The aim of the research was to analyze the possibility of developing an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) that could improve a programmer‘s performance by considering their current mood. Various experiments were conducted to study this idea. However, the impact of moods on programmer performance was initially examined in the literature. Based on this, a Cognitive Programming Task Model (CPTM) was developed showing that various cognitive functions and programming activities are interrelated. A second model derived from the literature, the Cognitive Mood Model (CMM), suggested that moods are also interrelated with various cognitive functions. Combining these two models indirectly suggests a relation between moods and programming tasks, which was presented as the Mood Programming Model (MPM). As direct empirical support was lacking for this relation, two experiments were conducted to study the effect mood could have on performance in a debug task. Validated mood-inducing movie clips were used to induce specific moods along two-mood dimensions: valence and arousal. The first study was conducted online. The results showed that arousal is a significant factor when considering programmer performance whereas valence was found to have no significant effect. The second study was a continuation study to validate the findings from the first study within lab conditions. The results were not able to confirm the findings of the first experiment. The reasons for these findings were explained accordingly. As mood was found to have an effect on a programmer‘s coding and debugging performance, this factor might be considered when developing a support system. The next step in the research was therefore to consider mood measuring in a non-interruptive way. The next two experiments were based around the hypothesis that ―moods can be measured from the keyboard and mouse interaction of the computer user‖. In the first experiment an application was installed on participants‘ computers to record their key presses and mouse clicks in a log file. Their self reported moods in intervals of 20 minutes were also stored in the same file over an average period of eight days. Correlations between participants‘ self reported moods and their keyboard and mouse use revealed that it might be possible to measure moods of the some of the participants. The second experiment took place in the lab, where participants were asked to perform programming like tasks while listening to ii mood inducing background music. Their moods were measured with a Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) meter whereas key presses and mouse clicks again were recorded in log files. The correlations between GSR measurements and keyboard and mouse interaction validated the findings of the experiment in the field that it might be possible to measure the mood of some users from their computer use. Analyzing participants‘ personality traits showed dutifulness and self discipline as indicators that a person‘s mood correlates with his/her interaction behaviour. Considering that mood has an effect on programmer performance and that it might be possible to measure mood in a non-intrusive manner, the last question to focus on was whether a computer-generated intervention could change a programmer‘s mood and consequently improve their performance. In the final experiment programmers had to dry run algorithms for 16 minutes with the expectation that a level of boredom would set in. After this the video clip instructed them to participate in some physical exercises. Participants continued tracing algorithms for 8 minutes after the intervention. Results showed that the mood change after the intervention coincided with a programmers improved ability to provide the correct output of the algorithms. Together these findings lay the foundation for developing an IDE that can measure the programmer mood in a non-intrusive way and make effective interventions to improve programmer performance.

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Initially the focus of this thesis was to simply analyse employment mobility in the Mauritian hotel industry. Through focus group interviews carried out across eight of the largest hotels in the country, the intra and inter-industry mobility of employees were examined. Low barriers to entry associated with qualifications, skills and experience have made this industry the first step towards a career for many. Moreover information from connections in the industry also played a significant role in the decision making process of potential employees. Unlike other studies which showed that employment in this industry is highly temporary and volatile, the case of Mauritius shows that although many had joined the industry by default, they stayed in it and made it a career. Investments in human capital, organizational cultures fostering employee commitment, social capital and network capital in the form of hotel industry-networks also contributed to the retention of employees within the same industry (although not necessarily the same hotel). However, the findings also reveal that not all employees are able to capitalise on these. Those belonging to the North Indian Diaspora are seen as experiencing low mobility both within the hotels and in the industry as a whole. Developing this further, through using interviews and an ethnographic approach, the thesis then identifies other forms of mobility which shape the daily lives of the participants and which could help explain the mobility of the Diaspora. In particular, I analyse the ‘home’-making practices of those belonging to the North Indian Diaspora. The thesis analyses the ways through which they have constructed a Hindu home away from India and how these practices influence their behaviour at work and in the wider community. Hybrid identities are identified through an examination of processes of language mixing and ‘home’-making. Regional disparities are identified between those living and working in the rural and urban regions. The findings from the second fieldwork reveal that apart from the spatial reconstruction of a ‘home’ away from home, strong ethnic social networks are actively being formed which affect the social capital level of the Diaspora in the labour market. Moreover, boundary maintainance practices such as the continued use of Bhojpuri, a dialect from India, has significantly reduced their motility. The study develops a framework for the understanding of how Diasporic members who are in the process of re-instating their identity away from home also end up marginalising themselves in the labour market.

Cognitive appraisal theory proposes that it is cognition and an individual's construction of meaning that substantially determine the emotions that s/he experiences in a given situation. So far most appraisal research has adopted a quantitative survey design, using questionnaires, which only allowed for the study of relatively abstract and decontextualized appraisals. This study instead, has adopted a qualitative approach that allowed for cognitive appraisals to be studied in greater depth and at a more meaningful level than had been possible previously. To research both the abstract appraisals derived from previous research and to study more contextual cognitive appraisals within one particular socio-cultural milieu this study has focused on investigating school teachers' cognitive appraisals in emotional events. The emotions selected for this in-depth examination of their cognitive appraisals were that of frustration, anger, guilt, feeling pleased/happy and proud. Participants in the study were interviewed on their thoughts and feelings during emotional events. The interview transcripts were then analysed using theory and previous research led thematic analysis. This study identified a hierarchy of appraisals associated with each emotion consisting of both abstract and contextual appraisals. The findings suggest that there are noteworthy variations in appraisals for the same emotion which, arguably, also change the qualitative experience of that emotion and that there are reciprocal influences between appraisals and emotions that have hitherto not been investigated. To end, the proposition is put forward that qualitative appraisal research is of substantial theoretical and practical relevance as it can provide an insightful representation of the relationship between individuals' cognitive appraisals and their emotions.

A study of twenty-five industrial inspection tasks i sused to illustrate how different areas of psychologicl laboratory work are relevant to a better understanding of the many factors which can influence an industrial inspectors judgment. a method is outlines for gradually developing a mathematical model which would predict the actuial sequences of judgments made by any one person when presented with a given sequence of items, under known social and physical conditions. Helson's Adapatation Level theory is the most adequate existing theory of judgment, but certain weaknesses are identified whe it is used to preduct individual responses of individual subjects. A stochastic model is devised to simulaye limited aspects of the process of judgment. A computer is programmed to calculate the consequences of this model for one given experimental situation. The experimental situation involves self-paced judging of the intensities of spots of light. A sequence of 1.97 s[pots are judged on a five-point response scale under constant conditions. Individual results obtained from seventeen out of eighteen subjects are better matched by the computer than by Helson's theory. Another experiment is divised in which the length of brass rods are judged by touch. it is shown that there is a qualitative difference between the predictions from Adaptation Level theory and those from the mathematical model, about what will happen to a subject's scale of judgment when he is exposed to uneven distributions of ecperience over a constant range of stimuli. The results from eighteen subjects show a highly significant change in the subjective scales. These contract where the experience is most concentrated. The model had predicted this, Adaptation Level theory had not. Detailed suggestions for developing a model to cover a greater range of phenomena are discussed, and methods for proceeding are outlined.

This study investigated the antecedents of employee service quality in the hotel industry by focusing on variables that were believed to be its direct and indirect antecedents. The conceptual model developed in this study suggested that organisational service orientation (OSO), organisational justice (OJ), and the individual service orientation (ISO) of customer-contact employees influence employee service quality (ESQ) through employee attitudes towards their work (job satisfaction (JS) and affective organisational commitment (AOC)) and employee behaviours at work (in-role behaviour (IRB) and organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB)). In order to identify the relationships between these constructs, two questionnaires were designed; one to measure employee perceptions of OSO, OJ, ISO, JS and AOC, and the other to measure managers' perceptions of employee IRB, OCB and ESQ. A total of 800 matched questionnaires were distributed randomly to a sample of front-line employees and their direct managers working in four- and five-star hotels in Saudi Arabia. Of these 356 usable matched questionnaires were returned and used in the analysis. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was used to test the validity of the scales used. The single dimensional scales were all confirmed, although most of the multi-dimensional scales loaded differently and were renamed accordingly. The relationships between the constructs were examined using three analytical methods: correlation analysis, multiple regression analysis and structural equation modelling. The correlation results showed that there were positive significant relationships between all variables at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). Then multiple regression was used to test the developed hypotheses. All the propositions suggested in this study showed positive relationships. Using the multiple regression analysis to study the proposed relationships model showed an inconsistency in the results when different mediation paths were studied. Therefore, structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to confirm the goodness-of-fit of the model generated from the multiple regression analysis. The final model generated from the SEM using AMOS software was considered as a valid and reliable model. The contributions of this research at the theoretical and methodological levels and the implications for theory, management and future research were discussed. Theoretical contributions were addressed in this study. ISO, IRB and OCB were found as direct antecedents of employee service quality. On the other hand, OSO, OJ and JS were found to be as indirect antecedents of employee service quality. JS, IRB and OCB played mediation roles between predictors and the outcome. Unexpectedly, AOC was not correlated to employee service quality in this study. As one of the motivations of this study was to provide a comparison of expatriates and local employees looking at employee service quality while the replacement process - Saudi-isation - was in progress. The results showed that there were no significant differences between Saudi employees and expatriates in terms of the delivery of service quality perceived by their managers. The findings of this study suggest that the Saudiisation process of employees in the Saudi hotels has little or no impact on the quality of the service delivered to customers.

The roles of occupational therapists working in the National Health Service (NHS) are being challenged by new ways of organising and regulating the workforce (Gage 1995). This thesis contributes to a debate on occupational therapy professional identities within a modernising NHS. Theoretically the thesis has been framed within the sociology of the professions and the methodology adopted has been informed by Foucauldian poststructuralisma ndn arrativei nquiry. The research explores the reforms to the NHS as experienced by 14 occupational therapists. The empirical research was conducted over 12 months across 5 NHS organisations in England. Each participant was interviewed three times and was asked to keep a monthly diary of critical incidents. The participants told local stories on the theme of NHS "modernisation" and "working lives", to characterise how the reforms become lived and known in occupational therapy practice and how this impacts on notions of professional identity. A process of narrative analysis was developed to analyse this data. The result is five metaphorical stories; the battle, the love story, the magazine, the journey and the pantomime, which are centred on professionalism and professional identity. Four policy driven ideologies of managerialism, service user choice, inter-professional working and greater regulation of the health professions provide a context for the exploration of the construction of professional identities. It is demonstrated that a profound change is occurring in the NHS which affects professional values, expertise, status and accountability. I identify five professional identity strategies; embracement, game playing, separatism, (re)membering and distancing, which the participants use to adapt to work role transitions. It is argued that professional identity can be conceived as a reflexive ethical concept in that it is through the process of reflecting on the discursive options and values available, that occupational therapists come to understand , explain and define their professional selves.

This thesis focuses on employees' experiences of fit and misfit at work. This falls within the person-environment fit (PE fit) literature which is based on principles founded in interactional psychology that when a person fits the environment that they are in, positive outcomes, such as job satisfaction, will result. Despite a wealth of empirical studiesin theP E fit field studyingv ariousa spectso f individuals' fit with their work environmentt,h erea re significantg apsi n knowledgea ndu nderstanding.O neo f thesei s that little researchh as investigatedh ow employeese xperiencefi t andm isfit. A secondg ap is that little is known aboutm isfit and whethert his is the oppositet o fit, an absenceo f fit or a separateca tegoricasl tate. The researchf ocusedo n theseg apsi n the literaturea nd took a qualitative, exploratory approach to gain in-depth understanding of the factors affecting individuals' fit in organisations. Causalm appingt echniquesw ereu sedt o allow the study'sp articipantst o express their perceptionsw ithout beingp romptedt o speaka bouts pecifict opics. The resultingd ata were coded using measures from the PE fit literature to explore whether the extant measuresa dequatelyc apturedp eople'se xperiencesa nd also to assessw hethert herew ere differencesb etweenf it andm isfit. The researchfo und that the extantP E fit measures explainedp articipants'e xperienceos f fit andm isfit well but that ast hesea re focusedo n factors within the organisational environment, they miss external factors such as people's links with their communities. It seems that the majority of individuals experience misfit to some extent but that overwhelming misfit perceptions can be triggered by a change in the organisation. Misfit and fit are shown to differ, most profoundly in that whereas fit is a positive experience, misfit is negative and a state to be avoided.

This research addresses the question of using organisational intervention in order to break the 'glass ceiling' for women within organisations. The research focuses on the factors and the processes that had an impact upon the implementation of an organisational intervention program that aimed to create a change regarding the glass ceiling, in two municipalities in Israel. The "Breaking the Glass Ceiling Programme" aimed to include organisations in the efforts to create a change in the status of women within the organisational world and was developed based on five assumptions: (1) Organisations strive for effectiveness (2) Organisations recognise the value of realising the human resources potential as contributory to effectiveness (3) Organisations do not understand that the glass ceiling leads to non-realisation of human resources (4) Organisations that understand this will search for a modus operandi to minimise the phenomenon (5) The organisations will adopt the modus operandi and act accordingly. The aim of the research was to learn if we are able to convince organisations' decision makers to see the glass ceiling as an organisational problem that harms the organisation's effectiveness and then find out if and how we can use organisational interventions in order to introduce a change in this regard. The adoption of a qualitative research enabled an in-depth view of the researched events-- the two case studies-- by using a variety of information sources and a wide range of tools. In fact. the use of the case study method revealed a new perspective on the phenomena of the glass ceiling that would not have been achieved if a quantitative survey had been carried out. An analysiS of the findings shows that it is possible to address the glass ceiling as an organisational problem and it is possible to "educate" the organisation (the decision-makers) into regarding the issue as injurious to the effective functioning of the organisation. In light of this, it seems to be possible to contend with the glass ceiling through organisational intervention. At the same time, because of the complexity of the Issue such organisational intervention requires special attention and strictness at each of Its phases: from the preliminary preparations of examining the organisational environment to the monitoring and implementation stage. The resistance to breaking the glass ceiling is not just about sexism, but about the social expectations in particular societies and the ways in which organisations work and are resistant to change anyway - be it change about gender or anything else. iii Those who deal with gender inequality must use all means at their disposal, especially in Israel where the society is a society with a sense of contInuous existential threat. The complexity of an immigrant society with many different cultures creates a unique climate for the glass ceiling problem as well as the issue of gender differences and inequality. Therefore, striving only for correct legislation and its enforcement or only for increasing women's awareness of the issue is giving up in advance on any attempt to enlist the organisations and their leaders in the struggle.