Please read the abstract in the section 06summary of this document / Dissertation (MTh (Practical Theology))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Practical Theology / unrestricted

Conflict resolution education tends to emphasize the analysis of conflict dynamics, and skills for communication and problem-solving. The role of emotions, and practical strategies for one’s own emotional self-management have received less attention. Emotional dysregulation in conflict may interfere with the use of learned conflict resolution skills, thus reducing transfer of learning. The study explored the possible influence of mindfulness practice on emotional self-management, and subsequent transfer of learning in interpersonal conflict. This modified qualitative case study involved 15 adult undergraduate students in the researcher’s class on “Managing Conflict.” Mindfulness practice was included in every class, and subjects kept a journal on their frequency of out-of-class practice. Subjects were interviewed before the start of the class on their ways of handling conflict, and were asked to describe a recent conflict they had been involved in. A post-class interview asked the same questions, as well as exploring subjects’ experience of mindfulness. Findings revealed that for this group of subjects, frequency of mindfulness practice had little influence on emotional self-management or transfer of learning. However, subjects’ stance toward mindfulness, a qualitative descriptor, appeared to positively influence both emotional self-management and transfer of learning. Stance toward mindfulness was described as focusing on either self-soothing or self-awareness. Subjects reporting a self-awareness stance were more likely to report managing their emotions in conflict, regardless of whether their dominant emotion in a conflict was anger or fear. They were also more likely to report transfer of learning (specifically, the ability to identify causes of conflict and the other party’s needs, to use receptive communication skills, and to incorporate mindful awareness in the negotiation process). Self-awareness appeared to be a foundational capacity that supported emotional self-management and transfer of learning for this group of subjects. Possible implications for the field of conflict resolution, and directions for future research, are discussed.

In the health psychology literature there has been a proliferation of research linking forms of self-attention to psychological distress, especially to depression. The broad conclusion that self-attention is harmful, however, challenges the central premise of self-regulation theory - a theory detailing the role of self-attention as the engine of an adaptive regulating system that enables people to achieve their goals. In an attempt to reconcile these perspectives, I conducted two studies to distinguish the forms and states of self-attention that serve an adaptive self-regulation function from those that create a vulnerability to depression. Both studies included a pretest and a daily diary component. Participants were pretested on trait self-attention, trait negative affectivity (Study 1), depression (Study 2), and a goal inventory. Study 2 included a follow-up session where participants again completed the depression inventory. For the diary component, participants described and rated the most negative event they experienced during the rating period (twice daily for 2 weeks in Study 1; once daily for 4 weeks in Study 2). Diary self-report measures of self-attention included: level of rumination (Study 1), initial self-analysis (Study 2), and multi-day-protracted attention (Study 2). After the diaries were completed, participants' event descriptions were coded for goal-relevance and level of self-focused attention (SFA). Consistent with self-regulation theory, participants' goal-related events elicited stronger self-attentional responses (higher levels of SFA, rumination, initial self-analysis, and protracted attention) than did their goal-unrelated events. These within-person effects were not moderated by the pretest measures, nor did they predict levels of emotional distress. Thus, in daily life it appears to be typical and not harmful for people to respond to goal-setbacks by engaging in elevated levels of introspection, self-analysis, and even negative, symptom-focused rumination. With respect to individual differences, people higher in pretest rumination and in chronic daily rumination, initial self-analysis and protracted attention experienced higher levels of emotional distress. Chronic daily levels of initial self-analysis and rumination predicted emotional distress after controlling for pretest levels of distress. Thus, self-attention appears to create a vulnerability to depression only when people have chronic difficulty containing initial levels of self-analysis and rumination in response to negative events.

<p> Nigeria is a country blessed with human and natural resources; but, due to the miss-management of her resources, Nigeria is crippled with massive unemployment an issue that continues to exact a considerable toll on its socio-economic prospects. The population that is mostly affected with the situation is the youth, who are unable to secure decent employment and progress in life. The immediate symptoms of the socio-economic situation in the country are evident in the palpable rise in organized crime, armed insurgency, vandalism, terrorism, kidnapping and drug trafficking. Given the abundant natural and human resources that Nigeria possesses, she can attain her full potential and bring development to the citizens by overcoming the following challenges: poor utilization of oil money, bridging the widening gap between the urban rich and the rural poor, and encouraging talented Nigerians to stay in the country. To respond adequately to the challenges, the present leadership style has to change, and a new form of learning and engaging people in leadership is required. The proposed group presented in this</p>

<p> This study was to examine to identify the determinants on mechanism of emotional marketing in the restaurant business. The previous studied mostly examined to find out the service failure from the service qualities by service employees and by the service facilities. Limited studies were conducted to identify the service failure based on the emotional relationships among customers' emotional intelligence, and interactions to recover service failure from emotional labors as well as from customers. </p><p> The purposes of this study were conducted three steps. First, this study examined to identify how different characteristics of customer' characteristics of emotional intelligence such as perceiving emotion, social management, understanding emotion, use of emotion, and managing emotion can interact with 1) customer' perception on emotional labor' acting-out (deep and superficial), 2) customer' efficacy (for self and for other), 3) customer' coping strategy (emotional coping focus and problem coping focus) under unexpected service failure circumstances. Secondly, these three major theoretical constructs were tested to identify the statistical associations with customer' participation and satisfaction. Lastly, the group differences were conducted to test the mean differences between gender in customer' emotional intelligence, ethnicity, nationality and interactions between ethnicity and nationality. </p><p> The total of 598 responses was used for the group differences and the final structural equation modeling. Independent samples t-test was used to identify the mean differences between gender, and the Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) was conducted to test the vector differences between the two ethnicity groups and nationality origins from the western countries and the eastern countries. </p><p> The findings from the group differences explained 1) customer' emotional intelligence has statistical differences between male and female customers, 2) customer' EI had significant meanings in the vector differences among ethnicity, nationality, and interactions of ethnicity and nationality between the western countries and eastern countries. The comparative fit index of the final competing structural model was 0.918, RMSEA = 0.059, thus the overall SEM fit indices were over the cut-off of the powerful model fits. Thus, the this study identified the determinants on mechanism of emotional marketing using the theoretical constructs of EI, emotional labor's action, customer efficacy, coping strategy on customer satisfaction under unexpectedly encountered service failure and the interactions among emotional changes in the service recovery from emotional labors as well as customers. This study contributes to establish theory on how customer' different characters of the EI can associate with different emotional constructs in this studies for hospitality, tourism and service oriented industries.</p>

<p> There are currently 4 different generations in the workplace, and the newest generation, Generation Y, has caused leaders within organizations to rethink their management and workplace cultural approach to leading this emerging generation. This qualitative phenomenological dissertation examines the work environment preferences of Generation Y contract managers who work in the Los Angeles area in the defense and aerospace industry by interviewing 11 participants from both the public and private sectors. The research indicates that this new generation, Generation Y or Millennials, prefer to have autonomy over their workload and schedule, but prefer to have their direct manager active in a mentoring and coaching role, rather than acting as a task-master. In addition, the participants in this study preferred a healthy amount of pressure, but not too much of a workload that would cause them to fail. Lastly, this dissertation found that Millennials have a high preference for innovation and using innovative technology in the workplace to increase efficiency.</p>

<p> The combination of globalization, technological advancements, governmental regulations, changing customer tastes and trends combined with a host of other influences constantly force organizations to change, or respond to changes in the business environment. Businesses need their employees to be flexible and ready for change; however, the literature is rife with the assertion that more than 70% of organizational change initiatives fail. These failures cost organizations billions of dollars each year and have been blamed in part on employees' unreadiness for change, and their subsequent resistance to it. Businesses have a continued interest in understanding how to achieve higher rates of success with change initiatives; therefore, this research examined whether or not employees' personality traits predicted their readiness for organizational change. It also examined whether or not employees' level of education interacted with their personality traits to moderate the effects of personality traits on variances in readiness for change. Results indicated that personality traits predicted employees' readiness for change; however, increasing education did not interact with personality traits to modify the effects of personality on employee readiness for change.</p>

<p>The success rate of information technology projects is on a downward trend, with reported losses in the billions of dollars. Recent studies indicate a 50&ndash;56% project success rate based on quality, budget, and on-time criteria. Building upon the conceptual framework of the emotional intelligence and knowledge management theories, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore how project management practitioners apply self- and cultural-awareness competencies to affect project outcomes. Using a purposeful sampling method, 24 experienced U.S.-based project management practitioners participated in a web-based questionnaire. Following Giorgi&rsquo;s data reduction process resulted in numeric data coding. Thematic analysis revealed themes of (a) awareness and redirection of negative emotions, (b) cultural intelligence, and (c) balanced diverse teamwork. The findings from this research study support increasing awareness, training, and application of emotional and cultural intelligence competencies within the multidimensional knowledge-centric global business environment. Increased awareness and ability to use emotional and cultural competencies can lead to enhanced business outcomes. Improved people-based business practices may increase the economic stability for the organization, employees, and specifically the project management practitioner as a knowledge manager. Implications of social change from this study include increasing success of knowledge-based information technology solutions, expanding employment opportunities, and supporting socially-responsible integrated change. </p>

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Tasmania, 1996. / Library has additional copy on CD-ROM. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 89-108).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Western Theological Seminary, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references.