Based on the above findings, the researcher has the following suggestions: (1) The use of therapeutic settings and therapeutic relationships in working with clients should be strengthened in education and continuous professional training for Chinese psychotherapists, especially to those who do not have educational background in medical science. Simultaneously, it is important to enhance the reflectivity of Chinese psychotherapists on their work and life experience. (2) To emphasize the legitimacy of psychotherapy in China, we have to regulate the norms of the profession according to the professional Code. Further, the principle of "do no harm" should be given higher priority in psychotherapy, psychotherapist need to cope with the demands from reality using wisdom and reason, pay attention to the affective needs of clients and promote social justice. (3) In the development of psychotherapy in mainland China, special efforts should be made to preserve the positive elements in traditional Chinese culture for the helping professions, keeping a balance between technical rationality and humane concern. We should pay attention to the goals of enhancing individual development, respect for diversity and importance of equality in practice as well as utilize the Chinese tradition and culture in helping clients to develop compassion, having empathetic understanding on the needs of one another. The purpose of doing so is to develop a new culture valuing compassion and reason in relating to one another. / The major findings of this research are as follows. (1) The understanding on the role of the therapeutic settings by the therapists are different. In comparison, those with training in psychoanalysis tend to attach more importance on the role of therapeutic settings than those who do not have such training. (2) The mainland psychotherapists still emphasis the importance of affection in relating with clients, using special rather than standard treatment for particular clients, which may result from the "differential distance in interpersonal relationship" dominant in Chinese culture. (3) Professional ethics for communities of counseling practice is newly introduced into mainland China, and people are beginning to pay attention to its relevant ethics. Its development, however, is still in infancy stage. (4) The mainland Chinese psychotherapists emphasis more on building relationship with people than developing technical skills in psychotherapy. This may be related to the fact that Chinese culture attaches more importance to interpersonal relationships. / This research attempts to answer the following questions: (1) What are the understanding of mainland Chinese psychotherapists about the meaning of professional ethics and therapeutic relationships? (2) How do they establish therapeutic relationships with their clients? (3) Are there any patterns in their establishment of therapeutic relationships, and how they interpret these patterns? (4) In their views, what are the principles and main points in establishing a healthy therapeutic relationship? / This study has implications for the helping professions in mainland China that it reveals the experiences, feelings and cognition of some mainland Chinese psychotherapists in their embodied professional ethical norms and therapeutic relationships. It illustrates the characteristics of these psychotherapists in dealing with professional relationships in a country which still values relationships and human feelings. The study also examines the factors that have influenced these psychotherapists in the development of their characteristics, e.g. the country's history, modern cultural atmosphere, and the ordinary people's routine styles of interpersonal exchange in China. The findings of this study, as a preliminary exploration of the process of establishing ethical norms and principles in mainland China, would be helpful to the development of social work in mainland China. (Abstract shortened by UMI.) / This study is significant as it is the first qualitative inquiry of the therapeutic relationships between clients and psychotherapists in mainland China. It explores the the impact of Chinese cultural tradition and modern social development on the mentality of mainland Chinese psychotherapists. / Using social constructivism as the epistemological frame, ecological systems theory is chosen as the theoretical framework in conducting the study using qualitative research. In-depth interviews and on-site observations are the methods chosen to collect data. The main source of data comes from in-depth interviews with 15 psychotherapists in different institutes located in four cities in mainland China. Through careful analysis of the data, thick description is used to describe the data. And using thematic analysis for the interpretation of the findings. / 陳向一. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 71-01, Section: A, page: 0332. / Thesis (doctoral)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 277-300). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / Chen Xiangyi.

The aim of this study was to investigate social workers view of a professional- and unprofessional attitude relative to the organization, other professionals and clients. The study was conducted with qualitative semi-structured interviews with social workers in human service organizations. The theoretical approach is a social constructionist approach using professional theory, role theory and tacit knowledge to analyze our data. We conducted the study due to our view that the research on professional approach lacked a first-hand perspective on social workers view on their professional approach. The conclusion of this study is that social workers tacit knowledge is a big part of their professional approach, which despite regulations ordinated by the society and by organizations are shaped by interpretations and assessments based on the individual, tacit knowledge.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / The changing external environment of the security sector and higher education influences the South African Military Academy (SAMA) as an institution within the broader Department of Defence, which is also associated with Stellenbosch University (SU) through the SAMA’s Faculty of Military Science (FMS). Graduates of the SAMA operate mostly within this changing security environment where their abilities and competencies are required. The research problem investigates the triggers that will initiate change and the drivers that will bring about paradigm shifts on the SAMA as an institution that delivers graduates for a changing security environment. The research question is to forecast an ideal SAMA in the year 2030. This ideal comes forth from critical analyses of current literature and qualitative data collected from experts through the Delphi technique. Sub-questions of the research question includes the programme content of the academic and military training programmes, the profile of the academic and administrative personnel, the student profile upon entering and exiting the SAMA, the organisational structure required, the infrastructure and finally the financial model. Furthermore, triggers and drivers identify actions to bring about change and critical success factors determine the requirements to achieve an ideal SAMA in 2030. The SAMA is a unique military unit that houses the only Faculty of Military Science in Southern Africa. The research report will empower decision-makers in the DOD and SU, including the unit members of the SAMA, to identify the triggers that will precipitate a coming change and properly manage the drivers pressuring change from the perspective of functionality, politics and society.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

Research has identified job context, specific attributes of professional development (PD), and perceived teacher input as factors that contribute to teachers' attitudes. This sequential mixed methods study tested those findings together and further investigated teachers' beliefs and attitudes about their own professional learning. The first phase of data collection included a 5-item attitude survey, demographic information, and two short-answer questions. Multiple regression analysis of the sample (N = 328) showed four statistically significant contributors to teacher attitude: (i) socioeconomic status of the school, (ii) teacher years of experience at the campus, (iii) content area taught, and (iv) degree attained by the teacher. During the second phase, six focus groups were conducted which confirmed earlier findings and revealed four themes in teachers' attitudes: (1) a need and desire for collaborative, engaging PD; (2) perceived interference from outside forces that supplant teachers' own PD goals and wishes; (3) a need to establish a context and a cohesive plan for long-term career and campus goals; and (4) a subgroup of teachers who believe that PD has little inherent value. Limitations and implications are included.

Cette thèse propose une analyse de la socialisation professionnelle des enseignants en adoptant un cadre théorique et conceptuel interactionniste, et en s’appuyant sur des méthodes empiriques variées (observations, entretiens individuels et collectifs, suivi de cohorte qualitatif). Il en ressort quatre principaux résultats : 1) la formation initiale « marque » profondément les manières d’agir, de faire et de penser le travail des futurs enseignants ; ils y acquièrent des dispositions (langagières, temporelles, rhétoriques ou encore relationnelles) qui symbolisent l’acte de « fabrication sociale » par lequel ils sont passés. 2) Au cours de la formation initiale, les futurs enseignants sont à l’origine d’une « culture étudiante » qui vise à négocier, traduire ou transgresser les normes formelles et officielles véhiculées par l’instance de socialisation. De sorte que les normes informelles ou officieuses produites au sein de cette sous-culture possèdent une influence majeure sur la compréhension du processus de socialisation professionnelle. 3) Il existe une pluralité d’identités professionnelles adoptées par les enseignants au moment de leur entrée dans la carrière, qui se forment sur la base de la trajectoire d’accès au métier, du rapport à la formation et du rapport au travail. Loin de la figure désenchantée du jeune enseignant en souffrance, on découvre alors que le début de carrière peut se révéler épanouissant et source d’accomplissement. 4) Trois formes de carrières et d’identités professionnelles se dégagent de notre enquête diachronique : pragmatique, par « frustration relative » et autonome. En outre, l’identité professionnelle adoptée lors des premières années d’enseignement a tendance à persister dans le temps, révélant la force structurante de la dimension objective des carrières enseignantes (gradations pré-déterminées de l’avancement statutaire et de la mobilité professionnelle, contraintes liées à la séparation des sphères professionnelles et privée…). La thèse conclue sur la nécessité de questionner une vision fonctionnaliste de la formation initiale et une conception administrative de la carrière enseignante actuellement dominantes. / This thesis proposes an analysis of the teachers’ professional socialization through a theoretical and conceptual-interactionist framework. It is based on various empirical methods (observation, individual and collective talks, followed by troop qualitative). Four major elements come out of this thesis: 1) initial training has a deep influence on the soon-to-be teachers concerning the way they act and both the way they work and the way they7consider their work. The act of “social manufacturing” they undergo during their formation enables them to acquire elements for their career (linguistic, temporal, rhetorical or relational elements). 2) During their initial training, the future teachers create a “student culture” which aims at negotiating, translating or transgressing the formal and official standards conveyed by the authority of socialization. Accordingly, the abstract or semi-official standards produced within this subculture have a major influence on the comprehension of the process of professional socialization. 3) There exists a plurality of professional identities adopted by the teachers at the time they begin their career. These are founded on the trajectory which led the individuals to teaching, and also on how they deal with the training and their work. Far from the disillusioned figure of the young teacher in suffering one might expect, the beginning of a career appears to be fulfilling and to be a source of achievement. 4) Three forms of careers and professional identities emerge from our diachronic investigation: a pragmatic identity, an identity created by “relative frustration” and an autonomous identity. Moreover, the professional identity adopted at the time of the first years of teaching tends to persist in time, revealing the structuring force of the objective dimension of the teaching careers (predetermined gradations of advance statutory and professional mobility, constraints related to the separation of the private and the professional spheres…). The thesis concluded on the need for questioning a functionalist vision of initial training and an administrative design of the teaching career currently dominant.

This self-study examined the learning that emerged from a change in teaching assignment coupled with self-initiated, teacher-led professional development in order to understand a high school science teacher's development as a teacher. The two participants in the study were the teacher/researcher, an experienced high school biology teacher who was taking up a new assignment teaching biotechnology, an advanced science course; and a first-year teacher assigned to teach biotechnology, who served as collaborator in the professional development and critical friend in the study. In order to uncover the teacher/researcher's learning and thinking, self-study of teaching practice methodology most clearly met the demands of the study. Data emerged from three research conversations and included transcripts of the conversations, artifacts from the participants' practices, notes from meetings, and memos. Data were analyzed using constant comparative methods and the understandings generated are grounded in the data. The study reveals shifts in teacher identity as the expert teacher takes up novice roles, the challenges encountered when teacher knowledge is insufficient for the teaching task, and the experienced teacher's need to return to a place of expertise when faced with a new teaching context. The study finds that (a) teacher identity shifts and develops in new teaching contexts, and teaching expertise facilitates expert identity development in such contexts; (b) expert teacher knowledge mediates novice-ness when experiencing new teaching contexts such as new teaching assignments; and (c) teacher-led professional development is a viable model for professional development experiences and can lead to increased teacher knowledge. The author suggests that (a) teachers are capable of determining what they need to learn and how they might best learn it in a professional development setting; (b) teachers' specific contexts should be honored when designing professional development, which should be practice-centered, and special attention should be given to developing specific subject matter knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and science knowledge for teaching; and (c) capable others should be included in collaborative professional development teams.

The behaviour of employees is increasingly being recognised as the critical factor in achievement of organisational effectiveness. Therefore, the need to address inefficiencies that are derived from the organisation-employee relationship is being recognised as important to organisational success. For many years the concept of organisational commitment provided the means to develop theory in relation to organisation-employee relationships. More recently, however, other types of workrelated commitments have been identified as having importance to the organisationemployee relationship. In the contemporary political-economic context, professionals are increasingly becoming employees of organisations which operate according to market or quasi-market principles. There are some fundamental differences between professional occupations and non-professional occupations. These differences may have consequences for the relationship between professional employees and their employing organisation. The differences may also have consequences for other workrelated outcomes for professional employees in ways that are different from the work-related outcomes of non-professional employees. Importantly, for professional employees commitment to the profession is developed during the pre-workplace entry educational experiences and may have consequences for the retention of professional employees within organisations, as well as retention within the profession. Therefore, the commitment of professional employees to their occupation may be both an antecedent to and a consequence of other work-related outcomes. However, to date, professional commitment has not been studied from a developmental perspective and the effect of workplace exposure on professional commitment is not understood. This thesis reports the findings of a study in which a theoretical model of the relationship between professional commitment prior to workplace entry and professional turnover intention was evaluated using path analysis. The relationships included in the model were between commitment to the profession as both an antecedent to, and a consequence of organisational-professional conflict, job satisfaction and organisational commitment, as well as the relationship that each of these variables may have to organisational turnover intention and professional turnover intention. A repeated measures design was used with a sample of nursing professionals. Professional commitment before entry to the workplace was measured, and after a period of workplace exposure, professional commitment was again measured, as well as the other work-related outcomes identified in the model. The Blau (2003) occupational commitment measure was used to measure the pre-and-post workplace entry levels of professional commitment. The thesis also examined the factor structure of the Blau (2003) occupational commitment measure. The results of the model evaluation indicated that it is a plausible model of the identified relationships. Examination of the factor structure of the Blau (2003) occupational commitment measure indicated that it is best represented by five rather than four components. This research found that professional commitment was quite stable in the initial period of workplace exposure. The research findings also indicated that the relationship between professional commitment and organisational commitment was mediated by job satisfaction and that organisational-professional conflict and job satisfaction were directly related to organisational commitment. The research found that job satisfaction and professional commitment after a period of workplace exposure were related to organisational turnover intention, but that organisational commitment was not. The final major research finding was that organisational turnover intention was the only workplace variable in the model that was directly related to professional turnover intention. This research has contributed to the organisational behaviour literature through the development and initial evaluation of a model of the relationship between professional commitment prior to workplace entry and professional turnover intention. The results of the model suggested that when organisations provide professional employees with workplace experiences that are professionally, as well as personally satisfying, they promote retention of professional employees with their own organisation, as well as retention of professionals within the profession. This research recommends that for organisations that employ professionals, the model of the organisation-professional employee relationship that is likely to promote the retention of professional employees both within the organisation and within the profession, is a partnership model. Conflict resolution principles are recommended to inform the partnership model of the organisation-professional employee relationship. In addition, the empowering leadership style is recommended for organisations that employ professionals, because it is better matched to the employment mode and characteristics of professional employees.

<p>AbstractPurposeTo study which and how project management methodologies are applied in consulting firmsApproachThe study begins by reviewing literature on Traditional Project Management (TPM) andAgile Project Management (APM) methodologies ending with characteristics of the twomethodologies that identify a project as applying one methodology or another. The literaturethen reviews the nature of consulting firms emphasising on elements such as the professional,professional services and professional service firms before reviewing how projects areimplemented in consulting firms. A case study design is adopted and semi-structuredinterviews were conducted with PricewaterhouseCoopers-Ghana staff. Patterns from theinterviews are identified and compared with the characteristics of both Traditional and Agileproject management before drawing conclusions on which methodologies are applied andhow they are applied. Since APM is presumed to deal with problems of TPM in complexenvironments, challenges in applying TPM in consulting firms are assessed and the extent towhich APM responds to those challenges are also discussed.FindingsThe findings indicate that TPM is applied in consulting firms mainly for structured projects,whilst APM methods are also applied for some structured projects but very much forunstructured and ‘executory’ projects. APM also deals with some challenges of TPM butthose which are organisation related are not solved by applying APM methods.Research limitationThe limited number of people interviewed for this research is one key issue that limitsgeneralization to all consulting firms. However, it is hoped that this work serves as a basis forfurther research in this field.Practical implicationsThe study shows that whilst TPM will continuously be applied in consulting firms due to thenature of some projects, APM can also be applied to the benefit of consulting projects that areunstructured and ‘executory’. Therefore consulting firms do not need to ‘force’ structure intoall projects.Paper typeMasters Thesis – Research paperKeywordsTraditional project management, agile project management, consulting firms, professional,professional service, professional service firms</p>

AbstractPurposeTo study which and how project management methodologies are applied in consulting firmsApproachThe study begins by reviewing literature on Traditional Project Management (TPM) andAgile Project Management (APM) methodologies ending with characteristics of the twomethodologies that identify a project as applying one methodology or another. The literaturethen reviews the nature of consulting firms emphasising on elements such as the professional,professional services and professional service firms before reviewing how projects areimplemented in consulting firms. A case study design is adopted and semi-structuredinterviews were conducted with PricewaterhouseCoopers-Ghana staff. Patterns from theinterviews are identified and compared with the characteristics of both Traditional and Agileproject management before drawing conclusions on which methodologies are applied andhow they are applied. Since APM is presumed to deal with problems of TPM in complexenvironments, challenges in applying TPM in consulting firms are assessed and the extent towhich APM responds to those challenges are also discussed.FindingsThe findings indicate that TPM is applied in consulting firms mainly for structured projects,whilst APM methods are also applied for some structured projects but very much forunstructured and ‘executory’ projects. APM also deals with some challenges of TPM butthose which are organisation related are not solved by applying APM methods.Research limitationThe limited number of people interviewed for this research is one key issue that limitsgeneralization to all consulting firms. However, it is hoped that this work serves as a basis forfurther research in this field.Practical implicationsThe study shows that whilst TPM will continuously be applied in consulting firms due to thenature of some projects, APM can also be applied to the benefit of consulting projects that areunstructured and ‘executory’. Therefore consulting firms do not need to ‘force’ structure intoall projects.Paper typeMasters Thesis – Research paperKeywordsTraditional project management, agile project management, consulting firms, professional,professional service, professional service firms