Higher education institutions across the globe have been confronted with a series of complex changes. These include changes in management style and structure, increased competitveness, mergers with other institutions, changes in working conditions, increases in student numbers in the context of decreased expenditure per student, higher student-staff ratios, modularization of courses, and the introduction of quality monitoring systems. Tertiary institutions in South Africa are experiencing a similar transformation that is necessary because of changes in the political, economic, technological and social environments. As a result of these transformations support staffs operating within such environments are likely to experience a sense of powerlessness, to report feelings of anxiety and insecurity, including a lack of confidence in their abilities and uncertainty about their future in their organisations, resulting in occupational stress and strain. Possible uncertainties that these same employees may be faced with are lack of job security, decreased career prestige and professional recognition, scarcity of resources, difficulty in understanding the changing values of the organisation, increased centralisation of authority, increased bureaucracy and an increased demand for accountability. Many tertiary education support staff will now be involved in greater interaction with other people, either students or co-workers and would therefore be more vulnerable to occupational stress and strain. Furthermore the workload of support staff is increasing and the nature of the support work is changing. Support personnel groups are being asked to take on more duties and do work for a greater number of people. They are also required to use new technology, sometimes without adequate training, resulting in high stress levels. It is well documented that high levels of occupational stress, if left unchecked and unmanaged, undermine the quality of employees' health, wellbeing and morale, as well as a reduction in productivity and creativity. Therefore the objectives of this research are to determine the levels of occupational stress and strain of support staff at a higher education institution in the North-West province, to investigate possible demographic differences and to determine whether perceived organizational commitment moderates the effect of occupational stress and strain. A stratified sample (N= 3 15) of support staff at a higher education institution in the North-West province was taken. The ASSET Organisational Stress Screening Tool was used as measuring instrument. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the results. The results of the study showed that the support staff has fairly poor physical and psychological health indicating that support staff experience stress-related strain which could be mainly attributed to their work relationships and job characteristics respectively. The levels of the stress were relatively low, while high levels of both individual commitment to the organisation and perceived commitment from the organisation were found. Furthermore, differences in terms of occupational stress levels were found for different biographical groups. Practically significant positive relationships were found for job security, job characteristics and control. This means that in order for employees to feel secure about their jobs, they need to have perceived control over the aspects of their jobs. Work relationships were significantly related to job characteristics, overload and control which means that employee's relationships with others depended to a large extent on the element of control that they have of their jobs and the amount of work that they have. Contrary to the findings in the literature, organisational commitment did not moderate the occupational stress-strain relationship of support staff in the present study. Organisational commitment was significantly negatively related to occupational stress, while occupational stress was significantly positively related to ill-health (strain). Occupational stress explained 18% of the variance in ill-health (strain) and 23% of the variance in organisational commitment. Recommendations for the organisation and future research are made. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2005.

The work environment in which South African employees have to function is highly demanding, offering them little in terms of job security, but simultaneously expecting them to give more in terms of inter alia flexibility, competency, and effort. Tracking and addressing chemical industry employees' functioning in areas that could affect their general health and consequent standard of service is essential. Job insecurity, work-based support, job satisfaction, organisational commitment and general health are specific focus areas in this research. It is important to use reliable and valid measuring instruments to measure these constructs. It appears that job insecurity results in reduced organisational commitment as well as reduced job satisfaction. In the long run all this may have a negative impact on the psychological well-being of employees. Therefore, the right kind of support h m the right kind of people can be of significant value in reducing occupational stress, improving health, and buffering the impact of stress on health. A lack of South African research exists regarding job insecurity, work-based support, job satisfaction, organisational commitment and general health - hence the importance of this research. The primary objective of this research was to investigate the relationship between job insecurity, work-based support, job satisfaction, organisational commitment and general health of Human Resources Professionals (N = 114) in a chemical industry. A cross-sectional survey design was used to collect data. It was found that affective and cognitive job insecurity demonstrated a statistically significant negative correlation with emotional social support (supervisor and other), but practically and statistically negative correlation with intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction. With regard to affective and cognitive job insecurity and general health, a statistically significant positive correlation was obtained for somatic symptoms, social dysfunction and severe depression, and a practically and statistically significant correlation with anxiety and insomnia. Affective commitment demonstrated a statistically significant negative relationship with cognitive job insecurity. The regression analysis indicated that job insecurity has some predictive value with regard to the intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction and general health subscales, namely somatic symptoms, anxiety and insomnia, social dysfunction and severe depression. With regard to the two components of job satisfaction, intrinsic and extrinsic, job insecurity predicted 14% and 5% respectively of the variance. No predictions were found between affective commitment and job insecurity. With regard to general health, job insecurity predicted 5% (somatic symptoms), 11% (anxiety and insomnia), 1 % (social dysfunction) and 8% (severe depression). Conclusions were made, limitations of the cumin research were discussed and recommendations for future research were put forward. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2006.

A new era dawned for the higher education system in South Africa, after approval was announced by Cabinet regarding the final proposals for the restructuring of the higher education institutional landscape in December 2002, which required merging to take place between various higher educational institutions. Mergers are intrinsically stressful for employees due to the potential for change and loss, as well as the perceived decline in the organisation and a highly competitive labour market. A stable and productive higher education system is of fundamental importance to any country to ensure continuous development at economic, social and political level, hence the importance of this research. The objectives of this study were to establish the relationship between job insecurity, job satisfaction, organisational commitment, burnout, and work engagement of personnel (N = 83) after an incorporation of two tertiary educational institutions, and to determine whether job insecurity can be used to predict job satisfaction, organisational commitment, burnout, and work engagement. A cross-sectional survey design was used. The study population included both academic and non-academic staff members of the two institutions. Job insecurity was found to be practically significantly related to a reduction in intrinsic job satisfaction. No statistically significant relationship was found between job insecurity and extrinsic job satisfaction, between job insecurity and organisational commitment, and between job insecurity and the exhaustion component of burnout. Job insecurity was found to be practically significantly related to increased levels of cynicism and decreased levels of work engagement. Regression analyses, controlling for the influence of demographic variables, indicated that job insecurity held predictive value with regard to intrinsic job satisfaction (lo%), cynicism (7%), vigour (l8%), dedication (7%) and absorption (10%). / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2006.

South Africa, like the rest of the world, is undergoing major changes in the social, political, economic, technological and organisational environments. The ability of any organisation to compete internationally will depend to a large extent on the quality of its people. The biggest challenge that organisations are facing is to find, develop and retain talent. More than ever the ability of organisations to grow and develop will he determined by the level of competence and energy of their people. Challenging and meaningful work, development opportunities, leadership and empowerment are some of the most important reasons why talented people will stay on in a company. To increase speed, efficiency and to reduce costs, organisations have flattened their structures. From this it can be concluded that if companies want to be successful and retain talented people they have to create an environment where people feel empowered. The leader or manager plays an import role in the empowerment of people. The consequences of empowerment can include higher levels of job satisfaction, organisational commitment and work engagement. The objectives of the study were to determine the reliability and validity of the instruments, as well as the relationship between psychological empowerment, leader empowering behaviour, job insecurity, job satisfaction, organisational commitment and work engagement. Employees from selected organisation were targeted. The study population included employees from managerial and non-managerial categories. A cross-sectional survey design was used to obtain the research objectives. Six standardised questionnaires were used in the empirical study, namely Leader Empowering Behaviour Questionnaire, Job Insecurity Inventory, Measuring Empowerment Questionnaire, Job satisfaction, Organisational commitment and Work engagement. Descriptive statistics, factor analyses, Cronbach alpha coefficien@ correlations, MANOVAS and regression analyses were used to analyse the data. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2007.

During the last decade, dramatic changes have been experienced in workplaces because of technological growth, globalisation, ever increasing competitive markets, changing industrial relation laws and better management skills (Cappelli, 1999). Amidst this change, the biggest issue is for organisations to gain dedication from their employees. Maslach et al (2001) explains that the impact of the 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 lifetime employment and job security. In security companies, the employer obligations and employee obligations also went through a process of change. Crime has become a very serious concern in South Africa. In Gauteng, crime has increased with 69,2% (SAP Statistics, 2005) from 1994 to 2004. Because of crime, many independent security companies were formed to help prevent crime, working together with the South African Police Force. A lack of research exists regarding employees' work outcomes like job insecurity, organisational commitment and intention to quit associated with the psychological contract within a service company. The objectives of this study are to investigate the relationship between employer obligations, employee obligations, job insecurity, organisational commitment and intention to quit of employees (N=217) in a service (security) company. A cross - sectional design was used. Constructs were measured by means of an employer obligations questionnaire, employee obligations questionnaire, job insecurity questionnaire, organisational commitment questionnaire and intention to quit questionnaire. The research method for each of the two articles consists of a brief literature review and an empirical study. Exploratory factor analysis, as well as Cronbach alpha coefficients are computed to access the reliability and validity of the different measurement instruments. Descriptive statistics are used to analyse data and Pearson product moment correlation coefficients, as well as regression analysis were used to examine the relationship between the constructs employed in this research. Significant differences are found between various biographical groups and the scores of the psychological contract (employer obligations scale and employee obligations scale), the job insecurity scale, the organisational commitment scale and the intention to quit scale. Conclusions are made, limitations of the current research are discussed and recommendations for future research are put forward. / Thesis (M.Com. (Industrial Sociology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2009.

Current day organisations must revert to many measures to survive in the very competing business environment. One of these measures is to reduce the number of employees. This leads to perceptions of job insecurity, not only in the employees who are not made redundant but also in employees in so-called stable organisations who are aware of these measures being implemented in other organisations. Researchers found conflicting results of job insecurity regarding performance of employees experiencing job insecurity. On the one hand it was reported that job insecurity leads to higher job performance and on the other that it leads to lower job performance. To reconcile these conflicting findings Jordan, Ashkanasy and Hartel (2002) developed a model. In their two stage model in which they postulate that perceptions of job insecurity could lead to lower affective organisational commitment and higher job-related stress and this in turn could lead to negative coping behaviour (stage one). They then include emotional intelligence (EI) as moderator of all the links between the above mentioned constructs (stage two). They are of the opinion that employees with high EI will experience higher affective organisational commitment and lower job-related stress than employees with low EI when perceptions of job insecurity are experienced. They also postulate that employees with high EI will be less inclined to revert to negative coping behaviour. The main objective of this study was to investigate whether this model would be applicable to employees of private health care organisations in Gauteng. In the first article a literature review was conducted to determine how job insecurity, affective organisational commitment, job-related stress and coping were conceptualised as well as the relationships between these constructs. This was done to investigate the first stage of the model of Jordan et al. (2002). In the second article a literature review was conducted to determine how job insecurity, affective organisational commitment, job-related stress, coping and EI were conceptualised. The relationships between these constructs and the role of EI as moderator of these relationships were also determined. This was done to investigate the second stage of the model of Jordan et al. (2002). A non-experimental correlation research design was used. Employees of private health care organisations were the participants. The Job Insecurity Inventory, the Organisational Commitment Questionnaire, the Experience of Work Life and Circumstances Questionnaire, the Cope Questionnaire and the Emotional Intelligence Scale were used, as well as a biographical questionnaire. The SPPS program and partly STATISTIKA were used to perform the statistical analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data. Cronbach alpha coefficients and factor analyses were used to assess the reliability and validity of the measuring instruments. Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients were used to specify the relationships between the variables. Multiple regression analysis was used to determine the moderating influence of emotional intelligence. It was determined that, in this specific research group, job insecurity has a negative correlation with affective organisational commitment. Job insecurity has a positive correlation with job-related stress levels. A positive correlation was found between job-related stress levels and certain negative coping behaviours, such as denial, behavioural disengagement and mental disengagement. A negative correlation was found between affective organisational commitment and negative coping behaviour, specifically the use of drugs or alcohol. All of these correlations were statistically and practically significant. It was found that job insecurity as independent variable explains 12.1% of the total variance in affective organisational commitment. It was also found that job insecurity as independent variable explains 21.1 % of the total variance in the job -related stress levels. These findings indicated that the first stage of the model of Jordan et al. (2002) could be supported. Multiple regression analyses were performed to determine the moderating effect of EI as discussed above. The results indicated that EI had only a slight but significant moderating effect on the job insecurity -affective organisational commitment relationship and no effect on the job insecurity - job-related stress relationship. The results also indicate that EI moderates the strength of the relationship between affective organisational commitment and coping behaviour to such an extent that affective organisational commitment's predictive value is reduced to closely insignificant whilst EI emerges as the primary predictor of coping behaviour (both positive and negative). This may imply that emotionally intelligent employees will tend to use more problem-focused coping behaviour irrespective of the affective organisational commitment that they experience. Although to a lesser extent in this study, it was found that emotionally intelligent employees also make use of emotion-focused coping behaviour appropriate for managing affective states associated with experienced stress. Concerning avoidant coping strategies EI significantly negatively moderates alcohol-drug disengagement as a coping strategy, meaning employees with high EI will tend not to revert to the use of drugs or alcohol as coping strategy. It was concluded that EI does not buffer employees against the emotional consequences of job insecurity in this research group, as proposed by the model of Jordan et al. (2002), but rather enables them to cope with these emotional effects using problem-focused- and emotion- focused coping strategies, but not avoidant strategies. The latter finding is in line with the proposed model of Jordan et al.(2002). Conclusions, the limitations of this research and recommendations for private health care organisations and for future research were made. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2009.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2006.

The mandates for government-owned enterprises (parastatals) have drastically changed in light of the changes in the government's post-democratic dispensation. There are more pressures and obligations related to governance, business operations, sustainability and financial viability prescribed for these institutions. Parastatals have moved from fully utilising government subsidies and incurring more debts at the expense of government, to income-generating entities. This change has exposed parastatals to global challenges, experienced by all organisations related to human capital management. Employees are the most critical assets that assist organisations to fulfil their mandates and drive their competitive advantage. While organisations experience challenges and pressures in the market, employees are also positively and adversely affected, depending on their dispositions and general functioning. The extent of employee participation and involvement in their work roles impacts on the success of the institution. Thus, work-related well-being of employees is an integral part of any organisational functioning and this relates to interplay between constructs of job demands, job resources, psychological conditions at work, health, work engagement, self-efficacy and organisational commitment. The general objective of this research was to study work engagement and its relationship with various other antecedents, mediators and outcomes of employees within a parastatal in the South African context. Furthermore, the study aimed to understand the relationships between factors of job demands, job resources, psychological conditions, self-efficacy and work engagement. In addition to the above, this study also aimed to determine relationships between psychological conditions, job demands, job resources, work engagement, self-efficacy, health and organisational commitment. The findings are presented in three articles, each consisting of a brief literature review and an empirical study. A cross-sectional survey design was used. The study included 288 participants in a parastatal in different job categories and levels. The questionnaires used in the empirical study comprised of the Work Engagement Scale, the Antecedents Scale, the Job Demands-Re sources Scale, the Organisational Commitment Questionnaire, the Psychological Conditions Questionnaire, the Self-Efficacy Scale, the General Health Questionnaire and a biographical questionnaire. Exploratory factor analyses were carried out to determine the construct validity of the measuring instruments. Pearson-product moment correlation coefficients were used to assess the relationships between the variables, while multiple regression analyses were used to investigate the predictive value of factors on each other. The results showed that psychological meaning fulness and psychological availability were significant predictors of work engagement, with person-environment fit and growth opportunities in the job as strongest predictors of psychological meaningfulness. Person-environment fit was the strongest predictor of work engagement and psychological availability was best predicted by physical resources. Overload and psychological meaningfulness were the best predictors of work engagement. Growth opportunities in the job and organisational support were the best predictors of psychological meaningfulness, which also strongly predicted work engagement. Psychological availability was found to be positively related to organisational support and self-efficacy. Low psychological availability predicted physical and psychological ill health, while low psychological meaningfulness predicted psychological ill health. Work engagement was the strongest predictor of normative and affective commitment, while psychological meaningfulness strongly predicted normative commitment. Recommendations for future research are made. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

The reduction of workplace accidents and improvement of workplace safety is a concern for most mining houses. Pressure from the labour movement and legislative requirements do not make the burden any lighter. There are circumstances directly and indirectly relating to accidents and therefore a need to obtain an in-depth analysis of underlying causes of accidents in order to draw relevant conclusions exists. There are workplace environmental matters as well as individual attitudinal issues that need to be addressed. The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship of work stress and job insecurity with safety compliance, job satisfaction and commitment in a mine. A cross-sectional survey design was used with an availability sample (n=158). A survey booklet including a biographical questionnaire, scales on job insecurity, job satisfaction, affective organisational commitment, workplace accidents and safety compliance as well as a work stress measure comprising dimensions of role clarity, conflict and overload was administered. The results indicated that when miners experience work stress and job insecurity, their safety compliance is low. Job satisfaction was found to be a positive predictor of safety compliance among miners. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.