The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between office politics and selected performance outcomes namely stress, turnaround intent and work engagement, as perceived by employees working in law firms. A literature study indicated the relationship between perceptions of office politics and these selected job outcomes. As an empirical analysis, a measuring instrument consisting of five structured questionnaires was distributed via a non-probability, convenience sampling technique. Spearman’s correlation coefficient indicated the relationships between the variables. The results indicated a positive relationship between perceptions of office politics, job stress, burnout and turnaround intent but a negative relationship between perceptions of office politics and work engagement as well as its antecedents. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

For organisations in South Africa to preserve talented and skilled employees it is important that these organisations consider the psychological needs of their employees. This is particularly true for supervisors and their relationships with their subordinates. South Africans are daily engaged in working and influencing people within their workplaces. Although supervisors are not capable of addressing or changing all the problems and concerns of employees, they can intervene in order to improve the quality of their employees’ working lives. A suggested point to start with is within the supervisor’s behaviour and their relationships with employees, due to its effect on employee engagement and intentions to leave. Consequently, when employees experience a deprived relationship with their supervisors, it will contribute to lower employee engagement levels and higher intentions to leave. To possibly decrease the negative impact of supervisor behaviour, it is important that supervisors pay attention and create an environment in which satisfaction of the psychological needs of their subordinates can be maintained. The objectives of this study were to investigate the relations between supervisor behaviour (that supports psychological need satisfaction), psychological need satisfaction, employee engagement and intentions to leave. A convenience sample (N = 139) of employees working under the guidance of a leader/supervisor was taken from manufacturing companies across South Africa. Participation in the study was voluntary. A measuring battery measuring supervisor behaviour (i.e. perceptions of supervisor support, trust and competence-focused behaviour), work-related basic need satisfaction (i.e. the satisfaction of psychological needs such as autonomy, competence and relatedness) work engagement (i.e. cognitive, emotional and physical engagement) and intention to leave was used. Descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analyses, alpha coefficients, Pearson product-moment correlations, and multiple regression analyses were used to analyse the data. The results indicated that the measuring instruments used in this study were valid and reliable for further analyses. The results showed that supervisor support comprised one factor and not three factors as expected. Furthermore, the results showed that supervisor support for autonomy, competence and relatedness had a large effect on autonomy satisfaction and a medium effect on relatedness satisfaction. Supervisor relations did not impact competence satisfaction. The effect of supervisor support on autonomy satisfaction was larger than on relatedness satisfaction. Results from this study showed that supervisor support, autonomy satisfaction and competence satisfaction affected work engagement. Employees will tend to be engaged when supervisors demonstrate supportive behaviour and when they are able to regulate themselves because they feel a sense of competence and autonomy. The results also showed that supervisor support for psychological need satisfaction, autonomy satisfaction and relatedness satisfaction predicted employees’ intentions to leave organisations. Lastly, the results showed that supervisor support for psychological need satisfaction impacted employee engagement indirectly and positively via autonomy satisfaction, and indirectly and negatively impacted intention to leave via autonomy dissatisfaction. Recommendations were made for manufacturing organisations as well as for future research. Manufacturing organisations and employees should comprehend the impact of supervisor behaviour and psychological need satisfaction on outcomes such as employee engagement and intentions to leave, as both parties are similarly affected by its consequences. Interventions should be implemented to address the satisfaction of employees’ basic psychological needs. Additionally, manufacturing organisations should understand the importance of supervisor behaviour and the impact it can have on their business unit and the organisation as a whole. Recommendations for future research were made. / MA (Positive Psychology)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2015.

The ever-changing global business environment of today is presenting organisations with numerous challenges and in some instances result in economic and ethical meltdowns. The mining industry, in particular, is faced with a volatile market and consequently mining companies are experiencing increasing financial turmoil coupled with human capital problems resulting in labour unrest and often inoperativeness. As these challenges gain momentum, the mining industry will need to respond through a restructure of operations. Although the mining industry has been faced with a need to restructure before, it has not been faced with this challenge recently. Therefore, only a small portion of management teams holds the skills to respond effectively. For the mining industry in South Africa to adequately address these challenges, leadership will play a pivotal role. Consequently, organisations need a new kind of business leader and leadership should be examined from an authentic perspective. Authentic leadership has been associated with various positive outcomes such as trust in supervisor, psychological safety and work engagement. Both employees and organisations should support one another in order to remain viable. Trust is an important component of effective leadership and building relationships. In order for employees to feel secure and able to adapt to change, organisations should develop an environment which fosters trust and psychological safety and which, in turn, will lead to increased work engagement. The objectives of this study were to examine the relationship between authentic leadership, trust in supervisors, psychological safety and work engagement. In addition, another objective was to examine if trust in supervisor and psychological safety had an effect on the relationship between authentic leadership and work engagement. An available sample of 244 employees was taken from the mining industry in the Free State province. The questionnaires were distributed to employees across all levels in a mining organisation. All of these employees were given the choice to participate in the research. The measuring instruments utilised were the Authentic Leadership Questionnaire, Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, Workplace Trust Survey and Psychological Safety Questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistics, Raykov’s rho coefficients, Pearson product-moment correlations coefficients, Mplus and bootstrapping were used to analyse the data. The results indicated that authentic leadership had a statistically significant positive relationship with trust in supervisor as well as psychological safety. Authentic leadership did not have a statistically significant positive relationship with work engagement. The results indicated that authentic leadership had a statistically significant indirect effect on work engagement via trust in supervisor. Authentic leadership did not have a statistically significant indirect effect on psychological safety via trust in supervisor. Furthermore, authentic leadership did not have a statistically significant indirect effect on work engagement via psychological safety. Various recommendations were made for the mining industry as well as for future research. Organisations should understand the impact of authentic leadership on outcomes such as trust, psychological safety and work engagement. Organisations should select leaders who display the four dimensions of authentic leadership as well as implement structured leadership programmes or interventions. Recommendations for future research included utilising longitudinal research designs or diary studies as well as expanding the study to other organisations, industries, and provinces; also including additional sources of data over and above supervisors and subordinates. Future research may also employ a mixed method approach and include other related leadership constructs in the data collection. / MCom (Industrial Psychology)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2015.

South African Tertiary Education Institutions (TEIs) are now faced with issues of globalisation, broadening access to higher education, changes in language policies, changes in government funding, an increased emphasis on technology, transformation, mergers, changing student profiles, high levels of student enrolment and increased competition (Wiese, van Heerden, & Jordaan, 2010; Higher Education South Africa, 2011). The increased workload necessitated by the increase of students within South African TEIs, in conjunction with the current financial situation of universities, is compounded by factors such as low staff morale, uncertainty among staff members and large-scale resignations (Maree, 2010). These challenges can be seen as increasing the demands and decreasing the resources of university staff, and as explained by the Job Demands-Resource Model of organisational wellbeing (JD-R) (Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner, & Schaufeli, 2001), could impact negatively on the wellbeing of the employees. These changes and the demands placed on the TEIs will inevitably have an impact on the levels of burnout as well as levels of engagement of employees (Coetzee, 2004). Stressful work situations (characterised by high job demands and lack of job resources), could lead to burnout, poor individual health and wellbeing of employees (Sonnentag, 2001). Burnout can lead to serious consequences, especially for university staff members, who form part of the human services industry (Adekola, 2010). The aim of this study was to establish the effectiveness of a physical activity and psychological intervention on burnout and engagement at a tertiary education institution. A longitudinal design was utilised where self-report as well as physical measures were used to evaluate the effect of the intervention. The convenience sample consisted of staff at a tertiary education institution (n(Time 1)=50, n(Time 2)=26; n(Time 3)=19). Burnout and engagement were measured using The South African Employee Health and Wellness Survey and physical measurement focused on: blood pressure values, fasting blood glucose levels, lipid profile Body Mass Index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), percentage body fat (%BF) and Lean Body Mass (LBM). The sample group was divided into two groups. In the first phase, the first group underwent a four-week physical activity intervention focusing on resistance training as well as cardiovascular fitness. The second group underwent a 4 week personal development plan focusing on increasing personal resources as well as social support. The groups were reassessed after the first four weeks and then switched interventions. After completion of both interventions, participants were once again assessed. MANOVAs were used to determine whether group differences occurred for more than one dependable variable (Salkind, 2009). ANOVAs (a one-way analysis of variance) were used to determine which intervention groups had been affected most with regard to the various constructs measured. Crichton (2009) explains that the Wilks’ Lambda test is used in MANOVA’ to test whether there are differences between the means of identified groups of subjects on a combination of dependent variables. Although there were no statistically significant movements observed for burnout and engagement scores, there are still indications of the effect the interventions showed. The psychological intervention increased engagement, and the scheduling of first a psychological intervention, and then a physical activity intervention, is suggested as more beneficial. None of the interventions were effective at alleviating burnout. Recommendations were made for future research. / MCom (Industrial Psychology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between office politics and selected performance outcomes namely stress, turnaround intent and work engagement, as perceived by employees working in law firms. A literature study indicated the relationship between perceptions of office politics and these selected job outcomes. As an empirical analysis, a measuring instrument consisting of five structured questionnaires was distributed via a non-probability, convenience sampling technique. Spearman’s correlation coefficient indicated the relationships between the variables. The results indicated a positive relationship between perceptions of office politics, job stress, burnout and turnaround intent but a negative relationship between perceptions of office politics and work engagement as well as its antecedents. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

For organisations in South Africa to preserve talented and skilled employees it is important that these organisations consider the psychological needs of their employees. This is particularly true for supervisors and their relationships with their subordinates. South Africans are daily engaged in working and influencing people within their workplaces. Although supervisors are not capable of addressing or changing all the problems and concerns of employees, they can intervene in order to improve the quality of their employees’ working lives. A suggested point to start with is within the supervisor’s behaviour and their relationships with employees, due to its effect on employee engagement and intentions to leave. Consequently, when employees experience a deprived relationship with their supervisors, it will contribute to lower employee engagement levels and higher intentions to leave. To possibly decrease the negative impact of supervisor behaviour, it is important that supervisors pay attention and create an environment in which satisfaction of the psychological needs of their subordinates can be maintained. The objectives of this study were to investigate the relations between supervisor behaviour (that supports psychological need satisfaction), psychological need satisfaction, employee engagement and intentions to leave. A convenience sample (N = 139) of employees working under the guidance of a leader/supervisor was taken from manufacturing companies across South Africa. Participation in the study was voluntary. A measuring battery measuring supervisor behaviour (i.e. perceptions of supervisor support, trust and competence-focused behaviour), work-related basic need satisfaction (i.e. the satisfaction of psychological needs such as autonomy, competence and relatedness) work engagement (i.e. cognitive, emotional and physical engagement) and intention to leave was used. Descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analyses, alpha coefficients, Pearson product-moment correlations, and multiple regression analyses were used to analyse the data. The results indicated that the measuring instruments used in this study were valid and reliable for further analyses. The results showed that supervisor support comprised one factor and not three factors as expected. Furthermore, the results showed that supervisor support for autonomy, competence and relatedness had a large effect on autonomy satisfaction and a medium effect on relatedness satisfaction. Supervisor relations did not impact competence satisfaction. The effect of supervisor support on autonomy satisfaction was larger than on relatedness satisfaction. Results from this study showed that supervisor support, autonomy satisfaction and competence satisfaction affected work engagement. Employees will tend to be engaged when supervisors demonstrate supportive behaviour and when they are able to regulate themselves because they feel a sense of competence and autonomy. The results also showed that supervisor support for psychological need satisfaction, autonomy satisfaction and relatedness satisfaction predicted employees’ intentions to leave organisations. Lastly, the results showed that supervisor support for psychological need satisfaction impacted employee engagement indirectly and positively via autonomy satisfaction, and indirectly and negatively impacted intention to leave via autonomy dissatisfaction. Recommendations were made for manufacturing organisations as well as for future research. Manufacturing organisations and employees should comprehend the impact of supervisor behaviour and psychological need satisfaction on outcomes such as employee engagement and intentions to leave, as both parties are similarly affected by its consequences. Interventions should be implemented to address the satisfaction of employees’ basic psychological needs. Additionally, manufacturing organisations should understand the importance of supervisor behaviour and the impact it can have on their business unit and the organisation as a whole. Recommendations for future research were made. / MA (Positive Psychology)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2015.

The ever-changing global business environment of today is presenting organisations with numerous challenges and in some instances result in economic and ethical meltdowns. The mining industry, in particular, is faced with a volatile market and consequently mining companies are experiencing increasing financial turmoil coupled with human capital problems resulting in labour unrest and often inoperativeness. As these challenges gain momentum, the mining industry will need to respond through a restructure of operations. Although the mining industry has been faced with a need to restructure before, it has not been faced with this challenge recently. Therefore, only a small portion of management teams holds the skills to respond effectively. For the mining industry in South Africa to adequately address these challenges, leadership will play a pivotal role. Consequently, organisations need a new kind of business leader and leadership should be examined from an authentic perspective. Authentic leadership has been associated with various positive outcomes such as trust in supervisor, psychological safety and work engagement. Both employees and organisations should support one another in order to remain viable. Trust is an important component of effective leadership and building relationships. In order for employees to feel secure and able to adapt to change, organisations should develop an environment which fosters trust and psychological safety and which, in turn, will lead to increased work engagement. The objectives of this study were to examine the relationship between authentic leadership, trust in supervisors, psychological safety and work engagement. In addition, another objective was to examine if trust in supervisor and psychological safety had an effect on the relationship between authentic leadership and work engagement. An available sample of 244 employees was taken from the mining industry in the Free State province. The questionnaires were distributed to employees across all levels in a mining organisation. All of these employees were given the choice to participate in the research. The measuring instruments utilised were the Authentic Leadership Questionnaire, Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, Workplace Trust Survey and Psychological Safety Questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistics, Raykov’s rho coefficients, Pearson product-moment correlations coefficients, Mplus and bootstrapping were used to analyse the data. The results indicated that authentic leadership had a statistically significant positive relationship with trust in supervisor as well as psychological safety. Authentic leadership did not have a statistically significant positive relationship with work engagement. The results indicated that authentic leadership had a statistically significant indirect effect on work engagement via trust in supervisor. Authentic leadership did not have a statistically significant indirect effect on psychological safety via trust in supervisor. Furthermore, authentic leadership did not have a statistically significant indirect effect on work engagement via psychological safety. Various recommendations were made for the mining industry as well as for future research. Organisations should understand the impact of authentic leadership on outcomes such as trust, psychological safety and work engagement. Organisations should select leaders who display the four dimensions of authentic leadership as well as implement structured leadership programmes or interventions. Recommendations for future research included utilising longitudinal research designs or diary studies as well as expanding the study to other organisations, industries, and provinces; also including additional sources of data over and above supervisors and subordinates. Future research may also employ a mixed method approach and include other related leadership constructs in the data collection. / MCom (Industrial Psychology)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2015.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Psychology / Ronald G. Downey / Job engagement is an emerging psychological construct that purports to measure individuals' level of psychological presence at work. The concept has received attention in both the academic literature and in industry. In the academic literature three measures of engagement exist that were examined in this research (Schaufeli, Britt, & Shirom). However, engagement has undergone little critical examination beyond factor analyses. This research sought to critically examine the concept of engagement as well as provide empirical evidence regarding its place in the nomological network of job attitudes. Both theoretically and empirically, engagement has been linked to personality and leadership variables; however, no research to date has attempted to examine all three concepts together. This research additionally sought to link engagement, personality, and leadership in a theoretically based model. Participants (N=382) at mid-sized financial institution completed a survey comprised of demographic items, attitude measures, a leadership measure, and a personality measure. Results indicated that the Schaufeli and Britt measures of engagement substantially overlap with job satisfaction and affective commitment; however, the Shirom measure (called vigor) is not redundant with job satisfaction or affective commitment. Hypothetical models of engagement, personality, and leadership were not good fits with the data; however, two modified models (one with Schaufeli's engagement and one with Shirom's vigor) had marginally acceptable fits. Further, hierarchical regressions indicated a strong connection between engagement and leadership and between engagement and personality. It seems that every so often a "new" concept comes along that offers organizations prosperity with little cost. Engagement is a popular and positive concept that is appealing to both practitioners and academics. Engagement, as a construct, is not a silver bullet for organizations. However, engagement or vigor may be a useful concept for organizations as both a selection instrument and as a way to assess the relative states of fulfillment of employees, groups, and organizations. Future directions for research and recommendations are discussed.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Psychology / Clive J. A. Fullagar / Student engagement has become an important way of assessing student outcomes for college and is used to provide information to accreditation agencies, for internal accountability as well as to assess impact of college on students. However, current measures of student engagement do not assess the core process underlying student engagement, instead focusing on antecedents and consequences of engagement. The current research addressed this gap by first developing a new measure of student engagement called SAENS (Student Academic ENgagement Scale), which is strongly grounded in theory derived from the work engagement literature. Two dimensions of engagement were found: enjoyment and effort. A second study validated this measure by forming a nomological net of relationships with other variables and testing these antecedents and consequences of engagement. Results indicated that engagement effort is strongly related to student grades for their classes and the dimension of enjoyment is related to the teaching style of collaborative learning. However, engagement was not related to students’ levels of critical thinking.

Research report presented to the Unisa School of Business Leadership / The purpose of the research is an investigation into how employee involvement can be used as a tool towards raising levels of engagement within actively disengaged employees at Ngwane Mills.