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Cultural diversity in the workplace is the presence of multiple cultures or groups within the work environment. This diversity in culture can be as a result of a difference in origin or nationality, difference in society, difference in religion or a difference in tradition. A multinational company (MNC), also referred to as a transnational company is an organisation that is registered and operates in multiple countries but is managed from the home country. Today’s ever increasing rate of globalization and the expansion of organisations into countries other than their own has created workplaces where cultural diversity is the norm and where workplaces are no longer characterized by a single or monoculture. This study explores the cultural diversity of an Argentinian multinational company, My Multinational Company (MMC), operating in Argentina and South Africa. MMC is a market leader in the production, procurement and export of citrus products. There is a plethora of information on cultural diversity which identifies various factors which influence cultural diversity. The purpose of this study is therefore to enhance the current understanding of cultural diversity within a multinational company by identifying the factors which influence cultural diversity in a multinational company. The approach to this study is quantitative in nature and the paradigm to be followed is positivistic, based on an empirical study and questionnaire. The empirical study assesses previous work relating to cultural diversity and identifies the factors which influence cultural diversity. The questionnaire was developed from the literature and distributed to MMC employees in Argentina and South Africa in order to determine their similarities and differences. The results of the empirical study identified areas of improvement for MMC. Recommendations were then made based on the literature review and the analysis of the empirical results.

The main focus of this research was to determine the functional relationship that exists when mental ability and language competence are separately and simultaneously measured with regard to their influence on the effective treatment of verbal information. The subject sample comprised 100 men and women, aged 20-60 years, who were chosen to be representative of the employable population of the Greater Vancouver area. The assessment of language in these subjects included skill in .syntax, exemplified by verb-form competence, the variety of clausal structures employed, and the presence of other modifying devices common to adult language. The procedures for assessing these competencies were originally developed by the author from raw data supplied by Koopman (1985). Comprehension was measured by means of a standard reading comprehension test, which comprised a series of graded paragraphs. Multiple-choice questions were posed on specific information regarding the characters and events, inferences and implications of the content, and recall of the actions and settings presented in the paragraphs. Intelligence was measured by a non-verbal intelligence test, which called for the identification of geometrical patterns and learned skills in matching, analogies, classifications, intersections, and progressions. Skill in processing verbal information was assessed from the subjects' written productions. Six controversial topics were presented to the subjects by means of questions and related collages. The subjects were asked to present, in writing, a solution to one of the issues. The time suggested for this task was approximately fifteen minutes. The compositions were scored for quality of argument and maturity of judgment. All scores were analyzed by regression and multiple regression procedures. Demographic data were investigated by canonical correlation analysis. The main finding of this present research was that skill in syntax is the major component in English composition, particularly in exercises which call for critical analysis and the making of sound judgments. This finding suggests that the assessment procedures used in this research may be a feasible means of judging the quality of adults' written language. The results also indicated that skill in the use of language is of greater significance than is mental ability in the treatment of verbal information. The demographic variables of the subjects do not serve to differentiate between high and low performance in language in any reliable way, although level of education has some bearing on ability in language and category of occupation among the middle and upper age-groups. Finally, practical application of these assessment procedures in education and suggestions for further research directly concerned with this study and with issues in related fields are discussed. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

M.A. / The aim of this research is to ascertain the unique character of late-adolescence in order to strengthen the counselling and ministry of late-adolescents. The first aim was to ascertain the particular problems of identity development and psychosocial adjustment of late-adolescents. The research concentrates on different aspects of development such as cognition, sexuality, self-actualisation and commitments. In order to comprehend the complexity of late-adolescents, the following aspects should be taken into account: identity, body-image, intimacy, careerchoice, personal values and philosophy of life. A literature study was done to draw a comparison between the developmental theory of Erik H Erikson and the classical and more contemporary views on these concepts. Erikson described eight life stages in human development. The research focuses on the first six stages which culminates in achievement of intimacy and identity. The research showed that six concepts, trust, autonomy, initiative, industry, identity and intimacy, are intertwined in the development of a healthy personality. This information need to be used in the counselling and ministry process. The second aim was to measure the psychological adjustment of late-adolescents by means of two questionaires: the EPSI-scale. (Eriksonian Psychological Stage Inventory) and the Erikson-scale. The questionaires were structured to measure the six major concepts of Erikon's theory. The lack of correlation between the EPSI and Eriksonian scales opens the door to research on a questionaire which can measure the Eriksonian concepts of psychosocial development. The following methods were used in the processing of the results of the questionaires: Student T-test for small groups and the Spearman correlational coefficient. The variables that were tested were sex, age and ethnicity. There were no statistical significant differences among the scores of the three ethnical groups. This leads to the conclusion that Erikson's theory is applicable to the South African adolescent population. Identity and psychosocial adjustment are major concepts in the development of lateadolescents and could be regarded as a relevant field of study.

M.A. / Family therapy came into being in the late 1950's, and was developed by a heterogenous group of investigators, working in distinctly different contexts and with different purposes. One of these intellectuals saw a family as a system, a cadet of ideas. Another one saw families as collections of individuals struggling to balance feelings, irrationalities and desires. (Nichols M.P. 1 Schwartz, R.C. 1995 :ix). From the mid 1970's onwards family therapy as a intervention strategy in social work succeeded and expanded, it was extended to encompass client populations from different cultural backgrounds, and special groups e.g. drug additions. These context suggest that family therapy needs to he practiced within the context of a particular culture. The purpose of this study is to explore the Xhosa families perceptions on family therapy and the role of culture in their life style.

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Communication skills and interpersonal relationships have been receiving an increasing amount of attention in literature on workplace culture. Being polite serves a significant role in building up a harmonious working environment, and in enhancing communication efficiency. Current approaches to politeness have called for a more comprehensive framework than the polite-impolite continuum. There is a growing tendency to view politeness as a matter of appropriateness, which involves the negotiation of relationships. This new trend is represented by Spencer-Oatey’s rapport management theory. While rapport management has been framed within the study of workplace culture or communities of practice (CofP), little empirical research has investigated its application in intercultural settings. The present study has continued the focus of building up and maintaining rapport at work, which draws attention to intercultural communicative behaviour as it arises in a multicultural context. In essence, the purpose of this study is to examine how people from different cultural backgrounds manage rapport at work, and consequently explore how the workplace culture is shaped. It also aims to document and examine the change and development of workplace culture with the participation of different members. A multi-method approach underpins the study, which enables the research concern to be looked at from different perspectives. This approach, involving the adoption of workplace observation, audio recording of conversations, and semi-structured interviews, overcomes the weakness of using one single instrument to analyse communicative behaviour. Situated in a multi-cultural university workplace in Mainland China, the research makes use of naturally-occurring interactions between Chinese and foreign (American and European) teaching-related staff. The study is composed of two phases with some overlap of participants. Conversations are analyzed using Spencer-Oatey’s rapport management theory. While audio recording serves as the primary tool to collect data, follow-up and in-depth interviews were conducted in which participants were asked to recall and evaluate others’ and their own communicative behaviour. Findings from the data analysis suggest that participants exhibit an appropriate amount of their own inherent behaviour. Each of them contributes their own cultural traits and personalities to the intercultural communication process, which ultimately determines the general tendency of rapport management style. A diversity of rapport management strategies is identified according to participants’ different rapport management orientations and individual dispositions. Some features of the workiii place culture are thus clearly revealed. Neither the local Chinese staff nor the foreign (native English-speaking) staff behave in a way that could be described as typical of their own culture; their behaviour conforms to a hybridized culture which shows characteristics of both the local Chinese and foreign cultures. The comparison of results from the two phases indicates that the workplace culture evolves according to the cultural and personal attributes displayed by participants. This process is associated with a pidgin language analogy. This study therefore yields a better understanding of the dynamic nature of intercultural workplace communication. While there has long been debate and emphasis on adaptation to a workplace culture, the present study suggests that cultural hybridization is the trend in such a multicultural university workplace. It is therefore implied that in order to manage rapport appropriately in intercultural communication, it is important to be able to negotiate one’s behavioural norms to the workplace culture instead of only acclimating oneself to the local culture.

Submitted in partial fulfillment for the requirements of the Degree of Master of Education in the Department of Educational Psychology in the Faculty of Education at the University of Zululand, 1997. / Socio-political changes have brought about major changes in the education system of South Africa. Many teachers who were accustomed to teaching at monocultural schools are suddenly confronted with the reality of having to cope with pupils of other cultural groups in their classrooms. Most of these teachers were not prepared for these changes. This unpreparedness has led to many problems being experienced by teachers in the multicultural classroom setting. The aims of this study are: * To determine if teachers are effectively trained to teach in a multicultural classroom setting. * To establish if teachers are conversant with the complex needs of children in a multicultural classroom setting. * To establish certain guidelines according to which accountable support can be instituted to equip pre-service and inservice teachers to deal with possible problems that they may encounter in a multicultural classroom setting. Initially multicultural education in England, the USA and South Africa was reviewed. In all three cases a short historical overview of the development of multicultural education was given. Acts that were introduced in regard with the provision of education in these countries as well as certain acts that gave course and direction to the evolutionary process of multicultural education were briefly discussed. Certain advantages and disadvantages of multicultural education as envisaged by certain educationists were also highlighted. In order to understand teaching in a multicultural classroom it was necessary to examine the life-world of the teacher and the teacher-pupil relationship. The life-world of the teacher constitutes his relationships with himself, others, things and ideas and God. Research with regard to this study was conducted as follows: * A literature study of available, relevant literature. * An empirical survey comprising a structured questionnaire to be completed by secondary school teachers in the North Durban region. A likert- type scale questionnaire with three response categories; viz. Agree, Disagree, Unsure, was constructed. The three response categories ensured that the respondents' selections fell into one of the categories enabling the measurement of the direction and the intensity of their perceptions of problems experienced by teachers in a multicultural classroom setting. * In addition to the empirical survey, personal interviews with teachers were conducted. One hundred and eighty teachers were targeted from six randomly selected multicultural secondary schools in the North Durban region. With the aim of administering the questionnaire to the teachers of these schools, it was necessary to first obtain permission from the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education. Permission was also obtained from the Circuit Inspector of the North Durban region. Only after such permission was granted, was the researcher able to conduct this study. The primary data was in the form of a response to one of the three response categories (Agree, Disagree, Unsure). Scores of the responses to each of the three categories were calculated. The descriptive technique was employed for the quantitative analysis of the data. The investigation has the following value: * It will provide a reliable picture of teachers' perspectives of multicultural education; * The most lasting value of this investigation is that it will enable education planners and other relevant bodies to plan and provide professional teacher training programmes in multicultural education. Anticipated dissemination of the research findings: * The problems experienced by teachers in multicultural classrooms can be a topical issue of discussions during seminars and workshops at schools, colleges and universities. * Findings from the research can be useful in the planning of suitable methods (workshops, videos, etcetera) to assist teachers to meet the educational needs of children in multicultural classrooms. * The topic lends itself for further research by interested stakeholders regarding the teaching of children in multicultural classrooms.

People throughout history have judged Public Relations critically. So, today, it is essential for PR professionals to know how the field is perceived. This research examines how college students in America and China perceive public relations. Four research questions were proposed to understand perception differences between the two countries, existing misconceptions against public relations, media influences and PR education. This study employed the survey method to find college students' perceptions of public relations in the U.S. and China. The study finds that college students believe that public relations practice is related to a broad range of specialized areas. Most of students view public relations as an important, ethical profession. However, some negative terms are still associated with public relations, such as "spin," that affect students' PR perceptions. In China, fewer students now relate public relations to the previously perceived escort service; and the Chinese cultural norm "guanxi" is considered to be an important element in PR practice. Comparative analyses show that American college students view public relations as a more positive, ethical, and well-developed profession than their Chinese counterparts do. Public relations, in Chinese students' mind, is far away from the well-developed stage. College students believe media, PR courses and internships influence their perceptions to a great extent. More Chinese students recognize the media impact, while more U.S. students value he education impact. This study affirms the importance and professionalism of public relations. At the same time, it provides crucial insights into the challenges that this field is facing in the two countries. No matter whether it is as a profession, or an academic discipline and a social contributor, public relations still needs to keep educating the public in the new decade ofthe 21st century.

This qualitative phenomenological collective case study examined the explicit and implicit cultural messages in our current national, New York State, and New York City dance standards through the eyes of their writers and users and a content analysis of the texts, to re-evaluate racial justice and cultural equity in these policy documents. My data were drawn from 15 individual semi-structured interviews with standards writers to unearth the cultural messages they intended to convey; 6 semi-structured small group discussions with 25 PK-12 dance teachers and teaching artists to discover how they perceived these messages; and the 2nd, 5th, 8th, and 12th grade benchmarks of the texts. Participant data were analyzed using emic inductive coding, while the text was analyzed using etic theoretical coding. The spectrum of participant viewpoints revealed both alignments and gaps between writer intentions, teacher perceptions, and the texts. My findings suggested that a Euro Western framework is implicitly embedded in aspects of the standards’ creating, performing, and responding processes, which are presented and may be perceived as colorblind and universal, and that the documents promote multiculturalism but not the social activist goals of culturally relevant pedagogy. Based on this analysis, I propose that the standards reflect a dance education archival discourse that stems from a creative modern dance lineage, and that including other cultural frameworks for dance across all processes/strands will enhance their equity and multicultural applicability. Issues and implications identified by this research are offered for consideration by future standards writing committees, by dance educators who use the documents, and by the field at large in our ongoing dialogue about cultural equity in dance education theory and practice.