Thesis (MA(Psychology))-University of Pretoria, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Orientador: Solange L'Abbate / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Ciencias Medicas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-09T01:40:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Spagnol_CarlaAparecida_D.pdf: 6634502 bytes, checksum: 47034f29257b951227f80406fc8f54c2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006 / Resumo: Nessa pesquisa, investiguei os conflitos vivenciados pela equipe de enfermagem do Hospital das Clínicas-UFMG, motivada pelo fato de o enfermeiro desempenhar atividade de gerência nos serviços de saúde e freqüentemente lidar com relações conflituosas. Os objetivos delineados foram: conhecer as diferentes percepções de conflito dos enfermeiros; identificar aqueles mais comuns e os principais fatores que geram esses conflitos; compreender como o enfermeiro lida com os conflitos no trabalho; levantar facilidades e dificuldades para lidar com os conflitos e propor aos enfermeiros a construção coletiva de um dispositivo socioanalítico, a ser utilizado como espaço de análise e reflexão da prática profissional, focalizando o objeto de estudo. Por se tratar de um fenômeno processual, optei pela abordagem qualitativa, desenvolvendo uma pesquisa-intervenção em duas fases. Na primeira, realizei uma pesquisa exploratória, com o objetivo de me aproximar dos sujeitos e do objeto de estudo, utilizando um questionário, que foi aplicado, em setembro de 2003, a cento e cinco enfermeiros (105), sendo que desses, trinta e sete (37), o devolveram. Na segunda, utilizei a perspectiva da socioanálise, para construir um dispositivo, visando a criação de um espaço que permitisse à pesquisadora e às pesquisadas realizarem, conjuntamente, análises e reflexões acerca da prática profissional, focalizando situações de conflito vivenciadas no trabalho. Foram realizados cinco encontros nos meses de setembro e outubro de 2005, com duração de duas horas cada, onde participaram seis enfermeiras que, no questionário, responderam afirmativamente quanto à sua continuidade no estudo. Nessa fase, as integrantes ao elaborarem a demanda de análise do grupo, expressaram vários motivos para participarem dessa investigação, dentre eles destaco suas implicações com a pesquisadora. Para as enfermeiras conflito é: diferença de pensamentos e de posições, coisa que incomoda e algo estressante. Apresentam uma visão bipolar desse fenômeno, pois, a princípio, são percebidos como negativos, mas dependendo do ângulo que se olha também o consideram como positivo, isso se forem discutidos com todos os envolvidos e conduzidos adequadamente. Identifiquei os seguintes tipos de conflitos: intrapessoal, interpessoal, intergrupal, de poder e de interesse. As principais causas que geram esses conflitos são: duplicidade de vínculo empregatício; deficiências na estrutura organizacional e no modelo de gerência implantado; escassez de recursos; centralização do trabalho; hierarquia; autoritarismo; imaturidade; escalas de serviço; falta de respeito e compromisso profissional, trazendo conseqüências para as relações interpessoais e para a assistência prestada. As enfermeiras lidam com situações de conflito, de forma racional, apresentando desejo de fuga, ao realizarem ações imediatistas, a fim de contornarem ou amenizarem a situação, assumindo que não são preparadas para conduzirem questões problemáticas ligadas ao comportamento e relacionamento interpessoal. Sendo assim, em determinadas situações, solicitam ajuda aos psicólogos da Diretoria de Recursos Humanos do hospital. O próprio dispostivo socioanalítico se constituiu em um analisador, permitindo explicitar instituídos e instituintes, implicações e transversalidades, presentes na organização hospital que é atravessada pelas 'instituições enfermagem e medicina¿. Diante das avaliações positivas relacionadas aos encontros grupais, sugiro desenvolvermos outros trabalhos tendo o dispositivo socioanalítico como um espaço coletivo de análise e reflexão das relações e práticas profissionais / Abstract: In this research, I investigated the conflicts experienced by a nursing team at the Federal University of Minas Gerais Hospital, motivated by the fact that nurses manage health care and frequently face conflict situations. The aims of this research were: to learn about nurses different perceptions regarding conflict; to identify the most common conflicts and the main factors that generate these conflicts; to understand how nurses manage conflicts at work; to find out motivations and difficulties to manage conflicts and propose to nurses a collective construction of a socio-analytical instrument to be used as a space for analysis and reflection of professional practice, focusing on the study object. As it is a process phenomenon, I used a qualitative approach, developing an intervention research in two phases. In the first phase, I developed an exploratory research with the purpose to get closer to the subjects and study object, using a questionnaire that was applied in September 2003 to 105 nurses. Among them, 37 responded and sent it back. In the second phase, I used the socio-analysis perspective to build an instrument, aiming at creating a space that would allow the researcher and research to be developed as well as analyses and reflections regarding professional practice, focusing on conflict situations experienced at work. Five meetings happened in September and October 2005, of two hours each, with the participation of six nurses that manifested in the questionnaire their intention to continue the study. In this phase, the members of the group expressed their motivations to participate in the study, emphasized its implications regarding the researcher. According to these nurses, conflict is a difference of thoughts and positions, something that may impair the relationship. They present a bipolar view of this phenomenon as at first they are perceived as negative, but depending on the way they are seen they can be considered positive, if they are discussed with all the persons involved and managed adequately. The following types of conflict were identified: intrapersonal, interpersonal, intergroup, of power and of interest. The main causes that generate these conflicts are: work in more than one place, problems regarding the organizational structure and management, lack of resources, work centralization, hierarchy, authoritarianism, immaturity, work shifts, lack of respect and professional commitment that influence interpersonal relations and the care provided. Nurses manage conflict situations in a rational way, presenting their desire to run away when they implement immediate actions, in order to minimize the situation, assuming that they are not prepared to conduct problems related to behaviors and interpersonal relationships. Therefore, in some situations they ask for help to psychologists from the Hospital Human Resources Division. The socio-analytical instrument was a means to analyze it, enabling them to expose the situations, implications and transversal intersections that are present at the hospital organization that is crossed by other institutions such as ¿nursing and medicine¿. Considering the positive evaluation of the group meetings, I suggest the development of other works based on socio-analytical instruments as a collective space for the analysis and reflection of relationships and professional practices / Doutorado / Saude Coletiva / Doutor em Saude Coletiva

Para auxiliar os gestores das organizações em seu processo decisório, o emprego de métodos de apoio à tomada de decisão é utilizado desde o século passado, a partir da década de 1950, havendo forte ênfase nas questões econômico-financeiras e operacionais das alternativas. Atualmente, o uso de métodos que consideram as questões relativas à sustentabilidade ambiental das alternativas é um assunto que tem despertado interesse, conforme se observa na literatura recente, ainda que relativamente escassa. Contudo, a práxis da maioria dos métodos multicritério existentes tem embasamento no tomador de decisão como um indivíduo ao invés de um grupo e a ampla diferença entre o comportamento de um indivíduo e de um grupo é negligenciado. Neste novo tipo de abordagem, soluções para resolver os conflitos que inevitavelmente surgem da necessidade de atender os diferentes critérios dos agentes envolvidos devem ser propostas. Para estes casos, a Teoria dos Jogos é reconhecidamente uma abordagem que permite a resolução de conflitos por meio da avaliação de diferentes cenários com diferentes alternativas. Neste sentido, a presente pesquisa apresenta um método multicriterial, baseado em indicadores de sustentabilidade em conjunto com a Teoria dos Jogos e o equilíbrio de Nash, para que seja uma das ferramentas de apoio na escolha do sistema de tratamento de esgoto sanitário para municípios. Para tornar possível a metodologia proposta, indicadores de sustentabilidade foram selecionados para serem usados como critérios na avaliação de alternativas de sistema de tratamento de esgoto. Além disto, vetores de pesos para os critérios foram definidos para representar perfis de jogadores. A partir disto, foi proposta uma função de pagamentos e um exemplo foi gerado a partir da definição do jogo e seus jogadores, tendo sido o software Gambit utilizado para encontrar o equilíbrio de Nash do jogo. Como resultado, a aplicação da metodologia proposta permite tratar o processo de escolha de ETE como um processo de escolha em grupo, ao invés de uma escolha individual, e visa contribuir para quebrar o paradigma da busca pela eficiência baseada nos critérios formados pelo binômio técnico e econômico na escolha de sistemas de tratamento de esgoto. Desta forma, a aplicação do novo método visa proporcionar meios para se enxergar o mesmo problema sobre diferentes focos e, com a utilização de diferentes critérios, poderia facilitar o processo da tomada de decisão para a escolha da alternativa técnica, econômica, ambiental e socialmente mais adequada. / To assist the managers of organizations in their decision making, the use of methods to support the decision are used since the last century, from the 1950s, with a strong emphasis on economic issues, financial and operational details of the treatment plants sewage. Currently, the use of methods to consider issues relating to the environmental sustainability of wastewater treatment plants is a subject that has attracted attention, as shown in recent studies, although relatively scarce. However, the practice of most existing methods are based on multicriteria decision-maker as an individual instead of a group and the wide difference between the behavior of an individual and a group is neglected. In this new approach, solutions to resolve the conflicts that inevitably arise from the need to meet the various criteria of the parties involved must be proposed. For these cases, game theory is admittedly an approach that allows the resolution of conflicts through the evaluation of different scenarios with different alternatives. With this research we sought to develop a measurement methodology based on indicators of sustainability in conjunction with game theory and Nash equilibrium, that is one of tools to support the choice of system of sewage treatment for a particular municipality . For the proposed new methodology, sustainability indicators were selected to be used as criteria in the evaluation of alternative system of sewage treatment and weight vectors for the criteria were defined as profiles of players. From this, we choose a function of reward and an example was generated from the definition of the game and its players, the software Gambit was used to find the Nash equilibrium of the game. The proposed methodology allows us to treat the process of choosing ETE as a selection process in group, rather than an individual choice, and aims to deconstruct the paradigm of the quest for efficiency based on criteria formed the duo in the technical and economic choice of systems for wastewater treatment. Thus, applying the new method aims at providing means to see the same problem on different sides, and with the use of different criteria, could facilitate the process of decision making for the choice of alternative technical, economic, environmental and socially suitable.

M.Ed. (Educational Management) / This research was conducted in an effort to investigate the perception of principals on group decision-making within the School Management Teams (SMT's). This study was prompted by the changes taking place within the department of education, which are in line with the political changes that have taken place in South Africa. The dawn of democracy in South Africa paved a way for the democratisation of all government structures. According to the South African School's Act (SASA) of 1996 (b) participative management should be practised at all levels of education, in this instance at school level. The SMT's who are comprised of managers, must make joint informed decisions at the school level. From the literature review it is evident that principals should be competent in group decision making so that they can make rational decisions and to assist the management team to reach the desired common goal. The involvement of the SMT in decision-making develops a sense of ownership for the institution and this sense of ownership can lead to co-operation amongst the members, which could cascade to the rest of the staff members. The co-operation could promote effectiveness in the management of the school. An empirical study was conducted based on group decision-making. A comparison was made concerning the factor mean scores of the following independent groups: gender, age, mother tongue, commitment to group decision-making, teaching experience, qualifications of respondents, medium of instruction, districts and workshops attended relative to group decision-making. Generally, there seemed to be no statistically significant differences between these categories as they mainly agreed with the factor named group decision-making. The respondents belonged to schools in the three districts namely D1, D3 and D4 of the Gauteng Department of Education. Chapter four depicts the results of the research. Based on the results of the research, guidelines were drafted to assist principals in group decision making. Finally, this research recommends further research on this topic on a wider context such as: Research be conducted in other parts of Gauteng and other provinces. The perception of other SMT members to group decision-making should be investigated.

The increasing complexity and high stakes of foreign policy decisions, especially of major powers such as the United States, have generated specialized studies of decision making. One approach, called "multiple advocacy," maps a strategy of role tasks and process norms to guide the decision-makers towards an optimal decision-making process. This process allows the President to make an informed policy choice as a result of having heard a variety of options debated freely and openly among his advisors in his presence. A crucial actor in this process is the National Security Advisor. As process manager or "custodian," he must ensure that the key provisions of the strategy are met while abstaining from personal involvement in the substance of policy advice and execution. This thesis examines the internal coherence and usefulness of the strategy. The first two years of the Carter administration provide a close approximation of the strategy. Four important policy issues during this period form the empirical basis of this test: the "Deep Cuts" proposals in SALT II, the war in the Horn of Africa, Sino-American Normalization, and the fall of the Shah of Iran. While the basic principles of the strategy are found useful and sound, several of its provisions are challenged. First, in spite of its claim, the strategy does not produce multiple options when the advisors have no wide divergence of opinion. Second, contrary to the strategy's prescriptions, the custodian can improve the process in such situations by joining the policy debate. Third, custodial engagement in activities such as diplomacy and public speaking need not be prohibited too strictly. Last, the demise of the strategy can be more narrowly defined as the result of custodial disregard for a free flow of information and open participation among the advisors. Though further studies are needed to widen the empirical base, several tentative suggestions are offered to improve the strategy. The president must insist on a reasonable range of opinions when appointing advisors. While the National Security Advisor may join the policy debate to widen the range of options, his policy advice should not become the rule. At all times the President must insist that all policy debates among his advisors be brought to his attention, and that all policy options receive a fair hearing. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

No description available.

This study's objective was to compare a Group Support System (GSS), i.e., CyberQuest, with the Nominal Group Technique (NGT). Its basic assumption was that discussion outcomes are enhanced by decision interaction processes, the quality of group facilitation, the intensity of group interaction, the effectiveness of the group meeting, and the level of group satisfaction. The GSS of choice in the study was CyberQuest, which was developed at Virginia Tech by Professor John Dickey. Like most GSS, its purpose is to increase the effectiveness of individual and multiple decision makers. Unlike most GSS which for the most part feature various computerized problem solving tools, CyberQuest adds hypermedia hardware/software systems to stimulative and innovative group facilitation procedures and methodologies. The unit of analysis was a group meeting. Eight groups of randomly selected Town officials and citizens were asked to develop policy recommendations that address the need to encourage the retention and growth of a mix of retail services in Blacksburg, Virginia. Four groups were exposed to CyberQuest. Four were not; instead they were exposed to a modified version of the NGT. Prior to the administration of the experiment, an expert panel was polled to determine the criteria by which the policy was to be judged. The results of the experiment were not entirely favorable to CyberQuest sessions. There was no statistically significant difference between CyberQuest and NGT in decision product quality, quality of facilitation, or meeting effectiveness. Only group interaction and group satisfaction gave evidence of any statistically significant difference. There was sufficient evidence to conclude that the former was of greater intensity in CyberQuest driven sessions. On the other hand, there was evidence to conclude that the latter was greater in NGT driven sessions. / Ph. D.

<p dir="ltr">This dissertation investigates strategic decision-making under conditions of environmental inequality. The three chapters explore various forms of inequality across different decision contexts</p><p dir="ltr">The first chapter examines the impact of income inequality on individuals' participation in multiple public goods investments. Specifically, it analyzes how a global club good opportunity influences local public goods provision in indefinitely repeated interactions within a linear public goods game using a voluntary contribution mechanism. The study varies global club entry costs and local community endowment compositions to assess their effects on contributions and welfare. It finds that income inequality does not significantly alter contribution behaviors in single public good settings under indefinitely repeated interactions. With the introduction of a global club good, lower entry costs lead to higher participation rates among subjects, resulting in increased total welfare for both homogeneous and heterogeneous communities. Conversely, higher entry costs reduce participation and overall welfare. Heterogeneous communities discontinue club use sooner than homogeneous ones. Efficiency, measured as realized payoff relative to maximal social benefits, declines across all treatments following the introduction of a global club good. Additionally, counterfactual simulations using an individual evolutionary learning model demonstrate that the welfare benefits of a global club good opportunity hinge on its ability to yield substantial social benefits compared to local public goods.</p><p dir="ltr">The second chapter explores how power inequality influences cooperation in a dynamic game where competition and cooperation evolve over time. This research, conducted as part of a collaborative project with Yaroslav Rosokha, Denis Tverskoi, and Sergey Gavrilets, examines cooperation dynamics in scenarios where cooperation's benefits depend on political power derived from a contest. The study highlights that incumbency advantages in political contests precipitate a rapid breakdown of cooperation within social dilemmas. Furthermore, it investigates behavioral disparities between groups and individuals, leveraging simulations based on the Arifovic and Ledyard (2012) individual evolutionary learning model to shed light on the difference observed in the experiment.</p><p dir="ltr">The third chapter investigates the impact of unequal positions in a directed communication network on individuals' optimal stopping rules and social learning outcomes. The study involves subjects making predictions about uncertain states of the world using private information and social information obtained through a directed network. Theoretical predictions suggest that individuals should wait when the benefit of waiting exceeds the associated cost. Empirical results confirm that subjects indeed wait longer in more connected networks or when waiting costs are low. However, deviations from equilibrium predictions indicate influences of bounded rationality (supported by quantal response equilibrium) and heuristic decision-making, where some subjects consistently wait for a single turn regardless of positional advantage. Importantly, under-waiting at an information aggregator's position has negative externalities on group-wide information acquisition.</p>

The purpose of the study was to examine child welfare workers' perceptions of the effectiveness of a TDM (Team Decision Making) meeting on permanency plans with Foster care youth who receive specialized alternative services.

Magistro darbo objektas - sprendimų priėmimas multikultūrinėje grupėje. Darbo tikslas - nustatyti kokią įtaką kultūriniai skirtumai gali daryti sprendimų priėmimui multikultūrinėje grupėje. Darbo uždaviniai: 1) teoriniame lygmenyje įvertinti svarbiausią mokslinę literatūrą, susijusią su individualiu sprendimų priėmimu skirtingose kultūrose; 2) įvertinti svarbiausius mokslo darbus apie sprendimų priėmimą atskirų kultūrų grupėse, juose pateikiamus sprendimų priėmimo būdus, metodus ir modelius; 3) išanalizuoti ir įvertinti mokslo darbus, kuriuose koncentruojamasi ties įvairiais sprendimų priėmimo multikultūrinėje grupėje aspektais teoriniame lygmenyje; 4) remiantis tiriamųjų interviu analize, nustatyti ar ir kokios probleminės temos išryškėja bendrų sprendimų priėmimo multikultūrinėje grupėje proceso metu; 5) remiantis teorine mokslinės literatūros analize, nustatyti kokie kultūriškai sąlygoti veiksniai galėjo daryti neigiamą poveikį sprendimų priėmimui multikultūrinėje grupėje. Taikant apibendrinamosios abstrakcijos metodą mokslo darbų, kuriuose koncentruojamasi ties sprendimų priėmimo ir kultūrinių skirtumų tarpusavio ryšiu, analizei prieita prie išvados, kad kultūriniai skirtumai gali būti traktuojami kaip veiksniai, darantys įtaką individualaus ir grupinio sprendimų priėmimo procesui. Pastebėta, kad kultūriškai sąlygoti veiksniai gali turėti poveikį individo problemos suvokimui, pirmenybės teikimui kompensaciniams ar nekompensaciniams sprendimo procesams, sprendimo... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Originality / value. Multicultural teams and work groups which are responsible for major decisions are growing in number and have substantial contribution to increasing global economic integration and the extent of international cooperation. Despite the fact that the literature of social psychology is rich in information about the process of decision-making and its components, and the influence of cultural differences on international communication and cooperation is analyzed from different angles and in detail in a number of scientific works related with international communication, still little attention has been paid to problems that arise during the process of decision making in a multicultural group due to cultural differences. Therefore the research, focused on the impact of cultural differences on the decision-making in ethnically heterogeneous group, is relevant for both practical and research related aspects. Research object – subjective experience of research participants in the process of decision-making in a multicultural group. Research purpose – identify the problems encountered in the decision-making process in a multicultural group. Research objectives: 1) to determine whether and identify what kind of problem-oriented themes emerge in the process of decision-making in a multicultural group on the grounds of thematic analysis of interview data; 2) based on a theoretical analysis of scientific literature, to determine what cultural factors might cause a... [to full text]