3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item The effects of locus of control on the relationship between organisational climate and job satisfaction, life satisfaction and self-esteem in a call centre.(2009-06-23T05:54:48Z) Dladla, ThandiThe 21st century is characterised by a rapid technologically advancing environment, where organisations constantly change to gain and maintain a competitive advantage. The use of call centres in organisations has been in line with this technological advancement. South African organisations have not been an exception as they also have experienced the growth in call centres in the past few decades. Some of the benefits the business gains from the use of call centres include cutting costs and increased profits. However benefits to individuals working in call centres is not that obvious. Call centres have been labelled with such nicknames as electronic Sweatshops as they are characterised by poor working conditions, as individuals have to perform extremely routine tasks under extreme surveillance and harsh performance management systems. Such an environment has implications for the well being of individuals working in them. Previous research has indicated a relationship between organisational climate and employee well being. While this environment is viewed as toxic individuals continuously enter into it and some prosper than other, which brings into question whether the amount of control an individual perceives to have over his/her environment has any effect on their perception of the organisational climate. The main aim here is that work can be redesigned to benefit both the organisation and employees’ needs in the workplace. Therefore the aim of the current study is to investigate the organisational climate apparent in call centres, also looking at the relationship this construct has with Job Satisfaction, Life satisfaction and self esteem for call centre agents. The current research will also look at whether Locus of Control has an effect on this relationship. The findings of this research prove invaluable in its attempt to create awareness of the nature of work activities and quality of work life of call centre agents. The sample consisted of 97 call centre agents working in Johannesburg, South Africa. The results indicate there is a strong positive relationship between organisational climate including its subscales and Job Satisfaction, a weak and positive relationship between organisational climate and its subscale and Life satisfaction, while there was no observed relationship between organisational climate and self esteem. Furthermore the results indicated that Locus of Control does not moderate the relationship between organisational climate and job satisfaction, life satisfaction and self esteem.Item Personality traits and locus of control as predictors of work motivation(2008-04-10T07:31:48Z) Rajan, Sandhya PuthanpurayilThe present research sought to firstly, understand the role of personality traits in the field of work motivation, to understand the relationship between these variables and to understand if personality traits could attempt to predict sources of work motivation. Thereafter, the relationship between the locus of control construct and intrinsic and extrinsic work motivation, respectively, was investigated. The secondary foci were to investigate the relationship between the demographic variables of age, race and field of work, respectively, and source of motivation. The current research used existing work motivation theories as a basis for understanding and explaining the construct of work motivation and used trait theory as a background to understand personality. Individuals from various fields, engaged in full-time work, were the sample for this research. Lecturers from various faculties at the University of the Witwatersrand, as well as, individuals in different fields of work, outside of the University, was the sample of the research. The final sample consisted of 61 individuals. Significant positive relationships were found between intrinsic work motivation and socially proper behaviour, and between extrinsic work motivation and self-discipline. While a significant negative relationship was found between intrinsic work motivation and tension. Furthermore, it was found that sensitivity and self-discipline appear to be predictors of extrinsic work motivation. Sensitivity and socially proper behaviour were positive predictors of intrinsic work motivation, while, the personality trait of being tense and conservative was found to be negative predictors of intrinsic work motivation. In addition, significant positive relationships were found between locus of control and sources of motivation while no significant relationships were found between the demographic variables and work motivation.Item Justice perceptions of affirmative action and attitudes towards affirmative action: The role of locus of control and perceptions of job opportunities among final year university students.(2006-11-03T12:15:55Z) Grasslin, JanineThe aim of this research project was to investigate final year university students’ attitudes towards affirmative action. In particular the current research investigated the final year students’ justice perceptions and attitudes towards affirmative action as well as their perceptions of job opportunities. The study also incorporated the role of locus of control in relation to the above mentioned variables. Prior research indicated that affirmative action is perceived as controversial in nature and has been accused of promoting inherent unfairness of practices and procedures that give preferential treatment to certain groups of people based on gender, race and ethnicity (Parker, Baltes and Christiansen, 1997). In addition affirmative action has been accused of reducing job opportunities for non-beneficiaries, as well as stigmatising those it aims to assist (Kravits and Plantainia, 1992). Therefore there arises a need to examine and explore affirmative action within South Africa, as much research has been conducted in the United States and is not applicable to South Africa. The present research was conducted using a quantitative, non-experimental cross sectional research design. The sample consisted of fourth year bachelor of accounting students. Five hypotheses were tested. The results indicted that support was found for three of the hypotheses, indicating that attitudes towards affirmative action differ between beneficiaries and non – beneficiaries. There is a relationship between perceptions of job opportunities and attitudes towards affirmative action as well as a relationship between justice perceptions of affirmative action and attitudes towards affirmative action in both beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries. The findings are discussed in relation to previous research. The implications of the research and the limitations of the study are outlined in the research report.