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Thesis (MHSc--Health Science) -- Auckland University of Technology, 2004. / Also held in print (81 leaves, 30 cm.) in Akoranga Theses Collection. (T 362.1730683 WIL)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1994. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [161]-172).

Research shows that supervisors in the social service field require on-going training and supervision; however, we do not know much about supervisors’ training and supervision and whether it prepares supervisors for the responsibilities of their jobs. This study used a telephone survey to explore the training and supervision experiences of community agency social service supervisors. The survey directly addressed 20 supervisory knowledge and skill areas identified from the literature review as those necessary for social service supervisors to be effective. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze participants’ responses and describe their training and supervision experiences. The goal of the study was to describe the training and supervision that supervisors receive to see if they address the supervisory knowledge and skill areas identified from the literature. Although the study found that supervisors access more training and supervision than expected, it also found significant inconsistencies in the training and supervision. / Graduate / 0534 / mahbrown@uvic.ca

This thesis considers probabilistic supervisory control of probabilistic discrete event systems (PDES). PDES are modeled as generators of probabilistic languages. The probabilistic supervisors employed are a generalization of the deterministic ones previously employed in the literature. At any state, the supervisor enables/disables events with certain probabilities. The probabilistic supervisory control problem (PSCP) that has previously been considered in the literature is revisited: find, if possible, a supervisor under whose control the behavior of a plant is identical to a given probabilistic specification. The existing results are unified, complemented with a solution of a special case and the computational analysis of synthesis problem and the solution. The central place in the thesis is given to the solution of the optimal probabilistic supervisory control problem (OPSCP) in the framework: if the conditions for the existence of probabilistic supervisor for PSCP problem are not satisfied, find a probabilistic supervisor such that the achievable behaviour is as close as possible to the desired behaviour. The proximity is measured using the concept of pseudometric on states of generators. The distance between two systems is defined as the distance in the pseudometric between the initial states of the corresponding generators. The pseudometric is adopted from the research in formal methods community and is defined as the greatest fixed point of a monotone function. Starting from this definition, we suggest two algorithms for finding the distances in the pseudometric. Further, we give a logical characterization of the same pseudometric such that the distance between two systems is measured by a formula that distinguishes between the systems the most. A trace characterization of the pseudometric is then derived from the logical characterization by which the pseudometric measures the difference of (appropriately discounted) probabilities of traces and sets of traces generated by systems, as well as some more complicated properties of traces. Then, the solution to the optimal probabilistic supervisory control problem is presented. Further, the solution of the problem of approximation of a given probabilistic generator with another generator of a prespecified structure is suggested such that the new model is as close as possible to the original one in the pseudometric (probabilistic model fitting). The significance of the approximation is then discussed. While other applications are briefly discussed, a special attention is given to the use of ideas of probabilistic model fitting in the solution of a modified optimal probabilistic supervisory control problem. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Published Article / Many large organisations tend to focus on their external communication in order to project a positive image to potential clients. However the role of internal communication with employees has often been overlooked, although it remains one of the most important areas of organisational communication. This article focuses on specific findings of the Master's dissertation, Supervisory Communication and its Effect on Employee Satisfaction at the Central University of Technology, Welkom Campus. The research results that employees' views about their own organisation impact on how external clients view that particular organisation. The research found that in order for employees to become advocates of their own organisation, supervisors of different operational units should develop and manage their internal communication activities in a way that motivates and stimulates employee enthusiasm for meeting organisational goals. Once employees are satisfied with the state of supervisory communication in their respective units, they should be able to identify with their organisation and endeavour to attain organisational goals.

Magister Artium - MA (Psychology) / The state of postgraduate studies in South Africa has come under renewed enquiry in recent years as concern is placed on the inconsistency between postgraduate enrolment and graduation rates. The discrepancy between the enrolment and completion rates is attributable to a range of factors. Literature identified the supervisory relationship as an important and significant factor in predicting completion. The establishment of a good working alliance in the beginning of the thesis process has been identified as a crucial task. As a result, it is useful to gain insight into how students set about establishing working relationships with new supervisors and how they rate the quality thereof. The present study was conducted with Psychology Masters students who were in their first semester of the first enrolment in the Community and Health Sciences faculty at the University of the Western Cape. Attachment theory provided the theoretical framework for the study as it posits that the quality of current relationships are a function of early relationship experiences. Thus students were thought to draw on earlier experiences when setting about establishing new relationships such as the supervisory relationship. The study was exploratory and descriptive in nature. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eleven eligible participants who have been selected purposively. Transcriptions have been subjected to a Thematic Analysis. Ethics clearance has been requested from and granted by the Senate Research Committee and all relevant ethics principles such as, confidentiality, anonymity, voluntary participation and informed consent, have been adhered to. Findings indicated that supervision was a central component for graduate completion, underscoring the importance of early supervisory sessions to form a strong working alliance. Furthermore, the findings indicated that the supervisor's role in providing the expertise and support largely contributed to the success of establishing strong and productive supervisory relationships. Participants perceived strong supervisory relationships as necessary to foster completion of higher degree requirements. The development of a new supervisory relationship activated relational patterns for students that underscored the importance of recognizing the supervisory relationship as a relationship.

The supervisory relationship is reported to be fundamental in determining whether the goals of supervision are met. Its role is said to surpass any methods or approaches used (Kilminster and Jolly, 2000). In educational psychology the supervisory relationship with trainees has not been explored in any depth. This study aims to explore how both trainees and supervisors experience the relationship. An onus is placed on exploring the effective features of the relationship, with a view to enhance practice. In phase 1, interpretative methodology was applied to identify newly qualified educational psychologists’ experiences of their practicum based supervision when they were in year three of their training. Main themes described are participants needing to feel accepted by their supervisor, the supervisor acting from within professional, personal and nurturing based roles, feeling connected with the supervisor, being open and disclosing with the supervisor and how service culture impacts supervision. The power dynamic between trainee and supervisor appeared to significantly impact on key features of the relationship The themes from phase 1 were presented to supervisor participants in phase 2. Interpretative methodology was used to explore supervisors’ perceptions of these themes. Overall, supervisors appeared to like relationships which were mutual and reciprocal. Implications for practice are explored e.g. the need to facilitate authenticity and open dialogue in the relationship. Limitations of the study include 1) piloting the interview process with a non-educational psychology professional who does not have experience of the context of trainee educational psychology supervision 2) possible disadvantages of knowing some of my participants 3) accessing supervisory experiences related to just year 3 of training and 4) inconsistency in criteria for participation, i.e. not all participants had been working with the same supervisor or trainee for year both years 2 and 3 of the training programme.

This study of the supervisory activities of the Utah high school principals vas originally planned by the Utah State Department of Public Instruction and the Utah Secondary School Principals' Association, to be a part of a questionnaire study on the status of the Utah high school principal. As it was later not included in the status study, the supervision study became a study by itself.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 159-168).