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Theses and dissertations (Management Sciences)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://ir-dev.dut.ac.za/handle/10321/14

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Subject: search.filters.subject.Employees--Attitudes

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    Developing measures to improve employee engagement in public Technical Vocational and Educational Training (TVET) colleges in Gauteng Province, South Africa : an investigation of antecedent and outcome variables
    (2021-11) Amoo, Akinlawon Olubukunmi; Adam, Jamila Khatoon
    This study investigated the antecedent and outcome variables of employee engagement within the public Technical Vocational and Educational Training (TVET) colleges in South Africa’s Gauteng Province. Job demand in the form of work overload, job resources in the form of supervisor and co-worker support and role clarity, personal resources in the form of self-efficacy, individual differences in the form of proactive personality, and psychological conditions in the form of psychological meaningfulness and psychological availability were assessed as the possible antecedents to employee engagement (referring to job engagement and organisation engagement). Discretionary effort and turnover intention were assessed as the possible outcomes of employee engagement. Adopting a quantitative cross sectional design survey, a random sample of 190 lecturers across 43 campuses of the eight public TVET colleges in Gauteng was used for the study. Twelve variables were considered with six major hypotheses. The research hypotheses were tested through correlation analysis and structural equation modelling. Results revealed that some of the proposed antecedents significantly predicted employee engagement. For example, workload has a statistically significant positive and direct effect on psychological availability (β = 0.28, p < 0.003), and a statistically significant negative effect on job engagement (β = -0.32, p < 0.000) and organisational engagement (β = -0.37, p < 0.000). Supervisor support has a statistically significant positive relationship with psychological meaningfulness (β = 0.27, p < 0.003), job engagement (β = 0.35, p < 0.000), and organisational engagement (β = 0.23, p < 0.000). This study also supported the view that psychological conditions are positive antecedents of employee engagement, and that employee engagement can influence positive employee intention and behaviour in an organisation. Implications for scholars and practitioners, especially management of public TVET colleges and the South African government are discussed as viable options for providing conditions that aid the development of employee engagement and consequently organisational performance.
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    The perceived knowledge and attitudes of administrative staff working in supply chain management in a South African Provincial Department of Health
    (2018) Ngobese, Nontobeko Maureen; Skinner, Jane Phyllida; Ngibe, Musawenkosi
    The Provincial Department of Health envisions an optimal status of health for all persons in the Province, and its mission is to develop a sustainable, co-ordinated, integrated and comprehensive health system at all levels, based on a primary health care approach, and operating through the District Health system. However, for the Department to achieve its vision and mission, it requires more than health professional staff. It requires effective and efficient supporting programmes which are non-core services, but crucial to its efficient functioning. The study focused on the Supply Chain Management (SCM) administrative staff and their end-users. The SCM section supports all departmental programmes in terms of facilitating the procurement process of assets, medical equipment and all other goods and services required to provide services to the public. The study only targeted the following SCM sub-sections: Acquisitions and Quotations Management, Demand Management and Contract Management. All end-users in the Department were targeted. The researcher believed that the study was necessary in order to identify critical factors apparently negatively affecting the work of the SCM administrative staff in facilitating the procurement of the goods and services required by the end-users. The purpose of the study was therefore to examine the perceived knowledge and attitudes of administrative staff towards their work within SCM with the aim of contributing to the achievement of the goals for the Department. A lack of knowledge and skills could be responsible for certain negative attitudes encountered or perceived from these administrators. The following problems had been identified: loss and misplacement of procurement documents; a lack of proper accountability; Provincial hospitals not receiving goods timeously due to SCM inefficiencies; staff attitudes to service quality and commitment to stakeholders being experienced as poor; and frequent under-expenditure by various sections often due to SCM staff not implementing and adhering to the correct policies and procedures. However, the problem statement indicated that in the Department of Health, the perceived level of knowledge, skills and attitudes of SCM staff was still unknown in terms of their procurement activities for various programmes and within different sections. The conceptual framework for the study was drawn from du Toit and Vlok’s Supply Chain Management Theoretical Framework (2014:33). A mixed-methods research approach was adopted, which enabled the researcher to collect both qualitative and quantitative data. The researcher designed two sets of questionnaires, one for SCM end-users and one for SCM administrative staff. Both questionnaires had closed- ended, structured questions and one open-ended question. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and content analysis were used for analysing the data. The data revealed a range of factors that affect SCM administrative staff in their work, as well as SCM end-users’ dissatisfaction with the service received from the SCM section. The failure of the Department to obtain a clean audit record for departmental expenditure was also noted. The study therefore concluded that a relationship does exist between staff knowledge and attitudes and their performance in the work place. Recommendations included that training sessions and workshops should be provided by the Department to equip employees with the relevant skills for the SCM to function more effectively, and also that team-building exercises be offered to improve staff attitudes. It was also recommended that an online system such as LOGIS be introduced for the tracing of all SCM functions. The researcher also advised the Department to create a post at Deputy Director level to monitor the SCM section, and, lastly, she suggested that skills audits should be conducted before the approval of internal employee transfers.
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    Impact of mergers on lower level employees : a case study of the Durban University of Technology
    (2015) Daweti, Baphiwe; Chetty, Gopalkrishna; Lourens, Melanie E.
    The study arose as a result of a merger between the former Technikon Natal and former M.L. Sultan Technikon, culminating in the formation of a new institution in 2002, called the Durban Institute of Technology (now known as the Durban University of Technology). The focus of the study was on the impact of mergers on lower level employee motivation and staff morale at the Durban University of Technology. Furthermore, the study focused on examining the perceptions of lower level employees towards the merger process which included the pre-merger, during and post-merger phases. A mixed methods research design was used in this study. The quantitative sample was n=50. In addition, six in-depth interviews were conducted for the qualitative part of the study. This study concluded that the merger had a negative impact on the perceptions of lower level employees regarding the merger process in the post-merger phase. The results indicated that staff morale of lower level employees was low post-merger. Some lower level employees proved to be less satisfied than others who adopted the new changes as a result of the merger. Interestingly, the results indicated a high level of motivation amongst lower level employees post-merger. Minimal communication originated from top management to lower level employees. It was recommended, amongst other suggestions that communication and training should be strengthened amongst lower level employees, supervisors and management in higher education institutions. Whilst lower level employees may have low skills and education, an attempt should be made to involve lower level employees early on and throughout higher education mergers.