Masters Degrees (Psychology)
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Browsing Masters Degrees (Psychology) by Author "Bezuidenhoud, L."
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Item Open Access The effect of work-stress and emotional intelligence on self-leadership amongst nurses in leadership positions in the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in Lesotho(University of the Free State, 2014) Mokuoane, Motselisi Lucy; Van Zyl, E. S.; Bezuidenhoud, L.; Griessiel, L.English: Self-leadership is a process of self-influence towards achieving an optimal state of motivation and self direction needed to perform what one sees as necessary and unavoidable. The self-leadership process includes mental, cognitive and behavioural strategies that give strength, purpose, meaning and direction to the effort, towards improving effectiveness in performing tasks (Neck & Houghton, 2006). Mental imagery and self-talks will also be employed. Natural reward strategies concern self search and the promotion of pleasant and enjoyable feelings directly related to the job. In constructive thought pattern strategies, an individual will assess thoughts to determine whether beliefs and assumptions are positive. An individual with self-leadership will use behavioural strategies to encourage positive behaviours, and to curtail negative behaviours that affect success at work (Neck & Houghton, 2006). The current work environment increasingly requires independent individuals who are able to take initiative and make responsible decisions in settings where they are not always supported by hierarchical superiors. In this context, the concept of self-leadership has been linked to professional and personal effectiveness. However, a further clarification of the self-leadership concept, as well as the factors that impact on its effectiveness, is needed. The main purpose of this study was to investigate factors that impact on individual’s self-leadership. The study investigated the effect that work-stress and emotional intelligence has on self-leadership. For this purpose, a comprehensive literature review on self-leadership, work-stress and emotional intelligence was presented. Futhermore, a sample of one-hundred and fifty five (155) nursing leaders working at the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare was selected. Self-leadership was measured using the Revised Self-leadership Questionnaire, while work-stress was measured using the Experience of Work and Life Circumstances Questionnaire, and the Emotional Intelligence Index was used to measure emotional intelligence. The study utilised multiple stepwise regression to predict which variables of work-stress and emotional intelligence affect employees’ self-leadership amongst nursing leadership in the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in Lesotho. The results indicated that there is a generally positive relationship between work-stress and self-leadership. This means that individuals experiencing work-stress will exhibit greater use of self-leadership skills. Some of work-stress sub-dimensions that lead to self-leadership are task charactiristics, physical working conditions and social matters. These sub-dimensions enhance self-leadership skills such as self-goal setting, self-talk and evaluating beliefs and assumptions, respectively. It was also found that self-leadership is negatively influeced by emotional intelligence in most cases. High scores in emotional intelligence skills such as self-regulation, motivation and empathy lead to lower scores in self-leadership skills such as self-observation, self-punishment and self-reward. It is in the light of these results that the null hypothesis 1 of this study was rejected, and the alternative hypothesis 1 namely, the varience in self-leadership scores can be statistically explained by work-stress and emotional intelligence amongst nurses in leadership positions in the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, was accepted. The independent t-test was used to determine if there are age differences with regard to self-leadership amongst nursing leadership. The results show that there are no statistically significant age differences with regard to self-leadership among nurses in leadership positions in the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in Lesotho. The null hypothesis 2 namely , there is no statistical significant difference in the scores achieved on self-leadership with regards to age of nurses in leadership positions in the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in Lesotho, is not rejected. General and specific recommendations for this study were made.