Thesis (Ph. D.)--Cornell University, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 376-406).

Thesis (doctoral)--Göteborgs universitet, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 266-280).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007. / Full text release at OhioLINK's ETD Center delayed at author's request

Agentic women continue to be penalized for success in male-dominated industries, resulting in gender discrimination and differing opportunity structures (Foschi, 2000). The purpose of the proposed study is to see how an employee’s gender and status in male-dominated corporate settings influence participants’ perceptions of competency, liking, and consequences after the employee makes a mistake. These dependent variables will also be examined in relationship to participants’ level of sexism. Approximately 132 participants will be recruited from high technology companies, and will read a vignette about a male or female and entry-level or executive employee who makes a mistake. They will then answer competency, liking, and firing questions, as well as Glick & Fiske’s (1996) Ambivalent Sexism Inventory. Participants are expected to perceive females more negatively than males, and executives more negatively than entry-level employees. Additionally, female executives will be perceived as the least competent, and will be the least well liked. It is also predicted that they will be most likely fired. This study may add important information on gender stereotyping in the workplace, and further explore how an employee’s status in the company influences perceptions of the employee. The implications of the proposed study for future research are also discussed.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 1989. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die persoonlikheidseienskappe van die ingenieurs en wetenskaplikes by die Instituut vir Maritieme Tegnologie is ondersoek. Psigometrika en induktiewe metings is aangewend om verskille in hierdie groepe ten opsigte van persoonlikheid, leerstylvoorkeure en werkbelewing te peil. Geen bestuursnoemenswaardige verskille het tussen die groepe in die teikengroep voorgekom nie. Leerstylgroep-gegronde verskille is weI bepaal en behoort vir bestuursdoeleindes in ag geneem te word. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Personality characteristics of the engineers and scientists of the Institute for Maritime Technology were investigated. Psychometrics and inductive measurements were used to gauge differences between these groups in respect of personality, learning style preference and perceptions of the work experience. No differences of significance for management were found between these professional groups in the target group. Differences based on learning style preference were, however, determined and should be considered for management purposes.

National Centre for Nano-Structured Materials (NCNSM), one of the National Department of Science and Technology’s nanotech innovation centres houses a characterisation facility which provides a wide array of high-tech materials characterization techniques used in nanotechnology research, to any researchers from any part of South Africa, whether from higher education institutions, government institutions or private firms. In this study the operational review was conducted to identify if the NCNSM Characterisation Facility is delivering on its implementation intent. With operational review organisations are able to explore their internal operations and seek recommendations as to how they can manage and operate more economically, efficiently and effectively. Given that they perform appropriately, allocating their resources properly, and performing within time frame set and using cost-effective measures. BPR was used as a framework to conduct the operational review. BPR is a framework for analysis and design of workflows and process within an organisation. It is an improvement initiative that provides radical change of the business processes in an organizational process. The findings of this study indicated that the NCNSM-CF did not entirely meet its implementation intent but it is striving towards the intention. One of the main reasons for the facility not to meet its intended implementation was the difficulty of the researchers/clients to get access to the facility. The current booking system process contributed significantly to the access problem.

This thesis explores thoughts, observations and theoretical research associated with work-related career shifts, adult learning and education. In contemporary society, work-related values are changing. Workers need to be flexible, adaptive and in terms of skills, up-to-date. Since an individual may experience a variety of career shifts during the course of her working adult life, learning and education are essential. But how should work-related learning occur and what avenues are available for those who require it? Workplace learning occurs in many forms and settings, and since learning is a personal process, it is difficult to ascertain ideal learning situations for each employee. The purpose of this study was to reflect on and analyze the just-in-time learning experience of one individual who underwent a career shift in the high tech industry. This thesis recounts the learning journey of the author, a high school English teacher and graduate student, who embarked on a new career as an education consultant. It is a multifaceted and multidisciplinary narrative that explores three distinct areas: the narrative and personal observations central to the author's learning and work experience; theoretical perspectives relating to the contemporary workplace and adult learning; the characters, themes and metaphors from The Tempest that illuminate the author's learning journey. Principles of adult education and theory pertaining to workplace and other settings for learning, along with characters from The Tempest, are invoked to deepen the author's understanding of what occurred during her high tech adventure. The author highlights contradictions between corporate jargon and educational theory, and dwells on dilemmas problematic for protean workers and others destined for corporate education and training. Concepts relating to knowledge management, organizational learning and elearning are challenged in conjunction with issues of power and knowledge. Caught between the demands of the continuously changing corporate world and protected realm of academia, the narrator is forced to combat a storm. Her survival is testimony to her capacity to learn, adapt and rely on previous skills garnered from years as a graduate student and English teacher. Survival does not come easy—there are fumbles, frustrations, and follies along the way. This narrative provides a personal account of what it means to learn and work in the high tech industry. Although this is one person's story, the insights developed and theory invoked have utility that extends to other workers and settings. / Education, Faculty of / Language and Literacy Education (LLED), Department of / Graduate

The central theme of this study is to explore the growth and causes of a relatively new form of "property crime" - the large scale theft of high technology products while the products are in transit from the point of manufacture to the point of market (retail stores, end users). For the purpose of this study, high technology products may be defined as computers, computer monitors, computer hard drives, microchips and other computer peripherals.

Despite the advent of technology into consumers’ daily lives, many consumers are plagued by feelings of fear towards complex technology-related products. Feelings of anxiety and fear often lead to the avoidance of technology; in other words, so-called ‘technophobia’. This study aims to establish whether gender differences in technophobia and the adoption of high-technology consumer products continue to exist in this digital age, or whether they have indeed changed over time. Further, this study also aims to uncover the main social reasons that gender differences in technophobia can occur. The results of this study provide new insight into gender differences towards technology purchases. The findings should assist marketers by providing a clearer understanding of how men and women adopt new technology products in the 21st century. By understanding gender differences in attitudes towards technology, marketers are better able to target and communicate technology benefits that consumers can relate to and appreciate. Following a review of the available literature, the theory of the diffusion of innovation was presented as a foundation to studies of gender differences in technophobia. The Technology Readiness Index (TRI) was introduced as a sound means of measuring technophobia, based on an in-depth study of the available measurement scales to measure for technophobia. The study included men and women, aged between 25 and 35 years, of higher socio-economic classes, residing in the Northern Johannesburg regions of South Africa. Gender differences in levels of technophobia are studied in relation to three different technologies (computers, DSLR cameras and home automation technology) in order to compare gender differences towards technologies at different stages of the diffusion curve. Future research avenues regarding studies in to technophobia are also presented. The results indicate that traditional differences between genders towards technology still exist amongst South African consumers. Women continue to experience higher levels of technophobia towards new technology than men. However, the degree of these differences changes, depending on the technology used. Regarding why these gender differences may occur, levels of optimism, risk taking and cognitive involvement between genders were measured. In general, the results indicate that traditional gender differences towards technology continue to exist in South Africa. Thus, although marketers may assume that in the modern digital age, men and women are consuming electronics in the same manner, this study shows that this is not necessarily the case, and as a new product is introduced to the market, marketers need to employ differentiating strategies in order to target both men and women successfully. By tailoring the manner in which technology is advertised and shared to the female consumer, marketers are better able to capture this more ‘technophobic’ consumer. The advertising of technologies exasperates the gender divide by confirming established sex role stereotypes, and managers need to learn to differentiate and cater for both genders when advertising technology products. This study illustrates that the degree of technophobia women possess towards technology depends on the technology and its ‘inherent gender bias’ and marketers need to adapt their communications according to the technology being sold. Marketers in the electronics industry cannot have a ‘one-hat-fits-all’ assumption of women and technology, and need to analyse the ‘technology fit’ and communicate it to the market accordingly. By uncovering the social reasons why gender differences continue to exist, advertisers can use these inherent gender differences to test and design advertisements that improve female beliefs about the technology. Marketers are encouraged to experiment with different communication strategies that improve inherent beliefs based on social norms. This study found that women are less optimistic than men, exhibit higher levels of risk aversion, and higher cognitive-processing than men when considering technology purchases. The greatest challenge in stimulating the adoption of high-technology products is the perceived risk that a consumer undergoes when making a purchasing decision. Increasing levels of consumer resistance are also attributed to the sheer volume of new information in the digital era and managers thus need to employ simplifying strategies in order to help break through the messaging clutter and alleviate the information overload that the consumer is experiencing. Managers need to find a balance between being seen as innovative market leaders, and successfully introducing the technology at a pace that invites consumer adoption and acceptance. This study provides strong empirical support for managers attempting to successfully target technology products to men and women. By uncovering gender differences in the way that one reacts to technology, one is better able to understand the consumer and marketing efforts are strengthened. This study not only sheds some light on consumer attitudes, feelings and reactions to new technologies, but it also provides important insight into how men and women accept technology in the market. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Marketing Management / MCom / Unrestricted

Organizational leaders often seek to hire and retain innovative employees as a source of competitive advantage. Both transformational leadership and effectively managed workplace diversity have been theorized and shown to lead to increased employee creative performance at work; however, a full model of the relationships between leadership and the multi-dimensional construct of workplace diversity has not yet been tested. Using a sample of 371 employees in three Chinese high-technology firms matched with 64 supervisors collected at three time points, this study theorized and tested a moderated mediation path model in which transformational leadership and diversity climate were predicted to significantly interact to influence the workplace diversity constructs of organizational justice and organizational identity, which in turn, influence individual creative performance. Based on major theories of leadership, diversity, and creativity, several partial mediation hypotheses are presented, including diversity climate as a mediator of the relationship between transformational leadership and creative performance as well as organizational justice and organizational identity as mediators of the relationship between the interaction of transformational leadership and diversity climate and creative performance. Several single- and multilevel path analyses were conducted to test the model, using two measures of creative performance: self-ratings and supervisor ratings. The results showed that the interaction of transformational leadership and diversity climate significantly predicted self-rated creative performance, and organizational identity significantly predicted supervisor ratings of creative performance. In addition, transformational leadership was found to significantly predict diversity climate and organizational justice was a significant predictor of organizational identity. Finally, transformational leadership had a significant indirect effect on creative performance through diversity climate. The contributions of this study to three major bodies of literature, as well as the implications of the results for research and practice, are discussed.