Socio-psychological Well-being Research Articles

Organizational Restructuring: Impact on Trust and Work Satisfaction

After the Asian financial crisis, companies are now contending with the current global economic slowdown. Whether it is at the national, industry or organizational levels, restructuring has gained currency as a strategic decision to realign internal structure with changing macro environmental factors. Faced with more competitive markets and greater demands on costs controls, organizations and businesses are taking the fast track to cost-cutting by downsizing, reorganizing their divisions, streamlining their operations, and closing down unprofitable divisions. Changes that are introduced in an organizational restructuring will affect the socio-psychological well-being of organization members given the potential for uncertainty that may accompany such changes. There is a need to better understand the consequences of organizational restructuring and consider some of its potential side effects on the work environment. Employees in a post-restructuring context are understandably wary about the future direction of the organization and their roles within it. This study is an attempt to examine the social-psychological impact of organizational restructuring on trust and work satisfaction. Additionally the inter-relationships between trust and work satisfaction, including their antecedents in the work environment are examined. Trust and work satisfaction levels were tracked before and three months after organizational restructuring for varying types of changes that were initiated during the restructuring. Both trust and satisfaction with working in the organization declined significantly when compared to pre-restructuring levels. Independent t-tests analysis indicated that there was a significant decline in trust for the work group which had a newly hired manager and a change in work processes. Results showed that there was a negative relationship between both work satisfaction and trust with the extent of change required of employees. The findings also showed that there was a positive relationship between trust and work satisfaction and that trust contributed to work satisfaction. Perception of colleagues’ willingness to help solve job-related problems contributed significantly to strengthening of trust relations among colleagues. Additionally, colleagues and supervisor’s willingness to listen to employee problems contributed significantly to work satisfaction. Results of the study highlighted the need for strategic decision-makers to consider the social impact of organizational restructuring. Top managers must realize that both trust and work satisfaction are important ingredients for the effective functioning of an organization and to actively ensure that support systems or structures are adequate and available to mitigate the negative impact, particularly if the changes to be implemented are extensive.

Multidimensionele armoede in België

This paper proposes an alternative way of measuring multidimensional poverty. Based upon a definition of poverty, it reviews how multidimensional poverty is measured today. Next, an alternative method is proposed and discussed. This method is then applied to the Belgian PSBH-data of 1998. In a first step, principal component analysis is used to surface three dimensions of poverty. These dimensions are roughly defined as "weak economic integration", "material poverty" and "low socio-psychological well-being". For each household, component scores are calculated. In the second step, households are grouped on the basis of these scores. This is done by cluster analysis. About 8% of the 1998-sample of households can be considered poon The characteristics of these poor households are considered next, and a comparison with low-income households is made.

Participation in community sports centres: motives and predictors of enjoyment.

Research into why people engage in sport and physical recreation has received relatively little attention in both recreation planning and sport psychology. Although there has been a steady flow of North American literature related to participation motivation in competitive youth sport settings, such evidence is of limited value in explaining adult involvement in sport and recreation in Britain. The purpose of this exploratory study was to determine why people participate in sport and exercise in community sports centres and to identify whether these motives predict sport enjoyment. The study was based on a questionnaire-interview of approximately 5 min duration conducted in six community sports centres in Leicester. The sample comprised 336 respondents aged 16 years and over. The subjects were presented with 15 motives for sports participation and indicated their degree of agreement on a 5-point scale. The three most commonly endorsed motives were to maintain health, develop physical fitness and aid relaxation. A factor analysis with oblique rotation revealed four factors:assertive achievement, physical well-being, socio-psychological well-being, and sports mastery and performance. Discriminant analysis showed that males were more motivated to participate for sports mastery and performance and assertive achievement than females. A MANOVA showed that older subjects were more motivated by socio-psychological well-being than younger subjects. Sport enjoyment was best predicted by socio-psychological well-being, sports mastery and performance, and sports importance, although only 14.4% of the variance in enjoyment scores was accounted for. These results confirm other research on age differences in exercise and mental health, as well as gender differences on participation motives.