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The purpose of this study was to examine how misperceptions of intergroup differences affect the working and professional relationships among Hispanic teachers, European American (White) teachers, and European American (White) administrators in urban schools. As this was an exploratory study to examine the professional exchanges among racio-ethnically diverse groups of teachers and administrators, a qualitative case study methodology was used to collect and report the data for the study. This case study approach was helpful in examining administrators' and teachers' perceptions of intergroup conflict and how these cultural differences affected their exchanges. The data were collected through interviews and through observations made while attending various school functions, such as faculty meetings. The study took place in two urban public schools in South Central Texas, each with a European American administrator, Hispanic teachers, and European American teachers. Included in this study were 14 teachers, 7 European American and 7 Hispanic, two principals, and four assistant principals who participated in two focus groups to validate the teachers' responses. The intergroup properties that were identified in this study were areas of conflict between majority and minority groups that affected the working relationships and active collaboration in instructional matters between school professionals. The properties of intergroup conflict were used to identify causes of conflict among different group members. The properties of intergroup conflict areas revealed in the study were incompatible goals, competitions for resources, cultural and power differences, group boundaries, and leadership behaviors. The quick increase in the diverse populations, primarily Hispanic, of urban schools in South Texas has not allowed sufficient time for Hispanic teachers to enter the workforce, much less Hispanic administrators. As identified in the study and through the properties of intergroup conflict, cultural differences among various demographically diverse groups, such as the principals and teachers studied here, lead to misperceptions that eventually lead to conflicts. Potential conflicts, due to leadership and followership diversity, and to opposing interests, occurred in the day-to-day exchanges between the principals and teachers. Responses made by the European American principals to the opposing interests provided opportunities to create an inclusive school organization.

The purpose of this study was to examine the daily exchanges between Hispanic students of Mexican descent and European American teachers in urban schools and how these exchanges can result in a sense of frustration and powerlessness by Hispanic students affecting their academic success. The day-to-day interactions between teacher and student may be a result of intergroup conflict. As this was an exploratory study to examine the daily exchanges between Hispanic students of Mexican descent and their European American teachers, a qualitative case study methodology was used to collect and report the data for the study. This case study approach was helpful in examining the students? perceptions of intergroup conflict and how these cultural differences affected their exchanges. The data were collected through interviews and through observations made while visiting the urban high schools where the participants of the research study once attended. The study took place in a metropolitan city in South Central Texas. Included in this study were five male and five female Hispanic students of Mexican descent who were in their first or second year of college and who participated in two focus groups to validate their responses. The intergroup properties that were identified in this study were areas of conflict between the students and their European American teachers that affected their classroom relationships and their academic success. The properties of intergroup conflict were used to identify causes of conflict between the students and their European American teachers. The properties of intergroup conflict areas revealed in the study were (a) incompatible goals, (b) competitions for resources, (c) cultural and power differences, and (d) group boundaries. The quick increase in the Hispanic population has almost doubled the number of Hispanic students in public schools. The majority of these students are often clustered in urban schools. A disproportionate number of failing schools, across grade levels, serve predominately poor and minority students. Of equal importance is the statistic that 85% of teachers working in public schools in the United States are White. With the increase in students of color in schools, there is research showing that students are treated differently and that the cultural background of the student is often a reason for this differential treatment. As identified in the study and through the properties of intergroup conflict, cultural differences among various demographically diverse groups, such as the students and teachers studied here, lead to misperceptions that eventually lead to conflicts. Potential conflicts, due to teacher and student diversity and to opposing interests, occurred in the day-to-day exchanges in the classrooms.

This study examines an increasingly common distance learning context: where tertiary level and English-medium DE courses are produced, tutored and examined in one country but studied by learners in other countries and who have English as an additional language. Empirical work is drawn from a case-study of agricultural extension officers in disparate parts of Zimbabwe undertaking a professional development course which is produced and mainly tutored in the distant UK. This long-distance cross-cultural writing relationship between academics and students serves as a basis for the examination of difficulties created by taken-for-granted educational practices embedded in the course structure and materials, particularly in relation to language and academic literacy. The study examines contemporary debates around internationalised learning, including cultural and linguistic imperialism and the desirability of locally-produced courses, and provides an insight into black Zimbabwean perspectives on them. It explores a variety of contextual issues including the wider significance of DE in a southern African context, gendered learning patterns, the linguistic repertoire of the students and their academic literacy background. Drawing on grounded theory, discourse analysis, literacy as social practice and genre theories,this overseas research aims to provide the UK course producers with insight into some of the particularities of the Zimbabwean learning context and some of the learning and teaching resources which exists beyond their control and ambit. It is hoped that more multi-faceted image of some of their learners may help course producers consider more closely the differences and commonalities between course participants; it may challenge the normative pedagogy embedded in the course and prompt the producers to consider appropriate responses;it may raise the policy question of how to establish, within an asymmetrical donor-recipient situation, a north-south academic relationship of an emancipatory kind. These aims spring from the conviction that as we move towards globalised educational contexts, dominated by market leaders, significant changes and improvements in educational practice are more likely to come about as a result of an emerging reflexivity on the part of the course producers. Learners and importers of course may not have much influence over such decisions.

ABSTRACT Pain is a subjective sensation and is difficult to measure. It is important to quantify pain as benefits are obtained from its quantification. The validity and reliability of pain outcome measures have been extensively researched in Europe, America and Asia. In Africa on the other hand, very few studies have been done. This study was a cross-sectional study to validate and test the reliability of pain scales.The aim of this study was to establish the validity and reliability of the Tswana translations of three pain scales, namely, the Visual Analogue scale (two versions), the Verbal Rating Scale and the Wong-Baker Faces Pain Measure. The validity of the study was determined by the face validity,criterion validity and construct validity.The statistical analysis of the results showed several significant p values (p< 0.05).However, none of the correlations illustrated a strong relationship as there were no r values in excess of 0.5 indicating a moderate correlation or greater than 0.7 indicating a good correlation. The statistical significance only indicated that the observed values were not due to chance.From the statistical analysis of the results, it became apparent that the subjects tested did not have an understanding of any of the three scales .This was seen in all the age groups and education levels selected for the purpose of this study. It is our recommendation therefore, that suitable, new scales be developed for our local population. The scales which have been used up until now are not being understood and hence are not being interpreted or used correctly in the South African context amongst Tswana speaking individuals. Future research needs to be done in developing entirely different scales for the South African scenario. More relevant and better understood scales should be developed for our local population to include persons of different languages and different education levels. This will assist in a better understanding of the health care process and will by so doing, improve their health care and management.

Information Technology (IT) outsourcing is a serious option available to modern managers. An emerging trend is the focus on relationship management in IT outsourcing, imploring organisations to look past tactical objectives and concentrate on strategic outcomes. In a global economy business sponsors are connecting with overseas vendors in IT outsourcing in an attempt to accelerate realisation of benefits. This complicates outsourcing arrangements, because cross-cultural differences may add to the complexity of fostering relationships. This study examines how to manage IT outsourcing relationships in a cross-cultural context to enhance IT outsourcing success. Due to the exploratory nature of this study, interpretivist case studies were adopted. The researcher investigated three IT outsourcing cases within one Chinese organisation. One case has a vendor with a western cultural background and the other two with a Chinese cultural background. The main data were collected through interviews with key managers in the case organisation, complemented by secondary data (such as published reports, internal documents). Some additional data concerning the cross-cultural differences were also collected from the two Chinese vendors and another western vendor who provided corporate strategy consulting services to the case organisation. Analysis of data showed that a good contract implementation, the established trust and the acknowledgement of vendor's high value were recognised as the three distinguishing characteristics of a satisfactory IT outsourcing relationship. In managing relationships the outsourcing company emphasised not only contract implementation but even more importantly communication with vendors, recognition of mutual interests, establishment of social/personal bonds, and appropriate allocation of project resources. It was shown that the relationship management practices influenced the dynamics of a relationship as well as the outcome of an IT outsourcing project. Furthermore, the relationship management in IT outsourcing was found to be culture-sensitive. By demonstrating that companies with different cultural background held different perceptions of relationship management practices and had different understandings of the nature and dynamics of the relationships, this study contributes to the understanding of relationship management in IT outsourcing, especially when cultural differences among the parties are involved. These findings also have practical implications for IT outsourcing involving global and partner-based alliances.

This thesis contributes to the limited demographic literature on Central Asia – the region through which led the great Silk Road – an ancient route of trade and cultural exchange between East and West. We focus on Kyrgyzstan and countries in its immediate neighborhood: Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. We analyze the dynamic interplay between marriage, childbearing, and migration, and examine fertility intentions and intentions to migrate as predictors of demographic outcomes. The thesis consists of four co-authored and one single-authored paper connected through a common theme of ethno-cultural differences in demographic behavior. In the first three studies, we explore the link between migration and family formation. We demonstrate that increased fertility of recent migrants is attributable to marriage-related resettlements. In paper four, we provide an analysis of intentions to move abroad. Our results suggest that ethnicity plays a significant role, independent of other factors, in determining migration plans and preferences, and detect ethnic-specific effects of marriage, childbearing, and social capital on the inclination to migrate. In paper five, we compare the fertility and fertility intentions of ethnic majority and minority groups in three neighboring countries of the region. We explain fertility differentials between ethnic groups in terms of the combined effects of their status in society, country-level differences in institutional settings, and historical and cultural factors. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 5: Manuscript.</p>

The present research explored cross-cultural differences in postdecisional confirmation bias. I hypothesized that, following a personal decision—one that entails consequences for the decision maker only, Euro-Canadians would be more likely to seek out confirmatory information than would Japanese, whereas following an interpersonal decision—one that entails consequences for those closest to the decision maker, Japanese would be more likely to do so than Euro-Canadians. In Study 1, Euro-Canadians and Japanese university students were randomly assigned to either the self or friend condition. Participants in the self and friend condition selected a movie for which they or their friend would ostensibly receive a free pass to see in theatres, respectively. After selecting a movie, participants were presented with a list of 12 movie reviews that either confirmed or disconfirmed their choice. Participants then indicated which of the reviews they wanted to read further. Study 2 employed the same paradigm as did Study 1 and also included a measure of participants’ information processing goals. For Study 1, the results of a series of one-sample t tests revealed that Euro-Canadians in the self condition exhibited confirmation bias as well as did those in the friend condition, albeit this latter trend was not significant. In contrast, Japanese in both conditions showed no preference for confirmatory or disconfirmatory information. For Study 2, Japanese continued to exhibit a balanced search. However, Euro-Canadians in the friend condition preferred confirmatory information, whereas Euro-Canadians in the self condition exhibited a slight, non-significant preference for disconfirmatory information. Regarding participants’ information processing goals, those in the friend condition were more concerned with affirming and convincing others of the correctness of their choice than were those in the self condition. Also, Euro-Canadians indicated that they were motivated to be accurate more than did Japanese. The present research indicates that Euro-Canadians and Japanese differ in terms of the decisions that they seek to confirm (albeit not in the predicted direction). Reasons for such discrepant findings and limits of the present research are discussed. / Thesis (Master, Psychology) -- Queen's University, 2010-09-02 12:51:18.396

The aim of this study is to explore what cultural differences Swedish business negotiators perceive and how they adapt and/or manage the differences.