This research project investigates the processes of capturing corporate knowledge in an Australian local government context. The City of Perth, the capital city local government of Perth, Western Australia, is the organisation within which this study was conducted. A qualitative research methodology was utilised for this study in order to understand all the factors involved in knowledge sharing, including the human aspects. Data was collected exclusively through structured interviews consisting of a series of open questions. Digital transcripts of these interviews were produced and analysed by the researcher using qualitative data analysis software. The application of the research methodology has produced a rich set of results. The different types and sources of corporate knowledge used by participants and their views on knowledge capture processes are explored. Participants provide insight into their motivations in undertaking knowledge capture, the extent knowledge is shared in the organisation and barriers to sharing knowledge that they had encountered. The utilisation of the organisation’s information management processes and the overall purposes of knowledge capture were also explored by the study. Some of the results are quite predictable and generally supported by the literature, such as a preference for interpersonal communication in the sharing of knowledge. Other results are more unexpected including strongly expressed altruistic support for the good of the employing organisation as their motivation in supporting knowledge management activities and an understanding of the need for knowledge codification.

This arts-based narrative research was an inquiry into how embodied dialogic spaces can provide access to dance learning reflections by students after graduating from a pre-professional dance program (DanceWorks, Berlin, and Palucca University, Dresden in Germany, and Duncan Center, Prague in the Czech Republic). Dialogic spaces, a term used by few contemporary scholars, were examined as vital spaces of openness and inclusiveness in learning. Data was collected through different modalities (textual, visual, and embodied), included surveys with alternative assessment tools, interviews, and somatic dance narratives (SDN), personal dance solos, for ‘inner’ listening and embodied exchanges between the researcher and participants. The SDNs served as vital data reporting and reflected the embodied version of all data collected within a dialogic space between the researcher and the individual participants with an Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach. The phenomenon of former students’ reflection on their dance learning and the research design within a dialogic space equally informed the researcher’s perspective and interpretive reporting of this study. This research argued for the need for dialogic spaces—for non-judgmental spaces prioritizing ontological over instrumental learning, not only during an education but also for identifying lifelong learning skills after an education has been completed. It aimed to explore the transformative possibilities of dialogic spaces and their impact on individual growth.

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Globalization and human-domination of the globe have increased the complexity, scope and pace of human-environment interactions in ways that have fundamentally reconfigured the opportunities and challenges for sustainability. As a result, what society needs from science has shifted. Society and scientists alike now call for new ways of doing science that can support decision-makers to confront the complexity and uncertainty of sustainability in today’s more globalized world. The research presented in this thesis contributes to answering this call. The goal of the research was to examine complexities in how globalization shapes the opportunities and challenges for pursuing sustainability. It was conducted in a region of the world where human-environment interactions have been fundamentally transformed by globalization: Latin America. The research used a two-tiered, qualitative case study approach to examine environmental policy-making in Costa Rica and land-use management in Costa Rica’s dry North West. It had three specific objectives: 1. To analyze how environmental policy-making in Costa Rica was influenced by the transfer of policy ideas between the international and Costa Rican political systems; 2. To trial a novel methodology for conducting qualitative land-use research that can support natural resource managers to pursue sustainability while maintaining a high level of scientific credibility; and, 3. To examine the specific processes of forest recovery and rural livelihood change in Costa Rica’s dry North West, and their implications for sustainability and forest management. This research makes three key contributions to our understanding of interactions between globalization, sustainability and complex social-ecological systems. First, it counters a tendency towards oversimplification in both theories and solutions for sustainability. It shows that neither generalized large-scale theories nor single blueprint solutions are adequate on their own to address the complex reality of environmental policy-making and land-use management in Costa Rica today. Second, it demonstrates how the potential of qualitative research to support natural resource managers can be more fully realized through methodological innovation. Third, it reveals important ways that environmental policy-makers and natural resource managers can avoid the pitfalls of oversimplification to more directly confront the complexities of pursuing sustainability under globalization.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Sexual encounters among gay men produce distinct meanings when methamphetamine is involved. Few studies have inquired about the meanings gay men ascribe to their meth and sex encounters. We have yet to ask, what meanings do these experiences hold and how are they constructed? Using qualitative data gathered from one-on-one semi-structured interviews with eleven men, at least 18 years of age and who report using meth during sex with another man in the past 90 days, this study explored the meanings constructed from the participants’ meth-sex experiences. The analysis revealed several important themes helping to explain why these men use meth and have sex with other men including belonging; being in, searching for and falling out of love; having sex for 12 hours; dealing with HIV; and, confronting addiction. The findings impart a meaningful role for belonging, love, sex and disease as socially constructed through the intersection of the body, mind, social interaction and the environment in which lived experiences unfold. Previous research supports several of these themes while at least one theme, i.e. love, extends our understanding of meth and sex among gay men. I assert belonging binds the themes together. The desire to belong came across more powerful and determining in its meaningfulness than the risks associated with sexual encounters where meth is present.

The main purpose of this study was to explore the impact of organisational change on the lived experiences of employees’ well-being. A sample of six employees participated in the study. The requisite data was obtained using semi-structured interviews. The literature review aimed to conceptualise organisational change and its related constructs, to explore employee well-being and its related constructs, and to understand the impact of organisational change on employees’ well-being in organisational contexts. The specific aims of the empirical study were to explore the impact of organisational change on employee well-being, to provide a basic framework that may assist organisations in managing change initiatives directed at enhancing employee well-being, and to formulate recommendations for possible future research on the impact of organisational change on employee well-being. The findings of this study indicated that the impact of organisational change on employees’ well-being is generally negative owing to the uncertainty of moving from the known to the unknown. All employees are impacted by organisational changes. The findings further indicated that the adverse impacts of organisational change may be moderated by communication, participation in the organisational change process and support. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M. Com (Industrial and Organizational Psychology)

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Medication administration error remains a leading cause of preventable death. A gap exists in understanding attentional dynamics, such as nurse situation awareness (SA) while managing interruptions during medication administration. The aim was to describe SA during medication administration and interruption handling strategies. A crosssectional, descriptive design was used. Cognitive task analysis (CTA) methods informed analysis of 230 interruptions. Themes were analyzed by SA level. The nature of the stimuli noticed emerged as a Level 1 theme, in contrast to themes of uncertainty, relevance, and expectations (Level 2 themes). Projected or anticipated interventions (Level 3 themes) reflected workload balance between team and patient foregrounds. The prevalence of cognitive time-sharing during the medication administration process was significant or may be remarkable. Findings substantiated the importance of the concept of SA within nursing as well as the contribution of CTA in understanding the cognitive work of nursing during medication administration.

The purpose of this research is to examine the impact of instructional leadership on the culture of teaching and learning in ten rural schools of the Eastern Cape categorised as performing and under performing schools. The research utilises the transformational leadership theory in its theoretical analytical framework as the model for effective leadership. The research argues that principals’ instructional leadership can significantly improve teacher engagement, teacher collaboration and learner performances in the ten rural schools. The study draws on the qualitative research methodology, instruments utilised are interviews of teachers, principals and top education officials within the Buffalo City Municipality. Past matric results of the rural schools under consideration were retrieved from the archives of the National Senior Certificate Results to measure the impact of instructional leadership on the culture of teaching and learning and learners’ performances. The study concludes that there is a relationship between instructional leadership and learners’ outcomes. / Educational Management and Leadership / M. Ed. (Educational Leadership and Management)

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The national identity of Taiwanese people has been a topic under public debate and academic inspection since Taiwan’s democratization in the 1980s and the 1990s. In this study, I interviewed fifteen Taiwanese students studying in the United States and talked with them about their national identity. Interviews with the fifteen students reveal that an independent Taiwanese identity has taken shape, while a Chinese cultural identity still remains part of the Taiwanese identity. It was also discovered that although a Taiwanese national identity has formed, a Taiwanese ethnicity has not yet taken a complete form. Discussions with the Taiwanese students also indicate that studying in the multi-cultural United States renders them more aware of their Taiwanese national identity, as well as their Chinese cultural identity.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / This qualitative study was successful in utilization of grounded theory methodology to ascertain nurses’ decision-making processes following their awareness of having made a medical error, as well as how and/or if they corrected and reported the error. Significant literature documents the existence of medical errors; however, this unique study interviewed thirty nurses from adult intensive care units seeking to discover through a detailed interview process their individual stories and experiences, which were then analyzed for common themes. Common themes led to the development of a theoretical model of thought processes regarding error reporting when nurses made an error. Within this theoretical model are multiple processes that outline a shared, time-orientated sequence of events nurses encounter before, during, and after an error. One common theme was the error occurred during a busy day when they had been doing something unfamiliar. Each nurse expressed personal anguish at the realization she had made an error, she sought to understand why the error happened and what corrective action was needed. Whether the error was reported on or told about depended on each unit’s expectation and what needed to be done to protect the patient. If there was no perceived patient harm, errors were not reported. Even for reported errors, no one followed-up with the nurses in this study. Nurses were left on their own to reflect on what had happened and to consider what could be done to prevent error recurrence. The overall impact of the process of and the recovery from the error led to learning from the error that persisted throughout her nursing career. Findings from this study illuminate the unique viewpoint of licensed nurses’ experiences with errors and have the potential to influence how the prevention of, notification about and resolution of errors are dealt with in the clinical setting. Further research is needed to answer multiple questions that will contribute to nursing knowledge about error reporting activities and the means to continue to improve error-reporting rates