Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2006. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file viewed on (February 28, 2007) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have become increasingly utilized in the rebuilding of war-torn countries. This thesis is a grounded-theory qualitative study of the role of NGO educational projects in re-building civil society in Afghanistan as well as other conflict-affected nations. Six NGO project directors and field officers working on project work in Afghanistan were selected as interview participants. Analysis of the interview narratives revealed several key findings. These key findings suggest that while NGO officials recognize several root causes of conflict in their work contexts, conflict’s causes have limited impact on their project design. However, NGO officials believed educational project work had transformational potential. Further, NGO officials believed their project work to be successful in its development and peacebuilding goals, but suggested a need for increased project time frames. Finally, they believed their NGO project work to be but one track in a multi-track intervention into conflict-affected countries. / February 2008

Thesis (Master, Sociology) -- Queen's University, 2010-06-29 22:05:58.284 / The growing global awareness of sexual violence as a weapon of war has been accompanied by the strategic and pervasive inclusion of womens personal stories of war rape. This representational strategy of Western media, academia and humanitarian policies was critically examined in order to understand how war raped women in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are discursively situated as Other. Drawing on the theoretical concepts of abjection and objection, the study did not question the truth of womens experience but rather examined whether the pervasive inclusion of war rape stories constituted a true feminine subjectivity. A foucaldian notion of discourse provided a method to expose meaning and dominant discourses, which render certain identities and stories of war rape more visible than others. The purpose of this study was to critically engage with dominant Western discourses of war rape and provide a more complex understanding of how diverse power structures, identities and representational practices impact the struggle of Congolese women to end rape and open self-determined pathways of empowerment. A qualitative method of critical discourse analysis was used to examine the textual and visual processes of representation. Samples of text were taken from three main areas: media coverage (print, television, web based, magazines, and films), feminist academic literature (journals, reports and books), and humanitarian policies (UN mission reports, security council resolution, mandates and reports). The results revealed that war rape victims, the DRC and acts of rape were all positioned as Other and as a media spectacle that was further consumed by Western audiences. It was also found that certain war rape identities and social factors remained invisible, including the Wests complacency in the DRC conflict. Ultimately, the study finds a tension between discourse as a tool of liberation and a tool of power and control. This thesis recommends that anti rape activists must examine their own dominance over war rape victims and consider new strategiesbeyond the simple act of storytellingthat will position rape victims as the subjects (not objects) of their own struggle to end war rape. / Master

Within Canada, parallel parenting plans have been introduced to manage parental conflict in cases of high conflict divorce (Epstein & Madsen, 2004). Since parallel parenting plans are a relatively novel form of custody order, limited research exists pertaining to their effectiveness and impact on the lives of families. The purpose of this dissertation was to explore the experience of parallel parenting. However, since participants were reluctant to discuss this experience directly, the focus of this dissertation shifted to the experience of conflict. Individual interviews with eight participants (five mothers and three fathers) with direct knowledge or experience with parallel parenting plans volunteered to participate in this qualitative study. Interviews followed a reflexive-dyadic interview model and were analyzed using thematic analysis. Thematic analysis identified three common themes across the cases: (a) Attributions of responsibility: Self versus other; participants attributed responsibility for the parenting conflict to their former partners; (b) Who knows best; participants believed that they, and only they, knew what was best for their child; neither their former partners nor the court system were recognized as being able to accurately judge this; and (c) Desire for a resolution; the participants believed that they were more motivated than their former partners to desist from conflict; their willingness to cooperate was associated with a reduction in conflict and improved the parenting relationship and post-divorce adjustment of their child. The themes held dramatically different meaning across cases depending on the context of their relationships. Overall, participants reported a reduction in conflict over time. However, the reported reduction in conflict was found to vary with the participants’ level of satisfaction with the imposed arrangement, the quality of conflict in the parenting relationship, and subsequent willingness to cooperate with their former partners. How these variables relate to the parallel parenting custody arrangement remains unknown. Difficulties with research on parallel parenting custody arrangements and directions for further research are discussed.

Abstract Taiwan's financial sector was earlier divided clearly into three sections, namely, banking, securities and insurance, each of which has its own targeted customers without conflict among themselves. Nowadays, however, the financial market has reached certain maturity over years of constant development as dazzling variety of financial products are highly correlated and closely intertwined. Corporate structure based on product classification has long been unable to effectively enhance the operational efficiency of enterprises, out of which financial reform emerges. Financiers, whether their main business involves banking, securities or insurance, are looking to expanding their territory by integrating resources, which evolves into the current financial holding pattern. Hand in hand with financial holding system comes significant change in corporate culture, the impact of which is not inconsiderable for securities. For instance, what traditional securities traders sell is mostly stocks, and for investors great importance is attached to professional analyses and business development interactions. In addition to daily challenges from strong performance pressure, securities traders also have to deal with pressure from investors' potential investment losses. So besides luring bonus incentives they must have devotion and passion for their profession. But within the financial holding system, the focus is comprehensive wealth management, customer resource sharing and joint product marketing; what matters is the overall outcome of financial holding; the goal is not only to make customer satisfied, but more importantly is to improve customer loyalty, because after all it is loyal investors that are the source and guarantee of company's long-term profitability. Constant purchase of the company's products or services is the key to building long-term relationship between the company and investors. However, for securities salespersons, growing diversification of products means more time to learn about unfamiliar products (time-consuming). In the competitive environment, improved service quality does not necessarily equal income increase; on the contrary undercutting is anything but new (small profit margins). And in order to enhance the efficiency of financial holding the establishment of departments such as IT, human resources, performance analysis, is essential, which inevitably will increase operating costs with cut-down on performance-based bonus as well as welfare (low reward). It is thus suggested that the slogan of all-round salesperson is more boastful than practical for primary salespersons on the front line. But how should branch managers how to deal with decline in operation performance caused by salespersons' negative emotions and passive resistance? How can they strike a balance between company operation and requirements for salespersons? How do they find effective management methods to motivate their employees?

Throughout extant literature, there is a great deal of research on organizational change and organizational conflict; however, the two have rarely been studied together. Even less frequently studied is the existence and impact of hidden conflict during an organizational change. This study seeks to explore the meeting of these bodies of literature through the use of qualitative methods. Fifteen interviews were triangulated with artifact data and participant observation to examine hidden conflict during an organizational change in a student organization of a large, southern university. The organization studied had a long history of grassroots student leadership. However, per a directive of university administration, this pattern shifted. In order to comply with the new directive, the student leadership Council of the organization begrudgingly changed their structure. Many organizational members challenged the process taken to implement this change, not only because of the structural alteration it represented, but also for the lack of student input in developing the change plans. This study revealed that throughout the change process, organizational members used hidden conflict strategies extensively. These individuals aimed their hidden conflict behaviors at other organizational members in protest of others’ opinions of the change initiative. The use of hidden conflict behaviors had a significant impact on the change process and the efficacy of the organization as a whole. Most of the hidden conflict behaviors displayed are already identified in extant literature; however, this study also revealed new expressions of hidden conflict. In addition, this research explored the implications of emotion during an organizational change and the link between hidden conflict and resistance.

This thesis will examine the individual and the community. The question will be, what effect does the community have on the individual, and whether or not this limits individuals’ development and personal freedom. I will contend that while individuals have limits placed on their freedoms by the community, they are also indebted to it, finding within it a necessary place. As such, I will examine various communal models, questioning the benefits and vices of each, hoping to draw a clearer picture of a community that allows the individual the most personal freedom, while not diminishing from the strength of the community. I will focus first on the model of Hegel and his speculative idealism, examining his method, and overarching goal, as a means to question what an idealistic society would look like, and how it would function, in order to inquire whether such a community is both plausible and preferable. And as this question was taken up by John Dewey, the thesis will also argue from his standpoint that a community such as Hegel’s was not possible. I will examine why John Dewey drew this conclusion, as it did not take into account individuals, and how they have experience, as personal and ever changing. And finally the thesis will question, was Dewey firm enough in his stance, or was his just a softer version of idealism, leading us to the present state of affairs where the community is still dominated by idealistic sentiments, favoring the community over the individual, and diminishing personal freedom. The conclusion will be drawn that a move should be made to return to individuals choice in their personal lives, as originally proposed by Dewey, both giving, and making them take responsibility for those lives. Consequently, the thesis will show that a community that allows for the most personal development of individual freedoms will also be one that thrives as a community, drawing from those individual developments a richer source of potentials, capable of changing in a more varied and expansive way that is more aptly able to accommodate both the individual and the community.

Univ., Diss.--Paris, 2004.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2001. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 92-98). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Thesis (M.A.)--Western Washington University, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 159-182).