Browsing by Subject "Industrial and Organizational Psychology"
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- ItemOpen AccessThe effects of sense of coherence on work stressors and outcomes in blue collar workers(1989) Anstey, G M; Strümpfer, D J WThe present study investigated the relationships between work stressors, three moderator variables, and a variety of affective, behavioural and health outcomes. More specifically, it was hypothesized that the work stressors would be significantly associated with adverse affective, behavioural and health outcomes. Furthermore, it was hypothesized that personal and situational variables, in the form of the Sense of Coherence (Antonovsky, 1979, 1987), Job Decision Latitude (Karasek, 1979), and Participation in Decision Making, would moderate the relationships between work stressors and a variety of outcomes. The data were obtained from a sample of 111 male, white, blue collar workers at a large chemicals manufacturing organization from a questionnaire compiled for this study, and organizational records. The data were subjected to correlational analysis, supplemented by a form of moderated multiple regression analysis. It was found that the relationships between work stressors and outcome variables were insignificant which led to the conclusions that firstly, a priori specification of stressors may ignore the specificity of persons' appraisals of and responses to stressors, and secondly, consideration must be given to the affective meaning ascribed by subjects to job demands. The moderating effects of the Sense of Coherence, Job Decision Latitude and Participation in Decision Making were inconsistently related to outcome variables, frequently operating in the unexpected direction. It was, however, demonstrated that the main effects of the moderating variables which operated in the expected direction, outweighed the unanticipated negative interaction effects. It was observed that the inclusion of personality variables and situational variables in future studies of occupational stress are necessary, a conclusion which is consistent with more recent findings.
- ItemOpen AccessThe selection of computer programmers : an assessment of fairness(1990) Warley, John; Kellerman, A MThe shortage of skilled computer staff in South Africa has reached critical proportions. Not only is commerce unable to recruit enough manpower with the required experience and expertise, they are also posed with the problem of high turnover and remunerating a small number of people in excess of their market value. In contrast to this phenomena, South Africa has a vastly under-utilised "other than "white" population of Matriculants and Technikon diplomates. It is hypothesised that the skilled shortage in computer programming could be overcome if more applicants out of this labour segment were given entry level jobs and trained to be productive and competent. This study attempts to address the difficulties of the under-utilised manpower resources by looking at the entry level requirements for computer programmers. Since for industry as a whole, aptitude tests are used on applicants for entry level programmers, one of these tests, viz. the National Institute of Personnel Research General Aptitude Battery was investigated. It was hypothesised that the instrument was an unfair selection tool· as most "other than white" applicants evaluated did not perform as well as the white applicants. The sample comprised of technikon students who had passed at least their first year of the Computer Data Processing Diploma. Thirty five were selected and matched from a white and forty three from a so-called "coloured" institution. The results of this cross cultural research design in a field setting were statistically analysed and findings were that the "coloured" group scored far lower than that of the white group. Therefore, the researcher concluded that the test battery was not a good predictor of success and should not be used across population groups, as it could lead to an unfair labour practice. It was proposed instead that a biographical structured interview guide based on the accomplishments of applicants ·be used to supplement the test results. In so doing the researcher suggested that dimensions of success for a programmer be probed for, during the interview rather than concentrating purely on an aptitude test which could be seen as unfair.
- ItemOpen AccessStress, wellness and subordinate service roles in female cabin attendants(1989) Tilley, Gail; Strümpfer, D J WStressful aspects of work and non-work life were investigated amongst 101 female cabin attendants (CAs) who had worked at the South African Airways on either internal or external crew for a minimum of three years. A particular focus was on the subordinate service role of CAs. The research design consisted of different complementary phases. Firstly, extensive interviews were conducted with supervisors and co-ordinators, in order to gain background information on the organization and on the work of a CA. Secondly, semi-structured interviews of about 30 to 60 minutes duration were conducted with CAs while they were on stand-by duty. Thirdly, after the interview each one was asked to complete a self-report questionnaire which contained scales, to be returned at a later stage.
- ItemOpen AccessUsing personal orientation and career anchors to predict commitment and performance in life insurance salespeople(1992) Smit, Clive Walter; Kellerman, A MThe present study investigated the feasibility of using a specific set of personality dimensions, as measured by the Personal Orientation Profile (POP), and certain career anchors, to predict organizational commitment, job performance and tenure in life insurance salespersons. The Career Orientation Inventory (COI) and the Organizational Commitment Scale (OCS) were used to identify the respective career anchors and the commitment dimensions. A series of factor analyses confirmed the original OCS scale constructs, but not those of the POP and the cor. The factorial scales of the POP and COI were subsequently used in the remainder of the research. Intercorrelations and canonical correlation analysis revealed significant associations between the respective POP and COI subscales, but the relationship between POP and COI covariates was too weak for either scale to have any moderating effect on the other. These findings suggested that career anchors would have very little, if any, influence on personal orientation dimensions, and vice versa, in the prediction of criterion variables. A second canonical correlation indicated a significant relationship between the achievement-striving dimension of the POP and number of policies sold, but this association was too weak to be predictive any of the job performance criteria. Further investigation yielded no significant relations between career anchors and job performance. Likewise, no significant relationship was found between the any of the measuring scales and organizational tenure. The results of this study suggested that personal orientation and career anchors, as measured by the POP and COI respectively, are not stable predictors of job performance in life insurance salespeople. Both the POP and the COI were found to be lacking in construct validity and, as a result to confirm the existence of predictive qualities. Further research is required, using larger and different samples, before any conclusions can be drawn regarding the predictability of these instruments. Two major conclusions can be drawn from this study. Firstly, life insurance salespersons tend to be committed to the organization that provide them with both the opportunity to express their sense of service or dedication to life insurance sales, and the autonomy to do their job in an independent fashion. Secondly, of all the personality dimensions, achievement-striving or competitiveness appears to be the most stable and only valid predictor of job performance in life insurance salespeople. If the salesperson has the knowledge, skill and the opportunity to do the job, then it is purely effort or work ethic that distinguishes the achiever from the poor performer.