The twentieth century shift from the industrial society to the knowledge society must be met by a transition in management of human capital. This thesis seeks to design an implementation method based on goal-setting theory and other team based work designs that can be deployed by anyone in the company. The model accounts for the two largest barriers to successful implementation, management and labor unions. The new model is strengthened by a bottoms-up approach, on-the-job development of teaming skills, and inclusion of the labor union at the earliest stage possible. / text

This study was undertaken to investigate the relationships and interdependencies of work-unit technology, structure, leadership style and attitudes of personnel at the middle and lower level of the organizational hierarchy and to determine if a correlation exists between proper alignment of these variables and overall organizational effectiveness. Six variables have been identified by contingency theorists which must be properly aligned if organizations are to operate at peak efficiency and maximum effectiveness. These variables are the firm's outer environment, its objectives and goals, the adaptation of technology to attain these goals, organizational structure to coordinate and confine the technology, and the leadership style and personnel who use the technology within individual work units to satisfy the demands of the outer environment and meet organizational goals and objectives. Previous emphasis in contingency theory has been upon determining what constitutes proper alignment of these variables on a firm by firm or industry by industry basis, neglecting the fact that complex organizations are composed of many interacting work units in which these variables must also be properly aligned if maximum effectiveness is to be achieved. Four U.S. copper mining companies responsible for over 60 percent of domestic production consented to participate in the study. The data suggest that not only is the proper alignment of contingency variables within the firm as a whole important to organizational effectiveness as indicated by prior research, but the proper alignment of these variables within individual work units may be just as important a consideration in determining overall organizational effectiveness. Results further suggest that those mining firms within the industry whose work unit technologies show the closest alignment of routine technologies with mechanistic structures, autocratic leadership styles and personnel willing to conform, and non-routine technologies with organic structures, democratic leadership styles and personnel less willing to conform are more effective than those firms in which these variables were not so closely aligned. Implications of this study are that industrial firms can improve their overall performance and effectiveness by aligning technology, structure, leadership style and personnel within work units. The greater the number or work units in which these contingency variables are properly aligned within a business firm, the greater the success that firm will experience in realizing its primary objectives.

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Neringa Palionytė. Teams climate estimation of sport club „Zalgiris“. Final Master Work. Work supervisor docent doctor R. Mikalauskas Summary Sport club is a social group or team, and its activity depends on efficiency of micro groups, groups or teams operating in it (Mikalauskas, 2000). Team is an indiscrete appearance, not general people unit, and it makes certain system that constantly interacts with environment and has to respond to set requirements. This system has two subsystems – operating and operated (Slack, 1996). In activity period intellectual, voluntary, emotional, social and other activity of sports team is constantly influenced by team specific preparation and game specifics. Interpersonal relations directly influence its preparation for activity and its results, this way becoming the fundamental sports team feature (Jucevičius, 1998). In nowadays it is still discussed, whether climate is the attribute of organization and greed and attitude of people working in organization or club, the structure, standards, politics of rewards and penalties of organization are the factors that determine the climate in organization. It supposes that climate is not only the creeds of people working in organization, but also is one of features to describe the organization itself (Aronson, 1998). The subject of research Teams climate estimation of sport club „Zalgiris“ The problem of research In nowadays business world, sport organizations and clubs meet new challenges. Strong... [to full text]

Following a meso-contingency approach (Rousseau & House, 1994), this study examined the relationship between efficacy beliefs and effectiveness outcomes in a team context. Specifically, the interaction effects of self-efficacy and group efficacy as well as their direct effects on effectiveness outcomes at the individual level and at the group level were examined. Forty-two work teams (174 members and 42 supervisors) from several industries within Western Canada completed a survey assessing their efficacy beliefs, their attitudes at work, and their performance. The cross-level hypotheses revealed that self-efficacy positively related to individual effectiveness and to team attitudes but not to team performance. Group efficacy positively correlated with team effectiveness but not with individual effectiveness. Moreover, group efficacy as a shared belief and as a perception of individual team members was hypothesized to moderate the relationship between self-efficacy and team members’ effectiveness. However, these moderation hypotheses were not supported. / ix, 105 leaves ; 29 cm

This study investigates individual creative performance in the context of social networks in medium sized work groups (n = 15 - 25) by combining individual, contextual, and social network antecedents. It is an effort to build a balanced model that takes into account the position of the individual within the social system, as well as individual motivation and perceptions of organizational context. The results show that the effects of motivational and contextual factors on creative performance are mediated by creative behavior performed by the individual. The individual's position in the social network and the nature (strong or weak) of the individual's ties with others in the network, in contrast, exercise both direct and indirect effects (via creative behavior) on creative performance. As predicted, intrinsic motivation, empowerment, and organizational support had positive effects on creative performance. Surprisingly, formal structure also exerted a positive influence on creative performance. Another unexpected finding is that both local brokerage and weak ties exerted overall negative effects on creative performance. As hypothesized, centrality exerted a strong positive effect on creative performance. The results, which are in part inconsistent with previous findings, suggest that the direction of the effects of both social network position and tie strength on creative performance may depend on group size, and that ego network characteristics also affect perceptions of the organizational context. The preferred model showed a strong fit to the data, providing support for the inclusion of network variables in any comprehensive theory of creative behavior in organizations.

Teacher Support Teams have recently been established at all schools within the Republic of South Africa. Their success, however, has been mixed and some have ceased to function at all. It has therefore been the purpose of this research project to evaluate the current status of implementation at a sample of schools within one circuit of the Ilembe district within the KwaZulu Natal Department of Education. This study therefore reports on the degree of success experienced by schools in the operation of Teacher Support Teams as they have grappled with the harsh realities of the communities that they serve. Many problems and obstacles serve to impede their progress and it is the intention of this study to learn from these experiences. In so doing, one is in a position to provide added and valued support to such schools. Lastly, the research aims to assess whether there are significant differences between the experiences and the nature of interventions between primary and secondary schools. A survey methodology was conducted that utilised a standardised questionnaire and thereafter, a semi-structured interview. Both quantitative and qualitative data provided an insight into the issues confronting Teacher Support Teams, and thereby allowed for recommendations to follow that could assist in future advocacy programmes. A critique of current theoretical frameworks is provided, followed by a more pragmatic approach that is suggested as an alternative to better suit the context of South African schools. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2005.

No abstract available. / Thesis (MBA)-University of Natal, Durban, 2002.

This dissertation examines the emergent understanding of the dynamics of Remote Employment in an organisation. It reflects on the workings of value adding employment where individual employees operate from home and away from the "office environment". In so doing, it hopes to raise within organisations new levels of awareness that will make this employment form meaningful and fruitful. Within the body of the dissertation, relevant theoretical constructs are outlined. These form the basis on which emergent understanding using Systems Thinking is discussed. These theoretical constructs are placed upon an underlying foundation that focuses upon Systems of Meaning and the influencing factors that both encourage relationships and best accommodate participant stakeholders. Meaningful relationships are explored from a cognitive perspective. Such an approach also serves as a proposition for sustaining all forms of employment relationships irrespective of the participants particular work locality. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2002.

The overall aim of the present study was to contribute to the argument put forward by Burt, Chmiel and Hayes (2009) that trust in the context of employee selection and training can be negative for safety. The present study builds on these authors argument that new employees pose a safety risk and any effort to build trust in the safety behaviours of new team members and/or to reduce perceptions of the safety risk of new employees (e.g. through selection and training) could likely have negative consequences. The research was conducted in eight organisations from the manufacturing, construction, engineering and rail industries which are characterised by high accident rates (Statistics New Zealand, 2008). There were 118 participants which completed an anonymous occupational safety questionnaire. The participants were employees who worked in teams in high risk industries characterised by a history of turnover. The results supported past findings in that trust in selection and training was positively correlated with immediate trust in new team members. There were mixed results regarding the hypothesis that trust in selection and training is negatively correlated with perceived risk from new team members. In particular there was some support for this hypothesis at the highest job risk level. The results supported the hypothesis that there is a positive correlation between the number of selection and training processes used by organisations and immediate trust in new team members. The results also indicated that the previous safety outcomes of new team members acts as a mediator between trust in selection and training, and immediate trust in new team members. Results are discussed in terms of the concerns and implications for organisations aiming to reduce accident rates.