Includes bibliographical references (leaves 117-123).

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references. / Social Identity Theory proposes that individuals derive part of their identity and their social identity, through their membership in social groups. In order to derive a positive social identity, they attempt to compare themselves more favourably in comparison to members of groups they do not belong to, which may at times leads to discrimination against out-group members. Due to South Africa‟s history of race- and gender-based oppression, it is likely that race and gender are two particularly salient group memberships and that gender- and racebased discrimination are thus particularly prominent. Research has shown that discrimination in the workplace has negative effects, which result in reduced productivity as well as reduced employee engagement and wellbeing. The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which employees show a preference for co-workers from their own gender and racial groups and to establish whether their racial or gender bias is stronger.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 47-59). / This study examined work-family conflict as a predictor of turnover intention, and the moderating role that resilience may have had on this relationship. Participants were bluecollar workers (N = 136) within the chemical-specialty industry in the Western Cape. Exploratory factor analysis illustrated the unidimensionality of work-family conflict, however there was a strong theoretical argument to treat work-family conflict as separate dimensions for further analysis. Higher levels of strain-based conflict were reported by female blue-collar workers than by male blue-collar workers. Simple regression analysis showed that strain-based conflict explained a significant proportion of the variance in turnover intention; however time-based conflict was found not to predict turnover intention in this model. The results for the moderating effect of resilience on the relationship between strain-based conflict and turnover intention were not significant. Implications for management working in blue-collar environments are discussed.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references. / This exploratory study investigated the relationship between personality characteristics and preferences for job features, organisational features and career goals. A review of literature has revealed that there are associations between individuals’ personality characteristics and their preferences for specific aspects of these three variables. This study focused on final year graduate students (N = 15 066) from universities across South Africa.

The use of teams in organisations is often plagued by reduced individual effort which is termed social loafing. Therefore the study proposed that by making people aware that they are part of a group and introducing intergroup competition, social loafing would be reduced and turned into social labouring. The study further investigated the potential mediating effect of social dominance orientation on the relationship between group membership salience and task performance.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 93-96). / The purpose of this study is to examine if personal values/value systems held by employees can be used to accurately assign them to levels of work to which they will be best suited and, by implication, are likely to perform well. To fulfil this purpose, data covering a biographically mixed sample (N=399), being employees of various organisations was obtained by way of psychological assessment. Two psychological measures were used - one that measures employees' level of work profiles (CPP) and the other, their personal value systems (VO). Using correlation analysis and stepwise regression analysis, the study finds a statistically significant association between an employee's value system and his/her level of work profile (p<.05), and a moderate but also statistically significant ability of values to predict an employee's level of work profile (p<.001). The study concludes by recommending that, as part of the many considerations that should be taken into account in pursuit of successful initial and subsequent placement of people in organisations, personal values held by employees should be one of the qualities to be assessed and taken into consideration. The study further notes that the consideration of employee value systems as a quality necessary for on-the-job success should be done in addition to, rather than in replacement of the traditionally preferred qualities of cognitive abilities, personality and acquired knowledge/skills.

The South African economy is hindered by high unemployment, partly due to a lack of required skills in the country. Learnership programmes were implemented to contribute to skills development however there is limited research into the scope, magnitude and outcomes of these programmes. Previous research into learnerships has highlighted the importance of building support structures into these programmes in order to ensure their effectiveness. This study considered the role that workplace adjustment (self-efficacy, role clarity and social acceptance) has on the relationship between social support (co-workers, family, supervisors and mentors) and job satisfaction and self-perceived performance. Results indicated that coworker, supervisor and mentor support are related to performance via their link with workplace adjustment and that family support is related to job satisfaction via its link with workplace adjustment. This research aimed to create awareness about the internal processes and benefits of support personnel within South African learnerships. The results revealed that the quality rather than the number of support sources provided is important. Positive perceptions of support from co-workers, family, supervisors and/ or mentors was related to higher levels of job satisfaction and self-perceived performance. Additionally, learners who perceived the quality of support offered as high were more adjusted to the workplace. The study may not provide an accurate representation of learnerships in South Africa as a result of limitations such as the use of a self-reporting performance measure. Future research may elicit more accurate and representative analysis through the use of interviews or more objective measures when collecting data.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references. / The aim of this study was to investigate some of the factors that are associated with support of diversity in the South African workplace. Three particular factors were considered: employees’ race and gender and the degree to which employees felt their socio-emotional needs for acceptance or empowerment had been addressed. The importance of satisfying individuals’ socio-emotional needs for them to be willing to engage with members of other groups is highlighted in Shnabel and Nadler’s (2008) Needs-Based Model of Reconciliation (NBMR), which states that groups are only willing to reconcile once their socio-emotional needs have been addressed. Furthermore, the model specifies that these needs are different for members of groups who were victims in a conflict situation compared to those who belong to the perpetrating group. While victims have a need for empowerment in order to be seen as equal players in society, perpetrators want to feel accepted in society and thus have a need for acceptance. Based on the literature reviewed the study’s first hypothesis stated that previously disadvantaged groups would place more value on diversity than previously advantaged groups and that women would value diversity more than men. The second hypothesis was that previously advantaged groups have a higher need for acceptance than empowerment and previously disadvantaged groups have a higher need for empowerment than acceptance. The last hypothesis proposed that the lower their need for empowerment, the more previously disadvantaged individuals would value diversity and the lower their need for acceptance, the more previously advantaged individuals would value diversity.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 59-71). / To investigate the factors related to performance in a first year Commerce Academic Development (AD) Programme at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, the independent variables chosen were Matriculation result, self-efficacy, goal-setting orientation and locus of control. The results from the study will be useful to the Educational Development Unit at the university in assessing which psychological variables are having the most influence on their student population. The results will also assist in explaining why, in several cases, these AD students are outperforming the main- stream students. Limited statistically significant relationships were found between the independent variables and academic performance. The research design was critiqued and deemed to be problematic. Practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Organisations are increasingly introducing flexible workplace practices and policies such as flextime and flexplace to increase the commitment of their employees and assist them to balance the competing work-life demands. At first, they were designed to create a family-friendly workplace for working mothers and, later, also for working fathers. Childfree employees (i.e., those with no children) were not included. There is little research on the impact of these work arrangements on the organisational commitment of these childfree employees. This dissertation tries to close that gap. Childfree employees (N = 134) working in over a dozen South African organisations participated in a self-report quantitative survey. It seems that the availability and use of flexible work arrangements did not significantly predict their organisational commitment. Organisational commitment related to only one dimension of the childfree-friendly culture scale, equal work expectations. Perceived organisational support (POS) mediated the relationship between organisational commitment and equal work expectations.