Positive psychological capital (PsyCap), a second-order construct formed from optimism, hope, resilience, and self-efficacy, has predicted the performance and psychological well-being of a variety of full-time workers, and mediators of the relationships between PsyCap and performance and psychological well-being have rarely been examined. Using self-determination theory, broaden-and-build theory, and the conceptual framework of positive psychology, this study was an exploration of (a) the relationships among PsyCap, (b) basic psychological need satisfaction (i.e., autonomy, competence, relatedness), and (c) psychological well-being and performance using a sample of 103 working actors and stunt people. A serial mediation model was proposed whereby PsyCap predicted performance through need satisfaction and psychological well-being. Statistically significant bivariate correlations were found among PsyCap, autonomy, competence, relatedness, psychological well-being, and performance. Multiple regression analyses yielded indirect effects tested for statistical significance using bias-corrected bootstrapping. Results showed a total indirect effect of PsyCap on psychological well-being through need satisfaction and a specific indirect effect of PsyCap on psychological well-being through relatedness. Results showed no total indirect effect for PsyCap on performance through need satisfaction but did show a specific indirect effect of PsyCap on performance through relatedness. No statistically significant indirect effects of autonomy, competence, and relatedness on performance through psychological well-being were found. Theoretical and practical implications for future researchers, independent workers, and organizations supporting independent workers are discussed.

The public sector in Australia, as in other western countries, has been accused in recent times of being too costly, too rigid, inefficient and ineffective. What is apparently needed is a public sector that is smaller, less costly, more efficient and more effective. The search for alternative and better ways to organise and undertake work to meet these reform objectives is at the heart of the rapid expansion of Competitive Tendering and Contracting (CTC) within the public sector in the last two decades. But increased reliance on government contracting does not always lead to outsourcing. Some government agencies allow, indeed encourage, their current employees to also bid for the work on offer by including an In-House Option (IHO) within their CTC processes. In a number of cases these IHOs have been selected ahead of their commercial competitors. IHOs are effectively internal tenders that, if selected, must be implemented by work areas within the confines of the policies and practices of their parent organisation. The reasons commonly expressed in support of IHOs are to do with addressing the potentially problematic aspects of organisational review and possible outsourcing, and to assist the parent organisation achieve its reform intentions in the most effective and least disruptive manner possible. This research examined the achievements of six IHOs within the Australian Defence Organisation. It also asked what can be learned from their experiences? The findings show that IHOs can contribute to reform and enhance the effectiveness of CTC processes but that these achievements come at a price�borne primarily by the staff who work within selected IHOs. IHOs add to the competition of CTC exercises. They also act as an insurance policy against being caught with no reasonable bids and offer a benchmark against which to assess unknown bids. But competition can also focus bidders on doing what is necessary to win rather than what is best for an organisation or its staff. Having IHOs increases the uncertainty for staff about their future employment while at the same times raising expectations that if they can be successful they will be able to make changes and improve their work areas. This research has shown that this does not always occur and staff can find the whole experience frustrating and demoralising. Organisations that include IHOs within their CTC methodologies need to assist them if they are to have the best opportunity to propose new and innovative ways of working. And they must be prepared for the possibility that their IHOs could win. Selected IHOs need support to successfully implement changes, and as the IHOs examined here have shown, they can make significant improvements in work practices and more efficient use of resources if given the chance.

Interfaces, joints and connections between different elements or sections cause more problems than most of the rest of the building. There are challenges during design, manufacture and construction as well as implications throughout the life of the building. These challenges are particularly relevant for the building envelope. Here the joints must perform at the same level as the main areas of wall or roof, but the pressures on them are invariably much greater. They must keep out the weather but, at the same time, accommodate tolerances. and inaccuracies and cater for movements both during construction and for as long as the building lasts. Managing construction interfaces is an important part of delivering a construction project without time delays or cost additions. However the lack of written publications on how to manage interfaces within construction is a problem discovered by the author very early in the research. Therefore the main aim of the research was; to improve the management of interfaces within the construction industry, with particular reference to interfaces within the building facade. The research was based on an EPSRC funded project entitled CladdISS "A standardised strategy for window and cladding interfaces". The methodology included industrial workshops, interviews, regular steering group meetings and a questionnaire. The strategy proposed to increase productivity, quality, reduce waste and reduce costs in design, manufacture, installation, and the building life cycle. The research highlighted a wide range of interrelated problems. However, the two main issues were: Poor communication between the design team and specialist contractors and poor interface detailing. The following situations typically exist: The interface responsibility is assigned too late if at all; the term 'by others' often leads to the interfaces being poorly managed; the design team does not have a good enough understanding of the construction and manufacturing tolerances of materials at the interfaces; often the design team does not have appropriate understanding of the cladding system they are designing; the specialist cladding contractors do not have enough input to the design of the cladding and interfaces early enough. Using the CladdISS strategy will enable the supply chain to be organised and provide a template for effective interface management.

Against the backdrop of the historical failure of official development assistance to alleviate poverty in the Third World, this thesis examines the current approach of Western aid donors toward development. The thesis asks whether aid policy processes indicate a willingness, or capacity, on the part of official donors to more fully engage with the causal complexity of development, and so potentially improve development outcomes. Considering the case study of the Australian bilateral aid program to Papua New Guinea from both top-down and bottom-up policy perspectives, the thesis concludes that, in relation to Australia, there are significant structural and institutional impediments to change. The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and its interpretation of national interest, dominate high-level aid policy-making, even though the objectives of foreign policy and those of foreign aid differ. Australia's official development agency, AusAID, is limited in its capacity to legitimately challenge this dominance, not least because its use of contracted-out projects restrict its corporate knowledge and its ability to influence policy agendas and networks. Overcoming this impasse requires creative management on the part of senior public servants and non-governmental members of the aid policy community alike.

Os sistemas mecanizados de colheita florestal estão se modernizando com a introdução constante de novas tecnologias, visando o aumento da produção e a diminuição dos custos. A maior parte das máquinas disponíveis no mercado nacional são originárias da América do Norte e Escandinávia e possui um alto custo de aquisição. No entanto os prestadores de serviços no Brasil, responsáveis por mais de 60% da mão de obra utilizada nas florestas plantadas, estão trabalhando com tecnologia defasada, na maioria das vezes com tratores agrícolas adaptados para o serviço florestal. O presente estudo analisou as condições de trabalho de empresas prestadoras de serviços do setor de colheita florestal, abordando os aspectos econômicos, a qualidade de vida dos trabalhadores, as questões trabalhistas, as condições dos equipamentos, custos operacionais e, por fim, oportunidades crédito para investir em tecnologia. Foram analisadas trinta empresas do segmento de prestações de serviços florestais, sendo cinco de forma detalhada. Das trinta empresas analisadas, três atuavam no setor de colheita, implantação, manejo e transporte, sete no setor de colheita e transporte, três no setor de colheita, implantação e manejo, sete apenas em colheita, seis em transporte, duas em implantação e mane jo e duas em serviços de apoio. Dentre as empresas analisadas o serviço predominante era o corte com motosserra, seguido pelo transporte rodoviário, carregamento e baldeio. O faturamento anual das empresas pesquisadas variou entre R$ 100.000,00 e R$ 50.000.000,00, com 36,6% apresentando um faturamento médio entre R$ 2.500.000,00 e R$ 5.000.000,00. Já entre as cinco empresas analisadas detalhadamente, o faturamento anual variou entre R$ 1.020.000,00 e R$ 4.313.000,00, com uma média de R$ 2.373.000,00. O número de funcionários ficou entre 33 e 181 e de acordo com o SEBRAE as empresas foram classificadas como: uma pequena, duas médias e duas grandes. Os resultados indicaram que as empresas prestadoras de serviço não acompanham a evolução tecnológica, principalmente no setor de colheita, devido ao grande investimento inicial necessário e às condições desfavoráveis aos financiamentos, juros superiores a 12% ao ano e ausência de garantias contratuais com duração compatível com o período do financiamento. Durante a execução deste trabalho observou-se que os empresários do setor não incluem nas planilhas de custos a remuneração do capital e uma correta depreciação dos bens, prejudicando a renovação dos equipamentos, levando ao envelhecimento das máquinas utilizadas na produção. Através dos resultados conclui- se que os custos estão acima dos valores pagos pelos serviços quando computadas a depreciação e a remuneração do capital, com três empresas apresentando resultados negativos nas análises financeiras. As empresas terceirizadas não estão conseguindo acompanhar a evolução tecnológica e suas máquinas possuem idade média superior a 10 anos. Observou que a mecanização aumentou a qualidade de vida dos funcionários, porém a renda per capita anual dos trabalhadores é em torno de R$ 5.280,00, cerca de 39% menor que a renda média da população brasileira. / Due to wood increasing demand and a necessity of cost reduction, the forestry operations are being more mechanized. Most of the available machines are industrialized in North America and Scandinavia with a hight cost of investment. However, the forest contractors in Brazil are working with an old technology, mainly adapted agricultural tractors and precarious conditions of work. The objective of this study was to describe the financial conditions of forestry contractors, approaching the life quality aspects, working questions, the equipment techniques conditions, operational costs and, finally, economic credit to invest in technology. Thirty companies in the forest segment had been analyzed, being five in detailed form. Three companies have been working with harvesting, planting, forest management and wood transportation; three with harvesting, planting and forest management; seven with harvesting and wood transportation; seven with harvesting only; six with wood transportation; two with planting and forest management; and two more with support services, with an annual income between US$ 40,000.00 and US$ 20,000,000.00 with 36,6% of you present them presenting an average invoicing between US$ 1,000,000.00 and 2,000,000.00. The annual income enters the five analyzed companies varied between US$ 400,000.00 and US$ 1,720,000.00 with a average of US$ 950,000.00. The employees number varied between 33 and 181 and the companies were classified as: one small, two averages and two big. The main difficulties to investment in a new generation machines are high financial tax, more than 12% a year, and a lack of long term contracts to guaranty there payment capability. During the execution of this work it was observed that the contractors do not include in the table of costs the capital remuneration and a correct depreciation. Currently, the machines average ages are superior to 10 years. The final results concluded that the costs are above of the paid values for the services when computed the depreciation and the capital remuneration, with negative results in financial analyzes in three companies. The forestry contractors are not following the technological evolution. Finally, it was observed that mechanization increased the quality of life, however, annual per capita income is around US$ 2,112.00, approximately 39% smaller than the average Brazilian population.

Magister Legum - LLM / Universally, workers’ protection is centred on the standard employment relationship (full-time,indeterminate employment) based on the distinction between ‘employee’ and ‘independent contractor’; nonetheless globalization coupled with advances in technology and other related processes such as casualization, externalization and informalization, has resulted in the proliferation of different forms of work that deviate from the conventional employment relationship. There is also an increase,worldwide, in the number of persons who perform work outside the employment sphere because they are labelled independent contractors though in fact they are on the same level of economic dependence and vulnerability with those who perform work as ‘employees’. It is to this category of workers that literature refers collectively as ‘atypical employees’ or ‘non-standard employees’. Despite the fact that there have been moves internationally and nationally to integrate these classes of worker, it remains clear that they constitute a labour force which is less well paid and less secure. Most of the atypical employees are included in the definition of ‘employee’ in both jurisdictions though home workers are explicitly excluded under the Ethiopian labour law.However, the collective bargaining system does not function to address the problems of atypical employees in both countries as it does for standard employees.

This research is concerned with the development of independent contractors within the Working for Water Programme over a twenty-four month period. The meaningful participation of previously disadvantaged South Africans fall within the ambit of black economic empowerment. The Government Gazette (1997: No. 1820) defines black economic empowerment as a deliberate programme to achieve the meaningful participation of disadvantaged South Africans in the mainstream economy as managers, owners of capital and employees. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the contractors within the Western Region of the Eastern Cape, in order to assess how they have developed as independent contractors within the developmental framework provided by the Working for Water Programme. This developmental framework takes place over a 462-day period or roughly 24 months. The evaluation aimed to determine whether the two-year development period sufficiently prepared contractors for competition in the open market and if contractors had acquired the necessary skills to run a successful business. A formative programme evaluation was used as a tool of analysis to identify areas of weakness and establish priorities for improvement. A qualitative research approach was followed, guided by an adapted version of the Context, Input, Process and Product approach to evaluation (Parlett and Hamilton cited in Calder, 1995, p.25). Using structured interviews comprising of closed and open ended questions, data was gathered from thirty contractors, five managers and one Senior Executive Officer within the Western Region of the Eastern Cape. An interview was also conducted with the Regional Programme leader of the Eastern Cape. Further data collection techniques included documentary research. Data was analysed using qualitative data analysis techniques described by Thorne (1997, p.118), as relying on inductive reasoning to interpret and structure the meanings that can be derived from the data. Passages of interest were marked so that the data could be reduced to a manageable size as described by Seidman (1991, p.91-1 01) and various categories were developed that had commonalties and thematic connections. The Working for Water Programme aims to exit contractors successfully after a twenty-four month developmental period. The Working for Water Programme has formalised its development framework through a training matrix in which the required training at contractor level is outlined. The finding of the research is that the current contractor development programme do not adequately prepare contractors for independence and entrepreneurship in a competitive market. There is no co-ordinated development of predetermined skills. Contractors are not able to articulate what their plans are after exit from the WFW Programme. No concrete evidence of actively pursuing alternative contract opportunities was evident from contractors who were about to exit the Programme and there is no person to champion the cause of meaningful post exit opportunities. The main recommendations from this research are that contractors be selected via an application system rather that appointment through steering committees. Selected contractors must be medically fit and at least have a matriculation certificate. Contractors should be assessed on a 6-monthly basis and contractors not achieving a minimum competency level must be removed from the programme. Managers should also have basic competency levels in order to facilitate skill transfer through a mentorship process. The charge out rate of equipment should be revised every six months. The charge out rates should also be increased significantly to cater for the harsh conditions under which contractors are operational. A "champion" needs to be appointed which will actively seek exit opportunities for trained contractors. This person will also seek to develop functional partnerships with various private and government institutions to create opportunities for exited contractors.

<p>Generally, the trade supervisors are seen swapping stories about how they have done things differently in their previous projects that had resulted in saving man-hours and resources. Since most of them are doing repetitive tasks for years, they rely mainly on their judgments and intuition while making decisions and have developed a plethora of knowledge throughout their experience. They often find it difficult to articulate the knowledge they have acquired most of which is tacit. There is a need to identify this tacit dimension of knowledge to harness it effectively as tacit knowledge is one of the factors determining the competitiveness of a construction firm. The skills shortage in the industry is further aggravated by the growing workforce. Employee retirements and knowledge loss are compelling the specialty contracting firms to capture this tacit knowledge to prepare the future workforce. This study posits an instrument to gauge the reliance of the field supervisors on tacit knowledge and identifies barriers to knowledge sharing through case studies involving electrical contracting firms. The findings of this research clearly show that the experience level of an individual is related to the reliance on tacit knowledge. Most of the experienced field supervisors rely on the tacit dimension of knowledge to perform the major day-to-day routine tasks at the construction site. The education level of an individual seems to have no significant relation with the acquisition and usage of tacit knowledge. Findings also suggest that the viewpoint of the management and the field team are disparate regarding the barriers to knowledge sharing. Management feels that lack of formal processes prevents the trade professionals from sharing their knowledge among themselves whereas according to the field team lack of socialization is identified as the key barrier. Similarly, managers' resistance to change is identified by management as the key barrier that prevents supervisors or managers from sharing their knowledge with the subordinates whereas, for the field team it is the lack of encouragement from the management. Moreover, according to management, lack of formal processes is the key barrier at the organizational level but for the field team, it’s the silo mentality of the managers. The organizations must incorporate the feedback from the field team into the decision making related to knowledge management (KM). The developed framework will benefit the trade contractors to identify on what type of knowledge the field supervisors are relying to perform a particular task and eventually categorizing knowledge into explicit and tacit.</p>

The construction sector has been struggling with low productivity issues during the last decades, mainly due to relatively low Research &amp; Development investments compared to other industries, old-fashioned practices, and a fragmented market structure with Clients, Designers and Contractors.    The construction sector urges a digitalization revolution in order to overcome the aforementioned old-fashioned practices, but this digital revolution should go along with adequate methodologies that allow the digitalization to achieve its full potential. The work presented in this thesis aims to improve the efficiency of the construction sector by having a look on more collaborative approaches between Clients, Designers and Contractors in Construction Projects. The collaborative approach researched in this thesis is the Integrated Concurrent Engineering methodology, which covers aspects of Project Management, Organization, Communication and Leadership, exploiting the digitalization capabilities that nowadays’ Technology offers. This thesis develops a theoretical framework for Integrated Concurrent Engineering in Construction Projects, with the aim to enhance their efficiency. The theoretical framework is based in literature research as well as experiences from project managers in the construction sector. The result of this study includes guidelines and recommendations on how to effectively implement the principles of Integrated Concurrent Engineering. The guidelines are applicable for Clients, Designers and Contractors, and can be seen as a tool for the Project Management Team to improve construction project’s efficiency, especially in the design phase.

The United States Department of Defense spends billions of dollars annually on outsourcing functions to private contracted companies without knowing if their actions are effective. Guided by Feigenbaum, Henig, and Hamnett's theory of privatization and President Eisenhower's warnings of the impending military-industrial complex, the intent of this grounded theory study was to develop relevant theory regarding how the Department of Defense might accomplish missions through outsourcing during current and future fiscal constraints. This study sought to understand the perceived effectiveness of outsourcing Department of Defense functions through the perspectives of 2 employment groups directly affected by such outsourcing: federal employees and privately contracted employees. In this study, 24 federal employees and 20 privately contracted employees completed qualitative surveys about their perceptions of effectiveness in regards to outsourcing Department of Defense functions. Data were inductively analyzed through open, axial, and selective coding via constant comparison. Findings from this study generated a grounded theory, one positing that 2 distinct elements are important in outsourcing during fiscal constraint: well defined legal requirements and private sector technical expertise. Evidence from this study suggests that when these elements are in place, outsourced Department of Defense functions can progress, regardless of fiscal restrictions. The implications for social change include assisting political leaders with better decision making in support of effective national security policies, while providing good stewardship of tax payer funds.