Higher education in a democratic South Africa faces huge challenges – primarily the need to achieve greater equity, efficiency and effectiveness in institutions and across the system. Universities had to open their doors to students of all races, transform curricula to become more locally relevant, and produce scholars able to address South Africa’s problems. When organisations face these changes, they still need to support their employees. They need to ensure that the employees feel secure in their employment to improve their commitment to the organisation. The objective of this study was to investigate the perceived organisational support and organisational commitment of academics in South Africa. A cross-sectional survey design was used. A non-probability convenience sample was taken from a higher education institution in South Africa (N=388).The Survey of Perceived Organisational Support (SPOS) and Allen and Meyer’s Organisational Commitment Scale were administered.Cronbach alpha coefficients, Spearman product correlation coefficients, MANOVAs (to determine differences in demographic groups) and multiple regression analyses were used to analyse the data. Principal component analysis resulted in a two-factor model for perceived organisational support, namely positive support and negative support. Regarding organisational commitment, a two-factor model was also extracted, namely affective commitment and continuance commitment. The results attained from the product-moment correlations indicated that positive support has a negative relationship with negative support. Positive support is also practically significantly related to affective commitment and continuance commitment. A MANOVA analysis was conducted to determine the differences in levels of POS experienced with regard to staff, ethnicity, language, faculty and gender. The results indicated that no significant differences were found in the levels of POS experienced with regard to staff and gender. Statistically significant differences were found between levels of negative support with regard to ethnicity, language and faculties. Statistically significant differences were found between levels of positive support of staff in different faculties. MANOVA was also used to determine differences between staff with regard to commitment levels. Statistically significant differences were found between levels of continuance commitment. Support staff experience higher levels of continuance commitment than academic staff do. Multiple regression analyses indicated that positive support predicted 9% of the variance in affective organisational commitment and 18% of the variance in continuance commitment. Recommendations were made for future research. / MCom (Human Resource Management), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Nursing as a profession presents an interesting context for studying meaning of work, as it centres on the care of patients; the motivation behind choosing such a profession. Furthermore, taking into consideration the current economic situation and the shortage of nurses in the country, it is important to investigate the kind of impact that the meaning they receive from their work may have on their commitment to the hospital and their level of engagement in their work. What nurses do and how well they do it relates directly to the quality of care the patient receives. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between meaning of work, organisational commitment and work engagement among nurses of various hospitals in the Vaal Triangle. Also investigated were biographical factors such as gender, race, age, citizenship, qualification, years of service, job level and employment status. A survey design was used on a sample of nurses (N = 199) in hospitals. A biographical questionnaire, the Organisational Commitment Questionnaire, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale and Work-Life Questionnaire were administered. The statistical analyses were carried out by means of SPSS (2009). Factor analyses were conducted to determine construct validity and Cronbach’s alphas and inter-item correlation coefficients assessed the internal consistency of the instruments. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients ranging from 0,94 to 0,62 were obtained for the above-mentioned questionnaires. Results showed that the majority of nurses viewed their work as either a job or a calling. More African nurses viewed their work as a calling than did any other race group. Younger workers, specifically those with a Grade 12 qualification, viewed their work as a career, while the more experienced nurses and those on management level viewed their work as either a career or a calling. Furthermore, nurses viewing their work as a calling are more committed to the organisation and more engaged in their work, whereas nurses viewing their work as a job are less committed and engaged. Lastly, a positive relationship exists between organisational commitment and work engagement. Therefore, the more strongly nurses view their work as a calling, the more committed they will be to the hospital and the more engaged they will be in their work. Based on the above findings, recommendations were made for the hospitals and future research. / MCom, Industrial Psychology, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2011

Change and transformation in higher education institutions worldwide are advancing at a rate that institutions and individual employees find hard to comprehend. During the past two decades, complex changes challenging institutions' mandates, traditional practices, authority and organisational structures have surfaced. It is widely acknowledged that stable and productive higher education institutions are vitally important to any country in order to ensure sustainable economic, social and political reconstruction and development. In the South African context, higher education institutions have an additional duty to contribute to the consolidation of democracy and social justice as well as the growth and development of the economy and redress the imbalances institutionalised by apartheid. The responsibility to execute the institutional strategies and plans to adapt to changes and to transform rests primarily with the staff of these institutions. However, the above-mentioned changes present major challenges for staff as it results in a multiplicity of roles, expectations to make paradigm shifts, implementation of new policies and practices as well as constant innovation. These challenges may be considered a healthy diversification leading to eustress and engagement, or a toll. which may well be an important cause of distress and burnout. Consequently. staffs' experience of distress/burnout and eustress/engagement, i.e. their work-related well-being, is crucially important to the success of the institution. The general objective of this research was to assess the work wellness of staff at a university of technology, and to understand the relationships between factors contributing to the experience of distress/burnout and eustress/engagement and how these relate to employees' levels of commitment and ill health. Furthermore, the study aimed to develop and test a comprehensive structural model of work related well-being to determine the effect of job demands and (lack of) job resources on distress. eustress. ill health and commitment of employees at a university of technology in South Africa. The findings are presented in three research articles, each consisting of a brief literature review and an empirical study. A cross-sectional survey design was used. The study included 353 participants (132 academic staff members and 221 support staff members). The questionnaire used in the empirical study comprised the Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS), the Cognitive Weariness Scale (CWS). the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES). An Organizational Stress Screening Tool (ASSET), the Life Orientation Test- Revised (LOT-R), the Job Demands-Resources Scale (JDRS) and a biographical questionnaire. Structural equation modelling confirmed a four-factor structure of burnout, and a two-factor structure of work engagement. Principal component analysis indicated that work-related wellbeing consists of a dual bipolar structure namely Eustress/Engagement (vigour, dedication, professional efficacy) and Distress/Burnout (exhaustion. cynicism, cognitive weariness). It was found that language \vas the only reliable background variable to predict differences in levels of distress/burnout and eustress/engagement between subgroups. Different organisational stressors were found to contribute significantly to psychological and physical ill health and low organisational commitment. The comprehensive structural model that was tested showed that job demands lead to distress, which in turn leads to ill health. Furthermore. job resources contributed to work wellness and organisational commitment whilst dispositional optimism has a limited effect on staffs distress. Recommendations for the institution and future research are made. / Thesis (Ph.D. Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

Various occupational stressors like the physical environment, noise, lighting, temperature. aspects of the job, role conflict, workload, lack of career path, poor relationships with peers. and lack of participation arc likely to lead to various stress outcomes, namely behavioural; proneness to accidents, cognitive, inability to make sound decisions, physiological: increased blood pressure, physical and mental health, and organisational: lower productivity, and high turnover rate. These outcomes could however be influenced by moderator variables like age and gender, physiological experience and affective behaviours (type 'A' behaviour, life change, and social support). Studies have also found instances where some workers, exposed 10 the same unbearable work environments, did suffer from neither stress nor burnout. These findings have therefore led to the study of work engagement, which is considered the opposite of burnout. The study of stress, burnout and work engagement has therefore become vehicles through which employees' effectiveness and efficiency can be facilitated. It has become necessary to jointly study stress with burnout and work engagement in a holistic model so as to how a better understanding of work wellness. Burnout and work engagement therefore represent the two aspects of wellness namely, the energy dimension and the identification with work dimension. Studies have identified two underlying dimensions of work wellness in which they identified activation as ranging from exhaustion to vigour, arid identification as ranging from mental distance to dedication. Thus burnout according to them is characterised by a combination of exhaustion (low activation) and mental distance (low identification), while engagement is represented by vigour (high activation) and dedication (high identification). Extreme exhaustion may render employees emotionally and physically drained which may lead them to distance themselves emotionally and cognitively from their work and clients, while an engaged worker develops high levels of energy, and derives a sense of significance, attachment and dedication to work. However, to measure burnout, work engagement, stress, commitment and ill health requires valid and reliable instruments. In South Africa there aren't many systematic studies that have investigated stress, burnout, work engagement, commitment and ill health among civil servants. It is this dearth of well-designed studies in the area that makes this study very important. The objectives of this study were to assess the reliability and validity of the MBI-GS, the UWES, the ASSET, the Job Demands-Resource Scale, Commitment and Ill Health subscales Tor civil servants, determine the occupational stressors that they experience and whether the biographic variables by any way increase or moderate the effects of the stressors, and to finally test a structural model of work wellness consisting of burnout, work engagement, job demands-job resources, ill health, and commitment. The research method for each of the three articles consists of a brief literature review and an empirical study. A cross-sectional survey design was used. An accidental sample (N = 500) for research articles 1, 2 and 3 were targeted from the civil servants in the Mafikeng area of the North West Province of South Africa. The measuring instruments used in this study are; the Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS), Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES), Job Demands and Job Resources Scale (JDRS), Health subscales. Organizational Commitment subscales, the ASSET questionnaire and a biographical questionnaire. Structural equation modelling was used to test the factor structures of the Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Sunley (MBI-GS), and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) respectively. namely exhaustion, cynicism, cognitive weariness, and professional efficacy, and vigour, dedication and absorption. In respect of the MBI-GS, a four-factor model of burnout. consisting of exhaustion (physically drained), cynicism (distancing oneself from colleagues and clients), professional efficacy (feeling of accomplishment) and cognitive weariness (lack of focus on one's work), was found to fit the sample data best in comparison to the three-factor, two-factor and one-factor models. Thus the study established burnout as a bur-dimensional construct. In the case of the UWES a two-factor model of work engagement, consisting of vigour and dedication fined the data best as compared to a three-factor or one-factor model. This means that the UWES is a two-dimensional construct and not a three-factor nor a one-factor dimensional construct. The scales of the MBI-GS, UWES, and the ASSET subscales of work relationships, work life balance, overload, job security, control, resources/communication. aspects of the job, and the stress outcomes of organisational commitment, individual commitment physical health and psychological (un)well-being showed acceptable internal consistencies. There existed no statistically significant differences between burnout, work engagement. the stress dimensions, commitment and ill health respectively and any of the biographical variables. The study found that psychological (un)well-being, is a major stress outcome for the civil servants followed by physical (un)health, respectively. It was discovered that the civil servants generally have low levels of stress, and security was the lowest stressor. Employee commitment was also found to be high. Stress, due to lack of resources, predicted physical ill health and explained 21% of the variance of ill health among the sample of civil servants. Stress relating to aspects of the job and security, predicted psychological ill health and explained 31% of the variance in psychological ill health. Issues relating to control on the job and security predicted organisational and individual commitment respectively and further explained 28% and 20% of organisational commitment and individual commitment. Stress due to lack of job resources, security and aspects of [he job seem to be the most important stressors. Another objective of the study was to find out if energy and identification with work could be predicted from job demands and job resources respectively. It was found that job demands and lack of job resources lead to ill health through burnout, and job resources could lead to commitment via engagement. The implications are that employees who experience excessive workload are likely to experience burnout, which in turn leads to health related problems. Continuous availability of job resources would lead to work engagement, which in turn leads to organisational commitment, while lack of it would lead to burnout. Recommendations for further research were accordingly made. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007

The present era in South Africa is one that is marked by substantial change due to unparalleled advancement in the field of technology, globalisation and competitive markets. These changes have placed new demands on the education sector in South Africa, especially further education. In 2000/1 South Africa's Further Education and Training (FET) sector has been rejuvenated through a process of transformation when 152 former Technical Colleges and Colleges of Education merged to form 50 multi-campus FET Colleges. The rationale behind this merging process is to curb the serious skills shortage which is threatening economic growth in this country through offering vocational education and training; and to raise quality in the education sector. This re-engineering process in education is founded on principles of equity, human rights, democracy and sustainable development. Change, however, is also about people and their ideas, fears, capacity and ability to stand and work together towards a more prosperous future for all. Transformation or change such as with mergers is dependent on employees' total commitment towards realising the organisation's objectives. High levels of organisational commitment tend to encourage loyalty, higher levels of productiveness and general job satisfaction. For change initiatives to be successful though, communication across all hierarchical levels is of the utmost importance. Management is expected to provide employees with just treatment, provide acceptable working conditions, clearly communicate what is regarded as a fair day's work, and give feedback on how well the employee is doing. Employees, in return, are expected to clearly show a good attitude, follow directions and be loyal towards x the organisation. The psychological contract is utilised to investigate the scope of change in an employment relationship. The psychological contract is a contract setting out mutual expectations between employer and employee - a contract that forms the backbone of any new relationship such as with a merger. The researcher makes use of the psychological contract (by utilising the Tilburgse Psychologisch Contract Vragenlijst (TPC)) to explain employer obligations; violation of employer obligations; employee obligations; relational/transactional contract values; commitment; intention to leave; and change perceptions. Should either employment party not fulfill its contractual terms in any way, the psychological contract will be breached or violated and the employee might attempt to balance the situation by reducing his or her job efforts, badmouthing the organisation, resorting to absenteeism or even petty theft. The worst case scenario in this destructive process is that the employee might leave the organisation. The purpose of this research study is to determine the effect (if any) that the mergers might have had on the psychological- and employment contracts in the four FET Colleges that have remained in the Free State Province. A cross-sectional survey design was used to reach the objective of this research and an English translation of the aforementioned questionnaire (TPC) was randomly distributed amongst the total population of 375 employees at the Free State FET Colleges involved in this study. A response rate of 53% (n = 200) was achieved. Results from other authors who have used the TPC Questionnaire in their research offer support for the validity and reliability of the scales used. The statistical analysis was carried out with the SPSS program (SPSS, 2006), a program that is used to conduct statistical analysis regarding reliability and validity of the measuring instruments, descriptive statistics, t-tests, analysis of variance, correlation coefficients and multiple regression analysis. XI In Article 1 the researcher focused on the effect of mergers with regard to the influence of communication on the psychological contract as a possible factor affecting the intention to qUit. A multiple regression analysis (with intention to quit as dependent variable; and employer obligations, employee obligations, and communication as independent variables) was performed and 22.2% of the variance in intention to quit is predicted by communication and employee obligations (F = 28.07, p< 0.01). A practically significant correlation coefficient (p < 0.01) of a medium effect (r > 0.30) exists between communication and relational/transactional values and between communication and intention to quit. In Article 2 the effect of mergers, workplace changes and the violation of employer obligations on the psychological contract were evaluated, with special reference to job satisfaction and organisational commitment. In the above article a practically significant correlation coefficient (p < 0.01) of a medium effect (r> 0.30) was found between • change and job satisfaction; • job satisfaction and: commitment, employer obligations, employer violations; • commitment and: employer obligations, employer violations; and • employee obligations and: employer obligations, employer violations. A multiple regression analysis (with job satisfaction as dependent variable; and employer violation, organisational commitment, and change as independent variables) was performed and 29.9% of the variance in job satisfaction is predicted by employer violations, change and commitment (F = 27.668, p< 0.01). Recommendations for the organisation as well as for future research were made. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Sociology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2008.

The changes in the political landscape in South Africa have exacerbated major transformation of the society and all other aspects of life, including education. It is in this view that transformation of the education sector resulted in the changes within the employment relationship, as well as the psychological contract between educators and the Department of Education. This is further explained by the changes experienced in both the employer and employee's obligations. Furthermore, these changes have a tremendous influence on the degree of job satisfaction, organisational commitment, as well as an intention to quit among educators. The primary objective of this research is to investigate the employment-and psychological contract of educators in the Sedibeng West District of the Gauteng Department of Education. The measuring instruments, i.e. employer's obligations, employee's obligations, job satisfaction, organisational commitment, as well as intention to quit questionnaires, were used in the empirical study. A cross -sectional survey design was conducted among 298 educators (including school managers) in the Sedibeng West District. A response rate of 75% (224 respondents) was obtained. The results indicate a practically significant correlation coefficient of a medium effect between the employer and the employee's obligations, a negative correlation of medium effect between the employer's obligations and an employee's intention to quit, and no significant relationship between the employee's obligations and an employee's intention to quit. Furthermore, a practically significant correlation coefficient of medium effect was obtained between job satisfaction and an employee's intention to quit, and no significant relationship could be found between job satisfaction and organisational commitment. Lastly, a practically significant negative correlation of a medium effect was obtained between organisational commitment and an intention to quit. A multiple regression analysis indicates that 21% of the variance in the employee's intention to quit was predicted by both the employer and employee's obligations. Organisational commitment and job satisfaction predicted 33% of the total variance. Recommendations for the Department of Education, as well as future research were also made. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Sociology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2008.

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.

Despite the significance of understanding the reasons under which talented individuals are more likely or less likely to quit, the nature of the relationship between Human Resource Management Practices (HRMPs) and turnover intentions has proven to be unclear. Prior studies suggest that talented employees’ turnover imposes significant negative impact on organisational performance, e.g. decrease in productivity, profitability, innovation, serviceability and morale of remaining employees. Likewise, a serious talented Frontline Managers (FLMs) turnover is observed in the private banks of Pakistan. The corresponding reason identified is their dissatisfaction with existing conventional HRMPs, which are typically bureaucratic in nature with no provision of training and development, and lack appreciation, seniority-based pay and promotions. Owing to these factors, FLMs are switching towards reputable government and multinational organisations. In fact, FLMs play an important role in the development and success of banks. To investigate this issue, the present study elaborates an examination of the use of synergistic HRMPs in an on-going effort to control the talented FLMs’ turnover intentions. Precisely, it examines the impact of two formative bundles, namely, skills-enhancing practices (SEPs, i.e. training and development) and motivation-enhancing practices (MEPs, i.e. pay, promotion, recognition and job security) on FLMs’ turnover intentions through organisational commitment. The research methodology employs a positivist philosophy, deductive approach and a quantitative method followed by a survey-based research design. A total of 500 questionnaires were distributed through random sampling technique; 344 questionnaires were finalised for analysis. PLS-SEM was used to test the research hypotheses. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the findings of this study indicate that both SEPs and MEPs demonstrate no significant direct impact on talented FLMs’ turnover intentions. However, organisational commitment (OC) has been found to fully mediate the relationships between both HRM bundles and FLMs’ turnover intentions. This research contributes to HRM literature particularly in the area of HRMPs—Turnover relationships. Furthermore, this study reveals that socio-economic relationships can be used to influence FLMs’ OC and turnover intentions. The findings further suggest that adoption of effective SEPs and MEPs in local banks enhance talented FLMs’ skills and motivation which eventually reduce their turnover intentions. Additionally, this study highlights the important and critical role of OC in HRMPs—turnover relationships, particularly in the Pakistani banking sector and further recommends management to review their HRMPs, which not only tend to reduce turnover but also lead to FLMs’ enhanced enthusiasm to serve.

The changing nature of organisation life becomes more and more intense as organisations are constantly striving to adjust to serve the needs of an ever-changing environment. At the same time, the importance of keeping employees engaged is essential to organisations. The aim of this thesis was to contribute with a deeper understanding of employee engagement during an organisational change process. A deeper insight of how individuals perceive a changing work environment on an emotional level will help managers to go through the process while they are ensuring engagement of their employees. Our fundamental research questions were: How do employees describe their own state of engagement during an organisational change process? Which factors are important, according to employees, in order for them to stay engaged during the process? The existing literature is reviewed with special attention to state engagement, including job satisfaction, job involvement, organisational commitment and empowerment. The theoretical framework consists of the Job demand-resources model and attitudinal organisational commitment, which have been used as the analytical tools. Our empirical data was collected through a qualitative research design with semi-structured interviews at an insurance company in the middle of Sweden. The conclusion from this study was that the state engagement differed a lot according to dimensions as satisfaction, involvement and commitment, while most of the interviewees agreed that the empowerment and energy level decreased. We also discovered a special kind of engagement, frustration engagement, which was distinguished from the commonly positive view of engagement. The most important factors to continue being engaged were expressed by the employees as social support, managerial support as well as organisational support and communication.

The study sought to investigate whether the effects of an employee’s fit or misfit with the ethical climate of an organisation is mitigated or exacerbated by the quality of the leader-member exchange experienced. The outcome variables looked at includes organisational commitment, job satisfaction and turnover intentions. Data was gathered from a total sample of 125 employees from three different non profit making organisations. Pearson Product Moment Correlations and moderated regressions were used to address the main research questions of the study. Despite, the implied theoretical link between ethical climate fit and leader member exchange, partly as a function of the constructs being centred on the notion of fit, and the role organisational leaders play in the formation of ethical climates, no significant moderation effects were found. Both variables were found to relate significantly to all job outcomes, but no combined effects of these variables on job outcomes were found. The findings of the study highlight a need for further empirical research on these concepts, and for the inquiring of existing theoretical propositions linking leaders to ethical climates.