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.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nwu/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/1783 |
| Date | January 2008 |
| Creators | De Wet, Elizabeth Catharina |
| Publisher | North-West University |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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