The concern of this investigation is to explore a range of contemporary experiences of the Buddhist Meditation Practice of three South Africans of Western origin and to understand what factors were involved in their meditation practice. The number of people practising Buddhist Meditation in this country is gradually increasing and retreat centres for the meditation practice are emerging at various places in this country. A wide range of experiences accompany the meditation practice but very little research has been done amongst adults to study this phenomenon. Initially, in this study, the researcher practised Buddhist Meditation by participating in a meditation programme at the Buddhist Retreat in Ixopo in KwaZulu-Natal, for twenty-one days, to familiarize herself with the experiential knowledge of Buddhist Meditation. This was done by the researcher compiling a detailed diary of the meditative experiences and various themes were drawn from it. The data collected was compared and validated with contemporary research findings on Buddhist Meditation. This data was then used to formulate some of the questions for the semi-structured interviews that were conducted subsequently. Three adult subjects of Western origin, one male and two females were interviewed. Each subject had been meditating for an average period of ten years and can therefore be regarded as long-term meditators. They had practised Buddhist meditation in groups at various retreat centres around the country and also individually at home. The average age of the subjects was forty-five years, with the youngest subject being forty years old and the oldest being fifty-three years old. All three subjects were professional people employed at a university in South Africa and all were able to articulate their meditative experiences very well. Since the research project involved the study and exploration of the human experience related to Buddhist Meditation, it was more appropriate to use the phenomenological case-study approach rather than a measurement orientated procedure. The descriptive, phenomenological perspective is more appropriate for the elucidation of the data collected. It gives greater and clearer meaning to the human experience of meditation that is being investigated. The results of the study can best be summarised by stating that all three subjects undertook the Buddhist Meditation Practice because of their awareness of an existential conflict in their lives. Another reason for practising meditation was for personal development. The study also shows that a variety of effects of the meditation practice was experienced by the subjects. These included experiencing feelings of calmness, peace and relaxation, transformation of consciousness, heightened or increased awareness of certain external and internal stimuli, conscious of the changing nature of experience and experiences of objective consciousness.

The purpose of this case study is to explore the issue of contempt in the therapeutic relationship. The aims are twofold; namely, to illustrate to what extent the case studied throws light on existing theories on contempt in psychotherapy, and to enquire about which stance adopted by the therapist is most appropriate in the therapeutic interaction with a contemptuous client. It investigates the validity of using the case study method in examining both the content and the process of this particular course of psychotherapy. Literature on contempt in psychotherapy is reviewed, as well as the foundation-stone on which it rests, namely, the Kleinian approach to envy . The concepts of the superego and false self are also drawn upon in understanding this particular client's dynamics. The client's therapy is then presented and explored, in order to gain insight into how a psychotherapist's understanding of the contemptuous client can clarify the process of therapy. It highlights the limitations and potentialities that exist in working in this sphere of resistance, and raises questions relevant to therapists faced with these clients. The case study shows how theory in this area is helpful in understanding the contemptuous client, and that the ability of the therapist to endure and survive the contempt of the client is a crucial factor in working with the contemptuous individual.

M. Com. (Business Management) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.B.A. / The aim of this research is to analyse whether a link exists between employee satisfaction (for the stores studied) and profitability, for the selected Edgars stores analysed

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Two delta and two gamma alcoholics were assessed by case study according to the theoretical formulations of Transactional Analysis. Scripts and Games were elicited through the Thematic Apperception Test, Laddering Procedure, and Life History. Analyses demonstrated, firstly, that parallels were present between the parent-child relationship and present adult transactions; secondly, that needs, fears, and control mechanisms were traceable to early parental injunctions; thirdly, that among these subjects, delta alcoholics tend to play the alcoholic game "Lush", and gamma alcoholics tend to play the alcoholic game "Drunk and Proud". It was concluded that the script and existential position appear to play an important role in the maintenance of the drinking pattern. Alcoholic Loss of Control appears to be influenced by the degree to which aggression is suppressed.

The term "empowerment" is frequently used by organizational researchers, management practitioners, and consultants. However, despite the popularity of the term, there is a lack of empirical work and no generally accepted definition. As part of a thorough multi-disciplinary literature review, fourteen different conceptualizations for the term empowerment were discovered and classified into four categories: Micro (intra-psychic), Meso (relational-interactive), Macro (structural), and Misnomer (bogus). As a result of this work, both a new definition and a multi-level process model of empowerment are offered. Empowerment is defined here as an enhancing and energizing context specific process that expands an individual's power and feelings of trust, is usually facilitated by another, and results in increased levels of self-esteem, self-efficacy and other characteristics related to personal growth and control, which eventually lead to outcomes such as performance and satisfaction. The proposed multi-level process model postulates that the process of empowerment is driven by changes in information, responsibility, and active belief, and mediated by intra-psychic factors. This model was empirically tested in a between-subject, pre-test, post-test simulation design. Over a period of three weeks 135 graduate students completed a novel application of in-basket exercises, within which an empowerment manipulation was embedded. This manipulation included increasing information, responsibility, and active belief for the empowered manipulation and decreasing these three components for the disempowered manipulation. Multivariate analysis of variance revealed that, as predicted, the manipulation had a significant impact on the three mediating intra-psychic factors (self-efficacy, self-esteem, and locus of control) and an analysis of variance found significant results in the predicted direction on the dependent variable of job satisfaction. Regression analyses revealed the predicted mediation relationship between the intra-psychic variables and the dependent variable of job satisfaction. However, none of the analyses yielded significant results for the performance measures (initiative, sensitivity, planning and organizing, delegation, administrative control, problem analysis, judgement, and decisiveness). Several potential explanations are offered for these results, including a motivational interpretation which focuses on participant's motivation directionality. Theoretical and practical implications for these results are discussed as well as directions for future research. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

There are three major facets to industrial employer-employee relations: work processes, collective bargaining and grievance processes. The form of the first is established mainly at the initiative of the employer. The second is generally initiated by employee organizations and results in a document called a collective agreement which sets forth agreed upon patterns of interaction between employer and employee. The third, Grievance Processes, are the means whereby individual and group differences of opinion regarding interpretation of abstractions in the collective agreement, formal instructions for work performance, etc. are reconciled. This study seeks to determine the important situational, behavioral and personal variables associated with differences in quantity and quality of grievance output and union political activity within the plant. It examines the way in which these variables interact with one another within a "field" to produce grievance activity of given character and quantity. Personality variables, in particular a tendency towards "aggressive" behavior, appear to be of prime importance in determining which employees will be active in presenting grievances, holding union office, and several other activities. Union office-holders and grievers are found to have higher accident rates, to be dunned more by creditors, to participate more on company athletic teams, etc., than other employees. The communication potential of work positions, and repetitiveness of the work cycle are among the few situational variables found to have a significant influence on the grievance outcome. Seniority, a structural variable, is found to be extremely important in determining which employees will take part in grievance and union political activity. High Status seems to increase the likelihood of employees holding union office as evidenced by the greater political activity of those born in English speaking countries, with more education, and with higher pay. Status appears to have little effect on the propensity of employees to engage in grievance pressing. Age appears to be inversely correlated with the tendency of the individual to take part in union political activity. However, it seems to be unrelated to pressing of grievances. Grievance output in a conventional absentee shareholder owned plywood plant is briefly compared with activity in a "worker owned" plywood plant. / Arts, Faculty of / Sociology, Department of / Graduate

The current study addresses the questions of what determines intrinsic motivation, how do the factors that determine it work, and what kinds of cognitive learning may be achieved in an intrinsically motivating environment? A microcomputer game environment, involving one instructional and one noninstructional game, was selected for the study. Two game-specific parallel tests of motivation involving the factors of Challenge, Curiosity, Control, and Fantasy were constructed. An achievement test of algebra relating to the content of the instructional game and involving the learning of Concepts, Rules, and Procedures was also constructed. In an experiment involving 134 10th-grade students, a test of divergent feeling, measuring how creative the students feel about themselves, was administered. The subjects were then randomly assigned by gender and class to either an experimental or a control group. Following a practice session, the experimental group played each game twice and answered a test of motivation each time, while the control group played the noninstructional game twice and used worksheets twice to practice the mathematical content of the instructional game. The test of algebra was administered to all subjects after the last playing session and in the fifth week following that. The results revealed that each of the four factors of Challenge, Curiosity, Control, and Fantasy played a role in determining the intrinsic motivational effects of the games. The games did not differentiate in motivation between boys and girls or among students with different levels of perceived creativity. There were no significant differences in achievement or retention between the experimental and control groups: the worksheets were just as effective as the game in enabling the learning of Concepts, Rules, and Procedure on both the post-test and retention test. Gender differences in mathematics achievement, favouring boys over girls, were accounted for, in part, by the level of perceived creativity. Challenge, Control, and Fantasy correlated positively with cognitive learning. For the instructional game, there was no significant change for the factors of Challenge, Curiosity, and Fantasy; but student motivation attributed to Control increased significantly. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

An optical technique was developed to make possible a study of the instantaneous structure of the turbulent wall-pressure field. The approach involved the use of real-time laser-holographic-moiré interferometry. A moiré fringe pattern generated by the holographic method was superimposed on the surface of a specially-fabricated compliant pipe wall. The compliant surface, in response to wall-pressure changes, introduces optical path length changes which are manifested by distortions in the fringe field. The fringe distortions, observed during flow, were recorded (framed area, 11 mm x 34 mm) by means of medium-speed motion photography. The amplitude of fringe distortion provides a measure of the pressure magnitude at the wall. A 26.3 mm ID horizontal glass pipline (7.0 m long) supplied with distilled water from a constant head reservoir was used in the study. Photographs taken of the fringe patterns observed at a flow velocity (U) of 0.47 m/sec (Re[sub=d] = 12,300) were analysed. Results show that the wall-pressure field consists of a positive and negative pressure region. A statistical analysis reveals that the wall-pressure distribution is asymmetrical (Skewness = -0.29). From an analysis of the pressure patterns, a relationship between the generation of wall-pressure fluctuations and known wall-layer flow characteristics is inferred. A flow model is proposed to explain some aspects of the wall region dynamics and a mechanism for particle detachment from a wall, during turbulent flow, is also presented. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Chemical and Biological Engineering, Department of / Graduate