Organizations in South Africa as in the rest of the world are under tremendous pressure to improve their performance and increase their competitiveness in the continuously changing world of work. Psychological empowerment, job satisfaction and organizational commitment are important concepts to consider when dealing with the changes in the world of work. Psychological empowerment refers to the experience of empowerment among employees. Empowerment heightens employees’ sense of personal control and motivates them to engage in work which in turn results in positive managerial and organizational outcomes (Conger & Kanungo, 1988;Quinn & Spreitzer, 1997; Siegall & Gardner, 2000). Job satisfaction and organizational commitment have both shown to be important outcomes of psychological empowerment.The primary objective of this study was to gain an understanding of the impact of psychological empowerment and job satisfaction on organizational commitment amongst employees in a multi-national organization. For the purpose of this study a quantitative, non-probability convenience sampling design was used to assess the three variables. The sample consisted of (N = 120) permanent employees were employed in the following departments namely: Administration, Engineering,Production, Quality and Commercial.A biographical questionnaire, The Measuring Empowerment Questionnaire (MEQ),Job Descriptive Index (JDI) and the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire(OCQ) were administered to gather data. The MEQ consists of 12 statements and measures psychological empowerment on four cognitions namely; meaning, impact, self-determination and competence. The JDI measures job satisfaction on five job facets namely, pay, promotions, supervision, co-workers and the work itself. The OCQ measures organizational commitment and consists of 15 statements. Each statement attempts to extract the employee’s feelings towards organizational policies, goals and values, their willingness go the extra mile, and whether they are proud to be associated with the organization. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data.The Product Moment Correlations Coefficient was computed to determine the extent to which the variable investigated is related to each other. The ANOVA was used to determine whether there are differences in psychological empowerment based on biographical characteristics and also to assess differences amongst the variable. The T-test was utilized to assess whether there is a difference based on gender. For the biographical information namely gender, race and tenure results indicate significant statistical differences in organizational commitment. A statistically significant relationship was also found between psychological empowerment and organizational commitment. However, the strongest relationship was found between job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Furthermore results, indicate that employees at the multi-national organization are relatively satisfied with the nature of the work that they perform, with the supervision that they receive, as well as with their co-workers. Opportunities for promotion and compensation appeared to be however, the main sources of dissatisfaction. With regards to organizational commitment employees express below average belief in the organization’s goals and values, willingness to exert extra effort on behalf of the organization and desire to maintain membership of the organization.With the exception of gender, the relationship between race and tenure with job satisfaction was found to be significant. With the exception of race, the relationship between gender and tenure with psychological empowerment was found to be significant.Results indicated a significant and direct relationship between psychological empowerment and job satisfaction.A limitation of this research is that the sampling composition and research design prevent the results to this study to be generalised to other organizations and it is recommended that a stratified random sampling design be utilised for future research. / Magister Commercii (Industrial Psychology) - MCom(IPS)

Tyrimo tikslas – nustatyti sąsajas tarp darbuotojų įsipareigojimo organizacijai, saviveiksmingumo ir socializacijos organizacijoje. Tyrime dalyvavo 355 darbuotojai iš prekybinės organizacijos, iš jų 4 vyrai ir 351 moterys. Iš tolimesnės analizės dėl netolygaus tiriamųjų pasiskirstymo pagal lytį pašalinti vyrai. Vidutinis tiriamųjų amžius 31,65 metai. Darbuotojų įsipareigojimas organizacijai matuotas naudotant koreguotąją 18 teiginių Organizacinio įsipareigojimo skalę (OCS - Organizational Commitment Scale) (Meyer ir kt., 1993). Kiekvieną subskalę - emocinio, tęstinio ir normatyvinio įsipareigojimo – sudaro 6 teiginiai. Darbuotojų saviveiksmingumui matuoti naudota 6 teiginių Saviveiksmingumo darbe skalė (Occupational Self-efficacy Scale) (Rigotti, T. ir kt, 2008). Darbuotojų organizacinei socializacijai matuoti naudotas 20 teiginių Organizacinės socializacijos inventorius (Organizational Socialization Inventory) (Taormina, 1994). Tyrimo rezultatai parodė, kad labiau išreikštas darbuotojų saviveiksmingumas ir sėkmingesnė socializacija siejasi su didesniu jų emociniu, tęstiniu ir normatyviniu įsipareigojimu. Nustatyta, kad sėkmingesnę socializaciją turinčios darbuotojos pasižymi labiau išreikštu saviveiksmingumu nei prastesnę socializaciją turinčios darbuotojos. Didesnis darbuotojų saviveiksmingumas ir geresnė socializacija organizacijoje paaiškina apie 27% jų emocinio įsipareigojimo. Taip pat tyrimo rezultatai parodė, kad socializaciją galima laikyti tarpiniu veiksniu ryšyje... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The aim of the study was to assess relationship between employees' self-efficacy, organizational socialization and organizational commitment. The participants were 355 (351 – women, 4 – men) employees from a commercial organization. Men were removed from the further analysis because of the uneven distribution of sujects by gender. The average age of the participants – 31,65 years. For the assessment of organizational commitment it was used adjusted Organizational Commitment Scale (Meyer et al., 1993) (18 items). Every subscale of organizational commitment – affective, continuance, normative – consisted of 6 statements. For the assessment of self-efficacy it was used Occupational Self-efficacy Scale (Rigotti, T. ir kt, 2008), it consisted of 6 items. For the assessment of organizational socialization it was used Organizational Socialization Inventory (Taormina, 1994) (20 items). The results of the study showed that increasing employees‘ self-efficacy and better organizational socialization correlates with increasing affective, continuance and normative commitment. Moreover, employees who have better organizational socialization have higher scores of self-efficacy than employees who have worse organizational socialization. Also, increasing employees‘s self-efficacy and better organizational socialization explains about 27% of their affective commitment distribution. Furthermore, study showed that organizational socialization can be considered as mediator in relationship... [to full text]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to contribute with knowledge regarding the connection between the socialization process and the organizational commitment perceived by junior accountants. Based on Van Maanen and Schein's (1979) model, we intend to identify and describe how selected socialization strategies affect junior accountants’ perceived affective, continuous and normative commitment during the initial five years in the firm. Research methodology: Semi-structured interview was chosen as the key approach for gathering essential data. Interviews were conducted at three major accounting firms with a total of eight interview participants. The study has a qualitative approach because of the ability to go in depth on the studied phenomenon. Conclusion: The socialization process consists of individual, informal, sequential, fixed, serial, and investiture strategies. A predetermined training program runs along the process however, which entails elements of a collective and formal approach. This study shows that several strategic choices in the socialization influence the affective and normative organizational commitment of junior accountants. The junior accountants find they can act according to their own values and affect their horizontal position in the organization. The study also indicates that the training program stimulates creation of contacts throughout the organization and gives assistants a feeling of obligation to "repay" the organization for the investment made in them.

The purpose of this study is to explore the roles of social-emotional-oriented communication and work-oriented communication in enhancing organizational commitment in the context of the People’s Republic of China. Literature regarding the functions of different types of communication was reviewed and the human relations theory was applied as the main guidance of the current research. The study utilized the statistical method to analyze the data collected from questionnaires. A total of 69 employees working in a Chinese local governmental organization participated in the research. Horizontal and vertical social-emotional-oriented communication were examined separately by four indicators: employee’s perceived quantity of social interaction with peers (superiors) within the department, quantity of social interaction with peers (superiors) outside the department, quality of these interactions, and emotional coloring of the interactions. Work-oriented communication was measured by three indicators: employee’s perceived quantity of the organization’s strategic information regarding the policies and development, the employee’s perceived quantity of vertical interaction with management (downward and upward), and the employee’s satisfaction with management’s responsiveness to the upward feedback. Organizational commitment was tested by the three components model: affective commitment, continuance commitment, and normative commitment. The findings from regression analyses revealed that social-emotional-oriented communication between subordinates and superiors is a positive predictor of affective commitment, and the perceived quantity of organizational strategic information and vertical interaction with management; and that work-oriented communication is a strong positive predictor of affective commitment and normative commitment. However, the results failed to prove the effects of horizontal social-emotional-oriented communication. The conclusion is that in Chinese governmental organizations, vertical communication and communication regarding work-related topics help to make employees want to stay with and contribute to the employing organization; and the better social-emotional-oriented communication the employees have with superiors, the better work-oriented communication they have at work.

The notion of person-organization fit (P-O fit) is concerned with identifying the antecedents and consequences of compatibility between employees and the organizations in which they work, as part of interactional psychology. Literature on consequences of P-O fit has demonstrated significant relationships with various individual outcomes. The main purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of P-O fit operationalized as value congruence between the employee and the organization, on job satisfaction, organizational commitment and performance of employees working in a public organization at both individual-level and cross-level analysis by utilizing multiple measures of fit. The secondary purpose was to compare multiple measures of fit in terms of their power in predicting individual outcome variables and investigate the level of association between direct and indirect fit and whether direct fit contributed to prediction over and above indirect fit measures. One hundred and eighty employees of a public organization filled out the questionnaire. Cross-level analysis could not be performed because of inadequate level of agreement between respondents. Results revealed that both direct and indirect fit measures were significant predictors of individual outcome variables at individual-level analysis except for supervisor ratings of task performance and overall performance, which were solely predicted by direct fit. Direct fit was the most consistent and effective predictor of individual outcome variables and made a consistent unique contribution to prediction of outcome variables over and above indirect fit measures. The results and implications of the study were discussed and limitations of the study were addressed.

<p>The relationship between organizational commitment among public health employees within South Africa is becoming a big concern as highlighted in media and studies. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between organizational commitment and absenteeism amongst different occupational clases within a health sector environment in the Western Cape region.</p>

This research examines what employees in the Australian banking industry think of fairness in the area of compensation and performance management and how these perceptions influence organisational commitment and turnover intention. The research was conducted in two stages. In stage 1, a small sample of 29 employees were interviewed from one Australian bank in Adelaide, South Australia. Qualitative analysis of their responses confirmed the major dimensions of the fairness concept with respect to compensation and performance management practices. Stage 2 involved a quantitative approach where an online and printed questionnaire was distributed to 345 employees working in the banking industry in South Australia. / Stage 2 findings affirmed the qualitative findings and provided an explanation of how Australian employees interpreted fairness. The majority intepreted fairness as distributive fairness, yet interactional fairness was perceived as the major experience of fairness. The statistical results indicated that employees' perceptions of fairness were largely influenced by the interaction of distributive and procedural fairness, as well as interactional fairness. The data also provided empirical evidence of the impact of structural fairness in compensation and social fairness in performance management on employees' affective responses toward the organisation and turnover intention. / Thesis (PhDBusinessandManagement)--University of South Australia, 2006.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Texas, May, 2007. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.