A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Johannesburg, 2015 / Sensemaking is the process through which people construct meaning around issues or events that are novel, ambiguous, confusing, or in some regard run contrary to expectations. Drawing on key insights from the work of Karl Weick on sensemaking, the aim of this study was to explore how staff members and volunteers at a non-profit human service organisation make sense of and enact the idea of quality in their environments. The study employed an interpretive approach and took the form of a single-case holistic case study. Using thematic analysis, several themes emerged from the data, which suggest that in order to deconstruct the idea of quality, as it exists in the minds and behaviours of organisational members, it is critical to obtain insight into the social and context driven processes that influence sensemaking. The findings also suggest that existing models and approaches to quality in the literature are incomplete in terms of their lack of a sensemaking focus. Practical recommendations are made for human services organisation administrators and managers to improve and monitor quality in their respective environments. The study concludes with a discussion of limitations as well as possible avenues for future research in light of the findings

Thesis (M.S.W.)--University of Hong Kong, 1976. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 56-59) Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1993. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 227-238). Also available via the Internet.

Proponents of the use of cotherapists have stressed the importance of compatibility for effective cotherapy teams; however, the nature of compatibility has received little attention in experimental literature. This study investigated the nature of an effective cotherapy relationship through use of concepts espoused by George Kelly in his personal construct theory. Based on the results of the study, it was recommended that cotherapists be paired on the basis of their cognitive congruence. It was further proposed that cotherapists, especially those low in content congruence, allow themselves sufficient time for case discussion prior to and following their therapy sessions.

A one sample pre-post design was used simultaneously with three work groups to study the effects of a health team development intervention on interdisciplinary (ID) team processes. Effects were measured by participant questionnaires, managerial diagnostic and follow-up interviews, and by direct observation of team meetings. The intervention, as conducted by internal facilitators, was published in Improving the Coordination of Care: A Program for Health Team Development by Rubin, Plovnick, and Fry. Positive changes were found in members' perceptions of their team's general effectiveness, their leader's approachability, and the value of their meetings. No changes were found in member participation and influence, however, when pre-post differences were compared using the Dunn-Bonferroni approach to multiple t-tests on nine Mean Factor Difference Scores of the Group Behavior Inventory. Structured observation data showed increases in proportional frequencies of Interpretative statements, Alternatives suggested, and Decisions made during teams' meetings. Questions asked and Information given categories on the Team Observation Protocol data showed decreases. No change occurred on the two seldom-used categories, affective statements about Client and Team. Pre-intevention diagnostic interviews had shown that senior management's and team facilitators' expectations were congruent with the goals, roles and procedural areas targeted for change by the team development program. However, Follow-up interviews corroborated prior organization development research. That is, a comprehensive organizational diagnosis of teamwork problems was needed prior to the selection and implementation of team development with ID teams. Especially sensitive areas for management-consultant negotiation in future efforts to implement HTD should include the use of internal or external third party facilitators, the selection of teams, role of team leaders, and the adaptation of materials and activities to suit ID team tasks. Where conflict exists between senior management and team leaders, other interventions may be needed before team development can be expected to affect positively, ID team members' participation and involvement. Recommendations were made for structural changes to strengthen ID teamwork at the training center. The absence of an empirically-derived theory of ID team performance effectiveness continues to be a barrier to the demonstration of intervention effects and to education for teamwork. Research is needed to describe empirically relations between problem-solving processes in ID team meetings and treatment decisions. Research is also needed to delineate team-role competencies required by members and leaders as prerequisites to establishing indicators of ID team performance effectiveness. / Ed. D.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2000.

Informed by constructivist and social constructionist theory, a qualitative research study was conducted applying Andersen’s (1991) reflecting team model to explore use of self themes in the supervision process. A male and female Supervisor were paired with a male and female therapist to form two person supervision and reflecting teams. Four RTS sessions were conducted. Each RTS session involved three phases: 1) supervision of a case with the reflecting team observing, 2) reflecting team discussion of their observations with the supervision team observing, and 3) supervision follow-up by the supervision team with the reflecting team observing. The three phases of the RTS process led to three derivations of the original therapist story. The RTS process was discussed after each session in the post-session discussion. Utilizing the reflections of the reflecting team from Phase 2, a difference that makes a difference was introduced into the supervision story. In Phase 3, the supervision follow-up, the supervisor helped the therapist explore previously non-conscious use of self themes in the supervision narrative and construct a different narrative about him/herself and the case brought for supervision. The nature of the points of connection established in the socially constructed conversation between the therapist and client(s) was pertinent to the establishment of a "relational distance" between the client and the therapist that was too close or too distant. The supervisor not only helped the therapist become aware of the points of connection but also helped introduce a difference that allowed the therapist to be more maneuverable. All three phases of RTS are important to a supervision process. The role of the reflecting team in uncovering the "unsaid," and the supervisor in creating a difference possibly become less critical as supervisors develop reflexivity and incorporate these two phases into their typical supervision process. / Ph. D.

A combined, multiple-methods action research strategy is constructed and used to assess teams of personnel working in and around group homes for mentally retarded adults and young offenders in the Canadian Province of Newfoundland and Labrador between August, 1983 and January, 1987. Grounded in the practise experiences and previous research of the author, the question "what works?" is developed both as a contextual framework for the examination of teamwork as a component of professional practise and as a contextual feature of group care. The question is used to guide categorization and organization of differences amongst 51 sample teams in order to isolate valid and reliable measures of team work functioning. Drawing from four distinct theoretical traditions comprising core knowledge of human behaviour in the social environment, multiple methodologies for differentiating within and amongst teams are combined to triangulate data around the central research question. A methodology for the collection and analysis of data which are thought to represent the "lived experiences" of sample subjects is developed and used to illuminate the phenomenological alignments of team members. Qualitative themes in the reports of on- and off-the-job satisfactions and frustrations for sample subjects are examined for teams and for occupational groupings. Separate measures of Level of Organizational Change and Prevalence of Stressful working Conditions are developed and used to examine the interplay between these variables and other preselected variables. The assessment procedures and the typology of team functioning developed by Fulcher (1983) are replicated. Specific flaws and limitations in Fulcher's methodology and design are overcome through the use of a different theoretical orientation, extensions and refinements of the methodology, changes in instrumentation and by replicating his findings with a more homogeneous sample. Four of the team styles of adaptation are empirically validated and their descriptions refined. Both linear and non-linear statistical analytic methods are used to test for correlation and association between and among preselected variables. The Heimler/Fulcher Work Orientation Schedule, which serves as the basis for Fulcher's interpretative categorization of teams, is subjected to tests of reliability and validity and found to meet predetermined expectations. Through the use of an international, comparative data base, norms for team satisfaction and ratio of frustration to satisfaction for this instrument are empirically validated. Further research using Fulcher's typology along with the Work Orientation Schedule is indicated. Field observation recordings, sample subjects' personal narratives, the social policy and corporate contexts in which the study takes place, and a mythical, yet ultimately necessary, experiment which takes place in the future are all used to illuminate and ground the findings in the action research process.

Cotherapy has been advocated as an effective treatment mode, especially with groups, couples, and families. The relationship between the cotherapists has been identified as an important determinant in the success of this method. This relationship has been compared to the marital relationship between spouses, and the marriages of therapists have been viewed as offering advantages for cotherapy. Since not all therapists who are married to each other work as cotherapists, the purpose of this study was to investigate whether or not spouse cotherapists differ from other therapists who are also married to each other but who do not work together on a regular basis as cotherapists. The five dimensions measured for all subject couples include frequency of differing theoretical orientation, similarity of self-reported behavior in therapy, compatibility of needs for inclusion, compatibility of needs for control, and compatibility of needs for affection. Subjects for this study were 6 5 married couples in which both spouses were psychotherapists. The couples were divided into two groups according to whether or not they worked together as cotherapists on a regular basis. The group of spouse cotherapists included 29 couples who reported regular cotherapy together. The group of therapist couples included 37 couples who reported no regular cotherapy with their spouses. All subject couples were provided a packet of materials which included a letter explaining the general purpose of the study, two copies of the Therapist Personal Data Form, two copies of the Self-Description of Therapist's Behavior, two copies of the Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation-Behavior, and a stamped envelope addressed to the experimenter for the return of the materials.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the possibility of implementing community based care for moderately mentally retarded persons in a specific centre in the Port Elizabeth area. The objectives of the study were to identify • the needs of the moderately mentally retarded children. • the physical, psychosocial and vocational rehabilitation means of meeting these needs. • how involved the communities, parents and government were in the care of moderately mentally retarded children. A quantitative, exploratmy and descriptive design was used. A sample of 50 moderately mentally retarded children was utilised. Data were collected by means of questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The major research findings indicate that community care for MMRPs could only be feasible with sufficient resources, expertise and community involvement. All these aspects appeared to be lacking in the centre where this research was conducted raising questions as to benefits which the mentally retarded children and their parents and the community could derive from these services. However recommendations were made on identified shortcomings, problems and needs. / Health Science / M.A.(Nursing Science)