Interactions between business counterparts have become increasingly free from boundaries, as technological innovation brings the world closer together (Adler, 2002). Locally, the typical South African organisation employs workers from a multitude of cultural backgrounds, at various levels of acculturation. Organisational coaches must be prepared to engage with diverse national and international client populations. Coaching bodies such as the Worldwide Association of Business Coaches (WABC, 2008) and the locally-based Coaches and Mentors of South Africa (COMENSA, 2009; COMENSA, 2010), require coaches to provide culturally responsive services to coachees. If the coach differs culturally from the coachee, he/she may incorrectly use his/her own understanding of what is appropriate for a situation to make sense of the coachee’s behaviour, possibly leading to the misinterpretation of the diverse coachee’s situation. In addition, the coach may also project his/her own cultural bias and stereotypes onto the coachee. This in turn may lead to barriers in communication, and ultimately to the inhibition of efficiency of the coaching process as possible outcomes. Inefficient coaching may not allow for the achievement of the desired results, leading to financial losses for the company. Therefore, it is imperative that the coach is aware of his/her own culturally-laden values, beliefs and expectations which may include biases, prejudices and stereotypes held about the coachee, i.e. his/ her cultural self-awareness. The purpose of the current research study was to explore and describe the experiences and perceptions of South African organisational coaches in terms of cultural self-awareness. Specifically the study investigated how eight South African organisational coaches (N = 8) develop, maintain and promote cultural self-awareness, and what the perceived consequences of such awareness were. The study was conducted within the constructivist research paradigm and utilised a qualitative research approach. The multiple case study research strategy employed in-depth interviews to collect the research data. A grounded theory research methodology was used to analyse and explore the experiences and perceptions of South African organisational coaches in developing and utilising cultural self-awareness. Eight findings were obtained from the interviews, namely: the cultural self-awareness cultivated during coaching developed as part of a general process of cultural self-awareness, which in turn formed part of the participants’ personal development; both intentional strategies and happenstance led to the coaches’ cultural self-awareness; situational and internal factors contributed to changes in their cultural self-awareness; cultural self-awareness is maintained through self-management involving internal and external strategies; future cultural self-awareness is promoted through pursuing experiences that would cause them to question bias; a change in cultural self-awareness held consequences for the personal developmental process as well as for the coachee, and the coaching process; the meaning of cultural self-awareness was explained by using metaphors. The most prominent metaphors the coaches used were ‘sight’, ‘the past’, ‘internal work’, and ‘managing’; additional psychosocial processes that occur during intercultural coaching which can be grouped under macro, meso and micro issues, contextualised the process of cultural self-awareness during intercultural coaching. The findings were interpreted to show that various levels, developmental paths, and applications of cultural self-awareness exist amongst organisational coaches. On the basis of the results obtained from the research study, recommendations were made for future research, coaching education and training programmes, coaching clients, and current or prospective coaches. / Thesis (MA (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2013

Purpose of the study was to illustrate how emotional competence can be important for leadership and to explore the possibility of improving emotion perception ability after training. Participants in this study were 40 managers, divided into control and experimental group, within public administration. The participants implemented a data-based emotion perception test, which were done twice at every occasion, with intervention consisting of information or education between test- and retest. The result showed a clear improvement after intervention, in which no difference was found between control and experimental group, which has been discussed on the basis of the likelihood of a training effect occurred between test-retest. Conclusions about emotional competence or leadership ability could not be drawn from the results of the emotion perception test. The possibility of development of emotion perception ability is however worthy of consideration in the planning of leadership training as well as in the recruitment of managers. / Studiens syfte var att belysa hur emotionell kompetens kan ha betydelse för ledarskapet samt att undersöka möjligheten till förbättring av emotionsperceptionsförmågan efter utbildning. Deltagarna i denna studie var 40 chefer, fördelade i kontroll- och experimentgrupp, inom offentlig förvaltning. Deltagarna genomförde ett databaserat emotionsperceptionstest, som gjordes två gånger vid varje tillfälle, med intervention bestående av information eller utbildning mellan före- och eftertest. Resultatet visade en tydlig förbättring efter intervention, där ingen skillnad fanns mellan kontroll- och experimentgrupp, vilket har diskuterats utifrån sannolikheten att en träningseffekt uppstått mellan före- och eftertest. Slutsatser om emotionell kompetens eller ledarskapsförmåga kunde inte göras utifrån resultatet av emotionsperceptionstestet. Möjligheten till utveckling av emotionsperceptionsförmågan är dock värd att beakta vid planering av ledarskapsutbildningar samt vid rekrytering av chefer.

Socialinio darbo tikslas optimizuoti kliento santykius su aplinka. Pokyčiai, vykstantys visuomenėje, politiniame, ekonominiame, socialiniame gyvenime, turi įtakos socialinio darbo proceso kaitai bei socialinių darbuotojų gebėjimams keliamiems reikalavimams. Socialinio darbo organizavimas atsiskleidžia koordinuojant pagalbos ir paramos teikimo bei gavimo sistemos dalyvių veiksmus. Sprendžiant kliento problemas svarbu ne tik turėti praktinių įgūdžių ir teorinių žinių, bet ir būti kompetentingu vadybininku. Prisitaikant prie besikeičiančios socialinės aplinkos, svarbus tampa socialinio darbo organizatorių kompetencijų vystymas, nuolatinė kaita ir tobulėjimas. Tyrimo tikslas - išsiaiškinti socialinio darbo organizatorių vadybinių kompetencijų vystymo poreikį socialinio darbo kaitos kontekste. Tyrimo uždaviniai: apibūdinti socialinio darbo organizavimo Lietuvoje ypatumus socialinio darbo kaitos kontekste; apibrėžti kompetencijos sampratą bei struktūrą ir išskirti bendrąsias socialinių darbuotojų kompetencijas; aptarti vadybinių kompetencijų raišką socialiniame darbe ir jų vystymo galimybes; išanalizuoti socialinio darbo organizatorių vadybinių kompetencijų vystymo praktinius aspektus. Siekiant išsiaiškinti socialinio darbo organizatorių vadybinių kompetencijų vystymo poreikį socialinio darbo kaitos kontekste, pasirinktas kokybinio tyrimo metodas, tyrimo duomenys renkami naudojant nestruktūruotą interviu, vadovaujamasi konstruktyvistiniu požiūriu. Tyrimo dalyviai - aštuoni... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The main goal of social work is to optimize the client‘s relationships with his environment. The changes in political, economic and social life, affects the changes in social work and the requirements for social workers skills. Social work organizing reveals in coordinating the actions of social support system participants and services recipients. It is very important to have practical skills, theoretical knowledge and managerial competences. The development of social work organizers managerial competences, continuous change and improvement is very important adjusting to the changing social environment. The main goal of the work is to reveal the need for development of social work organizers managerial competences in the context of the social work changes. The objectives of the research are: to describe the peculiarities of the social work organizing in Lithuania in the context of social work changing; to define the conception of the competence and it‘s structured and to discern the common competences of the social workers; to discuss the expression of the managerial competences in social work and possibilities of their development; to analyse the practical aspects of the social work organizers managerial competences development. Trying to reveal the need for development of social work organizers managerial competences in the context of social work changing, the qualitative research was taken. The unstructured interview was used to pick data for the research. The research was... [to full text]

This study is concentrated in recruitment strategies and finding the right competence for firms establishing in transition economies. The study is conducted with six Swedish companies operating in Russia and the Baltic States. Thus, this is a qualitative study in order to identify the different strategies used by the companies and why or why not they have been successful. Furthermore this study is based on in-depth interviews that give us the dimensions we need to solve the issue of recruitment in transition economies.  In conclusion the study shows us that major companies have issues when recruiting personnel in Russia and also a guidance what should be done in order to be as successful as possible in process of recruitment.

This thesis explores generation Y motivators. They are a growing group of young people among the general workforce, and they have different behavior and motivators at work. This paper explores effective motivating factors for this group of employees by studying a company, LinkedIn, which successfully motivates generation Y employees. Data is gathered through several interviews done with LinkedIn employees working at their Dublin office. The data is analyzed with the help of a motivational theory called self-determination theory and its main concepts autonomy, relatedness and competence. Other insights from earlier studies done on generation Y motivation are used to support the analysis as well. The results and analysis are consistent with theory and earlier studies, and can even show some interesting factors generation Y employees value, such as high value for manager flexibility and sharing similar values with the company they work for.

The aim of this thesis is to identify communication challenges in micro-organizations. Thisthesis defines theoretical areas such as organizational communication and internalcommunication, with a focus on competence, uncertainty, and work disruptions. The methodsused in the collection of empirical material were participant observation, semi-structuredinterviews, and an e-mail survey. This material in combination with the theoretical backgroundhas showed the importance of technical competence in order for employees to be ableto communicate effectively. The technological solutions available today have the potential tomake a workplace much more effective and efficient by using new equipment andcommunication methods, but reaching this potential requires that everyone feels comfortablewith the use and has sufficient competence. The results indicate that since microorganizationshave only a few employees, technical competence needs to be high for everyemployee. The study also reveals the lack of a theoretical framework to evaluate the resourcesrequired for optimal communication in organizations or businesses, and introduces asuitable framework for later studies.

Verbal irony, a form of figurative language, uses the discrepancy between a speaker’s intended meaning and the literal word meanings to achieve social goals. Yet, little research exists on individual differences that may disrupt irony understanding. Verbal irony may challenge shy children, who tend to interpret ambiguous stimuli as being threatening, and who have difficulties with mentalizing in social contexts. This study assessed whether shy children interpret ironic statements differently than do non-shy children. Children (8- to11-year-olds) listened to stories wherein one character made a statement to another character that was a literal or ironic criticism or a literal or ironic compliment. Children appraised the speaker’s belief and communicative intention. Shyness was assessed using self report measures of social anxiety symptoms and shy negative affect. Shy children did not differ from non-shy peers in comprehending speakers’ beliefs. However, shy children rated speakers who made ironic criticisms as being more mean than did children low in shyness. Thus, while understanding that speakers intended to communicate their true beliefs, shy children construed the social meaning of irony differently, indicating difficulties with pragmatics. Such subtle differences in pragmatic understanding may underlie some of the social difficulties facing shy children.

The new Swedish Armed Forces will be radically different from the previous invasion-oriented defence and the Armed Forces will be a smaller and more flexible organization, better adapted to the international sphere. With the aim of meeting up with the demands of the transformed Armed Forces posture for professional competence, the Regular Officer Programme (YOP) was introduced in the autumn of 1999. This dissertation aims at attempting to illustrate, address the problems and investigate to what degree the basic officer training of the Regular Officer Programme (Swedish: YOP) and the professional competence of newlygraduated Second Lieutenants can be seen as being legitimate within the scope of professional practices of the Swedish Armed Forces, and how this legitimacy can be described and understood. The theoretical framework of the dissertation is comprised of a sociocultural perspective and institutional theory. The five central concepts of the dissertation are: professional practice, institutional rules, professional competence, learning and legitimacy. The empirical elements of the dissertation were collected during 2001 and 2002 and comprise data from six part-studies. The informants were officer cadets after their first year of the Basic Officer Training Programme (YOP) and officers up to the rank of general. The methods for collecting data have been in the form of a questionnaire study, focus group conversations at thirteen military units, three document studies and a study with questions via e-mail. The questionnaire study was processed by using the computer programme SAS. The focus group conversations, the document studies and the answers via e-mail to questions were analyzed and put into categories contents wise according to the sentence category principle in positive and negative statements, respectively, in relation to YOP and the professional competence of the newly-graduated Second Lieutenants. Results show that both YOP as well as the professional competence of the newly-graduated Second Lieutenants cannot be regarded as being fully legitimate among the informants or within the all the professional practices of the Armed Forces.

国立情報学研究所で電子化したコンテンツを使用している。

国立情報学研究所で電子化したコンテンツを使用している。