This research study investigated the concept of professional workers’ propensity to embark on industrial action in the context of organisational justice on an individual level; as well as the collective conditions of union commitment and professionalism. The study also made enquiries into the perceived Janus face of professional trade unions in terms of how they aim to be perceived as professional associations, acting as guardians of standards, professionalism and their members’ status, which is contradicted by their organisational mandates to extract concessions from employers through industrial action on a collective level. Data was collected through a quantitative approach, using survey questionnaires which were distributed to scheduled airline pilots in South Africa in their capacity as professional workers. The survey questionnaires elicited 199 responses, which provided valuable insights into professional workers’ propensity to embark on industrial action in the context of organisational justice. The responses, on average, were instructive, aside from the fact that no significance could be attributed to professionalism as a moderator of professional workers’ propensity to embark on industrial action. Contrary to expectations and prior research, it was found that the collective conditions captured by union commitment were statistically more significant than any individual factors, represented by organisational justice constructs, on professional workers’ propensity to embark on industrial action. Professional trade unions are indeed Janus-faced; a duality that presents trade unions with a dichotomy in that on the one hand they have a mandate to extract concessions from employers, but on the other hand are expected to remain professional and uphold the status and standards of the industries that they represent. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / lmgibs2015 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / Unrestricted

This dissertation evaluates the applicability of Elinor Ostrom's theory of the commons to other forms of collective action by mapping it on a case study of the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union in Ethiopia and its efforts to overcome the vast disparities that have long structured the global coffee commodity chain (the "Coffee Paradox"). The conclusions I draw are the following. While Ostrom's theory has serious omissions, it also sheds much needed light on the struggles of Ethiopia's coffee farmers to overcome their poverty. Both the design principles that Ostrom identifies for governance rules and her list of predictors for successful common property resource management institutions suggest that Ethiopia's coffee cooperatives could be in peril. However, by expanding Ostrom's governance framework to incorporate a broader enabling role for governments as well as supportive roles for civic organizations, NGOs, and social movements, we see greater potential for the success of the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union.

The transition from professional sport marks the beginning of what has been found to be a difficult and stressful experience (Park, Lavallee, & Todd, 2013). Exiting a career serves as a major life change that requires one to adjust to numerous changes (Erpic, Wylleman, & Zupancic, 2004). Research has highlighted a number of personal and contextual factors that affect the quality of the transition experience (Knights, Sherry, & Ruddock-Hudson, 2016; Park et al., 2013); however, no studies to date have examined players who are in the midst of the transition. This qualitative, phenomenological study was undertaken to address the research question: What is the lived experience of NFL free-agent players as they transition from an active NFL player to a retired NFL player? In-depth interviews completed with 12 NFL free-agent players found a three-phase process of transitioning, consisting of the initial reaction, “no-man’s land,” and the final realization. Six themes emerged that described the players’ experience: (1) participants identified a trigger event prior to deselection; (2) being deselected was sudden, leaving participants shocked, isolated, and angry; (3) the subsequent period was dynamic, emotionally, cognitively, and behaviorally; (4) players reached a point of realization about their future; (5) the loss of the NFL community was a significant challenge; and (6) four protective factors helped participants. The study offers recommendations related to theory, practice, and future research.

Districts have been under increasing pressure to use research in decision making for over thirty years. Because the process of finding, interpreting, and using data is so complex, districts sometimes turn to outside partners for support. Research-practice partnerships (RPPs), formal arrangements between school districts and researchers, have been seen as a promising strategy for improving district use of research since the formation of the Chicago Consortium on School Research thirty years ago. Much attention has been paid to the challenges facing these partnerships, such as a lack of trust between partners, and to conditions that support RPP success. Less is known, however, about how these partnerships are influenced by the contexts in which they are situated. The theory of institutional logics draws attention to the way in which key stakeholders in the environment of one research alliance, the District Research Consortium (DRC), gradually shifted their definition of effectiveness and legitimacy and in doing so placed demands on the organization that surpassed its capabilities. The DRC was created in an environment with a single, strongly prevalent “institutional logic,” that valued traditional forms of research and conventional roles for researchers. Major partners across the environment viewed the organization as legitimate so long as the prevailing logic, one that prioritized the types of work the DRC was created to do, remained the same. As the predominant logic shifted, the DRC faced increasing challenges and struggled to meet the stakeholders’ changing demands. Eventually this pressure forced DRC to undertake a significant restructuring process. The institutional environment, thus, plays a crucial role in both shaping the design of research alliances and determining their success. Differing expectations across the environment may call for such significantly different structures, practices, and expertise that a single organization will find it challenging to meet the demands placed on it, and attempts to do so will likely strain research organizations’ capacity and limited resources. Additionally, an organization that is well suited to one set of expectations may not be able to pivot to provide different support when those expectations change. As the institutional logics present in an environment change, a partnership once viewed as valuable may face challenges to its legitimacy and even threats to its ongoing existence. Funders, policy makers, and education leaders need to consider the variety of roles that research partners can play in the overall education sector, and the type of research organizations best suited to these variable roles.

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Employee turnover is a persistent problem contributing to financial issues and declining productivity in nonprofit organizations. Nonprofits cannot fulfill their core missions of providing services to people in need when managing staffing disruptions. Measuring employee turnover intention can determine the probability of employee turnover, and a potential predictor of turnover intention is emotional intelligence, an area unstudied in the nonprofit sector. This study was designed to explore this relationship, in addition to the employee's commitment to the organization. The population consisted of 273 nonprofit employees older than 18 years, working in a nonsupervisory capacity. They completed an online survey consisting of measures of emotional intelligence, turnover intention, and commitment. The findings of this study showed no relationship between total emotional intelligence and turnover intention; however, there were significant relationships with the 4 predictors of emotional intelligence, as well as the scales of commitment. The results of this study can be used to better understand how to strengthen a nonprofit employees' commitment to his or her organizations through better understanding of commitment levels themselves, as well as to the emotional intelligent that informs such commitment. With such understanding, organizations could potentially better retain the talent of their workforces, and in turn better serve their communities without as many interruptions to their services. Retaining employees is essential to organizational health to ensure consistent and excellent services are provided to those in need.

Work and family are the central and salient domains in one’s life. Juggling work and family life has become a challenge for many employees and families (Hammer et al., 2005). This study proposed a theoretical model in which work to family enrichment functioned as the mediator between work support (support from supervisor, co-workers and organization) and work well-being (job satisfaction and psychological health), and also examined whether work demand buffered the impact of work support on work well-being. The inclusion of work to family enrichment extends prior research on Job Demands – Resources model (Demerouti & Bakker, 2007), and allows for a more detailed assessment of the effects of work support on work well-being from a perspective of positive organizational behavior. A total of 978 employees in Chinese society were recruited. An exploratory factor analyses and a confirmatory factor analyses supported a 10-item Work Support Scale measuring supervisor support, co-worker support and organization support. Structural equation modeling (SEM) and Sobel Test results showed that work to family enrichment partially mediated the influence of work support on job satisfaction and full mediated the influence of work support on psychological health, whereas the regression results showed that work demand indeed buffered the positive relationship between work support and job satisfaction. Implications for future research on work-family enrichment were discussed.

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Cognitive dissonance between learned spirituality and opposing behaviors is called spiritual cognitive dissonance (SCD). SCD has been successfully proven in former research; however, to date, it has yet to offer descriptions of specific incidents of SCD and/or how it effects the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning (LGBTQQ) individual. A qualitative phenomenological study in which eight participants were interviewed was employed to collect data. The study revealed how SCD manifested in their lives, specifically those who were raised within conservative, heteronormative spiritual homes. All participants were LGBTQQ and believed they had experienced SCD. The data collected during each interview were meticulously analyzed to find similarities with other participant answers and then codified for similar ideas expressed. Each individual experienced SCD in different ways. Most of the participants experienced fear, guilt and/or shame when they began to live authentically as LGBTQQ. Many revealed they had experienced suicidal ideations. Because of the danger of suicide associated with this disorder, it is important that intervention programs be developed to properly recognize and treat this illness. Places of worship should spearhead educational opportunities specifically targeting SCD in the LGBTQQ community. Secular offerings should include education at both the secondary and collegiate levels. Additionally, since SCD is not limited to the LGBTQQ community, this data may also assist therapists who aid heterosexual individuals in coping with spiritual cognitive dissonance.