Members of the Canadian Forces (CF) have a distinctive work environment, where status within the hierarchy is clearly displayed on uniform dress and lower ranks are to dutifully obey the commands from above. The aim of this study was to explore the salient issues related to control for regular force non-commissioned CF members. Perceived job control has been associated with individual health and productivity; however, until now has not been explored in the military context. Surveys, semi-structured interviews, and a focus group were utilized to capture key factors influencing CF members’ (N = 29) sense of job control. Inferential statistics and thematic analysis were utilized for the organization and interpretation of the data. The results from this mixed method design found important workplace factors to influence the perception of job control, which stem from three interrelated areas: workplace characteristics, co-worker cohesion, and individual characteristics. The findings indicate the role of the supervisor is an important aspect of job control due to the hierarchical structure of the military. The members utilized individual coping strategies as a means to manage their working environment such as acceptance of their situation and adopting compromising behaviours, some of which are deeply embedded in the military culture. Co-worker cohesion was also found to be beneficial for CF members particularly during operational deployments, although the extent and type of cohesion remains unclear. Exploring job control from the perspective of CF members was important to elucidate the relationship between job control and health. Interestingly, the findings did not support a relationship between job control and job performance; this may be due the limited perception of performance in low control work settings. These findings argue for the implementation of policies and practice to improve health and performance in the workplace and must focus on several aspects of work design to include opportunities for employee support in and beyond the workplace, effective leadership practices, and the facilitation of appropriate coping skills for sustainable performance in the military work environment. These findings may have implications for similar work settings such as: law enforcement, emergency responders, factory workers, and some government agencies.

The primary purpose of this project was to investigate some relationships between workload and employee wellbeing. The necessary first stage was to formulate a theoretical framework � the JobLoad Model � to support a comprehensive and detailed investigation of the main factors that contribute to a job's workload. Building on the ergonomics concept of �workload�, this Model incorporates task- and job-level factors that have been identified within the research literatures of physical and cognitive ergonomics as important; additional constructs were added to take account of additional factors shown to be relevant to employee wellbeing, drawing on evidence from occupational health and organizational psychology literatures. Using this framework, available questionnaire-based measurement instruments for assessing workload and employee wellbeing were reviewed, new items were developed as required, and the JobLoad Index (JLI) was developed. The JLI was used to collect data from public servants in two different workplaces, with participation rates of 63% and 73% respectively. Relationships were determined between major task, job and organisational environment factors, self-perceived performance adequacy, and various aspects of employee wellbeing including job satisfaction, physical discomfort and psychological fatigue, stress and arousal. For a sub-sample of participants in one of the two workplaces, levels of adrenaline, noradrenaline and cortisol were also measured from 24-hour urine collections. The factors measured by the JLI accounted for a very substantial proportion of variance in these various dimensions of work-related wellbeing. The results provide potentially very useful insights into the relative influences of a wide range of work- and job-related variables on people's perceived abilities to cope with their job demands, and on several aspects of their wellbeing. Further, the importance of measuring multiple dimensions of wellbeing, and differentiating their separate sets of work-related determinants, was well demonstrated. Finally, and perhaps most significantly, this study has identified the powerful role that self-perceived performance plays as an intervening variable between job demands and people's work-related wellbeing.

Members of the Canadian Forces (CF) have a distinctive work environment, where status within the hierarchy is clearly displayed on uniform dress and lower ranks are to dutifully obey the commands from above. The aim of this study was to explore the salient issues related to control for regular force non-commissioned CF members. Perceived job control has been associated with individual health and productivity; however, until now has not been explored in the military context. Surveys, semi-structured interviews, and a focus group were utilized to capture key factors influencing CF members’ (N = 29) sense of job control. Inferential statistics and thematic analysis were utilized for the organization and interpretation of the data. The results from this mixed method design found important workplace factors to influence the perception of job control, which stem from three interrelated areas: workplace characteristics, co-worker cohesion, and individual characteristics. The findings indicate the role of the supervisor is an important aspect of job control due to the hierarchical structure of the military. The members utilized individual coping strategies as a means to manage their working environment such as acceptance of their situation and adopting compromising behaviours, some of which are deeply embedded in the military culture. Co-worker cohesion was also found to be beneficial for CF members particularly during operational deployments, although the extent and type of cohesion remains unclear. Exploring job control from the perspective of CF members was important to elucidate the relationship between job control and health. Interestingly, the findings did not support a relationship between job control and job performance; this may be due the limited perception of performance in low control work settings. These findings argue for the implementation of policies and practice to improve health and performance in the workplace and must focus on several aspects of work design to include opportunities for employee support in and beyond the workplace, effective leadership practices, and the facilitation of appropriate coping skills for sustainable performance in the military work environment. These findings may have implications for similar work settings such as: law enforcement, emergency responders, factory workers, and some government agencies.

Magister Commercii - MCom / The main sources of teacher stress stem from difficulty in maintaining classroom discipline, time pressures, workload demands, excessive change, being evaluated by others, challenging relationships with colleagues and poor working conditions. This study therefore highlights the significant relationship between occupational stressors and the stress experienced by teachers at high risk secondary schools in the Western Cape. Occupational stress is related to job satisfaction, job overload and job control. The coping strategies of teachers at high risk secondary schools are explored. The results indicate that there were no significant relationships between teacher stress and job satisfaction, job overload and job control at high risk secondary schools in the Western Cape. Job satisfaction however, showed an inverse, albeit not significant relationship to teacher stress. Furthermore, male and female teachers respond differently to these occupational stressors. Females were more prone to the experience of stress than males. The recommendations are based on the conclusions drawn from the study. In conclusion, occupational stress is considered a major source of stress for teachers, which needs to be addressed more vigorously at high risk secondary schools in the Western Cape. / South Africa

Magister Artium (Psychology) - MA(Psych) / This study investigated how Work-Family Conflict was related to Role Salience and Job level (investigated in terms of the amount of job demand and job control associated with different job levels) among women from a Collectivistic culture. A sample of 65 teachers was used. Although the results of the study showed no correlations between Work-Family Conflict and both role salience and job level, this was attributed to the high data skewness, thereby reducing the chances of detecting correlations. The high positive data skewness was possibly caused by the floor effect, which was the situation that the sample consisted of only female teachers from a Collectivistic culture. The high negative data skewness was possibly caused by the ceiling effect, which is the situation that the women in this sample have a Collectivistic cultural orientation, and are therefore highly likely to consider their home role as more salient. Moreover, correlations between Work Family Conflict and Job demand have been found to be higher in Individualistic cultures compared to Collectivistic cultures. There also seems to be no differences in job control among teachers occupying different job levels, and hence, no correlations were detected. Further analyses depicted that the teachers within this sample considered their home role as more salient. Moreover, despite their commitment to both their home role and occupational role, the data indicated that the sample experienced low levels of Work Family conflict. / South Africa

The cost of higher education is rapidly increasing on both a global scale (Creed, French & Hood, 2015), and in the local South African context (Calitz & Fourie, 2016). This rise in costs has seen a commensurate increase in the number of university students who work, largely as a means to fund the increasing cost of their higher education (Butler, 2007; Cinamon, 2016; Owen, Kavanagh & Dollard, 2018). These working students are frequently referred to as non-traditional students in the academic literature. The psychological experiences of non-traditional students who work is a pertinent and expanding area of interest for multiple stakeholders (Owen et al., 2018). These experiences can be classified through the constructs of Work-School Conflict (WSC) and Work-School Enrichment (WSE), which refer, respectively, to the negative and positive aspects of the work-school interface (Butler, 2007). The antecedents of WSC and WSE experiences amongst nontraditional working students have to date not received any empirical attention in the South African research literature. This study aims to address this gap by contributing to the national body of knowledge in this area. The measures used were secondary self-report survey data completed by post-graduate university students who are simultaneously engaged in paid work (N=330). Multiple regression analyses indicated that time demands, job demands and social support from work explained a significant proportion of WSC; whilst job-school congruence and social support within the work context were statistically significant predictors of WSE. Moderation analyses revealed that social support at work influenced the relationship between job demands and WSC, whilst employee role saliency significantly interacted with job-school congruence to influence WSE. The results of this study are aligned to international work-school research findings, which support the additive model of job characteristics as antecedents to WSC and WSE. These results also provide deeper insight into the less explored moderation effects of work resources and demands interacting to influence WSC and WSE. Theoretical, management and educational implications of these findings are considered in relation to the existing literature.

Work engagement has a number of positive effects that benefit companies, and it may therefore be interesting to investigate what precedes work engagement. The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between occupational self-efficacy and occupational work engagement. In order for the study to provide a picture of all of Sweden, a number of counties were selected around the country. Randomized managers from each county were asked to forward an e-mail with an information letter and a survey to the employment officers over which he or she was manager. When the employment officers (N = 163) had responded the surveys, a multiple regression analysis was made. The result showed that the relation between occupational self-efficacy and work engagement was close to moderate. In conclusion, there was a discussion about how employers can increase their employees' occupational self-efficacy. Practical guidelines on how to achieve this was also presented along with other previous research. / Arbetsengagemang har en mängd positiva effekter som gynnar företag, och det kan därför vara intressant att undersöka vad som föregår arbetsengagemang. Syftet med studien var att undersöka sambandet mellan yrkesinriktad self-efficacy och arbetsengagemang. För att studien skulle ge en bild av hela Sverige valdes ett antal län runt om i landet ut. Slumpmässigt utvalda chefer från varje län ombads vidarebeforda ett mail med ett informationsbrev och en enkät till arbetsförmedlarna som denne var chef över. När arbetsförmedlarna (N = 163) svarat på enkäterna gjordes en multipel regressionsanalys. Resultatet visade att det fanns ett knappt måttligt samband mellan yrkesinriktad self-efficacy och arbetsengagemang. Avslutningsvis förs en diskussion om hur arbetsgivare kan höja sina medarbetares yrkesinriktade self-efficacy. Praktiska riktlinjer på hur detta kan uppnås presenterades även, tillsammans med tidigare forskning.

The growth of a country's economy is highly dependent on the levels of skills available in that country. South Africa has a stark shortage of skilled individuals due to an inadequate and failing education system (Horwitz, 2013). As a response to this problem the South African government actively incentivises organisations to develop the skillset of their employees in order to build a strong economy, improve job creation and promote social development (Department of Higher Education and Training, 2019). It is therefore important that all stakeholders involved yield a return on this investment. It is also a global phenomenon that an increasing number of fulltime employees are also engaging in formal further studies due to the rapid changes in the labour market. For example, advancements in technology have had a major impact on traditional business models and the roles, and skills needed. These employees are referred to as non-traditional students and are the subject of this study. Research shows that trying to manage both work and school simultaneously can cause psychological strain for non-traditional students (Adebayo et al., 2008). The psychosocial safety climate (PSC) is an emerging construct which refers to the shared perceptions regarding policies, practices and procedures designed to protect the psychological health of employees (Dollard et al., 2012). This study builds on existing research in the work - school interface by investigating its application within the South African context. Participants in this research (n=127), comprised of non-traditional students (n=40) and employees who are not engaged in further studies (n=87). Correlation analysis demonstrated that PSC had a positive relationship with work school facilitation (WSF) and a negative relationship with work school conflict (WSC). It was further confirmed that job control (JC) mediated the relationship between PSC and WSF and that PSC mediated the relationship between JC and WSF. These findings show that PSC is an antecedent to the work school interface in that it promotes the positive outcomes of studying while working (work school facilitation). It further demonstrates that PSC also reduces the negative outcomes (work school conflict). This study confirmed that the working environment plays a crucial role in the work school interface and introduces PSC as a construct South African organisations should be concerned with and make a priority, based on the resources it provides employees, more especially their non-traditional students. This study's findings will add to the existing body of research and provide practical insights for enhancing the PSC application within South African organisations who have non-traditional students.

<p>The aim of this thesis is to use a power perspective to describe the workers’ struggle for co-determination in the Swedish labour market during the period 1890–1939. The study explores how trade unions in general attempted to limit article 23, which asserted employers’ control over hiring and dismissal. At the same time the study clarifies differences in union power between various groups of workers. The prevalent historical view regarding the distribution of power in the labour market is thus questioned.</p><p>The study shows that workers were not powerless before the Saltsjöbaden agreement in 1938. In certain areas workers, through their unions, already at the beginning of the 20th century had fairly good possibilities of influencing both hiring and dismissal. Collective agreements that were entered into before the defeat of the workers in the great conflict in the Swedish labour market in 1909, as well as collective agreements signed during the 1920s and 1930s, can make both the Saltsjöbaden agreement and present-day regulations look “hostile to workers”. In collective agreements workers achieved considerable limitations of employers’ arbitrary freedom to hire and dismiss workers. Certain unions could control their labour market efficiently by means of a labour exchange of their own. The development, however, varied over time and between different trade unions. Business cycles generally influenced how much power unions could exert. Access to power resources and other conditions varied between different workers’ groups. While some attained considerable power over hiring and dismissal, others had no possibilities of taking part in decision-making.</p>

The aim of this thesis is to use a power perspective to describe the workers’ struggle for co-determination in the Swedish labour market during the period 1890–1939. The study explores how trade unions in general attempted to limit article 23, which asserted employers’ control over hiring and dismissal. At the same time the study clarifies differences in union power between various groups of workers. The prevalent historical view regarding the distribution of power in the labour market is thus questioned. The study shows that workers were not powerless before the Saltsjöbaden agreement in 1938. In certain areas workers, through their unions, already at the beginning of the 20th century had fairly good possibilities of influencing both hiring and dismissal. Collective agreements that were entered into before the defeat of the workers in the great conflict in the Swedish labour market in 1909, as well as collective agreements signed during the 1920s and 1930s, can make both the Saltsjöbaden agreement and present-day regulations look “hostile to workers”. In collective agreements workers achieved considerable limitations of employers’ arbitrary freedom to hire and dismiss workers. Certain unions could control their labour market efficiently by means of a labour exchange of their own. The development, however, varied over time and between different trade unions. Business cycles generally influenced how much power unions could exert. Access to power resources and other conditions varied between different workers’ groups. While some attained considerable power over hiring and dismissal, others had no possibilities of taking part in decision-making.