Measuring employee participation initiatives within RoyalServe Cleaning (Pty) Ltd
- Authors: Ntini, Vusani
- Subjects: Management -- Employee participation , Strategic planning -- Employee participation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:9430 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1018677
- Description: Employee participation is a common and popular aspect of most labour relations systems in many countries, including South Africa (the RSA). For years now, there have been debates around the actual benefits of employee participation initiatives to both the business and its employees. Various factors influence the development of participation initiatives within businesses. Some of these factors include legislation, management perceptions and attitudes, socio-economic factors, political and business complexities. These factors vary from one economy to another, from industry to industry, from company to company and may be classified into internal or external factors. It is even suggested that participation initiatives and levels of implementation may be different within the same organization, from department to department, and from one geographic set-up to another within the same organisation. It is for this reason that this research was undertaken. RoyalServe(RS) has an average of 12 000 employees and about 800 sites or branches or units within the RSA. A number of employee participation models and initiatives exist within RS, and it has been argued by many (inter alia trade unions, employees, managers) that the implementation of these models varies from one site to the next - with one of the major influencing factors being the size of a branch or site. Employee participation initiatives and models are established either voluntarily or in response to compliance with legislation. Some scholars and practitioners have suggested that employee participation models that yield positive results for both parties are the ones that are voluntary and have not been undertaken for legal compliance purposes. Others argue that even in cases where it is legislated and practiced for compliance, the end result remains the same. From a comparative point of view, the Japanese and German models of employee participation have been, for some time now, crowned as classic examples of employee participation. Interestingly, the two models (Japanese and German) were implemented for contrasting reasons. The Japanese model is voluntary whereas the German model is legislated. Both models remain leading examples of how successful participation can be, regardless of the reasons for its implementation. Royal Serve Cleaning operates in three Sub Saharan countries: South Africa, Lesotho and Namibia (making it a transnational organisation). The Head Office is situated in Midrand, Johannesburg, RSA. The following regional offices exist to provide immediate and more flexible support to both employees and clients at regional level: Cape Town: Western Cape; Midrand: Gauteng Province, Limpopo, North West and Mpumalanga; Bloemfontein: Free State, Lesotho and Northern Cape; Durban: KZN; Port Elizabeth: Eastern Cape; Namibia.The primary goal of this research was to investigate how the size of a site influences the implementation of employee participation within RoyalServe Cleaning (Pty) Ltd. Put differently, the question to be answered by the research is: are employee participation initiatives applied similarly across all sites within RoyalServe regardless of size? Another question that has been answered in this research report, albeit indirectly, is: do RoyalServe employees understand the various participation initiatives in place at all levels of the organisation? Accusations have been leveled by some employees that employee participation initiatives at RS are benefiting only those employees based at the big sites at the expense of the smaller ones. The research methodology followed in this paper includes: A review of the available literature about RoyalServe employee participation strategies, initiatives, minutes, reports and practices; The development of a questionnaire which was then distributed to selected employees at all levels within the organisation. The analysis of information gathered in the above activities and recommendations formulated was based on gathered data.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Ntini, Vusani
- Subjects: Management -- Employee participation , Strategic planning -- Employee participation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:9430 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1018677
- Description: Employee participation is a common and popular aspect of most labour relations systems in many countries, including South Africa (the RSA). For years now, there have been debates around the actual benefits of employee participation initiatives to both the business and its employees. Various factors influence the development of participation initiatives within businesses. Some of these factors include legislation, management perceptions and attitudes, socio-economic factors, political and business complexities. These factors vary from one economy to another, from industry to industry, from company to company and may be classified into internal or external factors. It is even suggested that participation initiatives and levels of implementation may be different within the same organization, from department to department, and from one geographic set-up to another within the same organisation. It is for this reason that this research was undertaken. RoyalServe(RS) has an average of 12 000 employees and about 800 sites or branches or units within the RSA. A number of employee participation models and initiatives exist within RS, and it has been argued by many (inter alia trade unions, employees, managers) that the implementation of these models varies from one site to the next - with one of the major influencing factors being the size of a branch or site. Employee participation initiatives and models are established either voluntarily or in response to compliance with legislation. Some scholars and practitioners have suggested that employee participation models that yield positive results for both parties are the ones that are voluntary and have not been undertaken for legal compliance purposes. Others argue that even in cases where it is legislated and practiced for compliance, the end result remains the same. From a comparative point of view, the Japanese and German models of employee participation have been, for some time now, crowned as classic examples of employee participation. Interestingly, the two models (Japanese and German) were implemented for contrasting reasons. The Japanese model is voluntary whereas the German model is legislated. Both models remain leading examples of how successful participation can be, regardless of the reasons for its implementation. Royal Serve Cleaning operates in three Sub Saharan countries: South Africa, Lesotho and Namibia (making it a transnational organisation). The Head Office is situated in Midrand, Johannesburg, RSA. The following regional offices exist to provide immediate and more flexible support to both employees and clients at regional level: Cape Town: Western Cape; Midrand: Gauteng Province, Limpopo, North West and Mpumalanga; Bloemfontein: Free State, Lesotho and Northern Cape; Durban: KZN; Port Elizabeth: Eastern Cape; Namibia.The primary goal of this research was to investigate how the size of a site influences the implementation of employee participation within RoyalServe Cleaning (Pty) Ltd. Put differently, the question to be answered by the research is: are employee participation initiatives applied similarly across all sites within RoyalServe regardless of size? Another question that has been answered in this research report, albeit indirectly, is: do RoyalServe employees understand the various participation initiatives in place at all levels of the organisation? Accusations have been leveled by some employees that employee participation initiatives at RS are benefiting only those employees based at the big sites at the expense of the smaller ones. The research methodology followed in this paper includes: A review of the available literature about RoyalServe employee participation strategies, initiatives, minutes, reports and practices; The development of a questionnaire which was then distributed to selected employees at all levels within the organisation. The analysis of information gathered in the above activities and recommendations formulated was based on gathered data.
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The relationship between work place well-being, psychological capital and work place trust
- Authors: Schoeman, Johannes Dames
- Subjects: Well-being , Trust , Work -- Psychological aspects , Job satisfaction
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
- Identifier: vital:9406 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1013044
- Description: A study of the available literature on Workplace Well-being, Positive Organisational Capital and Workplace Trust revealed that enormous potential existed for further research. This is a relatively new field with limited literature and research evidence available. It became very clear from the beginning that the relationships between these constructs could successfully be researched. It was therefore decided to embark on an academic research journey in order to contribute to the existing knowledge available on these constructs within the South African business scenario. This quantitative research was used to obtain more clarity about the relationships between the three constructs and to gather the responses from the research population. This research group consisted of 228 managers from the manufacturing operation of a motor vehicle production company and 224 managers from their National Dealership network. The research sample consisted of 452 managers. Three questionnaires were integrated to develop the composite Workplace Wellbeing Questionnaire and consisted of i) Workplace Well-being questionnaire developed by Parker and Hyett (2011), ii) PSYCAP Questionnaire developed by Luthans, Youssef and Avolio (2007), and iii) Workplace Trust Survey developed by Ferres (2001). The managers (n = 452) responded to a 91–item electronic questionnaire. Seven research questions were formulated and covered areas such as: The content, validity and portability of the measuring instruments; The configuration of the various constructs; Relationships between some of the variables; The effect of demographical data on the research variables and; The building of a research model. The content and the structure of the measuring instruments were assessed by means of Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Exploratory Factor Analyses (EFA). These assessments showed that the original measuring instruments are not portable to a culture which is different to the one where they were originally developed. The relationships between the variables were determined by: Pearson product moment correlation; Multiple Regression co-efficient; ANOVA and Cohen’s d Test. The relationship between aspects of Workplace Well-being (Job satisfaction) and trust is a significant finding; so are some aspects of PSYCAP (sense of achievement and optimism) and Trust and Well-being. Trust has shown a definite relationship with Work- place well-being. A structural equation model was built to test the relationships between the elements of Workplace Well-being, PSYCAP and Workplace Trust. No satisfactory fit of the model on the data was obtained, although strong correlations between some of the variables existed. The significance of the findings of this study and the contribution that it makes to the existing theory is seen in the importance of the portability of measuring instruments. Recommendations in this regard have been made in Chapter 5. Various findings have also highlighted the relationships between Workplace Well-being, PSYCAP and Work-place Trust. The importance of future research topics has been recommended and a proposal has been made to consider a longitudinal well-being research study.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Schoeman, Johannes Dames
- Subjects: Well-being , Trust , Work -- Psychological aspects , Job satisfaction
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
- Identifier: vital:9406 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1013044
- Description: A study of the available literature on Workplace Well-being, Positive Organisational Capital and Workplace Trust revealed that enormous potential existed for further research. This is a relatively new field with limited literature and research evidence available. It became very clear from the beginning that the relationships between these constructs could successfully be researched. It was therefore decided to embark on an academic research journey in order to contribute to the existing knowledge available on these constructs within the South African business scenario. This quantitative research was used to obtain more clarity about the relationships between the three constructs and to gather the responses from the research population. This research group consisted of 228 managers from the manufacturing operation of a motor vehicle production company and 224 managers from their National Dealership network. The research sample consisted of 452 managers. Three questionnaires were integrated to develop the composite Workplace Wellbeing Questionnaire and consisted of i) Workplace Well-being questionnaire developed by Parker and Hyett (2011), ii) PSYCAP Questionnaire developed by Luthans, Youssef and Avolio (2007), and iii) Workplace Trust Survey developed by Ferres (2001). The managers (n = 452) responded to a 91–item electronic questionnaire. Seven research questions were formulated and covered areas such as: The content, validity and portability of the measuring instruments; The configuration of the various constructs; Relationships between some of the variables; The effect of demographical data on the research variables and; The building of a research model. The content and the structure of the measuring instruments were assessed by means of Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Exploratory Factor Analyses (EFA). These assessments showed that the original measuring instruments are not portable to a culture which is different to the one where they were originally developed. The relationships between the variables were determined by: Pearson product moment correlation; Multiple Regression co-efficient; ANOVA and Cohen’s d Test. The relationship between aspects of Workplace Well-being (Job satisfaction) and trust is a significant finding; so are some aspects of PSYCAP (sense of achievement and optimism) and Trust and Well-being. Trust has shown a definite relationship with Work- place well-being. A structural equation model was built to test the relationships between the elements of Workplace Well-being, PSYCAP and Workplace Trust. No satisfactory fit of the model on the data was obtained, although strong correlations between some of the variables existed. The significance of the findings of this study and the contribution that it makes to the existing theory is seen in the importance of the portability of measuring instruments. Recommendations in this regard have been made in Chapter 5. Various findings have also highlighted the relationships between Workplace Well-being, PSYCAP and Work-place Trust. The importance of future research topics has been recommended and a proposal has been made to consider a longitudinal well-being research study.
- Full Text: