Occupational stress, organisational commitment, and ill-health of educators in the North West province

No Abstract.South African Journal of Education Vol. 26(1) 2006: 75-9

Job satisfaction, occupational stress, burnout and work engagement as components of work-related wellbeing

The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between job satisfaction, occupational stress, burnout and work engagement as dimensions of work-related wellbeing in a sample of members of the police force in South Africa. A survey design was used. Stratifed random samples of members of the police force (N = 677) were taken in the North West Province of South Africa. The Minnesota Job Satisfaction Questionnaire, Police Stress Inventory, Maslach Burnout Inventory – General Survey and Utrecht Work Engagement Scale were used as measuring instruments. The results provided support for a four-factorial model of work-related wellbeing consisting of the following dimensions: job satisfaction (indicating pleasure vs. displeasure), occupational stress (indicating anxiety vs. comfort), burnout (indicating fatigue vs. vigour), and engagement (indicating enthusiasm vs. depression)

Trust Profiles: Associations With Psychological Need Satisfaction, Work Engagement, and Intention to Leave

The study aimed to identify trust profiles in the work domain and to study how these patterns related to psychological need satisfaction, work engagement, and intentions to leave. A cross-sectional survey with a convenience sample (N = 298) was used. The Behavioral Trust Inventory, the Work-related Basic Need Satisfaction Scale, the Work Engagement Scale, and the Turnover Intention Scale were administered. The results showed four trust profiles: skeptic, reliance-based, moderately cautious, and optimistic trustors represented participants' responses on behavioral trust. Skeptic and optimistic trustors (who represented about 50% of the sample) differed primarily regarding their reliance and disclosure intensity. The other two trust profiles (representing the other 50% of the sample) reflected higher reliance and lower disclosure or lower reliance and higher disclosure. Psychological need satisfaction (comprised of autonomy, competence, and relatedness satisfaction) and work engagement were the strongest and intentions to leave the weakest for optimistic trustors (compared to skeptic trustors)

The implementation and evaluation of a behaviour-based safety intervention at an iron ore mine

It is estimated that workers worldwide suffer 250 million accidents each year, with 330 000 fatalities. This is despite the implementation of traditional safety interventions like safety engineering. Little emphasis has thus far been placed on behavioural interventions to improve safety culture and performance in the workplace. The aim of this study was to determine to what extent the safety culture and safety performance in an iron ore mine were affected by the implementation of a behaviour-based safety intervention. A longitudinal design was used. The sample consisted of 562 employees of an iron ore mine. The results showed that the implementation of the safety intervention brought about an improvement in the safety culture at the mine, and positively impacted on the number of lost-time injuries

DARK TETRAD PERSONALITY DURING COVID-19: AN OVERVIEW OF PSYCHO-SOMATIC THERAPIES FOR MANAGING MENTAL HEALTH RESPONSE

The recent empirical data represented the unprecedented opportunity to understand how threatful situations affect people adaptive and mal-adaptive behaviour and diverse ways to cope with the situation. In particular, the people with existing mental health issues such as dark tetrad personality found to be higher in forming an unhealthy relationship on cyber as well as real life during COVID-19. The current paper provides an interesting but alarming picture of how people with dark tetrad personality trait formed relationships with others during COVID-19. Also, the current paper highlights the significance of psycho-somatic therapies in managing their mental health response during COVID-19

Engagement of employees in a research organisation : a relational perspective

Abstract: Increasing work engagement in a sustainable way remains a challenge despite years of research on the topic. Relationships at work are vital to foster engagement or disengagement. While the relational model by Kahn and Heaphy is conceptually appealing to explain work engagement, it lacks empirical support. Aims: The aims of this study were to investigate the associations among relational factors, psychological conditions (psychological meaningfulness, availability and safety) and work engagement and to test a structural model of work engagement. Setting: A total of 443 individuals in an agricultural research organisation participated in a cross-sectional study. Methods: Four scales that measured relational factors, the Psychological Conditions Scale and the Work Engagement Scale were administered. Latent variable modelling was used to test the measurement and structural models. Results: The results confirmed a structural model in which relational facets of job design contributed to psychological meaningfulness. Emotional exhaustion (inverse) and co-worker relationships contributed to psychological availability. Supervisor relationships contributed to psychological safety. Psychological meaningfulness and psychological availability contributed to work engagement, while emotional exhaustion contributed to disengagement. Conclusion: The relational context is an important target for intervention to affect the psychological conditions which precede work engagement. To promote work engagement, it is vital to focus on psychological meaningfulness, psychological availability and emotional exhaustion

Balancing work life : Job crafting, work engagement, and workaholism in the Finnish public sector

The aim of this study was to investigate how job crafting, work engagement, and workaholism were related in public sector organizations. The participants (N = 213) were civil servants from three Finnish public organizations, representing different professions, such as school personnel, secretaries, directors, parking attendants, and ICT specialists. We duly operationalized job crafting, work engagement, and workaholism by using the Job Crafting Scale, the UWES-9, and the Work Addiction Risk Test. The current study focused on the Finnish public sector, since work engagement is recognized at the governmental level and has been shown to be strongly and positively associated with economic activity and productivity, while workaholism is associated with poor wellbeing. We analyzed the data by using structural equation modeling and found that three job crafting dimensions were strongly intertwined with one another. These dimensions were increasing structural job resources, increasing social job resources, and increasing challenging job demands. In the structural model, dimension "increasing structural job resources" was positively related to work engagement, whereas dimension "decreasing hindering job demands" was negatively associated with workaholism. This study highlighted the relevance of employees learning to balance their job resources and demands. We recommend that, in the public sector, employees be systematically encouraged to practice job crafting behavior by enabling them to increase structural job resources. These results are of high relevance, considering the heavy workload of public sector employees during the COVID-19 pandemic.Peer reviewe

Strengths use, deficit correction, thriving and performance of academics at universities of technology

Orientation: Research regarding strengths use, deficit correction and thriving of academics in higher education institutions is necessary, given the possible effects thereof on their task and contextual performance. Research purpose: This study aimed to investigate the relationships among strengths use and deficit correction, thriving at work and performance of academics. Furthermore, it sought to investigate whether performance-related pay moderates the effects of thriving on performance. Motivation for the study: No studies were found regarding the relationships among a balanced strengths- and deficit-based approach, thriving at work, and performance in the context of South African higher education. Research approach/design and method: A cross-sectional survey design was used, with a convenience sample of 276 academic employees from three universities of technology in South Africa. The participants completed the Strengths Use and Deficit Correction Scale, the Thriving at Work Scale, a scale that measured perceptions of performance-related pay and measures of task and contextual performance. Main findings: The results showed that perceived organisational support for strengths use, as well as individual strengths use and deficit correction, predicted thriving at work. Thriving predicted task and contextual performance. A significant interaction was found between thriving and perceptions of performance-related pay. The most robust relation between thriving and performance existed when performance-related pay was perceived to be good. Practical/managerial implications: Higher education institutions must invest resources to enable academics to thrive at work via the balanced strength- and deficit-based approach. This approach should be seen as a core development tool for academics to increase employees’ thriving at work. Contribution/value-add: This study contributes to scientific knowledge regarding strengths use and deficit correction, thriving and performance of academics in higher education institutions. It also resulted in new knowledge regarding the interaction effects of performance-related pay and thriving on task performance of academics