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

The current study assessed the moderating effects of Age and the mediating effects of Job Satisfaction on the relationship between antecedents Employee Engagement and Compensation Fairness and the outcome variable Turnover Intent. The theory of reasoned action and a theoretical framework for examining age-effects on employee attitudes were used as the theoretical underpinnings for the study. The study utilized a secondary data set with surveyed population including faculty (n = 1,229) from a land-grant institution holding the doctoral/research-extensive classification from the Carnegie Classification and serving about 42,000 students each year with graduates totaling more than 9,000 per year. Findings confirmed that 11 of the 12 items of the Gallup Workplace Audit loaded on the Employee Engagement factor. Findings also confirmed a 3-item solution for the Compensation Fairness factor. Both Employee Engagement and Compensation Fairness demonstrated an inverse relationship with Turnover Intent as expected. Job Satisfaction was found not to mediate the relationship between both Employee Engagement and Compensation Fairness with the outcome variable Turnover Intent. Finally, Age was not found to moderate the relationship between antecedent variables and Turnover Intent. Recommendations for research and practice were made.

<p>To have a functioning organization where there is a self-development for employees them selves, as well as between managers and employees, where employees are empowered and work for the organization and its goals. Feedback seems to be the main instrument to solve problems and create that organization. At the Military Academy Karlberg and the basic officers training there is a lot of discussions about feedback and how it is supposed to be carried out. This essay discusses the matter of how well we live up to the demands set by leadership classes at the Military Academy, what the platoon leaders do think about how feedback takes its expression. The questions about how feedback is used are to be answered by interviews with five platoon leaders and their thoughts about how feedback is communicated at the Academy. The results of the interviews have got differences but there are common points of view. All platoon leaders have the opinion that feedback is an instrument which is made for developing either the personell or the organization. Three of the platoon leaders use expressions when they give feedback, such as “i-expressions”:“When you act like this I feel like…etc”. How feedback takes its expression is in general manifested with big differences but all of the platoon leaders do agree that feedback is not used as much as it could be. With consideration to the differences in opinions, the conclusion, consist of how feedback takes its expression. It is important that everyone in the organization gets empowered and aligned with the common goals of the organization.</p>

In der wissenschaftlichen Literatur, in der betrieblichen Praxis und in der gesellschaftlichen Diskussion wird wieder zunehmend mehr die Bedeutung der Beschäftigten für den Unternehmenserfolg hervorgehoben und diskutiert. Unternehmen, die zielgerichtet geeignete Managementstrategien mit Blick auf den Umgang mit ihren Beschäftigten einsetzen, werden in bezug auf ihre ökonomische Wertschöpfung als erfolgreicher charakterisiert. Besonders im Bereich Human Resources Management lassen sich erste Belege finden, die es ermöglichen, den ökonomischen Erfolg von Unternehmen kausal auf einzelne Personalmanagementstrategien zurückzuführen. Ziel eigener Untersuchungen in der IT- und Softwarebranche war es, Unternehmenserfolg auf der Grundlage ökonomischer Erfolgsmaße und des subjektiven Erlebens der Beschäftigten in kleinen und mittleren Softwareunternehmen unter besonderer Fokussierung des Human Resources Management und der Unternehmenskultur zu untersuchen. / In scientific literature, operational practice, and societal discussion, the importance of the employees for the company success is increasingly accentuated. Organizations applying precise management strategies with focus on their employees are characterized more successful in terms of added value. Especially in Human Resource Management, research has shown that companies economical success can causally be ascribed by personnel management strategies.<br /> Aim of this study in the IT- and Software sector was the investigation of company success on the basis of economical success measures and the subjective experience of the employees in small and middle sized software companies, focusing especially on Human Resource Management.

The increased attention to performance measurements is evident in both private and public sector organizations and among both academics and practitioners. Although there is a strong belief in the possibilities of using measurements for managing organizations, both academics and practitioners have questioned measurements potential. This thesis takes part in debating the potentiality of performance measurements by attending to the development, use and consequences of non-financial indicators that are considered a specific form of performance measurements. When investigating the development of indicators, it became evident that several of the new indicators developed proved to be reformulations of non-financial measurements already used within the organizations before the development work. What had changed was primarily the meaning ascribed to the measurements. As a consequence of this ‘re-cycling’ of measurements, it is concluded that the meaning given to specific non-financial indicators change over time. The present investigation also reveals that three shifting rationales are informing the development of indicators. This finding contributes with insights into the construction of indicators and how the link between indicators and action are conceived and established in a development process. A main finding of the investigation concerns how indicators are used. In contrast to previous studies, the results show that indicators can have a negative impact on performance unless the indicators are used in a sophisticated way. Based on these results it is argued that it is insufficient to attend solely to if indicators are used, i.e. greater attention needs to be paid to the question of how they are used. The investigation also presents evidence suggesting that the often used adage “what gets measured gets managed” needs to be revised. It is argued that measuring is not a means to activate the organization per se. Rather, measurements support those issues that are already mobilized within the organization. In conclusion, this investigation suggests that the potentiality of indicators depends on the meaning ascribed to indicators, how indicators are assumed to link to action, how indicators are used and how indicators are related to other organizational activities.

Scandinavia comprises Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Twenty years ago, the concept of Scandinavian management was created (Grennes, 2003). Earlier research is referring to culture as the reason for different management styles around the world. It is also found that human resources are highly valued in Scandinavian manage-ment (Eriksen et al., 2006). This study aims at understanding what Scandinavian management is and see if this matches with the style of management actually practised in Sweden. The purpose of the thesis is to, through empirical examples, study what Scandinavian management is and if it is practised on the Swed-ish market. Included in the purpose is also to investigate how Scan-dinavian management is addressed in prior research. This study uses a qualitative method. Two earlier done case studies about Manpower and IKEA are used. Using a qualitative method, we have conducted five interviews to get accurate data to help us answer our purpose. Two of the interviews were conducted with representatives from both Manpower and IKEA. One interview was done with Schramm-Nielsen who is an expert in the field of Scandi-navian management. The last interviews were carried out with two persons with a wide range of experience in the field of management in Sweden. The study concludes that the main focus of Scandinavian manage-ment lies within human resources. Equality, communication, coop-eration, trust and consensual decision making are vital elements in the concept of Scandinavian management. Managers in Sweden are focused on their employees and feel that they need to satisfy them in order to motivate them. This motivation has proven to lead to better productivity and performance of the organization. Swedish managers are indeed focused on human resources and are practising Scandinavian management. Scandinavian management is necessary on the Swedish market as it increases the chances for having a pro-ductive company with satisfied employees and customers.

To have a functioning organization where there is a self-development for employees them selves, as well as between managers and employees, where employees are empowered and work for the organization and its goals. Feedback seems to be the main instrument to solve problems and create that organization. At the Military Academy Karlberg and the basic officers training there is a lot of discussions about feedback and how it is supposed to be carried out. This essay discusses the matter of how well we live up to the demands set by leadership classes at the Military Academy, what the platoon leaders do think about how feedback takes its expression. The questions about how feedback is used are to be answered by interviews with five platoon leaders and their thoughts about how feedback is communicated at the Academy. The results of the interviews have got differences but there are common points of view. All platoon leaders have the opinion that feedback is an instrument which is made for developing either the personell or the organization. Three of the platoon leaders use expressions when they give feedback, such as “i-expressions”:“When you act like this I feel like…etc”. How feedback takes its expression is in general manifested with big differences but all of the platoon leaders do agree that feedback is not used as much as it could be. With consideration to the differences in opinions, the conclusion, consist of how feedback takes its expression. It is important that everyone in the organization gets empowered and aligned with the common goals of the organization.

Many researchers have examined the effect of formal mentoring on job satisfaction and organizational commitment. However, there has been little or no focus on an employee's intent to participate in a formal mentoring program based upon an employee's perceived organizational support, and/or affective reaction (job satisfaction and organizational commitment). In the current study, the researcher examined the relationship among cultural values, perceived organizational support (career and psychosocial support), affective reaction (job satisfaction and organizational commitment), and the intent to participate in a formal mentoring program in an oilfield services organization. A 44-item electronic survey was utilized to collect data. The questionnaire was sent to 831 Field Engineers 1 (FE1's) in forty-two countries within an oilfield services organization. The sample included 341 respondents. Descriptive statistics, Cronbach's alpha estimates for reliability, factor analysis, correlation analysis, regression analysis, path analysis, and structural equation modeling were the analyses used in the study. The researcher posited that cultural values amongst the FE1's do not differ significantly; moreover, the cultural values do not influence the FE1's perceived organization support. Further, it was found that FE1's perceived support (career and psychosocial) and affective reactions predicted the FE1's intent to participate in a formal mentoring program.

Studiens övergripande syfte var att undersöka några chefers attityder till en personalsatsning ämnad för att uppnå bättre arbetsklimat och hälsa i en organisation, vidare var syftet att med utgångspunkt ur dessa chefers attityder till personalsatsningen undersöka möjligheter till hur personalsatsningen och dess verksamhet skulle kunna få ett starkare genomslag i den aktuella organisationen. Studien presenterar inledningsvis en forskningsöversikt över de delar som verksamheten skulle kunna beskrivas utifrån, där behandlas begreppen fritid, gemenskap, hälsofrämjande, engagemang, ledarens roll som förebild och normbildare i företaget liksom det för studien centrala begreppet attityder. Studien är en fallstudie i ett av Nordens ledande företag inom bygg och anläggning där kvalitativa intervjuer har genomförts med åtta chefer inom det aktuella företaget för att samla in det empiriska materialet. Resultatet visade att de intervjuade chefernas syn på personalsatsningen och dess verksamhet är positiv, dock skiljer sig deras syn på och deras faktiska engagemang i verksamheten och dess aktiviteter åt. Resultatet presenteras i form av fyra övergripande områden: perspektiv på personalsatsningen, engagemang och delaktighet, framtidsmöjligheter och attityder till verksamheten. De attityder till verksamheten som framkom bland cheferna under intervjuerna kan vidare delas in i tre kategorier: ”engagerade”, ”distanserade” och ”sansade”. Inga slutsatser har kunnat dras ur denna undersökning, men förslag till fortsatta tankeområden har lagts fram under slutsatser sist i uppsatsen. / The overall purpose with this paper was to examine attitudes towards a human resources investment among top managers. In other words, how did the managers look at the investment and what did they think about its activities. Moreover, the purpose of the paper was to attempt to find possible ways to get the investment into a higher level of success within the current company. By way of introduction, the paper begins with a research summary of conceivable ways to describe the investment containing four concepts; leisure, spirit of togetherness, health promotion and engagement. Then, the matter of the leader has been discussed in terms of normative and to be a person for someone to model themselves on within an organization. The theoretical framework of references has been finished with a review about attitudes, which represent another central concept in this paper. The empirical part derived from a case study where qualitative interviews were initiated with eight top managers within one of the largest Nordic building and construction companies. Research findings showed that attitudes towards the human resource investment were positive in general, but the level of engagement with the human resource investment did vary among the managers. The research findings have been introduced through four main headlines; perspectives on the investment, engagement and participation, future prospects and attitudes towards the activities. Moreover, the attitudes which emerged among the managers have been divided into three categories;”engaged”,”distanced” and”level-headed”. No conclusions have been drawn from this paper, but some proposals that could be considered have been suggested.

This paper seeks to examine the failures of the current retirement plan structure, focusing on the structure’s reliance on unpredictable future market returns and the unwillingness of the parties involved to negotiate in order to further enhance their own self-centered interests. Currently, both defined contribution and defined benefit plans encounter a funding crisis in both the public and the private sectors. This paper will discuss how retirement plans, by nature, rely on assumptions of market returns, which naturally depend on the volatility of the market and increase the risk and uncertainty in retirement plans. In addition, since defined benefit plans mostly exist in the public sector today, this paper will examine defined benefit plans in relation to the public sector’s funding crisis and hope to shed light on the politics and tensions between the parties involved in public retirement plans that are preventing effectiveness and efficiency. Finally, this paper will also present alternative retirement plan strategies for which academics and scholars have advocated. However, at the end of the day, as opposed to relying on others to dictate one’s future benefits, which are based on the goodwill of others and uncertainty in the market, Americans should recognize their lack of savings and improve their personal financial literacy and develop individualized savings plans.