Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2006.

Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2006.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2005.

Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2006.

During the last decade, dramatic changes have been experienced in workplaces because of technological growth, globalisation, ever increasing competitive markets, changing industrial relation laws and better management skills (Cappelli, 1999). Amidst this change, the biggest issue is for organisations to gain dedication from their employees. Maslach et al (2001) explains that the impact of the changing world of work is perhaps most evident in changes in the psychological contract. Employees are expected to give more in terms of time, effort, skills and flexibility, whereas they receive less in terms of lifetime employment and job security. In security companies, the employer obligations and employee obligations also went through a process of change. Crime has become a very serious concern in South Africa. In Gauteng, crime has increased with 69,2% (SAP Statistics, 2005) from 1994 to 2004. Because of crime, many independent security companies were formed to help prevent crime, working together with the South African Police Force. A lack of research exists regarding employees' work outcomes like job insecurity, organisational commitment and intention to quit associated with the psychological contract within a service company. The objectives of this study are to investigate the relationship between employer obligations, employee obligations, job insecurity, organisational commitment and intention to quit of employees (N=217) in a service (security) company. A cross - sectional design was used. Constructs were measured by means of an employer obligations questionnaire, employee obligations questionnaire, job insecurity questionnaire, organisational commitment questionnaire and intention to quit questionnaire. The research method for each of the two articles consists of a brief literature review and an empirical study. Exploratory factor analysis, as well as Cronbach alpha coefficients are computed to access the reliability and validity of the different measurement instruments. Descriptive statistics are used to analyse data and Pearson product moment correlation coefficients, as well as regression analysis were used to examine the relationship between the constructs employed in this research. Significant differences are found between various biographical groups and the scores of the psychological contract (employer obligations scale and employee obligations scale), the job insecurity scale, the organisational commitment scale and the intention to quit scale. Conclusions are made, limitations of the current research are discussed and recommendations for future research are put forward. / Thesis (M.Com. (Industrial Sociology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2009.

This study examines how people in dryland areas cope with food insecurity and adversities over time. It draws from the experience of the Gogo people living in Mvumi in the semiarid zone of central Tanzania, an area with a long history of food shortages. The study specifically examines the potential for dryland resources to sustain livelihoods. The study looks at the historical perspective of the problem in order to explore factors influencing the food situation in the area. It specifically investigates the role of local knowledge as a factor for adapting to dryland conditions by exploiting seasonality and local diversity. A detailed account is made of the coping strategies among three identified wealth groups in the area. Apart from their wealth levels, households in these wealth categories differ in how they mobilise and deal with labour in various seasons. Households in the well-off group have greater ability in mobilising and using external labour as well as accumulating and managing food surplus. The households in the intermediate group are flexible in utilising their own labour by performing various farm and non-farm activities according to their seasonalities. The households in the poor category sell their own labour and perform various farm and non-farm activities regardless of the season. It is clear from the study that different wealth groups differ in their ability to develop immediate coping into more pro-active livelihood strategies. The study winds up by assessing the potentials of the prominent land resource utilisation strategies in terms of economic, social and environmental perspectives.

What do teenagers recount about themselves and their interpretation of life and values, and what characterises individual teenagers’ perceptions and statements? What is the relation between teenagers’ life interpretation and values and social circumstances? What challenges to school religious education do the teenagers’ perceptions and statements represent? These questions are central to the study Icelandic Teenagers’ Life Interpretation and Values. The purpose of the study was to investigate some central elements in teenagers’ life interpretation so as to discuss the results in terms of social circumstances in Iceland and of school religious education. The background is that Icelandic society, having been relatively homogeneous, has changed during the past few years with increased plurality. The material the study was based on consists of interviews with Icelandic teenagers. In four articles included in the thesis different parts of the material collected are interpreted using a hermeneutic approach. The main result showed that the teenagers were in a field of tension between homogeneity and plurality on the one hand and security and insecurity on the other. The main trends in the material indicate a common reference framework at the same time as plurality emerges in the teenager’s verbal expressions; and while most spoke of their happiness and security, there was also awareness of the risk and threat that can transform the situation. The material exhibited greater variation within each school than between schools. This suggests the effect of plurality on the younger generation in Iceland. Given this variation among individuals it is urgent to find an approach to religious education that takes greater account of the different pupils’ backgrounds, personal experience and existential questions.

As global competition becomes more fierce each day, in order for many corporations and organizations to respond to competitive pressures or technological advancements, they are forced to reduce costs or promote efficiency through downsizing, restructuring or merger. These organization changes result in involuntary modification of employee¡¦s jobs, which violates the psychological contracts between organization and the employee, causing employees to loose their sense of security. In recent years, new battleships have joined service in the navy. The Policy of Abridgement together with the policy of national defense procuring from the private sectors are also being enforced. These movements required the logistic capabilities of the defense logistics shipyard unit to implement restructuring and adjustment of human resources so as to meet the new mission requirements. Yet, being part of an organizations undergoing change, lack of job security becomes the atmosphere among employees, which is exacerbated by retirements reaching its peak in the next 3 years. This has been a great impact on the logistics organization of the navy. Therefore, it is imperative that the mechanisms by which job insecurity affects occupational stress, organizational commitment and employee responsive behavior be identified. Moreover, there is need to establish what leadership styles will effectively reduce the negative impacts of job insecurity, occupational stress and promote employee commitments to the organization, so as to lead a positive course of response from employees. Based on the above motivation and research objectives, in this study, maintenance staff of the defense logistics shipyard unit was investigated through a questionnaire survey. 482 questionnaires were returned from the 500 questionnaires distributed, from which 371 responses are valid, representing a 74.2% response rate. The survey data was analyzed by multivariate analysis using SPSS v.10 statistical software. The major results are as follows: 1. Job insecurity, as moderated by occupational stress, reduces the effect of emotions on employee responsive behavior. 2. Leadership styles with high relationship and high task, high relationship and low task, and, low relationship and low task, bear significant interfering effects on the relationship between job insecurity and employee responsive behavior toward problems. 3. Leadership styles with high relationship and high task, and, low relationship and low task, bear significant interfering effects on the relationship between occupational stress and employee responsive behavior toward problems.

Abstract Title: Study of Transformational Leadership, Organizational Justice, Job Insecurity, Turnover Tendency, Organizational Commitment, and Self-Efficacy: Taking C Bank as An Example University: National Sun Yat-sen University, Institute of Human Resource Management Date: 2nd Semester of Year 2006 Graduate student: Ching-Chung Chen Advisors: Drs. Liang-Chih Huang & Cheng-Chen Lin In Year 2000 and 2001, the respective passage of the Financial Institutions Merger Act and Financial Holding Company Act encouraged the merger of financial institutions to reach the effect of scale economy with a view to developing capital efficiency, cost saving, and cross selling, the 0so-called 3C. Along with the rapid change of the external environment, the privatization of state-owned banks is both a trend and the way to increase competition. When the environmental changes, the organizations will be merged or have to transform if the service provided are not competitive anymore or substituted by other service. In order to increase the competition of banking industry, the purpose of the study is to explore the relationships among transformational leadership, organizational justice, job insecurity, turnover tendency, affective commitment, and self-efficacy in the banking industry. Accordingly the subjects of this study were the current employees of C bank in Kaohsiung city, Kaohsiung county, Pingtung area, and Taitung area. Data was collected through the survey with a 447 valid questionnaires. Through the statistical analysis including t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation, and multiple regression, the findings were as follows. 1. Job insecurity which employees felt significantly differed from their ages, working years for current company, working years for banking and years of colleague with director. However, it showed that demographic statistics variables didn¡¦t make any difference for transformational leadership and organizational justice. 2. With diverse ages, working years for current company, working years for banking and years of colleague with director, employees would show great difference in turnover tendency and affective commitment. 3. Transformational leadership and organizational justice had no significant effect on job insecurity, but there were strong negative correlation with turnover tendency and significant positive correlation with affective commitment. 4. Self-efficacy did not have a significantly moderating effect on referring transformational leadership and organizational justice to job insecurity, turnover tendency, and affective commitment. Key Words: transformational leadership, organizational justice, job insecurity, turnover tendency, ffective commitment, self-efficacy

Food insecurity is defined as “a household‐level economic and social condition of limited or uncertain access to adequate food” (USDA Economic Research Service 2009). Low‐income households tend to be food insecure for many reasons. The first and most obvious would be the access to monetary resources. If a household does not have a sufficient income, it is difficult to keep an adequate amount of food for all household members at all times. Another reason would be that many low‐income households cannot afford a car and/or do not have easy access to public transportation or reliable private transportation.