<p dir="ltr">Task performance is considered an important emphasis in the world of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). With the emergence of advanced technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR), it is important to understand how individuals are able to utilize this tool for productive task performance. Researchers are continuously exploring how to enhance human performance in a digital space (Wang & Jung, 2011). Prior research has demonstrated the role of integrating haptic feedback into a visual interface, with potential benefits in task performance, as well as increased experiences of presence and awareness while completing HCI tasks. Several research studies have been carried out to investigate ways to optimize human performance and richly uncover factors that affect human performance negatively and positively (Asan et al., 2015). Typically, in a VR setting, three primary senses are engaged: visual, auditory, and tactile (haptic). However, there is a gap in the literature regarding how the availability and intensity of haptic feedback through VR controllers affect users during task performance. This research study seeks to understand the cognitive performance of users in VR when exposed to varying levels of haptic feedback via the VR controllers. Results from this research reveal that participants perceived their performance to be higher and frustration to be lower when they were exposed to moderate and consistent availability and intensity of haptic feedback. To enhance VR’s immersion for users, it is essential to comprehend how to engage the human senses to optimize cognitive performance. Overall, the impact of this research study is to add to an existing body of literature in the domain of haptic feedback for extended reality-based experiences. </p>

<p dir="ltr">An operating room (OR) is a complex, adaptive, and safety-critical system where various elements and agents continuously interact. The introduction of technologies, such as surgical robots, into ORs modifies these interactions and presents challenges for surgical teams, particularly surgeons. While robotic-assisted surgeries (RAS) improve precision and patient outcomes, many errors stem from deficiencies in non-technical aspects of performance (e.g., communication failures and poor decision-making) rather than technical skills alone. Human factors considerations focus on aligning technologies with human capabilities and limitations to enhance safety, efficiency, and usability. However, assessing these factors is challenging due to the subtle, often intangible nature of human behaviors and decision-making processes. Traditional subjective methods, such as observations and self-reports, offer valuable insights but are prone to bias. Objective methods, including sensor-based monitoring and data-driven models, offer reliable alternatives but require technical expertise, can be computationally intensive, and often rely on subjective ground truth, limiting their objectivity. This dissertation adopts a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative insights from surgeons with objective, data-driven methodologies to explore human factors in RAS. First, a sensor-based framework was developed and tested in live RAS to assess inefficiencies in OR layout, workflow, and team dynamics, demonstrating that certain human factors can be objectively evaluated. Next, electroencephalogram-based neural insights determined intraoperative variations in surgeons’ cognitive workload during robotic teleoperation. These measures highlighted the need for targeted interventions to improve the non-technical aspects of surgeons’ performance. To address this, a dyadic video-reflection coaching framework was developed and effectively enhanced surgeons’ non-technical skills (NTS). This coaching solution also revealed rich, qualitative insights into the challenges surgeons face in RAS. While effective, dyadic NTS coaching was resource intensive. To scale this solution, machine learning and large language models were leveraged to predict surgeons’ behaviors and provide automated, coaching-style feedback for NTS training. Through these integrated approaches, this dissertation offers practical insights for human factors considerations in robotic integration, with implications for surgical education, surgical robot design, and the broader organizational and sociotechnical contexts in which RAS occur. This work offers new directions for improving surgeons’ intraoperative performance, team dynamics, and patient safety in RAS.</p>

<p dir="ltr">Each year, approximately 1.35 million people die globally due to vehicle crashes, and in the United States alone, 42,915 traffic fatalities were recorded in 2021, reflecting a 10.5% increase from 2020 and an 18% increase from 2019. Driver fatigue and drowsiness significantly contribute to these fatalities, as fatigue severely impairs a driver’s alertness and responsiveness, leading to a higher risk of accident. Given the prevalence of drowsy driving accidents, it is crucial to implement advanced systems that alert drivers to their drowsy condition, significantly reducing traffic-related deaths and injuries. While these systems have shown significant effects in reducing the risks related to drowsy driving, most commercially available and widely researched alert systems heavily rely on auditory and visual sensory channels. These modalities may cause "alarm fatigue," leading drivers to ignore or deactivate the systems entirely, and result in a lower driving experience. Due to their frequent occurrence and potential annoyance, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recommends that auditory warnings, which are the most commonly used modality in current driver alert systems, are generally unsuitable for first-stage cautionary alerts. Despite NHTSA human factors guidance, most in-vehicle warning systems consist of auditory and visual modalities, even in the first cautionary stage alerts. Therefore, advanced alerting systems that balance the functionality of alerts and driving experience, using non-audio and non-visual modalities, are needed.</p><p dir="ltr">With this motivation, the purpose of this Ph.D. dissertation work is to propose a novel approach to both olfactory and climate adaptive alerting systems and demonstrate their usability in in-vehicle engagement experiences. In Study 1 (Chapter 3), the use of behavioral metrics and physiological sensing was validated to assess drivers' cognitive states during driving. This validation laid the groundwork for the future evaluation of the effects of the proposed alerting system in Study 2(Chapter 4) and Study 3 (Chapter 5). In Study 2, the impact of olfactory and climate stimuli on drivers' cognitive states was investigated by studying time-variant changes. This investigation helped determine if the proposed stimuli can be effectively utilized in driver alerting systems. In Study 3, the proposed sensory-integrated alerting adaptive systems were developed and evaluated for their effect on drivers in a drowsy state. The evaluations focused on the systems’ abilities to provide a sufficient salient effect, sustained arousal effect, and driver satisfaction.</p><p dir="ltr">This dissertation introduces a new approach to driving alert systems to ensure both alert functionality and driving experience. Ultimately, this work offers a new direction for developing advanced alerting systems, particularly for first-stage warnings.</p>

Due to employment equity legislation that opened up opportunities for women, women are under pressure to perform at work - something that may affect their occupational stress and impact on both the individual and the organisation. The respondents comprise six women managers in a market research organisastion. The respondents' perception of stress was supported by qualitative research methods and compared to the researcher's Organisational Stress Model. From the data it is evident that stressors at work such as workload, relationships, role overload and individual traits primarily affect the respondents' experience of stress. These stressors have an effect on respondents' perceptions of stress and impacts on their productivity and personal life. The respondents denoted a necessity for skills development in order to enhance themselves at work and on a personal level. The study has furthermore found that stress at work can, however, be somewhat alleviated by implementing stress programmes in organisations. / Psychology / M.A. (Navorsingsielkunde)

An increasing number of reports indicate that managers are opposed to performance appraisal. It is important to understand why managers have favourable or unfavourable attitudes towards performance appraisal and it is necessary to investigate the causing factors of these attitudes. The aim of this research was therefore to gain a deeper understanding of the factors that influence managers’ attitudes towards performance appraisal. This study was conducted within the interpretive research paradigm and situated in a medium-sized organisation within the financial services industry. The sample was purposefully selected and the data were collected through in-depth interviews and naïve sketches. The data were analysed applying Tesch’s descriptive analysis method. The main findings indicated that managers who needed to conduct performance appraisals perceived and experienced performance appraisal as an uncomfortable and emotional process that might cause them to become defensive. Moreover, it was revealed that the managers experienced uncertainties about aspects of performance appraisal, such as the purpose of performance appraisal, what must be measured and frequency of performance appraisal. As a result of such uncertainties, managers might not always have the ability or readiness to conduct performance appraisals, especially when the performance appraisal contains negative performance feedback. Furthermore, the organisational context might put managers in an undesirable situation to distort performance ratings of employees in order to achieve organisational goals or the manager’s personal goals, which in turn influence the attitude of the manager. The findings of the study can assist organisations in influencing managers’ attitudes more positively and in enhancing the overall performance appraisal process. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M. Com. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

The 21st century has posed challenges and provided opportunities for organisations, and although a large body of research exists on both leadership and organisational climate, these two concepts have become a matter of urgency in South African organisations. The dynamics in the organisation have a direct effect on the people the organisation serves and business performance. The aim of this research was to explore the relationship between leadership and organisational climate in a South African fast-moving consumable goods (FMCG) organisation. There are few research studies that focus on leadership and organisational climate in the South African context and this study builds on limited existing knowledge. Using a descriptive, cross-sectional field survey approach, a sample of 896 participants employed at one organisation was surveyed. Explanatory factor analysis and the structural equation modelling (SEM) multivariate analysis technique revealed a new set of organisational dimensions and confirmed the relationship between leadership and organisational climate and organisational climate and its various dimensions. The findings emphasise the importance of certain generic and specific leadership practices in creating the desired organisational climate in the South African context. This study contributes to knowledge on the relationship between leadership and organisational climate in the South African context. / Psychology / M. Com. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

Supervisors are the primary drivers of performance management; however, little is known about factors that influence their implementation of these systems. The purpose of this study was to investigate how a supervisor individual difference—implicit person theory (IPT)—differentially predicts supervisor behaviors during, as well as both supervisor and employee reactions to appraisal interviews. In Study 1, MBA students reported their supervisors’ behaviors during their most recent performance appraisal interview (Time 1) as well as their subsequent reactions (i.e., perceived satisfaction, utility, success, supervisor support; Time 2). Their supervisors completed a measure assessing their own IPT (Time 3). Findings suggest that supervisors’ task-oriented behaviors predicted perceived satisfaction, utility, and success of the appraisal interviews, while supervisor’ relational-oriented behaviors predicted perceived supervisor support. In Study 2, supervisors recruited via MTurk completed all measures from Study 1 except perceived success. Results suggest that IPT was positively related to task-oriented behaviors and perceived utility, task-oriented behaviors mediated the relationship between IPT and all three reaction measures (i.e., perceived satisfaction, utility, and supervisor support), and relational-oriented behaviors significantly predicted supervisors’ perceived support. Overall, findings suggest that supervisors who believe people can change (hold a more incremental IPT) display more task-oriented behaviors during and see more utility in appraisal interviews. Additionally, task-oriented behaviors emerged as the key mechanism linking supervisors’ IPT and reactions to appraisal interviews. These findings demonstrate that supervisor individual differences, such as IPT, can influence performance appraisal and management outcomes.

A significant risk area for project sponsors is managing unplanned change. Theorists of organisational behaviour have attempted to understand the circumstances of how activity change occurs on projects and have identified the significant impact that time has on activity. This current research takes the study of cognition into the real world setting of project management at a level of analysis that is viable across diverse projects and industries to study project manager regulation of unplanned change. The project managers' cognitive representation of meaningful aspects of a project (their 'cognitive schemata'), which guides activity change during the project, was investigated and the effect of feedback evaluated in order to address the central research question of what triggers change on group projects. In the present research, leading edge projects from six major Australian industries (telecommunications, banking and insurance, information technology, railway signalling, inorganic chemistry and construction) were monitored at three key points through their lifecycle to understand how feedback impacts on project activity through the project manager’s cognition leading to change. Six key categories of feedback were identified, which potentially represented the foci of project-related schemata, within a project management mental model. These were validated as important indicators for project management performance by a panel of Australia's leading experts in project management. Sixteen project managers participated in the field study, with their verbal reports being collected through structured interviews (incorporating a 'laddered' interview technique), which were developed and piloted across diverse projects for this purpose. Interview data were coded for analysis in terms of sensitivity to each of the six feedback foci and one control category, for five types of feedback and five types of change. Reliability of the content coding was checked through independent coding and found to be high. The research investigation was conducted within a schematic information processing conceptual framework developed for application within the domain of project management. Strong evidence was found that linked key schemata to the hypothesized effects of feedback. Overall, the effects were found to be general across all industries, individuals and projects. A contrasting effect was observed for one type of feedback where schemata were poorly developed in inexpert project managers, which raised the issue of measurable differences in behaviour arising from project management competency. The findings of strong relationships between the variables led to the proposed model of project manager cognition, which reveals an underlying structure in the schemata between key areas of sensitivity to feedback and unplanned change. The model is proposed as underpinning observed behaviour in this and prior research and suggests a relationship between competency and change regulation.

Due to the fact that the environment in which companies in 'South Africa are operating is constantly changing, these companies are undergoing a process of transformation. Organisations that intend competing successfully within this changing environment will have to have the right kind of leaders in order to stay afloat and even flourish. It is expected from companies' leaders at all levels to successfully navigate these troubled waters. Much of leadership has to do with the way in which leaders motivate their subordinates. Research has shown that there are succinctly different styles of leadership, and that each type of style has a different influence on the motivation of workers. Another factor, equally important, is the concept of locus of control. Research has also shown that people perceive differently, that which controls their destiny. Does the leader feel that he/she is controlled by this constantly changing environment in which he/she has to lead, or is he/she as the leader of an organisation in control of him-herself and his/her actions, and therefore also in control of the company itself? The question that inevitably arises is the following: is there any relationship between the style of leadership and the locus of control of the leader, and if so, what is the nature of this relationship? A quantitative design (two test survey design on a large population) was used to take the measurements on the style of leadership and the locus of control of the leaders. The Locus of Control Inventory (LCI) of Schepers (1998) and the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ), form 5R of Bass and Avolio (1995), were administered. A statistical analysis was then carried out in order to determine the relationship that exists between the two measurements, as well as the nature of the relationship. There were 221 respondents from organisations in South Africa, most of whom were in a middle level of leadership. The results showed that an internal locus of control and a disposition towards autonomy were associated with a laissez-faire leadership style as well as a transformational leadership style. It also showed that an external locus of control was associated with a laissez-faire leadership style. Recommendations for organisations and for future research were made. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.

Due to the fact that the environment in which companies in 'South Africa are operating is constantly changing, these companies are undergoing a process of transformation. Organisations that intend competing successfully within this changing environment will have to have the right kind of leaders in order to stay afloat and even flourish. It is expected from companies' leaders at all levels to successfully navigate these troubled waters. Much of leadership has to do with the way in which leaders motivate their subordinates. Research has shown that there are succinctly different styles of leadership, and that each type of style has a different influence on the motivation of workers. Another factor, equally important, is the concept of locus of control. Research has also shown that people perceive differently, that which controls their destiny. Does the leader feel that he/she is controlled by this constantly changing environment in which he/she has to lead, or is he/she as the leader of an organisation in control of him-herself and his/her actions, and therefore also in control of the company itself? The question that inevitably arises is the following: is there any relationship between the style of leadership and the locus of control of the leader, and if so, what is the nature of this relationship? A quantitative design (two test survey design on a large population) was used to take the measurements on the style of leadership and the locus of control of the leaders. The Locus of Control Inventory (LCI) of Schepers (1998) and the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ), form 5R of Bass and Avolio (1995), were administered. A statistical analysis was then carried out in order to determine the relationship that exists between the two measurements, as well as the nature of the relationship. There were 221 respondents from organisations in South Africa, most of whom were in a middle level of leadership. The results showed that an internal locus of control and a disposition towards autonomy were associated with a laissez-faire leadership style as well as a transformational leadership style. It also showed that an external locus of control was associated with a laissez-faire leadership style. Recommendations for organisations and for future research were made. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.