M.A. (Clinical Psychology) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

An inquiry was carried out into the effects of involvement in decision-making, related to how to perform a given task, on the productivity of three-man laboratory groups. One of the possible explanations for the wealth of contradictory findings in the literature is that the "motivational" effects of being involved indecision-making and the efficacy of decisions made appear to be two logically separable effects, although both are often treated as one. As a consequence, an attempt was made to control the effectiveness of the strategy used between the two treatment conditions. The theoretical basis for the experiment was McGregor's (I960) adaptation of need theory for the organizational context and Lowin's (1968) analysis of the potential effects of participative decision-making on productivity. The three hypotheses, derived there from, which guided the investigation were: (1) groups involved in decision-making would be more productive than groups which were not; (2) would implement the strategy designed to accomplish the task more faithfully, and; (3) given the choice, subjects in the experiment would choose to perform in a situation in which they were involved in decision-making rather than one in which they were not. The task involved the assembly of matrices from component pieces. The measure of productivity was time to successful completion. Results did not agree with predictions. In all three cases the hypotheses were not confirmed. Additionally productivity and choice results were significant in the opposite direction to that predicted by the experimenter . The experimental procedures, assumptions concerning the nature of the test population and the theory itself were re-examined in an attempt to offer possible explanations for these findings. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

This study emerged from an awareness of the critical role that learning plays within social movements and from a belief that adult education can learn much from examining the learning activities of the Women's Movement. Using a comparative approach, the similarities and differences between feminist consciousness raising and Freire's conscientization method were explored. The process of analysis involved studying Freire's written works available in English and the literature resources available through the University of British Columbia library on feminist consciousness raising. The comparison began with presentation of the historical, political, social, and economic factors which led to the development of consciousness raising and conscientization. This included an examination of the historical background of Brazil, of biographical information on Freire, and of the events which led to the development of Freire's conscientization method. In a similar way, this study explored the historical background of the Women's Movement, with particular emphasis on its re-emergence during the sixties and those factors which led to the creation of consciousness raising groups. The next step in the analysis was the comparison of consciousness raising and conscientization using the following categories: the themes or content within each process, the nature of the interaction, the presence and role of teachers or coordinators, the phases in each process, and the changes in consciousness expected as a result of each process. The study concluded with discussion of the differences between these two processes, which appear to be closely linked to the different contexts and factors, such as the different kinds of oppression being fought against, which led to the development of each learning activity. As the similarities were identified, it became evident that a number of important elements were common to both learning activities despite the very different contexts. These common elements were presented as principles of the consciousness raising method found within liberating social movements. Comparing these two learning activities indicated the liberating power of allowing people to tell their own story. Implications for practice focused on the need for a contextual sensitivity when working with or studying the learning activities of social movements. It was argued that awareness of the similarities (suggested principles) and differences between consciousness raising and conscientization could prevent application of either method as simply recipes for liberation. Many recommendations were made for further research which stressed the utility of comparative analysis for continuing examination of learning within social movements. Recommendations were made for examination of the relationship between the nature of learning activities and the kind of oppression, either gender-based or class-based. Further collaboration between the Women's Movement and adult education was suggested. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

For the past 10 years, thousands of refugees from Central African Republic (CAR) have crossed into Cameroon and settled in villages along the border.  Refugee influxes can produce ecological and social challenges to host communities.  While conflict is often a result, there is also an opportunity for collaboration and successful integration.  Agroforestry, the intentional incorporation and management of trees in agricultural systems, provides a tool that can respond to both social and ecological challenges by providing conservation farming techniques and increasing diversified home production of many needed products.  This research sought to understand the needs of community members for specific practices as well as preferences for social implementation of practices, using a frame of identity to help inform on integration and collaboration potential in agricultural projects.   The participatory research collected demographic data, employed a 20 point oral questionnaire, and utilized illustrated visual ranking and storytelling tools to gather information on 8 agroforestry practice and implementation preferences, identity, and social arrangement preferences among community members.  Agroforestry practices were divided between product-oriented and service-oriented practices.  We collected data from 122 individual interviews evenly divided between men and women, and CAR refugees and host community Cameroonians.   Results show that there are significant differences in agroforestry practice and implementation preferences across the sample, and between refugees and Cameroonians.  Most people felt that refugees and Cameroonians had similar traditions and needs, and that most areas of life should be integrated, however agriculture was an area that the people were more hesitant about mixing, demonstrating that arrangements and implementation of agricultural projects should be carefully designed and executed.  Those who preferred mixing of refugees and Cameroonians in fieldwork included members of all demographic groups, signifying the potential for integrated collaboration on community agricultural projects.  Results demonstrate that agroforestry projects have the potential to provide important valued resources to communities, create an opportunity for knowledge transfer and improved agricultural systems, and be the scene for positive contact between refugees and Cameroonians, leading to successful integration. / Master of Science

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In recent years behaviroal management literature has created and utilized the concept of group emotional intelligence in work groups and work teams. This dissertation is a re-conceptualization and an empirical analysis of group emotional intelligence in the context of public administration work groups. This dissertation proposes a new conceptualization of GEI and utilizes it for the empirical measurement of GEI. By critically reviewing previous theoretical and empirical literature on group level phenomena and their measurement, this dissertation offers a re-conceptualization of group emotional intelligence. it also defines group emotional intelligence (GEI), creates a model for GEI, provides an empirical means of measuring (GEI) and demonstrates how GEI in groups can afect group performance and group learning ability. / by Umar Ghuman. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

People in organisations often have difficulty communicating with each other about their understanding of the problems of the organisation. The Dramatistic Approach is an organisational inquiry method, based on a notion of ?script?, which assists people in organisations to discuss interpersonal communication problems. A ?script? is defined in this document as being an unconscious socialised social routine. The purpose of this thesis is to document an inquiry into ?Human sculpture?, a process using dramatisation to facilitate discussion about the notion of ?script? in the organisational setting. The inquiry method is action research in the post positivist research paradigm, and is written in four chapters. The use of the notion ?script? within the disciplines of therapy and organizational studies is examined. The appropriateness of the positivist paradigm for human inquiry is debated, reaching the conclusion that a post positivist paradigm needs to underpin a human inquiry of the nature of the inquiry about ?Human sculpture?. The nine cycles of the inquiry are documented. The learnings which have emerged from this inquiry are discussed, addressing the primary focus of the inquiry, the procedure and facilitation of ?Human sculpture?, as well as two secondary focii which emerged, the notion of ?script? and the facilitation of a human inquiry / Master of Science (Hons) Social Ecology

Systems Psychodynamics is unique as an approach to consulting to organisations in the way it integrates three theory streams: psychoanalysis; group relations and open systems theory. Consultants who work in this way focus on the many layers of interactions and exchanges taking place both within organisations and at the interface between an organisation and its external environment. The territory for collaborative exploration with clients extends from interpersonal and group dynamics to service and product- related systems and processes. It is a holistic approach that creates opportunities for transformational learning at every level of the organisation. As a practice, consulting with a systems psychodynamics approach is complex and difficult to master. Arguably, the most challenging dimension of this work for consultants is developing a capacity to think within a psychoanalytic conceptual framework: to discern and hypothesise about unconscious processes in organisations. But what precisely does this mean and what is this experience like for the consultants? This research project was designed to explore and describe the experience of working with a systems psychodynamic approach from the consultants' perspectives within the Australian context. To this end, 20 consultants who self-selected as working with a systems psychodynamic approach were involved in this research. From the data created in this process, what is documented in this thesis is the first detailed description of the experience of 'working in this way' taken from the combined perspectives of these 20 consultants. Further, a systems psychodynamic approach to research is defined and applied in this thesis. In this way, the systems psychodynamics within the temporary 'system' created by the research was part of the territory under investigation. This process led to an important discovery. 18 of 20 consultants strongly asserted the importance of working with colleagues in pairs or teams when adopting a systems psychodynamic approach. However, at the time of interviewing, all 20 consultants were working alone and only 3 had immediate plans to work with others. An exploration of the reasons for this gap between beliefs about best practice and actual practice became the focus for the analysis of the data. What is discovered through this analysis is that the reasons why consultants are predominantly choosing to work alone are likely to be complex and irreducible. An exploration of the issues that working together can surface for consultants who apply a systems psychodynamic approach is presented under four sub-topics: system domain issues; theory-related issues; interpersonal issues and intrapsychic issues. In this detailed analysis, what is revealed is an absence of 'good enough' containment for the anxieties that are likely to be aroused when consultants work together. To this end, four 'containers' are proposed: organisation/brand-as-container; management-as-container; supervision-as-container and theory/praxis-as container. This research has uncovered some important challenges facing the community of practitioners in Australia. It is the contention in this thesis that they need to be addressed if the practice of consulting with a systems psychodynamic approach is to flourish and continue to grow.

Thesis (M.A.)--York University, 2002. Graduate Programme in Psychology. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 63-70). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pMQ71577.

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