well as individual attitudinal issues that need to be addressed. The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship of work stress and job insecurity with safety compliance, job satisfaction and commitment in a mine. A cross-sectional survey design was used with an availability sample (n=158). A survey booklet including a biographical questionnaire, scales on job insecurity, job satisfaction, affective organisational commitment, workplace accidents and safety compliance as well as a work stress measure comprising dimensions of role clarity, conflict and overload was administered. The results indicated that when miners experience work stress and job insecurity, their safety compliance is low. Job satisfaction was found to be a positive predictor of safety compliance among miners. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

The reduction of workplace accidents and improvement of workplace safety is a concern for most mining houses. Pressure from the labour movement and legislative requirements do not make the burden any lighter. There are circumstances directly and indirectly relating to accidents and therefore a need to obtain an in-depth analysis of underlying causes of accidents in order to draw relevant conclusions exists. There are workplace environmental matters as well as individual attitudinal issues that need to be addressed. The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship of work stress and job insecurity with safety compliance, job satisfaction and commitment in a mine. A cross-sectional survey design was used with an availability sample (n=158). A survey booklet including a biographical questionnaire, scales on job insecurity, job satisfaction, affective organisational commitment, workplace accidents and safety compliance as well as a work stress measure comprising dimensions of role clarity, conflict and overload was administered. The results indicated that when miners experience work stress and job insecurity, their safety compliance is low. Job satisfaction was found to be a positive predictor of safety compliance among miners. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

Thesis (M.P.A.)--Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, 1999. / Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-06, page: 2953. Typescript. Abstract precedes thesis as preliminary leaves i-iii. Includes bibliographical references (178).

Thesis (Ed. D.)--North Carolina State University. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Miami University, Dept. of Psychology, 2004. / Title from second page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 43-54).

Zugl.: Darmstadt, Techn. Hochsch., Diss., 2006

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 2007. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 160-170). Also available on the World Wide Web.

M.Com. (Industrial Psychology) / Little is known in South Africa regarding the bullying behaviours faced by domestic workers at the hands of their employers. The objective of this study was thus to explore the nature of these bullying behaviours as experienced by South African domestic workers. The study was approached from a qualitative perspective where 10 participants were interviewed using unstructured interviews. The participants were South African from various parts of Gauteng, working for families from various demographics for at least three years. The interviews allowed for unbridled stories from the world of the domestic workers to emerge, thus consistent with my philosophical views and research strategy. It was found that all the domestic workers had experienced bullying by their employers and that all of these experiences were at least partly shared amongst them. Two categories (verbal and non-verbal) and eleven themes (belittlement, deception, wrongful accusations, lack of regard for wellbeing and basic worker needs, lack of regard for worker safety, abuse of power, racial discrimination, unsatisfactory remuneration, lack of regard for employment laws, threats to employment status and exclusion from decision making) were identified. The bullying was perpetrated by both sexes and all races. The study will add to the existing body of knowledge of bullying and assist policy makers in finding practical solutions to combating bullying.

Napping has been explored extensively as a means of counteracting the negative effects associated with shift work. A significant amount of this research has focused on the implementation of scheduled naps, with few studies considering flexible nap schemes. The current study therefore aimed to assess the effects of a flexible nap opportunity on the physiological, cognitive, performance, neurophysiological and subjective responses of a group of non shift workers over the course of a three-day simulated night shift regime. Additional foci were the effects of the nap condition on the extent of the circadian adaptation of the subjects to the irregular work schedule and the circadian-related influences associated with being awake during the night. 36 subjects – 18 males and 18 females – were recruited to participate in the current study. The data collection spanned twelve days, during which four, three-day long shift cycles were set up: three night shift cycles and one day shift cycle. During each night shift cycle, three separate experimental conditions were staggered, namely the nap condition, the no nap condition and a booster break condition (a collaborative study that completed the setup). The day shift served as a further comparison. Each cycle comprised of 12 subjects, which meant there were four subjects per condition during each cycle. The shifts were 8 hours in duration, with the no nap group following a standard break schedule evinced in industry. The three breaks taken during the shifts amounted to a total time of 1 hour. The nap group was afforded a 1 hour flexible nap opportunity between 00h00 and 03h00 with no other breaks. Therefore, both conditions had the same amount of work time. During the shifts, subjects performed two simple, low arousal tasks (beading and packing) and completed a test battery roughly every two hours which was comprised of physiological, performance, neurophysiological and subjective measures. It was found that the inclusion of the nap opportunity significantly improved output performance and response time during a low precision, modified Fitts tapping task over the course of three night shifts, relative to no napping. Physiologically, napping resulted in higher heart rate frequency measures by the end of the shifts, which were also accompanied by significant reductions in subjective sleepiness ratings during all iii the night shifts. The nap group’s responses in this case, did not differ significantly from those of the day shift. Both simple reaction time and memory performances improved as a result of the nap inclusion, but only during the third night shift. The majority of the measures included in the research also depicted the effects of the circadian rhythm, which was indicative of the pronounced effect that this natural biological down regulation has on performance during the night. Napping reduced the severity of these effects during beading performance and measures of subjective sleepiness. With regard to habituation, the nap opportunity also resulted in positive changes in the responses of beading performance, high precision response time, simple reaction time and both subjective sleepiness measures, relative to no napping. Sleep diary responses indicated that although sleep length and quality during the day were significantly reduced for both night-time conditions, recovery sleep (length and quality) for the nap group did not differ significantly from the no nap group. The findings of this research indicate that the inclusion of a flexible napping opportunity during the night shift had positive effects on some physiological, performance and subjective responses, and that this intervention is as beneficial as scheduled napping. Specifically, napping resulted in a significantly higher output during the beading task, relative to the no nap group despite the duration of work time being the same. As such the introduction of a flexible, self-selected nap opportunity is a practical, effective and individual-specific means of alleviating the negative effects of shift work, while improving certain performance parameters. Therefore, industries should consider its inclusion in their fatigue management programs. However, contextspecific considerations must be made, with regard work scheduling, individual differences and task demands when implementing such an intervention. This will ensure that its introduction will be well received and in time, lessen the health and work-related decrements associated with shift work.

Literature has been reviewed on the formation and structure of groups and teams in order to establish what differences there are in the types of teams that exist in the modern workplace, and what it is that facilitates effective and high performance of such teams. From the results of the qualitative research conducted, the author is of the opinion that the notion of teams operating in the regulated casino environment is somewhat exaggerated. At year end functions and award ceremonies, mention is made of the teams that successfully contributed to the various achievements but, upon closer inspection, no teams are evident at the “coal face”. Some of the reasons for this may be that there appears to be a lack of those skills necessary to harness people into successful teams especially during the early stages of the business lifecycle. Too few people at grass root level have the required knowledge, skills and attitude to take the lead and form a team especially in an unfamiliar environment. It may also be as a result of the different management styles imposed on the labour force over a long period of time. As organisations are forced to become more competitive, especially on the global market, it is the author’s opinion that the management style in progressive organisations will probably have shifted from autocratic to paternalistic to democratic; yet very few businesses are practicing participative management, although buzzwords relating to participative management are used freely. Ultimately, accountability rests with top management and results are measured by bottom line figures. Since accountability is centralised, the intrinsic and extrinsic rewards for success are also confined to management who is likely to be criticised, attacked, or got rid of, and these recipients are often not volunteering to share the benefits reaped – even though the recipients would mutter words such as “if it were not for my team” or “ thanks to my team”. With this viewpoint in mind the treatise aims to address specific and practical interventions that could be implemented without much organisational change and yet developing a culture of team development and team building within an organisation. The author is of the opinion that the responses imparted from the different respondents in the research results could benefit Sun International within its training methodology policy framework. Although, each casino unit is managed autonomously, Sun International, via its centralised training facility, could apply successful specific and practical training interventions in respect of team dynamics. Results extracted from unit staff climate surveys and staff feedback sessions could be collated from the different training departments within the group and presented in workshops at quarterly conferences and feedback seminars. The effectiveness of these interventions, once implemented, could be assessed in a performance measurement framework. Eales-White (1996: 34) quotes Peters as saying, “I observe the power of the team is so great that it is often wise to violate common sense and force a team structure on almost anything … companies that do, will achieve greater focus, stronger task orientation and enhanced individual commitment.