The continuous alignment of human resource strategies, activities. processes and competencies within an ever-changing business environment poses certain challenges for the human resource profession in a global petrochemical industry. Modem business managers have realised the necessity of work wellness initiatives and that a relationship exists between employee wellness and business results, but very few companies measure whether such initiatives actually had any impact on work performance. Defining performance indicators and competence models for human resource practitioners has developed into a dynamic activity. Adaptation to continuously changing business needs has the potential to create a sense of incompetence, exhaustion, decreased motivation and dysfunctional work attitudes, collective1y defined as burnout. This highlights the need to identify and research psychological constructs that hold predictable value for the ability of human resource practitioners to prevent and overcome burnout by generating sufficient emotional energy to adapt to changing business needs, acquiring strategic human resource competencies to increase their feelings of professional efficacy and increasing their contribution towards organisational performance. The objective of this study was to determine perceived importance and actual performance of human resource practitioners in a global petrochemical company in terms of human resource roles, and to determine the influence of work wellness (burnout, engagement and workaholism) on the perceived value adding contribution of human resource practitioners in a global petrochemical company. The research method for each of the three articles of this study consisted of a brief literature review and an empirical study. Stratified samples were taken of human resource personnel (N = 128) and their internal line customers (N = 67). The measuring instruments used in this study included the Ulrich Human Resource Role Assessment Survey (HRRAS), Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS), Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) and the Workaholism Scale. Article I compared perceptions of human resource practitioners and their internal customers regarding expected and actual contributions of human resource practitioners towards business performance in a global petrochemical company. It was found that human resource practitioners and their line customers are in agreement concerning the importance of the human resource roles that enable business performance, indicating that human resource practitioners have a good understanding of their job requirements. Both human resource practitioners and their line customers perceived the performance of human resource practitioners as average, which is lower than the expected level of performance as indicated by importance scales. In Article 2, a correlation study revealed that burnout (Exhaustion, Professional Efficacy and Cynicism) statistically significantly predicted the perceived level of performance of human resource practitioners in the organisation. It was found that Cynicism was a statistically significant predictor of the perceived level of performance of human resource practitioners in the organisation in terms of all the human resource roles (Strategic Partnering, Administrative Support, Employee Support and Change Management). Vigour and Dedication statistically significantly predicted perceived performance on the Administrative Support role. In Article 3, a three-factor model of workaholism (consisting of Compulsiveness, Involvement and Overwork) was found which showed positive relationship with burnout factors. Statistical analysis indicated that workaholism factors of the Workaholism Scale practically significantly correlate. Multiple regression analysis showed that burnout and workaholism factors can explain perceptions of human resource practitioner performance. Recommendations were made for future research. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Most employers agree that the effectiveness and success of their organisations depend on the effective utilisation of their human resources. Ill health in the workplace is a threat to optimal productivity, reduced absenteeism, provision of sustainable employee benefits, a motivated workforce, staff retention and maximisation of profits. Burnout and engagement are therefore important fields of investigation in the industrial psychology field. The aim of this study was to: test a model of work-related well-being; develop and evaluate a resilience intervention programme for a large financial services institution in South Africa. Article 1 used a cross-sectional survey design. The participants were predominantly in the administrative, call centre and IT divisions (N = 192). Article 2 was the development of a resilience model, which was based on the integration of thinking from an extensive literature review by the researcher. Article 3 used an experimental design, with a control group (n=51) and an experimental group («=55). Information was collected in a longitudinal research. The research method for each of the three articles of this study consisted of a brief literature review and an empirical study. The measuring instruments used in this study were the Maslach Burnout Inventory - General Survey (MBI-GS), Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES), Job Demands-Resources Scale (JD-RS), Health subscales, Organisational Commitment subscales, the ASSET questionnaire, the Life Orientation Test - Revised (LOT-R) and a biographical questionnaire. In both article 1 and article 3, descriptive statistics were computed to describe the data; as were Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients to specify the relationship between the variables. In article 1, multiple regression analyses were conducted to determine the proportion of variance in the dependent variable that is predicted by the independent variables. In article 3, paired-samples f-tests were used to determine the difference in results for year 1 and year 2. Article 1 showed the central role that low optimism plays in contributing to burnout, and high optimism plays in work engagement. Interestingly, high social support was linked to increased cynicism, whilst low social support contributed to dedication. Burnout contributed to both physical and psychological ill health. Dedication and low cynicism contributed to affective commitment, whilst engagement and low cynicism contributed to behavioural commitment. Article 2 was the development of a multidimensional, proactive coping approach which consistently strives to develop and enhance the individual's resilience coping reservoir pools (mental, spiritual, socio-emotional and physical) leading to improved resilience, wellness and quality of life. Each reservoir pool has activities that enhance the fitness of the individual, namely physical (rest and relaxation, exercise and nutrition), mental (stimuli, reflection and empowering thinking), spiritual (coat of arms, pay it forward and gratitude), socio-emotional (breaking destructive relationships and nurturing relationships, responsibility). Article 3's results showed that the resilience intervention resulted in a statistically significant difference decrease in psychological ill health. Recommendations for future research were made. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Work context has many consequences for the psychological outcomes of employees. These outcomes also have consequences for the employer through possible loss of productivity, impaired health of employees which may be associated with absenteeism and turnover intention, among others. The literature also shows that these outcomes are not always the same even under similar working conditions. Theorising in cognitive psychology indicates that the way in which an individual appraises a situation may be more important to psychological outcomes than the actual presence of a stressor. Recently, personal resources have been hypothesised to influence these individual differences. Few if any studies have explored such personal resources as moderators in the relationship between work context and psychological outcomes, especially in the South African public service context. Thus, the general aim of this study was to determine whether personal resources (emotional intelligence, self-efficacy and explanatory styles) are moderators in the relationship between work context Gob demands and job resources) and psychological outcomes (psychological well-being and work engagement) in a sample of government employees. A cross-sectional survey research design was implemented. Data were collected from 459 participants with the following measuring instruments, the Job-Demands Resources (JD-R) Scale, the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), the Affectomemter-2 Short-form (AFM.), the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) , the Emotional Intelligence Scale (ElS), the General Self-efficacy (GSE) scale, and the Explanatory Style (ES) Questionnaire. A demographic questionnaire was developed by the first author to capture diverse information from the participants relating to gender, turnover intention, post level and so forth. Analyses were conducted mainly in 2 steps. Firstly, multiple regression analyses were used to test the main effects of work context variables on psychological outcomes. Secondly, two-step hierarchical regression analyses were used to test whether personal resources (emotional intelligence, self-efficacy, and explanatory styles) moderated the relationship between work context variables and psychological outcomes. Before testing the moderation, all independent variables and moderator variables (dimensions of personal resources) were centred so as to exclude the possibility of any multicollinearity in the regression equation. The results of the study, reported in three articles/manuscripts, showed significant main effects for work context and the personal resources as predictors of psychological outcomes. In the second place, the results also showed that the personal resources used in this study moderate the relationship between work context and psychological outcomes. In the first article, it was concluded that emotional intelligence is of potential value, especially in the public sector that is focussed on optimal service delivery, and where emotional encounters are stock-in-trade. Emotional intelligence is a valuable personal resource to cultivate for establishing, developing, and maintaining positive outcomes in psychological well-being in the workplace. In the second article, it was concluded that as self-efficacy beliefs facilitate actions and behaviour taken by individuals, it is important that feedback and modelling could play an important role especially in service-oriented work contexts that may need self-regulation of emotions. In the third article, it was concluded that as attributional feedback can induce change in how individuals perceive their success or failure in a task, the role of explanatory styles in psychological outcomes could be cultivated through active feedback given to employees on their performance and possibilities of future growth in the organisation. Overall it was concluded that a lack of job resources in the presence of high job demands will undermine psychological outcomes even in the presence of personal resources. Therefore, the consequences for health impairment and negative outcomes cannot be over-emphasised in a situation where job demands outstrip job resources. Employees in the public service require skills such as social and emotional competency, self-efficacy and optimism as these are important tools in dealing with the public. Employees must have initiative, flexibility, motivation to achieve, empathy, self-esteem and confidence, self-control, and group management among fellow employees and the public that is served by them. Although the limitations for this study are related to the fact that it was a cross-sectional research design and data was collected using self-reports, insights were gained about the role of personal resources in the relationship between work context and psychological outcomes. Based on all three articles, it was recommended that cross lagged panel studies may be useful in further clarifying the role of personal resources in longitudinal studies about the relationship between job resources and psychological outcomes and possible upward spirals arising from facilitating these relationships. Aspects of such studies may also include a qualitative assessment of what participants perceive as job resources and personal resources and these help them to achieve their goals. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

Most employers agree that the effectiveness and success of their organisations depend on the effective utilisation of their human resources. Ill health in the workplace is a threat to optimal productivity, reduced absenteeism, provision of sustainable employee benefits, a motivated workforce, staff retention and maximisation of profits. Burnout and engagement are therefore important fields of investigation in the industrial psychology field. The aim of this study was to: test a model of work-related well-being; develop and evaluate a resilience intervention programme for a large financial services institution in South Africa. Article 1 used a cross-sectional survey design. The participants were predominantly in the administrative, call centre and IT divisions (N = 192). Article 2 was the development of a resilience model, which was based on the integration of thinking from an extensive literature review by the researcher. Article 3 used an experimental design, with a control group (n=51) and an experimental group («=55). Information was collected in a longitudinal research. The research method for each of the three articles of this study consisted of a brief literature review and an empirical study. The measuring instruments used in this study were the Maslach Burnout Inventory - General Survey (MBI-GS), Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES), Job Demands-Resources Scale (JD-RS), Health subscales, Organisational Commitment subscales, the ASSET questionnaire, the Life Orientation Test - Revised (LOT-R) and a biographical questionnaire. In both article 1 and article 3, descriptive statistics were computed to describe the data; as were Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients to specify the relationship between the variables. In article 1, multiple regression analyses were conducted to determine the proportion of variance in the dependent variable that is predicted by the independent variables. In article 3, paired-samples f-tests were used to determine the difference in results for year 1 and year 2. Article 1 showed the central role that low optimism plays in contributing to burnout, and high optimism plays in work engagement. Interestingly, high social support was linked to increased cynicism, whilst low social support contributed to dedication. Burnout contributed to both physical and psychological ill health. Dedication and low cynicism contributed to affective commitment, whilst engagement and low cynicism contributed to behavioural commitment. Article 2 was the development of a multidimensional, proactive coping approach which consistently strives to develop and enhance the individual's resilience coping reservoir pools (mental, spiritual, socio-emotional and physical) leading to improved resilience, wellness and quality of life. Each reservoir pool has activities that enhance the fitness of the individual, namely physical (rest and relaxation, exercise and nutrition), mental (stimuli, reflection and empowering thinking), spiritual (coat of arms, pay it forward and gratitude), socio-emotional (breaking destructive relationships and nurturing relationships, responsibility). Article 3's results showed that the resilience intervention resulted in a statistically significant difference decrease in psychological ill health. Recommendations for future research were made. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Work context has many consequences for the psychological outcomes of employees. These outcomes also have consequences for the employer through possible loss of productivity, impaired health of employees which may be associated with absenteeism and turnover intention, among others. The literature also shows that these outcomes are not always the same even under similar working conditions. Theorising in cognitive psychology indicates that the way in which an individual appraises a situation may be more important to psychological outcomes than the actual presence of a stressor. Recently, personal resources have been hypothesised to influence these individual differences. Few if any studies have explored such personal resources as moderators in the relationship between work context and psychological outcomes, especially in the South African public service context. Thus, the general aim of this study was to determine whether personal resources (emotional intelligence, self-efficacy and explanatory styles) are moderators in the relationship between work context Gob demands and job resources) and psychological outcomes (psychological well-being and work engagement) in a sample of government employees. A cross-sectional survey research design was implemented. Data were collected from 459 participants with the following measuring instruments, the Job-Demands Resources (JD-R) Scale, the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), the Affectomemter-2 Short-form (AFM.), the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) , the Emotional Intelligence Scale (ElS), the General Self-efficacy (GSE) scale, and the Explanatory Style (ES) Questionnaire. A demographic questionnaire was developed by the first author to capture diverse information from the participants relating to gender, turnover intention, post level and so forth. Analyses were conducted mainly in 2 steps. Firstly, multiple regression analyses were used to test the main effects of work context variables on psychological outcomes. Secondly, two-step hierarchical regression analyses were used to test whether personal resources (emotional intelligence, self-efficacy, and explanatory styles) moderated the relationship between work context variables and psychological outcomes. Before testing the moderation, all independent variables and moderator variables (dimensions of personal resources) were centred so as to exclude the possibility of any multicollinearity in the regression equation. The results of the study, reported in three articles/manuscripts, showed significant main effects for work context and the personal resources as predictors of psychological outcomes. In the second place, the results also showed that the personal resources used in this study moderate the relationship between work context and psychological outcomes. In the first article, it was concluded that emotional intelligence is of potential value, especially in the public sector that is focussed on optimal service delivery, and where emotional encounters are stock-in-trade. Emotional intelligence is a valuable personal resource to cultivate for establishing, developing, and maintaining positive outcomes in psychological well-being in the workplace. In the second article, it was concluded that as self-efficacy beliefs facilitate actions and behaviour taken by individuals, it is important that feedback and modelling could play an important role especially in service-oriented work contexts that may need self-regulation of emotions. In the third article, it was concluded that as attributional feedback can induce change in how individuals perceive their success or failure in a task, the role of explanatory styles in psychological outcomes could be cultivated through active feedback given to employees on their performance and possibilities of future growth in the organisation. Overall it was concluded that a lack of job resources in the presence of high job demands will undermine psychological outcomes even in the presence of personal resources. Therefore, the consequences for health impairment and negative outcomes cannot be over-emphasised in a situation where job demands outstrip job resources. Employees in the public service require skills such as social and emotional competency, self-efficacy and optimism as these are important tools in dealing with the public. Employees must have initiative, flexibility, motivation to achieve, empathy, self-esteem and confidence, self-control, and group management among fellow employees and the public that is served by them. Although the limitations for this study are related to the fact that it was a cross-sectional research design and data was collected using self-reports, insights were gained about the role of personal resources in the relationship between work context and psychological outcomes. Based on all three articles, it was recommended that cross lagged panel studies may be useful in further clarifying the role of personal resources in longitudinal studies about the relationship between job resources and psychological outcomes and possible upward spirals arising from facilitating these relationships. Aspects of such studies may also include a qualitative assessment of what participants perceive as job resources and personal resources and these help them to achieve their goals. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

Thesis (MCom)--Stellenbosch University, 2015 / ENGLISH ABSTRACT : The industrial psychology literature related to call centres highlights the negative aspects of call centre work environments and the resultant adverse impact on workers’ well-being. Call centres have been labelled the “coal mines of the 21st century”, “assembly lines in the head” and “satanic mills” (Janse van Rensburg, Boonzaier, & Boonzaier, 2013, p. 2). High levels of stress, high staff turnover and burnout are all factors that are often experienced by call centre agents (Banks & Roodt, 2011). However, Van der Colff and Rothman (2009) report that some call centre agents, regardless of the high job demands, do not develop burnout. These agents cope better than others under highly demanding and stressful work conditions. To build on these findings, the present study took a detailed look at factors affecting the well-being of employees working in call centres. Specifically, the question was asked, “Why is there variance in work engagement, job burnout and intention to quit amongst the employees in call centres?” The job demands-resources (JD-R) model (Bakker & Demerouti, 2014) was used as a framework to investigate the well-being of call centre agents employed in the outbound departments of two branches of a Cape Town call centre. The primary objective of this study was to develop and empirically test a structural model, derived from theory, explaining the antecedents of variance in work engagement, job burnout and intention to quit amongst call centre employees. The antecedents comprise transformational leadership (as a job resource), emotional intelligence and psychological capital (as employees’ personal resources), and emotional labour (as job demands) present in a call centre environment. An ex post facto correlational design was used to test the formulated hypotheses in this research study. Quantitative data was collected from 223 call centre agents by means of non-probability convenience sampling. A self-administered hard-copy survey was distributed to the two call centre branches, given that call centre agents agreed to participate in the research study. Measuring instruments consisted of (1) the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES-17) questionnaire (Schaufeli et al., 2002), (2) the Maslach Burnout Inventory General Survey (MBI-GS) (Maslach, Schaufeli & Leiter, 2001), (3) the Turnover Intention Scale (TIS) (Ding & Lin, 2006; Lee, 2000), (4) the Emotional Demands and Emotion-rule Dissonance scales (Xanthopoulou, Bakker, & Fischbach, 2013), (5) the adapted Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ 5x short) (Van Aswegen & Engelbrecht, 2009), (6) the Genos Emotional Intelligence Inventory (Gignac, 2010) and (7) the Psychological Capital Questionnaire (Luthans, Avolio, Avey, & Norman, 2007). The data was analysed using item analyses and structural equation modelling (SEM). A PLS path analysis was conducted to determine the model fit. From the 21 hypotheses formulated in the study, six were found to be significant. It is noteworthy, however, that 12 of the non-significant paths were related to the moderating effects. Hypotheses 1, 3 and 8 were also found to be not significant. However, hypotheses 2, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 9 were all found to be statistically significant and therefore supported the JD-R theory (Bakker & Demerouti, 2014), which postulates that job demands are generally the most important predictors of job burnout, whereas job resources and personal resources are generally the most important predictors of work engagement. Also, it was found that call centre agents experiencing a high level of work engagement were less inclined to leave the organisation. The study’s findings shed light on the importance of developing interventions that can foster job and personal resources in the pursuit of optimising work engagement. In addition, the call centre agents can be bolstered in coping with existing job demands and cumulatively this also results in a decrease in the employees’ level of burnout and in their intention to leave the company. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING : Bedryfsielkundige literatuur met betrekking tot inbelsentrums beklemtoon die negatiewe aspekte van die werkomgewing van inbelsentrums en die gevolglike nadelige effek op werkers se welsyn. Inbelsentrums is reeds beskryf as die “steenkoolmyne van die 21ste eeu”, ‘”monteerbande in die kop” en “sataniese meule” (Janse van Rensburg, Boonzaier, & Boonzaier, 2013, p. 2). Hoë vlakke van stres, hoë personeelomset en uitbranding is faktore wat gereeld deur inbelsentrum-agente ervaar word (Banks & Roodt, 2011). Van der Colff en Rothman (2009) rapporteer egter dat ten spyte van hulle hoë werkvereistes, sommige inbelsentrumagente nie uitbranding ervaar nie. Hierdie agente vaar beter as ander onder hoogs veeleisende en stresvolle werkomstandighede. Om verder te bou op die navorsing wat reeds onderneem is, kyk die huidige studie na die faktore wat moontlik die welsyn van werknemers in inbelsentrums affekteer. Met ander woorde, dit soek na die antwoord op die navorsingsinisiërende vraag: “Hoekom is daar verskille in die werksbegeestering, werksuitbranding en intensie om die organisasie te verlaat onder werknemers in inbelsentrums?” Om op hierdie navorsingsinisiërende vraag te kan reageer, is die job demands-resources (JD-R) model (Bakker & Demerouti, 2014) gebruik as raamwerk spesifiek om die welsyn van inbelsentrumagente wat in die uitbel-departemente binne twee takke van ‘n bekende uitbelsentrum, geleë in Kaapstad, te ondersoek. Die hoofdoelwit van hierdie studie was om ’n strukturele model te ontwikkel en te toets wat die antesedente van variansie in werksbegeestering, werksuitbranding en die intensie om die organisaie te verlaat, onder inbelsentrumwerknemers verklaar. Die spesifieke antesedente wat in hierdie studie getoets is, was transformasie-leierskap (as ’n werkshulpbron), emosionele intelligensie en sielkundige kapitaal (psychological capital) (as werknemers se persoonlike hulpbronne), en emosionele arbeid (as werkseise) wat in ‘n inbelsentrum-omgewing teenwoordig is. ʼn Ex post facto korrelasie-ontwerp is gebruik om die geformuleerde hipoteses in hierdie studie te toets. Kwantitatiewe data is by 223 inbelsentrumagente deur middel van nie-waarskynlikheids gerieflikheidsteekproeftrekking ingesamel. ’n Selfgeadministreerde hardekopie-opname is in die twee takke van die inbelsentrum versprei, aangesien hulle ingestem het om aan die studie deel te neem. Die opname het spesifieke latente veranderlikes gemeet wat op die studie van toepassing is deur gebruik te maak van betroubare en geldige meetinstrumente. Hierdie instrumente sluit in (1) die Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES-17) vraelys (Schaufeli et al., 2002), (2) die Maslach Burnout Inventory General Survey (MBI-GS) (Maslach, Schaufeli & Leiter, 2001), (3) die Turnover Intention Scale (TIS) (Ding & Lin, 2006; Lee, 2000), (4) die Emotional Demands en Emotion-rule Dissonance skale (Xanthopoulou, Bakker, & Fischbach, 2013), (5) die aangepaste Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ 5x kort) (Van Aswegen & Engelbrecht, 2009), (6) die Genos Emotional Intelligence Inventory (Gignac, 2010) en (7) die Psychological Capital Questionnaire (Luthans, Avolio, Avey, & Norman, 2007). Die versamelde data is deur middel van item-analise en strukturele vergelykingsmodellering geanaliseer. ’n PLS pad-ontleding is onderneem om modelpassing te bepaal. Vanuit die 21 hipoteses wat vir hierdie studie geformuleer is, is ses bevind om betekenisvol te wees. Dit is egter merkwaardig dat 12 van die nie-betekenisvolle bane verband gehou het met modererende effekte. Hipoteses 1, 3 en 8 is ook bevind om nie-betekenisvol te wees. Hierdie nie-betekenisvolle bane kan op grond van verskeie redes ontstaan. Hipoteses 2, 4, 5, 6, 7 en 9 is egter almal bevind om statisties betekenisvol te wees en ondersteun dus die JD-R teorie (Bakker & Demerouti, 2014). Hierdie teorie hou voor dat werksvereistes oor die algemeen die belangrikste voorspellers van werksuitbranding is, terwyl werkshulpbronne en persoonlike hulpbronne oor die algemeen die vernaamste voorspellers van werksbegeestering is. Dit is ook bevind dat inbelsentrumagente wat ’n hoë vlak van werksbegeestering ervaar, minder geneig is om die organisasie te verlaat. Die studie se bevindings werp lig op die belangrikheid daarvan om ingrypings te ontwikkel wat werks- en persoonlike hulpbronne kan kweek in die nastrewing van die optimering van begeestering en om inbelsentrumagente te help om die bestaande werkseise te hanteer. Gevolglik sal hierdie uitkoms lei tot ’n vermindering in die werknemers se vlakke van uitbranding en in hulle intensies om die organisasie te verlaat.

Titel: Mellanchefens väg till arbetstillfredsställelse - En kvalitativ studie om hur arbetsdelegering, arbetsbeslutsgrad och arbetstillfredsställelse påverkar varandra sett från  mellanchefens perspektiv. Nivå: C-uppsats inom ämnet företagsekonomi Författare: Jacob Kjessler och Joakim Delking Handledare: Signe Jernberg och Kristina Mickelsson Datum: 2018 - maj Syfte: Inom företag finner vi mellanchefer, en anställd som befinner sig i mitten av organisationen med ledning och styrelse ovanför sig och anställda under sig. Krav ställs på dessa mellanchefer att arbeta effektivt med hög produktivitet där många beslut behöver fattas. Detta kan medföra att mellanchefer uppfattar en hög press i form av att arbeta hårt med brist på resursen tid och mellanchefer behöver arbeta effektivt för att klara av det dagliga arbetet vilket de kan göra genom deras höga arbetsbeslutsgrad. Denna höga press på effektivitet, produktivitet samt hög arbetstid kan medföra en minskning av mellanchefens arbetstillfredsställelse. För att hantera denna press med begränsade tidsresurs finns ledarskapsverktyget arbetsdelegering. Arbetsdelegering till underordnade gör att mellanchefer kan ge ifrån sig auktoritet och kontroll att utföra uppgifter, vilket har en effekt på att mellanchefens arbetstid frigörs. Med detta sagt finner vi tre begrepp, arbetstillfredsställelse, arbetsbeslutsgrad samt arbetsdelegering som är relaterade med varandra men vi vet inte hur de påverkar varandra. Hur dessa begrepp påverkar varandra kan bana väg för hur mellanchefer kan använda sig av dessa begrepp för att nå en hög arbetstillfredsställelse, inneha en välbalanserad arbetsbeslutsgrad samt arbeta effektivt med delegering. För att förstå detta ställer vi oss frågan; Hur påverkas arbetsbeslutsgraden när delegering av arbetsuppgifter till underordnade sker, påverkar även denna delegering mellanchefens arbetstillfredsställelse samt om fallet är så att delegering påverkar arbetsbeslutsgraden, kan arbetstillfredsställelsen påverkas också? Detta mynnar ut i ett syfte där denna studie vill skapa en fördjupad förståelse hur dessa begrepp påverkar varandra; Arbetstillfredsställelse Arbetsbeslutsgrad Arbetsdelegering till underordnade  Metod: För att göra denna studie möjlig har vi utfört 11 kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer. Vi skapade ett urval med hjälp av strategiskt urval som grundar sig i vissa kriterier som vi tror våra respondenter behöver ha för att skapa ett resultat som hjälper oss att finna hur dessa begrepp påverkar varandra. Resultat och Slutsats: Vi fann hur arbetsdelegering och arbetsbeslutsgrad påverkar varandra, samtidigt som dessa två begreppet påverkar varandra fann vi att högre frekvent användning av arbetsdelegering positivt påverkar mellanchefens arbetstillfredsställelse. Då arbetsdelegering minskar arbetsbeslutsgrad fann vi även att den minskade arbetsbeslutsgraden även påverkar arbetstillfredsställelsen positivt. Uppsatsens bidrag: Mellanchefers arbetstillfredsställelse har tidigare inte behandlats inom företagsekonomin. Vi ger därför företagsekonomin en teoretisk insikt i hur arbetstillfredsställelse, arbetsbeslutsgrad samt arbetsdelegering påverkar varandra. Dock på grund av den begränsade forskningen inom detta område ger vi en första inblick sett från mellanchefers synsätt. Förslag på fortsatt forskning: Vi har sammanfattat fyra punkter som förslag till ytterligare forskning. Först anser vi att ytterligare studier behöver genomföras för att styrka vår slutsats, där studier som använder sig av fler respondenter är i fokus. Andra förslaget kretsar kring denna studies synsätt, då vi endast utgått från mellanchefers perspektiv behöver detta kompletteras med fler perspektiv från underordnade och överordnade. Tredje förslaget inkluderar ett mönster vi såg under intervjuerna, teorin menar att mer erfarenhet också kommer resultera i att mellanchefer använder sig utav arbetsdelegering mer frekvent. Detta vad dock inget vi kunde se under våra intervjuer, därför anser vi att fortsatt forskning inom området hur erfarenheten hos mellanchefer påverkar deras sätt att se på arbetsdelegering. Sista och fjärde förslaget innebär vad kontroll och auktoritet över en uppgiften egentligen är? Nyckelord: Arbetsbeslutsgrad, arbetsbelastning, arbetstillfredsställelse, mellanchefer, arbetsdelegering. / Title: The Middle level managers road to job satisfaction - A qualitative study of how job delegation, job decision latitude and job satisfaction affect eachother, from a middle level managers perspective. Level: Final assignment for Bachelor Degree in Business Administration Author: Jacob Kjessler and Joakim Delking Supervisor: Signe Jernberg and Kristina Mickelsson Date: 2018– May Aim: Within companies we find the middle level managers, located in the middle of the organization with managers above them, as well as employees underneath. Requirements are made on these middle level managers to work efficiently with high productivity, where many decisions need to be made. This may cause middle managers to perceive high pressure in terms of working hard with lack of resource time, middle managers need to work effectively to cope with daily work, which can be summed up as high levels of job decision latitude. This high pressure on efficiency, productivity and high working hours can lead to a reduction of the mid-career's job satisfaction. To manage this press with limited time resources, the leadership tool delegation could be an option. Subordination of work to subordinates allows middle level managers to give authority and control to perform tasks, which has the effect of releasing the mid-term working hours. Having said that, we find three concepts, job satisfaction, job decision latitude, and job delegation that seem to coincide with each other, but we do not know how they affect each other. How these concepts affect each other can pave the way for middle level managers to use these concepts to achieve high job satisfaction, maintain a well-balanced job decision latitude, and see benefits of job delegation. In order to understand this, we ask ourselves the question; How does job decision latitude affect when delegation of duties to subordinates takes place, does this delegation affect the middle level managers job satisfaction, and if the case is such that delegation affects the level of job decision latitude, can job satisfaction also be affected? This opens up for a aim in which this study wants to create an in-depth understanding of how these concepts affect each other; Job satisfaction Employment Decisions Degree Work delegation to subordinates Method: In order to make this study possible we have conducted 11 qualitative semistructured interviews. We created a selection using strategic selection based on certain criteria that we believe our respondents need to create a result that helps us find out how these concepts affect each other. Result & Conclusions: We found how job delegation and job decision latitude affect each other. While these two concepts affect each other, we found that higher frequent use of job delegation positively affects the middle level managers job satisfaction. As labor delegation reduces the level of workability we also found that the reduced job decision latitude also has a positive impact on job satisfaction. Contribution of the thesis: Middle level managers job satisfaction has previously not been addressed in the business administration. We therefore give the business economics a theoretical insight into how job satisfaction, job decision latitude and work delegation affect each other. However, due to the limited research in this area, we provide a first insight from the middle level managers approach. Suggestions for future research: We have summarized three points as suggestions for further research. First, we consider that further studies need to be conducted to reinforce our conclusion, where studies that use more respondents are in focus. The second proposal focuses on this study approach, since we only started from the middle managers perspective, we ask further studies to include more perspectives from subordinates and superiors. The third suggestion includes a pattern we saw during the interviews, the theory means that more work experience will also affect how much middle managers uses job delegation as a management tool. This, however was nothing we could see during our interviews, we therefore believe that further research in the field should be made of how the experience of middle managers affects their way of looking at work delegation. The last and fourth proposals mean what control and authority over a task really is? Key words: Job Decision Latitude, Job Demands, Job Satisfaction, Middle level manager, Job Delegation.

Orientadores: Roberto Funes Abrahão, Mauro José Andrade Tereso / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Agricola / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-09T17:13:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Braga_CelsodeOliveira_M.pdf: 3029826 bytes, checksum: 206451bcec273e9a42df53573d3a3a39 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007 / Resumo: A exigência por produtos com boa qualidade e segurança alimentar faz com que o beneficiamento pós-colheita se constitua numa atividade em grande expansão no Brasil. A tomaticultura representa um dos maiores mercados agrícolas brasileiros. O Brasil produz cerca de três milhões de toneladas por ano, sendo dois milhões de toneladas de tomate de mesa. Mais de dez mil produtores e sessenta mil famílias de trabalhadores estão envolvidos nesta produção, o que pode significar duzentos mil empregos diretos. Após a colheita dos tomates, a maior parte da produção é limpa, classificada e embalada em unidades de beneficiamento. Este estudo teve como objetivo a avaliação das exigências laborais nas unidades de beneficiamento de tomate de mesa sob o ponto de vista da ergonomia. Foram selecionadas 06 unidades de beneficiamento de tomate de mesa por amostragem intencional. Aplicou-se o método da Análise Ergonômica do Trabalho para identificação dos postos de trabalho com as maiores exigências laborais no processo de produção. Na pesquisa de campo envolvendo 57 operadores, utilizou-se o Método NASA TLX e o Questionário de Avaliação Visual (QAV), um questionário baseado na Escala de Likert, para avaliar, respectivamente, as exigências mentais e físicas e as exigências visuais das tarefas. Os resultados mostraram exigência mental elevada para 54,3% e exigência física alta para 20,0% dos operadores. Na avaliação da exigência visual constatou-se que 16,3% dos operadores pesquisados apresentaram fadiga visual. Comprovou-se que as exigências laborais, nos postos de trabalho estudados, estão relacionadas ao nível tecnológico dos equipamentos, grau de mecanização no processo de produção, projeto e layout do galpão, aos fatores ambientais e à organização do trabalho nas UB / Abstract: The requirement for good quality products and food safety makes of the processing after harvest an activity in great expansion in Brazil. Tomato cropping represents one of the biggest agricultural markets in Brazil. The country produces about three million tons of tomatoes per year, two million of which are intended for fresh consumption. More than ten thousand producers and sixty thousand families of workers are involved in this production, what may represent two hundred and thousand jobs. After the harvest of tomatoes, the biggest part of the production is cleaned, classified and packed in packing house units. The aim of this research was to evaluate the labor demands in the packing house units of fresh market tomatoes under the point of view of ergonomics. Six packing house units of fresh market tomatoes were selected by intentional sampling technique. It was applied the Ergonomic Analysis of Work method in order to identify the workplaces with the biggest labor demands in the production process. In the field research involving 57 workers, it was applied the NASA TLX method along with a questionnaire based on the Likert Scale in order to evaluate both mental and physical demands as well as visual demands of the tasks. The results showed high mental demand for 54.3% of the workers and high physical demand for 20.0% of them. Concerning to visual demand, it was evidenced that 16.3% of the workers presented visual fatigue. It was evidenced that the workload of the studied workplaces is related to the technological level of the equipment, mechanization degree of the production process, layout and project of the processing house, environmental factors as well as the work organization of the packing house / Mestrado / Planejamento e Desenvolvimento Rural Sustentável / Mestre em Engenharia Agrícola

Although the Job Demands-Resources Model (JD-R) is the dominant theoretical framework used to understand the relationship between workplace factors and employee well-being, the cross-cultural generalizability of this model has seldom been directly tested. Therefore, this study examined whether and to what extent relationships between: 1) job demands (i.e., organizational constraints) and strain (i.e., job satisfaction, and turnover intentions) and 2) job resources (i.e., job control, participation in decision-making, direct supervisor support, senior leader support, and clear goals and performance feedback) and strain were moderated by cultural dimensions (i.e., individualism-collectivism and uncertainty avoidance). Survey data from workers in 28 countries were used to examine these questions. Results revealed that culture-level individualism-collectivism and uncertainty avoidance independently and significantly moderated some job demands-strain and job resources-strain outcomes relationships. Specifically, job control and senior leaders support was consistently and more strongly, negatively related to strain in more individualistic cultures, and participation in decision-making was more strongly, negatively related to strain in more collectivistic cultures when using cultural scores from both Hofstede and GLOBE taxonomies. In contrast, although I also uncovered some significant moderating effects of culture-level uncertainty avoidance on job demands-strain and job resources-strain relationships, the results from these analyses were often in the opposite pattern when GLOBE versus Hofstede cultural scores were used. Overall, the present study sheds light on the generalizability versus specificity of the JD-R model across cultural contexts.

In the past decades, the public sector has undergone important organisational policy changes, referred to as New Public Management. These management strategies focus on continuous cost improvements and rationalisation of operations. In the aftermath of these policy changes, we have seen reports of increased work demands and less professional autonomy amongst welfare workers. Against this background, the thesis sets out to explore welfare workers’ relationship to their organisation. This was done by investigating how psychosocial and organisational factors related to a number of outcomes assumed to be indicators of the quality of the relationship. Theoretically, the thesis was inspired by psychological contract theory, but also relates to other concepts and theories found in organisational research. The thesis is based on four empirical studies, all of which relate to how welfare workers have perceived their relationship to their organisation. Study I aimed to qualitatively investigate how turnover processes evolved amongst statutory social workers who voluntarily had resigned from their jobs. The results showed that dismissive/admonishing organisational responses to the social workers’ perceived work-related dissatisfactions reinforced their beliefs in psychological contract violation, which led to resignation. Study II and III employed national web-based questionnaire data collected from employees and managers in the social services. The results of Studies II-III showed that if organisations want welfare workers to stop considering exit, want to counteract silence, want to reduce stress-related ill health and want to improve organisational commitment and job satisfaction, management strategies need to be developed that lead to fewer conflicting demands, a reasonable workload and a greater professional autonomy. The results also showed that the organisation’s open climate and attitude towards employees was of great importance for the studied outcome variables. Study IV was based on questionnaire data from different occupational groups in two municipal organisations. The results showed that organisational resources explained additional variance in organisational identification and organisational pride, beyond the contributions of workgroup resources. From the findings of this thesis, it can be concluded that the psychosocial demands need to be balanced with organisational resources in order to (re)build a trustworthy employee-organisation relationship. Further, organisations need to reconsider their human resource management strategies and practices, e.g., by enabling a continuous and open dialogue between the strategic and operational levels. Such changes may lead to balanced psychological contracts between welfare workers and the organisation that can improve the organisation’s stability, continuity and, ultimately, the quality of the welfare services.