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The experience of work circumstances and stress: a profile of flight engineers in a labour dispute.

  • Authors: Visser, D. , Van Staden, F.
  • Date: 1992
  • Subjects: Flight engineers , Management , Organisational effectivenes
  • Type: Article
  • Identifier: uj:5700 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/2947
  • Description: Items from standardized tests as well as structured and semi-structured questionnaires were used to compile a profile of flight engineers involved in a labour dispute. Pertinent views of spouses were also measured. The subjects were found to be committed to their careers and identified with the goals of the company. However, the possibility of redundance was related to distrust in management, depression, anxiety, psychosomatic stress symptoms, and lowered experience of general well-being, strained family life and impaired relations with their spouses. The findings provoke concern about the possible effects on in-flight safety and organizational effectiveness.
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Differential item functioning in the Figure Classification Test.

  • Authors: Van Zyl, E. , Visser, D.
  • Date: 1998
  • Subjects: Psychometric instruments , Mantel-Haenszel chi-square technique
  • Type: Article
  • Identifier: uj:6372 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/1116
  • Description: The elimination of unfair discrimination and cultural bias of any kind, is a contentious workplace issue in contemporary South Africa. To ensure fairness in testing, psychometric instruments are subjected to empirical investigations for the detection of possible bias that could lead to selection decisions constituting unfair discrimination. This study was conducted to explore the possible existence of differential item functioning (DIF), or potential bias, in the Figure Classification Test (A121) by means of the Mantel-Haenszel chi-square technique. The sample consisted of 498 men at a production company in the Western Cape. Although statistical analysis revealed significant differences between the mean test scores of three racial groups on the test, very few items were identified as having statistically significant DIF. The possibility is discussed that, despite the presence of some DIF, the differences between the means may not be due to the measuring instrument itself being biased/ but rather to extraneous sources of variation, such as the unequal education and socio-economic backgrounds of the racial groups. It was concluded that there is very little evidence of item bias in the test.
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Instemmingsgeneighdheid en verskillende item-en responsformate in 'n gesommeerde selfbeoordelingskaal.

  • Authors: Hanekom, N. , Visser, D.
  • Date: 1998
  • Subjects: Locus of control , Likert-type format
  • Type: Article
  • Identifier: uj:6373 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/1117
  • Description: This study examines the degree of acquiescence present when the item and response formats of a summated rating scale are varied. It is often recommended that acquiescence response bias in rating scales may be controlled by using both positively and negatively worded items. Such items are generally worded in the Likert-type format of statements. The purpose of the study was to establish whether items in question format would result in a smaller degree of acquiescence than items worded as statements. the response format was also varied (five- and seven-point options) to determine whether this would influence the reliability and degree of acquiescence in the scales. A twenty-item Locus of Control (LC) questionnaire was used, but each item was complemented by its opposite, resulting in 40 items. The subjects, divided randomly into two groups, were second year students who had to complete four versions of the questionnaire, plus a shortened version of Bass's scale for measuring acquiescence. The LC version were questions or statements each combined with a five- or seven-point respons format. Partial counterbalancing was introduced by testing on two separate occasions, presenting the tests to the two groups in the opposite order. The degree of acquiescence was assessed by correlating the items with their opposite, and by correlating scores on each version with scores on the acquiescence questionnaire. No major difference were found between the various item and response format in relation to acquiescence.
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Validity of the standard shiftwork index for South African shiftworkers in the transport industry.

  • Authors: Visser, D.
  • Date: 1999
  • Subjects: Shiftwork , Job satisfaction
  • Type: Article
  • Identifier: uj:6371 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/1115
  • Description: A major problem in shiftwork research has been the lack of uniform measuring procedures across studies. The Standard Shiftwork Index (SSI) contains a battery of self-report questionnaires which was developed to address this need. The objectives of this study included examining the cross- cultural applicability, internal consistency, and construct validity of the SSI scales for a predominantly Afrikaans-speaking sample of 728 train drivers and to provide normative distribution statistics for this sample. Factor analytic results and the correlations between the various scales supported the constnuct validity of the SSI scales. Means obtained on the scales were compared with means obtained for British shiftworkers and non-shiftworkers. The inclusion of job satisfaction and involvement scales, and scales to assess sleep variables appeared to augment an outcome- based theoretical model proposed by the compilers of the SSI. It was concluded that the SSI is a useful research tool for use with shiftworkers, but that further development of some of the scales is advisable.
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Organisational justice rules as determinants of black and white employees' fairness perceptions of personnel selection techniques.

  • Authors: De Jong, A. , Visser, D.
  • Date: 2000
  • Subjects: Fairness , Empirical problem , Fairness perceptions , Organisational justice theory
  • Type: Article
  • Identifier: uj:6374 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/1118
  • Description: The diversity of the South African population may lead to opinions that test fairness is not a pure empirical problem, but requires certain subjective value judgements. The aim of this study was to identify applicants' underlying reasons for evaluating a selection technique as being fair/unfair. These fairness perceptions were analysed by means of the organisational justice theory. The total sample consisted of 328 mature university students (M = 30,6) all of whom had work experience. The analyses comprised two sets of comparisons. The first set involved Black (uninformed) and White (uninformed) groups. The second comparison involved informed versus uninformed black students. Exposure to the subjects Strategic Personnel Management and/or undergraduate Industrial Psycohology, in which the nature and value of various selection techniques are studied, constituted the variable'being informed'. It was hypothesised that the Black (uninformed) and the White (uninformed) groups would perceive the value of the 11 justice rules for the total fairness perception across the ten selection techniques differently. Substantial support was found for this hypothesis. The same hypothesis was investigated for the Black (informed) and the Black (uninformed) groups, but no significant differences were found to support the latter hypothesis. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of South African selection practices.
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Comparing fairness perceptions of personnel selection techniques of American, French and South African job applicants.

  • Authors: Visser, D. , De Jong, A.
  • Date: 2001
  • Subjects: Job applicants , Fairness perceptions , Organisational justice theory
  • Type: Article
  • Identifier: uj:5694 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/2940
  • Description: The purpose of the study was to determine whether job applicants' perceptions of commonly used selection procedures vary across nationalities, because a negative impression of prospective employers that use selection techniques that are viewed as unfair, may result. In this study the fairness perceptions of 179 South African employees were compared with results obtained with 142 American and 117 French participants with regard to ten selection techniques using the framework of organisational justice theory.
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Die verband tussen interpersoonlike behoeftes en konflikhanteringstyle.

Persoonlikheidseienskappe as voorspellers van die loopbaansukses van provinsiale verkeersbeamptes.

  • Authors: Geldenhuys, A. , Visser, D. , Crafford, A.
  • Date: 2001
  • Subjects: Traffic officers , Personality Factor Questionnaire
  • Type: Article
  • Identifier: uj:6408 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/1205
  • Description: The effective selection of competent provincial traffic officers has become an urgent necessity for provincial governments. Due to a lack of relevant research on which selection decisions can be based, a study was conducted on a total of 206 respondents from the Free State Provincial Government to determine whether differences exist between the personality profiles of successful and relatively unsuccessful provincial traffic officers. No statistically significant differences were found between the successful and unsuccessful groups on the 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire. Various shortcomings of the study are discussed and recommendations for research suggested.
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The effect of three shift systems as perceived by the partners of emergency services workers.

The effectiveness of a diveristy awareness training program.

  • Authors: Cavaleros, C. , Van Vuuren, L.J. , Visser, D.
  • Date: 2002
  • Subjects: Diversity awareness , Performance management , Career development , Teamwork , Work-family needs , Organisational culture
  • Type: Article
  • Identifier: uj:6409 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/1206
  • Description: The objective of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a diversity awareness training programme. A sample of 382 employees from four different departments within a large accounting firm was used to form the groups of a simulated Solomon four-group design. The impact of a two-day workshop on diversity awareness was assessed using a 68-item questionnaire designed to measure awareness of self, impact of differences, performance management, career development, teamwork, work-family needs, participation, organisational culture, relationship building, and general satisfaction with the organisation. The Minnesota Job Satisfaction Questionnaire (20 items) was included to measure job satisfaction. The results showed no evidence of a statistically significant effect of the diversity awareness training programme.
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Client-consultant ethical relationship considerations within management consulting.

  • Authors: Smith, A. , Van Vuuren, L.J. , Visser, D.
  • Date: 2003
  • Subjects: Ethical conduct , Consultant relationship , Financial concerns , Contractual concerns , Consultant behaviour
  • Type: Article
  • Identifier: uj:6412 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/1209
  • Description: Ethical conduct within consulting has become increasingly important since management consulting has developed into an independent profession. The objective of this research was to determine if differences exist in client consultant relationship ethics within a defined group of management consultancies in South Africa. A questionnaire was developed to assess ethical behaviour across five dimensions, namely the client consultant relationship, financial and contractual concerns, delivery of expectations, orientation and competence of consultants, and ethics in consultant behaviour. Thirty-nine respondents completed the questionnaire. Significant differences on ethical dimensions in relation to job level, between consulting firms, the level of senior management commitment to ethics and the existence of a code of ethics were obtained.
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Communication of job-related information and work-family conflict in dual-career couples.

  • Authors: Theunissen, B. , Van Vuuren, L.J. , Visser, D.
  • Date: 2003
  • Subjects: Work-family conflict , Dual-career spouses , Work Perception Questionnaire
  • Type: Article
  • Identifier: uj:6414 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/1210
  • Description: It is known that work-family conflict is a determinant of marital dissatisfaction. The goal of this study was to determine whether inadequate communication regarding the sharing of job-related information between dual-career spouses contributes to marital dissatisfaction. The Work Perception Questionnaire (WPQ) was designed and administered to obtain information on dimensions that 80 dual-career couples (married or in co-habitation) perceived to contribute to marital conflict and that have an impact on the quality of their relationships. The main findings indicated that male partners experienced more marital conflict than their female partners if they did not have adequate job-related information about their partner’s work. However, the findings for the female partners were nonsignificant. The implications of the findings are discussed.
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Construct validity of competency dimensions in a team leaders assessment centre.

  • Authors: Greyling, L.A. , Visser, D. , Fourie, L.
  • Date: 2003
  • Subjects: Assessment centre , Team leaders
  • Type: Article
  • Identifier: uj:6411 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/1208
  • Description: The aim of the study was to examine the construct validity of an assessment centre. The sample included 138 individuals who participated in a one-day call centre team leader assessment centre. Nine competency dimensions were rated using six exercises. Correlations and a principle axis factor analysis were utilised to study the convergent and discriminant validity of the dimension ratings. The results showed that the ratings clustered according to exercises rather than to dimensions (traits), thereby indicating a substantial amount of method variance. A further factor analysis of the nine competency dimensions yielded two factors that were named interpersonal and problem solving. Implications for the design of assessment centres are discussed.
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Die omvang en aard van afwesigheid: 'n Suid Afrikaanse gevalstudie.

  • Authors: Du Plessis, A. , Visser, D. , Fourie, L.
  • Date: 2003
  • Subjects: Absenteeism , Workplace , Absenteeism paterns
  • Type: Article
  • Identifier: uj:6410 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/1207
  • Description: The scope and nature of absenteeism in the workplace: A South African case study. The objective of the study was to develop quantitative measures for monitoring trends of absenteeism in a company within the meat industry and to assess qualitatively the possible existence of a collective culture of absenteeism within the organisation. The scope and frequency of absenteeism, costs incurred due to absenteeism, and individual absenteeism patterns of 145 employees, were studied over a period of one year. It was found that 2900 planned and 912 unplanned leave workdays that were lost, resulted in direct costs of R895,054.55. Five employees who were absent most often accounted for 18.60% of the unplanned leave taken. The extraordinary levels of absenteeism found in this case study were ascribed to specific employees.
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Human Resource Management as a profession in South Africa: Practitioners' perspectives.

  • Authors: Van der Westhuizen, C. , Van Vuuren, L.J. , Visser, D.
  • Date: 2003
  • Subjects: Human resource operations , HR practitioners
  • Type: Article
  • Identifier: uj:6426 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/1283
  • Description: Many organisations are downsizing their Human Resource (HR) operations due to the perceived lack of credibility of the function as a whole. This study investigates possible reasons for this perceived lack of credibility, and suggests ways in which the Human Resource Management (HRM) function can overcome this challenge. One of these suggestions implies the need to advance the professional status of HRM. The current professional status of HRM, as perceived by South African HR practitioners (N = 398) was evaluated by means of the trait approach to assessing the professional status of an occupation. The results reveal that practitioners do consider HRM to be a profession. However, HRM is still very much in the early stages of achieving true professional status. Other findings and their implications are also discussed.
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Leadership style and its relation to employee attitudes and behaviour.

The internal career orientation of permanent and contracting information technology staff.

  • Authors: Harvan, H. , Visser, D. , Crous, F.
  • Date: 2003
  • Subjects: Career success orientation , Information technology environment , Work focus , Self focus , Enjoyment , Control of consciousness
  • Type: Article
  • Identifier: uj:6425 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/1282
  • Description: The primary aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between types of employment (permanent or contracting) for two variables: flow and career success orientation in an information technology environment. The study was performed in a sub-division of a large telecommunications company that focuses on software development and implementation. Two questionnaires measuring flow and career success orientation, were administered to groups of 150 permanent and 150 contracting staff respectively. Factor analyses indicated that the career success orientation questionnaire measured two dimensions labeled as ‘work focus’ and ‘self focus’, and the flow questionnaire measured ‘enjoyment’ and ‘control of consciousness’. Contracting and permanent employees were compared with regard to the four dimensions and it was found that contract workers experienced their work more optimally than the permanent workers did, because they obtained higher scores on the ‘control of consciousness scale’.
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Management perceptions of competencies essential for middle managers.

  • Authors: Mbokasi, B. , Visser, D. , Fourie, L.
  • Date: 2004
  • Subjects: Organisational hierarchy , Managers , First line managers , Managerial competencies
  • Type: Article
  • Identifier: uj:6421 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/1279
  • Description: The aim of the study was to establish whether managers at different levels of the organisational hierarchy perceive different managerial competencies as important for middle managers, and whether there were differences between the perceptions of males and females. The participants consisted of 444 senior, middle and first-line managers from a parastatal organisation in Botswana. They completed a questionnaire that assessed their opinions on the importance of six broad competencies for middle managers. It was found that senior managers rated interpersonal competence as more important than middle managers, whereas first-line managers rated operational competence as more important than middle managers. Females perceived analytical and operational competencies as more important than males, whereas males perceived interpersonal competencies as more important than females.
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Using the occupational personality questionnaire (OPQ) for measuring broad traits.

  • Authors: Visser, D. , Du Toit, J.M.
  • Date: 2004
  • Subjects: Occupational Personality Questionnaire , Interpersonal Relationship Harmony
  • Type: Article
  • Identifier: http://ujcontent.uj.ac.za8080/10210/385682 , uj:6423 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/1280
  • Description: The widespread acceptance of the Big Five model implies that personality consists of relatively independent dimensions that form a taxonomy whereby individual differences may be explained. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the subscales of an established personality inventory that measures narrow traits of personality, the Occupational Personality Questionnaire (OPQ), could be reduced meaningfully to fit a broad factor model within a South African context. The OPQ 5.2 concept model was administered to 453 job applicants in the telecommunications sector. An exploratory factor analysis yielded a six-factor structure that included five factors corresponding to the Big Five model of personality. The sixth factor, labeled Interpersonal Relationship Harmony, resembled the description of the Chinese tradition factor, extracted in a non-Western society.
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Affective-cognitive consistency of attitude as a moderator of the job satisfaction-performance relationship.

  • Authors: Visser, D. , Coetzee, S.
  • Date: 2005
  • Subjects: Job performance , Job satisfaction , Affective-cognitive consistency , Overall Job Satisfaction Scale
  • Type: Article
  • Identifier: uj:6435 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/1301
  • Description: Past research has often shown that job satisfaction and job performance are uncorrelated. The current study was an attempt to clarify the relationship by examining the role of affective-cognitive consistency (ACC) to test whether attitudinal consistency affects the strength of the relationship. A secondary objective was to assess whether modified versions of the Overall Job Satisfaction Scale (OJS) and the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ), administered to 166 full-time employees from a variety of companies, may be regarded as affective and cognitive measures of job satisfaction respectively. This view was supported by means of exploratory and confirmatory factor analytic results. Overall job satisfaction was measured by a composite of the modified OJS and MSQ, and job performance was rated on a 10-point scale by the employees’ supervisors. Respondents’ scores on the modified OJS and MSQ were then used to form groups that were high or low in ACC. For employees who displayed high ACC regarding their job satisfaction attitudes, medium to large positive correlations between the job satisfaction measures and performance were obtained. In contrast, non-significant correlations were recorded for the low ACC groups. The hypothesis that ACC is a significant moderator of the relationship between job satisfaction and job performance was therefore supported.
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