Extensive research on burnout in different occupational fields has taken place internationally. However, no studies on students at higher education institutions in South Africa have been performed. The objective of this research was to standardise the Maslach Burnout Inventory- Student Survey (MBI-SS) and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-Student Survey (UWESSS) for student leaders in a South African university. Further objectives included empirically determining the relationships between burnout and engagement on the one hand, and work stress, optimism, individual and organisational commitment on the other. In so doing the researchers would be able to advise higher education institutions on how they could help with preventing burnout in student leaders, as well as enhancing the work engagement of these student leaders. A cross-sectional survey design was used. The entire population of student leaders were involved (N=196). The population of student leaders consisted of student leaders of 22 different House Committees and the Students' Representative Council. The Maslach Burnout Inventory-Student Survey and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-Student Survey, Life Orientation Test Revised, Attitudes Towards Your Organisation Survey and Position Characteristics Survey were administered. Descriptive and interferential statistics were used to analyse the data. The results obtained for MBI-SS proved this measuring instrument to be reliable and valid. By using the structural equation modelling approach a three-dimensional factor structure for burnout among student leaders emerged which supported earlier conceptions in this regard. The same applies to the UWES-SS. The results showed that for the Burnout model Emotional Exhaustion was best predicted by Overload, Cynicism by Job Demands and Professional Eficacy by Resources. For the Engagement model Absorption was best predicted by Recources and Dedication and Vigour were best predicted by Optimism. / Thesis (M.Com. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.

Tertiary institutions in South Africa are being called to account for the quality of education that they provide. Evidence suggests that staffs at all levels are working longer hours than in the past in order to adhere to the above-mentioned requirement. Non-academic personnel in universities are the key performers to establish service quality. They know that they have to support academic staff in their main roles of research and teaching at institutions of higher education. Different support personnel groups within a university experience distinct problems. The nature of the support personnel's work is continuous and demanding. Support personnel must deal with the dilemmas inherent in simultaneously administering, supervising instruction, being accessible, delegating and accepting responsibility. Multiple personal and professional qualities seem to be needed to carry out the job successfully. Not surprisingly, then, support personnel in tertiary institutions can be extremely prone to experience burnout and occupational stress. The objective of this research was to determine the relationship between burnout, strain and job characteristics and to determine whether dispositional optimism moderates the effect of job characteristics on burnout. A stratified random sample (N = 334) was taken of personnel working in universities in the North-West province. The Maslach Burnout Inventory - General Survey, the Health subscales of ASSET and the Life Orientation test (revised edition) were used as measuring instruments. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the results. The results of the study showed that work overload and certain task characteristics (for example, no possibilities for independent thought and action) caused personnel to experience exhaustion as well as cynicism, which resulted in strain. On the other hand, certain task characteristics (for example, variety in work, adequate management and job security) were all linked to higher professional efficacy, which, in turn, resulted in less experienced strain. Exhaustion and cynicism, both of which are dimensions of burnout, were also significantly correlated. Dispositional optimism, however, was related to lower exhaustion and professional efficacy, which resulted in less experienced strain and burnout. Therefore, it seems that optimism moderates the effects of job characteristics on exhaustion. Recommendations were made for future research / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.

Universities worldwide are developing a disturbing imbalance with their environments. In recent years, academic working conditions in South African universities have changed dramatically as a result of the country's post-apartheid policies and the accelerating globalisation of knowledge. Academic staff are continually confronted with an overload of job demands without corresponding increases in job resources. These prolonged job stressors that academic staff are subjected to over lengthy periods of time coupled with inadequate job resources can lead to the development of a pathogenically defined construct, namely burnout. The objective of this research was to investigate the relationships between burnout, strain, job characteristics and dispositional optimism in universities in the North-West Province. A cross-sectional design was used. The study population (N = 279) consisted of academic staff of universities in the North-West Province. The Maslach Burnout Inventory - General Survey (MBI-GS), The Life Orientation Test - Revised (LOT-R), Job Characteristics Scale (JCS) and General Health Questionnaire (GHQI9) were used as measuring instruments. Descriptive statistics (e.g. means, standard deviations and kurtosis) were used to analyse the data. Exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modelling were used to confirm the structure of the measuring instruments and to test theoretical models. The results showed that the stressors of overload was associated with high levels of exhaustion and low professional efficacy. Job resources (i.e. social support, task characteristics) were related to low levels of exhaustion and cynicism and higher levels of professional efficacy. Exhaustion and low professional efficacy were significantly related to physical and psychological health problems. Exhaustion and cynicism were negatively related to optimism, whereas professional efficacy were positively related to the latter. Optimism moderated the effects of a lack of resources on exhaustion and the effects of job resources on professional efficacy. / Thesis (M.Com. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.

With the introduction of positive psychology the aim with organisational psychology shifted to finding the 'happy/productive' worker and focusing more on work wellness. Working as an engineer has generally been considered challenging, but tough demands on today's engineers can cause exhaustion, which is due to a combination of personal stressors, job and organisational stressors. However, recently the world of work has started to change drastically - which also holds true for the engineering profession. One of the focus areas of redress is the work-related well-being of engineers, and specifically burnout, stress and work engagement. This research focused on the total spectrum of wellness - from unwell-being (e.g. burnout and stress) to well-being (e.g. work engagement). The moderating effects of organisational commitment and dispositional optimism were investigated in order to establish a causal model for burnout and engagement. The objectives of this research were to standardise the MBI and the UWES for engineers, to determine the occupational stressors of engineers and to develop and test a causal models of work-related well-being of engineers. The research findings are set out as four separate articles, each consisting of a brief literature overview and an empirical study. A cross-sectional research design with a survey as technique of data collection was used to achieve the objectives of this research. The study population consisted of 369 engineers. A biographical questionnaire, the Maslach Burnout Inventory - General Survey WI-GS), the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES), the Job Characteristics Scale (JCS), the Organisational Stress Screening Tool (ASSET), the Health subscales of the ASSET, the Organisational Commitment subscale of the ASSET, and the Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R) were used. Descriptive statistics, correlations, analysis of variance, factor analyses, multiple regression analysis and structural equation modelling were used to analyse the data. A three-factor model of burnout, comprising exhaustion, cynicism and professional efficacy was confirmed. The internal consistencies of the scales were acceptable. The results obtained from comparing burnout levels of various demographic groups showed that practically significant differences existed between burnout of engineers with different levels of job satisfaction, age, years of experience and self-rated performance. Compared to normative data, participants reported lower levels of physical ill-health and psychological outcomes of stress. The most important stressors identified were work-life balance, work demands and work overload. The results do not support previous findings that commitment has a protective effect against the negative consequences of workplace stress. The buffer hypothesis of organisational commitment is not supported by the data. Structural equation modelling confirmed a model of work engagement, consisting of Vigour, Dedication and Absorption. These three factors had acceptable internal consistencies. The results showed that the self-rated performance and job satisfaction of engineers varied depending on their levels of work engagement. No demographic differences regarding engagement levels could be found between the different age groups, engineering environments, job levels and years of experience. A good fit was found for a model in which exhaustion mediated the relationship between job demands and ill-health, and work engagement (vigour and dedication) mediated the relationship between job resources and organisational commitment. The results suggested that the effect of a lack of job resources on exhaustion and the effect of job resources on work engagement depends on the level of dispositional optimism. Recommendations for future research were made. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.

Emotional intelligence is a growing area of behavioural research; it recently grabbed the attention of some of the major organisations worldwide. The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between wellness and emotional intelligence in order to develop a structural model of psychological well-being. The following constructs were looked at, Optimism, Sense of Coherence, Life Satisfaction, Emotional Intelligence are all seen as good indicators of Psychological well-being. A cross-sectional design was used for this study. The participants (N=324) were students within the field of economic science. The Schutte Emotional Intelligence Scale, the Life Orientation Test Revised, the Satisfaction with Life Scale and the Orientation to Life scale were administered. Using a principal component analysis, a six-dimension factor structure for emotional intelligence among students emerged, explaining 45,24% of the variance. These factors were labelled positive affect, emotions-others, happy emotions, emotions-own, nonverbal emotions and emotional control. The most significant correlations found in this study was that Sense of Coherence is significantly positively related to Emotions Management and Life Satisfaction and significantly positively related to Emotions-Own, Happy Emotions, Positive Affect and Optimism. Sense of Coherence was negatively related to Pessimism. Emotions Management is significantly positively related to Emotions-Own, Happy Emotions, Positive Affect, Optimism and Life Satisfaction. Positive affect is significantly positively related to Optimism. Pessimism is significantly negatively related to Life Satisfaction. Optimism is significantly positively related to Life Satisfaction. After conducting a second factor analysis on the factors of the SEIS, LOT-R, SOC and SWLS, two factors were extracted, namely interpersonal and intrapersonal mastery. Using these factors, along with the results of the product-moment correlations, a psychological well-being model was designed and compiled. The results showed that Interpersonal mastery consisted of Positive Affect, Emotional Management, Sense of Coherence, Life Satisfaction and Optimism. Intrapersonal mastery consisted of Emotions-Others, Emotions-Own, Happy Emotions and Non-Verbal Emotions. It is evident from the above that the psychological well-being model consisted of intrapersonal mastery and environmental mastery. Recommendations for future research were made. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007

South Africa's business environment is changing dramatically. Companies are continuously placed under pressure to reform. Government introduced clear guidelines in the form of transformation strategies to assist companies in moving towards a more democratic, non-racial and fully representative organisational structure. The two major strategies are coined Black Economic Empowerment and Affirmative Action. The aim of the strategies is to empower and uplift the previously disadvantaged communities of the Apartheid era. These communities include black people; who consist of Africans, Coloureds and Indians; women and disabled individuals. However, these strategies are perceived with mixed emotions. A sense of negativity is evident within the attitudes of all race groups. This may give rise to a new problem in the workplace: pessimism. Pessimism is associated with undesirable characteristics such as external, unstable and specific explanations for bad things and has emotional links to depression. Pessimists view problems as long lasting and inescapable, and tend to blame all misfortunes on their own ineptness and incompetence. On the other hand, optimism is associated with characteristics such as positive mood and good morale, happiness, perseverance and effective problem solving, achievement and health and even a long life and freedom from trauma. It is characterised by internal, stable and global explanations for bad things. A cross-sectional design with an availability sample (N 68) of junior and middle management workers working in a multinational industry was used. Nonprobability purposive sampling was applied in the selection of the study population. The results indicated that males experience more dispositional pessimism than women. Black employees also experienced more dispositional pessimism and optimism than white employees, and employees who attended Affirmative Action induction programmes displayed higher levels of optimism than those who have not attended such programmes. If the tendency towards pessimism increases the result may have devastating effects on the organisation as a whole. It is possible that performance will decline and organisational targets will not be reached. To address these issues organisations may need to change their structural planning in order to utilise males more productively, and to enhance a sense of empowerment. Companies should formulate clear goals with regard to what they want to gain from Affirmative Action programmes. Programmes should also be constantly revised and continuing evaluations must be carried out in order to track the effect of the programmes on the workforce. Recommendations were made for future research. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Organisations world-wide, but most especially in South Africa, are exposed to radical change in the economic, political, social, demographical and technological arenas. They are also exposed to the effects of the world economy, structural reforms and international competition which lead to transformations in the labour market. Consequently job insecurity became more wide spread as organisations engaged in downsizing, rightsizing, restructuring; or all three simultaneously, in an attempt to survive these difficult economic conditions. This changing world of work is perhaps most evident in changes in the psychological contract. Employees are expected to give more in terms of time, effort, skills, and flexibility, whereas they receive less in terms of career opportunities, lifetime employment, and job security. This violation of the psychological contract is likely to have dire consequences such as a reduction in work engagement, because it erodes the notion of reciprocity, which is crucial in maintaining well-being. Long-ten job insecurity will M e r more impact an employee's overall life situation since economic as well as other highly valued aspects of life will be perceived as being under threat. Thus job insecurity has the potential of becoming more stressful than job loss in that the coping process may be inhibited by the uncertainty of the event. Although the experience of job insecurity is a reality in the South African context as well as worldwide. Only a limited number of programmes were implemented in the past to address the problem. Furthermore, there is a lack of research regarding the causal (dispositional and situational) factors in job insecurity and the relationship with the psychological forces (sense of coherence, work locus of control and dispositional optimism) in the financial industry in South Africa (Gauteng). The objective of this study was to determine whether a relationship exists between job insecurity and psychological well-being which was measured in the form of sense of coherence, work locus of control and dispositional optimism. The research method proceeded by using a cross-sectional research design with a survey technique to collect data from a stratified, random sample of employees within various job levels of a financial institution in Gauteng. The measuring battery consisted of four questionnaires namely the Job Insecurity Questionnaire (JIQ), Sense of Coherence Scale (SOC-29), The Work Locus of Control Scale (WLOC) and the Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R) Questionnaire. The data analysis were conducted with help of the a SAS-programme to perform statistical analysis regarding reliability and validity of the measuring instruments, descriptive statistics, t-tests, analysis of variance, correlation coefficients and regression analyses. Conclusions were drawn from the findings and recommendations were made for the organisation and future research. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2005.

Research on human resilience has attempted to uncover how certain individuals, even when faced with adverse working conditions can bounce back without serious psychological harm and continue their development. There is a paucity of information on the concept resilience as it pertains to professional nurses. Relevant information in this regard can equip nurses who are fleeing the profession, or who are becoming physically or mentally ill because they are not coping. Information on the prevalence of resilience in professional nurses and a better understanding of the coping skills and resilient adaptations of identified resilient professional nurses can lead to the formulation of guidelines with strategies for interventions that can facilitate growth in professional nurses and be of benefit to the health care service. This research investigated the prevalence of resilience in professional nurses and listened to the stories of identified resilient professional nurses in order to get a better understanding of their coping skills and resilient adaptations. The data was used to formulate broad guidelines with specific strategies that can be used by hospital managers for in-service training purposes and other programs to facilitate growth in professional nurses. The research was conducted in South Africa amongst nurses in private and public hospitals in the following suburban areas: Potchefstroom, Carletonvi1le, Randfontein and Krugersdorp. A sequential exploratory design was used where one phase is followed by another phase: the first phase was quantitative research conducted with validated psychometric instruments measuring aspects of resilience, namely: The Mental Health Continuum, The Coping Self-efficacy Scale, Sense of Coherence Scale, The Adult Dispositional Hope Scale. The Life Orientation Test-Revised, The Resilience Scale, and The General Health Questionnaire. The second phase was qualitative and explored the stories of the resilient professional nurses by requesting them to write their stories on how they manage to stay resilient and compassionate in the profession followed by focus group interviews also with resilient nurses. The prevalence of resilience in the professional nurses in the first phase indicated the following: 10% with low resilience, 47% as moderate and 43 % with high resilience, but with mostly negative feelings toward the profession and with many considering leaving their current job. The stories followed by focus group interviews with resilient professional nurses produced useful data that could be used to formulate guidelines with strategies for interventions to facilitate and enhance resilience and psycho-social well-being in professional nurses thereby improving the nursing profession and health care service overall. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Psychology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010

Organisations world-wide, but most especially in South Africa, are exposed to radical change in the economic, political, social, demographical and technological arenas. They are also exposed to the effects of the world economy, structural reforms and international competition which lead to transformations in the labour market. Consequently job insecurity became more wide spread as organisations engaged in downsizing, rightsizing, restructuring; or all three simultaneously, in an attempt to survive these difficult economic conditions. This changing world of work is perhaps most evident in changes in the psychological contract. Employees are expected to give more in terms of time, effort, skills, and flexibility, whereas they receive less in terms of career opportunities, lifetime employment, and job security. This violation of the psychological contract is likely to have dire consequences such as a reduction in work engagement, because it erodes the notion of reciprocity, which is crucial in maintaining well-being. Long-ten job insecurity will M e r more impact an employee's overall life situation since economic as well as other highly valued aspects of life will be perceived as being under threat. Thus job insecurity has the potential of becoming more stressful than job loss in that the coping process may be inhibited by the uncertainty of the event. Although the experience of job insecurity is a reality in the South African context as well as worldwide. Only a limited number of programmes were implemented in the past to address the problem. Furthermore, there is a lack of research regarding the causal (dispositional and situational) factors in job insecurity and the relationship with the psychological forces (sense of coherence, work locus of control and dispositional optimism) in the financial industry in South Africa (Gauteng). The objective of this study was to determine whether a relationship exists between job insecurity and psychological well-being which was measured in the form of sense of coherence, work locus of control and dispositional optimism. The research method proceeded by using a cross-sectional research design with a survey technique to collect data from a stratified, random sample of employees within various job levels of a financial institution in Gauteng. The measuring battery consisted of four questionnaires namely the Job Insecurity Questionnaire (JIQ), Sense of Coherence Scale (SOC-29), The Work Locus of Control Scale (WLOC) and the Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R) Questionnaire. The data analysis were conducted with help of the a SAS-programme to perform statistical analysis regarding reliability and validity of the measuring instruments, descriptive statistics, t-tests, analysis of variance, correlation coefficients and regression analyses. Conclusions were drawn from the findings and recommendations were made for the organisation and future research. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2005.

The new world of work has an enormous impact on the work-life of employees. Retrenchment, early retirement, unemployment and the demand for better performance are the result of massive restructurings, outsourcing, mergers and acquisitions. The old Psychological contract, as well as lifelong employment, is becoming obsolete in a changing world of work. This leads to increased job insecurity in the workplace. There is substantial evidence in the literature that job insecurity is damaging to psychological health. Job insecurity in not only damaging the individual but impacts negatively on the organisation. Job insecurity leads to mistrust, lack of commitment and general dissatisfaction. In the end it will have a definite impact on organisational performance. The empirical objective of this research was to investigate the relationship between job insecurity, psychological well-being and the relationship with future literacy. A cross-sectional design with an availability sample (n =. 459) was used. The sample was subjected to a specific programme of future literacy training (Map Your Life). Questionnaires were completed prior to the training programme. The reliability and construct validity of the measuring instruments acceptable. (Cronbach alpha coefficients adhere to the cut-off point of > 0,70) with the exception of the Dispositional Optimism Questionnaire (Cronbach alpha coefficient of 0,64). Future literacy is an unknown concept and it was necessary to conceptualise the concept. No instrument to measure future literacy existed and it was necessary to compile such an instrument. A questionnaire consisting of 18 items was compiled to measure future literacy. Factor analysis revealed two factors that measured future literacy. Factor One was named Positive Mindset Towards Future Possibilities and Factor Two, Anticipating, Planning and Preparing for Future Changes. The Cronbach alpha for Factor One was 0,76 and 0,8 1 for the second factor. Results indicated statistical signiticant correlations (of a medium effect) between job insecurity, self-efficacy, dispositional optimism and work locus of control. Self-efficacy and dispositional optimism correlated negatively with job insecurity, indicating that job insecurity decreases as self-efficacy and dispositional optimism increases. The results also indicated a significant negative correlation (medium effect) between job insecurity and future literacy. This implies that as job insecurity decreases future literacy increases. The negative correlation between future literacy and job insecurity indicates that candidates who are future literate experience less job insecurity. When candidates with high and low scores on future literacy were compared with one another, candidates who scored low on all the scales of future literacy experienced high levels job insecurity. Candidates who demonstrated high levels of future literacy experienced significantly lower job insecurity. Black employees experienced significantly higher levels of future literacy when compared to White employees. Multiple regression analysis indicated that self-efficacy, dispositional optimism, work locus of control and future literacy predicted job insecurity when controlling for biographical variables. Limitations and recommendations regarding future research, as well as recommendations for the organisation were made. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2006.