A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Teams have, over the last decade, become a popular feature of workplace design. The basis for this trend Is the belief that teamwork allows Individuals to satisfy more of their work-based needs and should therefore, ultimately, improve performance. Despite the increased implementation of teams across a broad spectrum of organisations, empirical research on teams is still in its formative stages and precisely what contributes to team effectiveness remains elusive. Addressing this need, the present study embodies an exploratory empirical investigation of teams as they are practised at the rock face of a gold mine. The research involved examining a sample of these teams using three specific variables which It was hypothesised, may explain the differences In performance between these teams. More specifically, this study Investigated the impact of Job satisfaction, internal work motivation and perceived psychological participation on team performance. Each of these individual variables was examined using a previously-validated scale. The variables were incorporated into a single questionnaire which was administered In a group session with each Individual in the teams sampled. A team performance measure (m2/man) was obtained directly from the mine. Statistical analysis of this data followed a logical progression. At the outset, a one-way ANOVA was run to assess whether statistically there were significant differences between the teams on each of the factors. Indicating that differences do indeed exist, the results justified the reduction of Individual scores in each team to a single aggregate of that variable for the team. Correlation tests were then run between each of the variables and the team performance measure. The results of this study suggest that there Is a significantly positive relationship between Job satisfaction and team productivity (r=.6376). This runs contrary to much of the previous research examining job satlsfactlon and Individual productivity, although it supports some researchers' suggestion that performance should be more broadly defined. This notion is / AC 2018

Thesis (M.Dev.) -- University of Limpopo, 2018. / The study explores the effect of labour relations on workers’ performance in the Limpopo Provincial Department of Social Development. Every organization is required to reach certain standards, goals and targets and this requires employees’ becoming the most determining factor to achieve the organizations’ objective. Organizations are fully aware of the importance of employee performance, increasing employee performance or finding out ways through which high level of employee’s performance can be achieved as one of decisive factors for organizations success. Management’s mission is to get people together to accomplish corporate goals and objectives by using available resources effectively and efficiently. This study aims to identify factors affecting the effectiveness of job performance of the employees in the Limpopo Provincial Department of Social Development. Employee performance can be increased by putting efforts to factor that enhance the employee motivational level, creativity, job satisfaction, and comfort workplace environment. The study also emphasizes on understanding of employee relations practices, its underlying factors, issues and impact on employee performance in the Limpopo Provincial Department of Social Development. The study included qualitative approach, administered questionnaires distributed to employees to explore the existing labour relations practices, its underlying factors, issues and its impact on employee performance, whilst quantitative research approach, face to face interview with labour relations practitioners and managers on issues of development, participation, decision making amongst other things motivation’s. Data was analyzed by using tables, percentages and statistical distribution characterizing how labour relations can alleviate negative impact on performance and strategies to be used to enhance employee performance in the workplace. In the study conducted it revealed that improving the labour relations an organization can improve the performance and productivity of employees. From the research findings the researcher recommended that, strategies motivation, empowerment communication, good working environment among others participation of employees can improve employee performance in the workplace

Advocates of self-managed teams, a common strategy for organizing work, suggest that teams may be a solution to gender inequality in the workplace. According to this argument, the nonteam-structured workplace is typically stratified by gender with women occupying the lower stratum of the hierarchy. Women's formal and informal interactions are therefore limited to mostly other women in similar low-status positions. This gendered pattern of interaction is said to negatively affect women's career opportunities and outcomes because women's positions prevent them from accessing and mobilizing good social capital - benefits from ties to influential persons within the organization. Self-managing teams that cross-cut workplace positions and subunits provide access to good social capital, thus enhancing women's work outcomes. I tested this argument with data from a case study of employees in the asset management subdivision of a multinational insurance and asset management company dubbed Finco Asset Management. In general, the results confirm the benefits of participation in self-managing teams. First, in Chapter 3 I found that workgroups, the nonteam structure at Finco, were more likely to be segregated by gender than self-managing project teams. In Chapter 4, I found that workplace position, workgroup and the perceived importance of another for one's career advancement determined the informal structure at Finco. Tie importance attenuated the effect of joint project team participation, which suggests that employees were strategic about forming ties with influential persons in project teams. In Chapter 5, I found that the informal structure, particularly indegree centrality and outdegree centrality, were key predictors of promotion and pay increase. Indegree centrality alone determined layoffs, however. Thus consistent with the social capital argument, self-managing project teams reduced gender segregation, provided access to important informal networks and the informal networks influenced employee work outcomes. However, gender mattered as well. Women were more likely to share workgroups and less likely to be in upper management. Women were also less likely to have same-sex informal networks within their subdivision after accounting for tie importance; however, they were more likely to have same-sex ties in other subdivisions. Women also reported lower job commitment and saw fewer opportunities for mobility at Finco in comparison to men. Hence, while participation in cross-cutting, self-managing teams does improve women's work outcomes, gender differences persist in positions and attitudes.

The effective schools research has repeatedly concluded that effective schools are characterized by effective administrators. The desire, then, of local school boards to improve administrator performance has emerged, based upon the assumption that as building principal performance improves, so does teacher performance, and ultimately, student performance. Merit pay has received a great deal of attention in education recently as a means to motivate administrators towards improved performance. Merit pay is supported by the "physical-economic" school of thought which believes that individuals are "economically motivated". In contrast, the "work itself" or "job satisfaction" school of thought believes that individuals are best motivated by factors which affect job meaningfulness. Merit pay is viewed as a "hygiene" factor which may decrease job "dissatisfaction" but does not necessarily result in increased motivation. This dissertation compared the "physical-economic" concept of altered compensation rates or merit pay, to the "job satisfaction" or "work itself" concept of increased job meaningfulness as a means to motivate principals towards improved performance. When given a list of incentives, principals were asked to choose between merit pay and other type incentives. Of the 312 principals surveyed, 244 responded for a 78% return rate with the following results: 28% preference for merit pay at the 5% level; 47% preference for merit pay at the 10% level; 63% preference for merit pay at the 15% level; and, 68% preference at the 20% level. Frequencies tallied and percents derived indicated a consistent preference for merit pay at the 15% and 20% levels irrespective of demographics. These results would seem to indicate that "work meaningfulness" incentives are desirable to principals, but when paired against ever increasing levels of "potential monetary compensation", they lose their attractiveness. Even though merit pay received a popular response from the principals surveyed at the higher levels offered, merit pay's track record is so poor as to suggest that better measurement methods need to be devised before such a program is initiated. According to the literature reviewed, it is doubtful that such an objective and equitable means of measurement is feasible without interfering in a principal's daily routine, thus reducing the principal's effectiveness.

Research suggests that individuals who perceive their work as a calling (a deep passion and meaningfulness associated with a certain domain) experience a variety of positive outcomes such as occupational identification, career decidedness, and job satisfaction. Utilizing the tenets of Social Exchange Theory and the Job Demands Resources Model, I proposed that individuals with greater calling toward their occupation will report higher safety motivation and safety compliance. However, under conditions of high workload this relationship would be attenuated. Further, by the same rationale, individuals with lower calling will report lower safety outcomes, yet I proposed that this relationship is mitigated under conditions of high supervisor support. The study was conducted with a sample of 183 participants collected across three forests within the United States Forest Service. Although the hypotheses in the study were not supported, this study provides theoretical groundwork elucidating the link between calling and the examined outcome - safety. This, in turn, will aid in the development of a number of potential research avenues for safety scholars, with many practical implications. Further, an examination of calling with other collected variables within this industry provides avenues for future research in the calling domain. The investigation of moderators may help to explain the conflicting results found in the calling literature. Finally, this study furthers our understanding of safety, workload, and supervisor support within a "helping field."

In typical selection processes organizations gather information about an applicant. Rarely, however, do applicants collect equal information about the job or organization. This unequal exchange can inhibit an applicant's participation in the selection process. Studies have shown that realistic job previews (RJPs) positively influence applicants' job expectations, job satisfaction, turnover, selfselection, etc. Applicant self-selection can benefit both the organization and the applicant in terms of time, money, and energy required during the selection process and after organizational entry. The purpose of the present study was to explore the relationship between RJPs and self-selection. The study assessed the influence of a content valid RJP on applicants' job expectations. It also measured the degree of fit between applicants' ideal job ratings and the job in question. This measure of fit was then related to the applicant's propensity to self-select. Twenty six applicants for an emergency 911 position participated. Each participant completed a Job Profile Measure consisting of three scales. These scales included ratings of job tasks (based on a job analysis), job characteristics (the Job Diagnostic Survey by Hackman & Oldham, 1980), and organizational characteristics (the Organizational Culture Profile by O'Reilly, Chatman & Caldwell, 1991 ). Applicants completed the measure before and after viewing the RJP and as a measure of ideal job requirements. Dispatch job incumbents also completed the measure to provide actual job ratings. Results were limited by a small sample size, but several trends were found. T-tests showed that the RJP did not significantly alter applicants' job expectations. However, chi-square analyses indicated that applicant job task ratings were more consistent with incumbent ratings post RJP than pre RJP. MANOVA analyses indicated that applicant Job Profile ratings and incumbent ratings did not significantly converge after viewing the RJP. Self-selection ratings were also not significantly correlated with fit scores, but they were in the predicted direction. Applicant's with lower fit scores were more likely to self-select out of the hiring process. The trends in the data are encouraging, but more research is needed to be conclusive.

- 1 - Flexible forms of employment Abstract This diploma thesis deals with flexible forms of employment, as already mentioned in its title. The diploma thesis focuses mainly on the Czech legislation of these forms. However, the text also contains chapters dealing with flexible forms of employment that are used at the level of the European Union and the United States of America. The aim of this thesis is to map the current situation in the field of atypical forms of employment applied in the legislative framework of the Czech labor market, finding out whether and how these forms are used in practice, description limiting factors preventing their further development and proposing possible changes to the legislation for more effective application. The thesis itself consists of the following five basic sections: General issues of flexible forms of employment Definition of flexible forms of employment Types of flexible forms of employment Development and future of flexible forms of employment Flexible forms of employment in practice Of course, these sections are further developed. The main parts of the thesis are sections number 3 and 5. Section Three includes defining and describing individual flexible forms of employment. The forms that the Czech legal system knows are discussed in more detail. The...

Approximately 70% of technology projects fail, which negatively impacts resources, productivity, and organizational profitability because of employees' lack of acceptance of technological change. The purpose of this single case study was to explore strategies some midlevel managers used to improve employees' lack of acceptance of technological change. The conceptual framework for this study was the technology acceptance model. Data were collected from semistructured interviews with 5 participants from a local government organization in the southwestern region of the United States and review of organizational documentation. Data analysis included Yin's 5 phases, methodological triangulation, and theme identification. Four themes emerged from data analysis: training, communication, involvement, and management support. Findings showed the importance of providing training when implementing technological change, communicating the change, and explaining how the change impacts employees throughout the organization. Findings also indicated that allowing employees to be involved in the technological change process and communicating management support of the technological change results in increased employee acceptance of the change. Implications of this study for positive social change include improving work products and conditions for employees and human and social conditions for residents of the local community. Findings may provide leaders with insights needed to integrate technological changes, and organizational and resource allocation efficiencies to improve services to employees, residents, and local businesses.

Sixty-five percent of small business leaders indicated a lack of workforce engagement practices as an administrative strategy to mitigate the adverse effects of employee disengagement. Guided by Weber's organizational theory, the purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies some leaders used to increase employee engagement. Five small business leaders in the southwestern United States participated in semistructured interviews. The participants employed successful strategies to increase employee engagement. Data collection included the review of company documents, face-to-face interviews, and member checking to explore successful strategies to increase employee engagement. Data analysis included coding and organizing data and information according to Yin's 5-step process. Using topic coding, data were arranged into nodes grounded in the context of organizational theory. The study results revealed 3 principal themes: effective and honest communication, supportive leadership behavior, and implementation of employee engagement practices into the business culture and practices. The implications of this study for positive social change include that leaders can apply employee engagement strategies for emerging leaders and develop mentoring and leadership opportunities and programs to maximize the sustainability of the organization.

Voluntary employee turnover is a concern for nonprofit leaders due to human capital's strategic role in achieving performance excellence. The consequences of volunteer turnover include loss of profitability, productivity, knowledge, and financial stability. The purpose of this single-case study was to explore strategies used by 3 leaders of a nonprofit organization in the Washington, DC, area who have experience with the nonprofit's employee retention efforts. Data were collected from semistructured face-to-face interviews and organizational documentation and analyzed through the conceptual lens of Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory. Data gathered from interviews and analyses of organizational data and performance outcomes were manually coded and thematically organized. The use of member checking the data and methodological triangulation increased the trustworthiness of data interpretation and the study. Three key themes emerged: (a) training and development, (b) advancement opportunities, and (c) strategic leadership. Through analysis of data collected for this study, nonprofit leaders can assess their employees' development needs and provide training to support their growth. Nonprofit leaders may support their employees' development by creating a career path by aligning tenure with advancement and formal training. Nonprofit leaders' actions and decisions affect workforce commitment. Nonprofit employees are intrinsically motivated to create positive social change and make an impact on nonprofits' stakeholders via programs and services. Nonprofit leaders can use this study to improve retention strategies, ensure their employees' wellbeing, and contribute to positive social change by assisting employees in ensuring stakeholder wellbeing.