The relationship between authentic leadership, psychological capital, psychological climate, team commitment and the intention to quit in a South African manufacturing organisation
- Authors: Munyaka, Sharon Audley
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Leadership -- South Africa , Organizational commitment -- South Africa , Work environment -- South Africa , Employees -- Resignation -- South Africa , Tire industry workers -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DCom
- Identifier: vital:9418 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1021088
- Description: Grounded in the positive psychology paradigm the recently recognised core construct of psychological capital was focussed in a South African study. A non-experimental, correlational study (n=204) examined the relationship between authentic leadership, psychological capital, psychological climate, team commitment and intention to quit. The present study was exploratory in nature and the pattern of relationships being investigated had not been previously tested in a South African context. A self-administered composite questionnaire consisting of five psychological scales were distributed to employees in the junior to senior management level at a global tyre manufacturing organisation based in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. The five scales were the Authentic Leadership Questionnaire by Walumbwa, Psychological Capital Questionnaire by Luthans, Psychological Climate by Koys and DeCotiis, Team Commitment by Bennett and the Intention to Quit Scale by Cohen. All the measures applied on the South African sample were developed outside South Africa and model equivalence had to be established. The content and structure of the measures were investigated through confirmatory factor analysis and exploratory factor analysis. With the exception of the Cohen scale of intention to quit, all other measures changed their factorial structures to suit the present data. The propositions in the study were tested through descriptive statistics, t-tests, ANOVA, post hoc tests, Cohen’s d, Pearson product-moment correlation and multiple regressions. Structural equation models were built to test the relationships between the scales and sub scales of authentic leadership, psychological capital, psychological climate, team commitment and intention to quit. Results of the analyses carried out, show significantly strong relationships between the variables. Of note is the marked relationship between authentic leadership and psychological climate. Most of the propositions were accepted in light of the relationships that emerged. The proposition indicating structural equation models was rejected because none of the models built in the study successfully produced an adequate fit on the data. Contributions of the study were in terms of the portability of the measurement instruments applied in the study as well as the relationships that emerged. Re-validation of the measures is required to enable clarity on how the variables in the study are interpreted across cultural contexts. Directions for future research include extending the study to other samples and other cultures. Measuring social desirability of the instruments could possibly provide clarity on how the different samples respond to the measures. Studies that compare the reading ability as well as the ability to comprehend the items in the measures would provide valuable information.
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- Date Issued: 2012
Social diversity in an engineering workplace: a conflict resolution perspective
- Authors: Kotze, Sharon Jean
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Conflict management -- South Africa , Interpersonal conflict -- South Africa , Social conflict -- South Africa , Work environment -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:8172 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1638 , Conflict management -- South Africa , Interpersonal conflict -- South Africa , Social conflict -- South Africa , Work environment -- South Africa
- Description: The global working environment has altered dramatically over the last decade, with the workforce now consisting of a diverse assortment of individuals. South Africa, in particular, has had to face major challenges as it adapts to the newly conceived "Rainbow Nation". It has also had to make amends for inequalities bred by the past discrimination and the segregation of Apartheid. Prior to this, businesses in general, were inward-looking in that they did not have to comply with or conform to the changing trends found in the international arena. Suddenly, issues such as Black Economic Empowerment, Affirmative Action, gender, age, faith and preferred sexual orientation have had to be accommodated as the new Employment Equity Act of 1998 was promulgated. Each individual coming into the workplace has his or her own cosmological, ontological and epistemological view, and although this facilitates a positive contribution by individuals with regard to varying ideas, skills, talents and expertise, more often than not, the reality is that the differences that exist within a staff complement often result in conflict. Furthermore, South Africa exhibits deep-rooted, social conflict as a result of the oppression of the apartheid years. Unemployment, poverty, poor education and service deliveries are far from being satisfactorily addressed. Therefore, it is assumed that unmet/frustrated basic human needs, as defined in Abraham Maslow‘s "Hierarchy of Needs", play a role in causing conflict both in the workplace and in society. It was felt that basic human needs, as articulated, had not been researched as a cause of workplace conflict and this research will explore the part that frustrated human needs may play in organisational conflict, alongside diversity conflicts.
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- Date Issued: 2011