The aims of this study were to assess the validity and internal consistency of constructs in a model of work‐related well‐being and to test a structural model of their relationships. The Maslach Burnout Inventory—General Survey, Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, a Job Demands‐Resources Scale, a Health Questionnaire, and an Organizational Commitment Scale were administered to a stratified random sample of 1177 educators in North‐west Province (South Africa). A good fit was found for a model in which burnout (exhaustion and mental distance) mediated the relationship between job demands and ill‐health, while work engagement (vigor and dedication) mediated the relationship between job resources and organizational commitment. Job resources contributed strongly to low burnout and high work engagement. These results suggest that both positive and negative aspects of work‐related well‐being (i.e. burnout and work engagement) can be integrated into one model. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Background: Expressions such as ‘there are not enough hours in the day’ and ‘the 25 h workday’ or cliché statements such as ‘working 24/7’ have become common overtones in the way employees feel about time at work. Because of this ‘lack of time’ feeling, alternative work arrangements such as flexitime, telecommuting and practices such as work–life balance have emerged as popular topics for researchers, employees, organisations and the like in the past few decades. Setting: Women are still the main caregivers of family members and households, and compared to men, they are less likely to be granted flexitime by their employers. It therefore seems realistic to imagine that women would suffer more from work–life conflict. Women still earn, on average, less than men and are more likely to have part-time jobs. This has an impact on the financial well-being of women. These issues have yet to be investigated in an institution of higher learning in South Africa. Aim: This study was aimed at determining: (1) the relationship between flexi work, financial well-being and work–life balance, productivity and job satisfaction, (2) the role of flexible work, financial well-being and work–life balance in productivity and job satisfaction, and (3) the mediating effect of productivity (job satisfaction in the alternative model) in the relationship between flexible work, financial well-being and work–life balance and job satisfaction (productivity in the alternative model). Methods: A cross-sectional survey was used with a convenience sample (n = 252) of female support employees, employed in a higher education institution in the North West province of South Africa. Results: Findings of the study indicated a statistically significant relationship between the variables. Results indicated that financial well-being, work–life balance and productivity were statistically significant predictors of job satisfaction, and in addition, subjective experiences of productivity serve as partial mediators in the relationship between financial well-being and work–life balance on the one hand, and job satisfaction on the other hand. Conclusion: It seems like financial well-being and work–life balance play a more important role in job satisfaction and that financial well-being and work–life balance are more important for job satisfaction through subjective experiences of productivity. It would therefore make sense to increase experiences of financial well-being and work–life balance to address experiences of low levels of job satisfaction and subjective experiences of productivity.

The objective of this research was to establish the relationship between burnout and job stress, and to determine whether sense of coherence moderates the effects of job stress on burnout of employees in a local government. A cross-sectional survey design was used. The sample consisted of 270 employees of a local government. The Maslach Burnout Inventory, Job Stress Indicator and Orientation to Life Questionnaire were administered. Canonical analysis showed that a weak sense of coherence combined with stress because of job demands and a lack of resources were associated with all three components of burnout. Structural equation modelling showed that sense of coherence moderated the effect of job stress on exhaustion. Cynicism mediated the effect of exhaustion on professional efficacy.<p><strong>Opsomming</strong> <br>Die doelstelling van hierdie navorsing was om die verwantskap tussen psigiese uitbranding en werkstres te bepaal en om te bepaal of koherensiesin die effek van werkstres op uitbranding by werknemers binne ’n plaaslike owerheid modereer. ’n Eenmalige dwarssnee opname-ontwerp is gebruik. Die steekproef het bestaan uit 270 werknemers van ’n plaaslike owerheid. Die Maslach Uitbrandingsvraelys, die Werkstres-Indikator en die Lewensoriëntasievraelys is afgeneem. Kanoniese analise het getoon dat ’n swak koherensiesin, asook stres a.g.v. hoë werkseise en ’n gebrek aan organisasie- ondersteuning geassosieer was met al drie komponente van uitbranding. Strukturele vergelykingsmodellering het aangetoon dat koherensiesin die effek van werkstres op uitbranding modereer. Sinisme het die effek van uitputting op professionele doeltreffendheid gemedieer.</p>

No abstract

Research purpose:The authors addressed the relationship between conditions that are considered to be conducive to multiculturalism and the practices perceived to accomplish this, vis-à-vis multiculturalism and well-being, as measured by ill-health and subjective work success.Motivation for the study: Although multiculturalism has been recommended as an effective way of dealing with diversity at societal and local levels, little is known about its effects in the workplace.Research design, approach and method: Following a quantitative approach, the authors utilised a cross-sectional design with a convenience sample of 241 Black employees and White employees from a mine in North-West Province for the research. Exploratory factor analyses and Cronbach alpha coefficients were used to test scale validity and reliability. Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) and effect sizes were used to determine the effect of race on the experiences of miners, and multigroup path analysis (AMOS) was used to investigate whether or not identical relations between multiculturalism, work success, and ill-health could be found for Black employees and White employees.Main findings: Multiculturalism and mainstream tolerance coupled with ethnic integration demands at home and at work were associated with success at work but not with ill-health. Black employees experienced the workplace slightly more positively.Practical/managerial implications: Multiculturalism and integration are related to subjective experiences of work success and, as such, should be supported in the workplace.Contribution/value-add: Our findings suggest that multiculturalism is relatively well supported by both groups in the workplace. This positive finding should not be regarded as obvious because empirical research has suggested that the majority of members of the host culture do not always favour multiculturalism.

No abstract

No abstract

Orientation: This article addresses the role of multiculturalism in employee attitudes.Research purpose: It proposes a model of positive features of multiculturalism in organisations and tests it in South Africa. The model postulates three levels in multiculturalism: antecedent conditions, such as multiculturalism practices and norms that define the diversity climate; mediators, such as diversity-enhancing employee attitudes; and positive work outcomes.Motivation for the study: South Africans from diverse backgrounds hardly meet in their private spaces. Given this forced contact in the workplace and the calls for national unity and social cohesion, we propose that a workplace that is characterised by mutual respect, accommodation and tolerance for difference could have a positive impact on employee work attitudes.Research approach/design and method: A quantitative approach was adopted using survey questionnaires that were distributed to employees selected on the basis of convenience sampling (N = 299) in various workplaces.Main findings: A multi-group path analysis confirmed the validity of the model for the white, black and mixed race ethnic groups. Although the differences were negligible to medium, white groups seemed to experience a slightly more favourable multicultural environment compared to black and mixed race groups.Practical/managerial implications: All dimension scores were well above the mid-point of the scale, which suggests that psychometrically speaking, the multicultural climate, ethnic integration orientations and employee attitudes are experienced by these employees as favourable.Contribution/value-add: From a conceptual perspective, the model implies that the more distal variable of a multicultural climate influences employee attitudes through a set of more proximal integration attitudes and practices. From a practical perspective, an inclusive climate has more distal characteristics such as the general multiculturalism climate and more proximal characteristics such as ethnic vitality.