The purpose of this study is to approach the understanding of viewing of reality television with the intention to explore emotional responses in the reception since emotions are crucial part in the emotionalized television genre of reality television. The German adaption of the format The Farmer Wants a Wife was chosen for this case study to examine tendencies of portraying contestants in unpleasant situations. Humiliation, embarrassment or discrediting the contestants creates a balancing act between fun and ridicule. The protagonists are located between the status of (temporary) cult figures and/or figures of fun. The thesis’ main aim is to find out which emotions are perceived and addressed in the watching experience of the format being named in the context of ‘fremdschämen’. The winged German word for vicarious or empathic embarrassment was thereby addressed beyond its descriptive metaphor for current programs. Emotional responses in connection with shame and embarrassment were previously predominantly neglected in research on reality television. Its relevance and occurrence in media is insofar important, as the concept of ‘fremdschämen’ found the way into German mainstream language use. The thesis delivers qualitative approaches to capture the mediation of emotions in reality TV: In a narrative analysis, the question on how emotions actually are staged was approached. Subsequently, four focus group discussions with overall 18 German-speaking discussants were conducted to understand individual and social watching preferences, emotional involvement, attachment styles and positioning in the reception. The study’s findings suggest that the contestants’ ordinariness is challenged by mainly focusing on extraordinarity in the docusoap. Thereby, new opportunities of audience positioning, identification and anti-identification and constructions of appealing figures are encouraged. Gentle mockery in the style of presentation contains furthermore self-criticism of the genre and expresses a critical stance of viewing. Emotions are performed on different levels to increase entertaining values in the program. Especially embarrassment can be connected to its function of ridicule and the maintenance of social order.

Title from second page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 30-32).

Occupational stress is a major concern in Canadian society, and nurses have been identified as a high-risk population. In this study, levels of occupational stress (vicarious trauma, secondary traumatic stress, and burnout) were examined in Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANEs) and Emergency nurses. Our objectives were: 1) to compare levels of occupational stress between groups, 2) examine the relationship between occupational stress and job satisfaction, and 3) examine the relationship between job satisfaction, intention to leave, and absenteeism. Results showed no significant group differences on vicarious trauma and secondary traumatic stress, but significantly higher levels of burnout in Emergency nurses, and intention to leave one’s job significantly predicted job satisfaction in Emergency nurses. Although SANEs did not experience greater occupational stress, open-ended data indicated negative consequences to this work. However, both groups also spoke to the positive rewards of helping those in need. Implications for nursing practice are also discussed.

Occupational stress is a major concern in Canadian society, and nurses have been identified as a high-risk population. In this study, levels of occupational stress (vicarious trauma, secondary traumatic stress, and burnout) were examined in Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANEs) and Emergency nurses. Our objectives were: 1) to compare levels of occupational stress between groups, 2) examine the relationship between occupational stress and job satisfaction, and 3) examine the relationship between job satisfaction, intention to leave, and absenteeism. Results showed no significant group differences on vicarious trauma and secondary traumatic stress, but significantly higher levels of burnout in Emergency nurses, and intention to leave one’s job significantly predicted job satisfaction in Emergency nurses. Although SANEs did not experience greater occupational stress, open-ended data indicated negative consequences to this work. However, both groups also spoke to the positive rewards of helping those in need. Implications for nursing practice are also discussed.

The efforts to create an equal non-discriminatory South African society should also manifest in the workplace and, more specifically, in the academic arena. Academics are regarded as the leaders of society and the shapers of the future of a country. Their conduct should be of the highest ethical and moral standards, and no form of discrimination should be allowed by or against them. In terms of the Employment Equity Act, sexual harassment is a form of unfair discrimination and carries a substantial penalty should an employer be found guilty of vicarious liability. The purpose of this study was to determine the perceived incidence of sexual harassment of academic staff at higher education institutions in South Africa, as well as their awareness of the policies dealing with sexual harassment. The sufficiency of the grievance procedures designed to deal with complaints of sexual harassment was also evaluated. A cross-sectional survey design was used to reach the research objectives. The Sexual Harassment Questionnaire (SHQ) was randomly distributed amongst a sample of 710 academic staff members from 10 higher education institutions in South Africa. A response rate of 22,8 percent (n = 162) was achieved. The statistical analysis was carried out using the SPSS 15.0 program (SPSS 2007), a program that is used to conduct statistical analysis regarding reliability and validity of the measuring instruments, descriptive statistics, /-tests, analysis of variance, correlation coefficients and multiple regression analysis. Article 1 focuses on the perceived incidence of sexual harassment. In this article, five categories of sexual harassment were used as indicators of the incidence thereof, namely verbal, non-verbal, physical, gender and quid pro quo harassment. A statistically significant correlation coefficient with a large effect was found between verbal and non-verbal harassment. A practically significant correlation of a medium effect was also found between physical, verbal, non-verbal and quid pro quo harassment and sexism, as well as between the control item of sexual harassment and physical, verbal, non-verbal and quid pro quo harassment. Analyses of variance were performed on the different demographic groups using various variables and the findings indicate no practically significant effect of gender, age, population group or years of service on sexual harassment. In Article 2, the awareness of sexual harassment policies and procedures were determined. Various aspects of policies were investigated, such as content, development, types and implementation. The results show that despite indications that sexual harassment policies do exist and that they are regarded as effective tools in addressing sexual harassment, the implementation of such policies is not effective. In addition, few academic staff members receive training/guidance on the utilisation of these policies. Significant correlation coefficients were found between the elements of an effective policy and between population groups and some of the elements. Article 3 reports on findings regarding the sufficiency of grievance procedures in dealing with complaints of sexual harassment. The results show a positive correlation between confidence in the grievance procedure, the amount of attention that supervisors pay to grievances, regular feedback to employees regarding the progress of grievances, willingness of supervisors to take decisions, the amount of confidence in supervisors and the effectiveness of the procedure. The reluctance of management to deal with grievances unless they are reported via the grievance procedure was related to the perceived effectiveness of the procedure. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Sociology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010.

The efforts to create an equal non-discriminatory South African society should also manifest in the workplace and, more specifically, in the academic arena. Academics are regarded as the leaders of society and the shapers of the future of a country. Their conduct should be of the highest ethical and moral standards, and no form of discrimination should be allowed by or against them. In terms of the Employment Equity Act, sexual harassment is a form of unfair discrimination and carries a substantial penalty should an employer be found guilty of vicarious liability. The purpose of this study was to determine the perceived incidence of sexual harassment of academic staff at higher education institutions in South Africa, as well as their awareness of the policies dealing with sexual harassment. The sufficiency of the grievance procedures designed to deal with complaints of sexual harassment was also evaluated. A cross-sectional survey design was used to reach the research objectives. The Sexual Harassment Questionnaire (SHQ) was randomly distributed amongst a sample of 710 academic staff members from 10 higher education institutions in South Africa. A response rate of 22,8 percent (n = 162) was achieved. The statistical analysis was carried out using the SPSS 15.0 program (SPSS 2007), a program that is used to conduct statistical analysis regarding reliability and validity of the measuring instruments, descriptive statistics, /-tests, analysis of variance, correlation coefficients and multiple regression analysis. Article 1 focuses on the perceived incidence of sexual harassment. In this article, five categories of sexual harassment were used as indicators of the incidence thereof, namely verbal, non-verbal, physical, gender and quid pro quo harassment. A statistically significant correlation coefficient with a large effect was found between verbal and non-verbal harassment. A practically significant correlation of a medium effect was also found between physical, verbal, non-verbal and quid pro quo harassment and sexism, as well as between the control item of sexual harassment and physical, verbal, non-verbal and quid pro quo harassment. Analyses of variance were performed on the different demographic groups using various variables and the findings indicate no practically significant effect of gender, age, population group or years of service on sexual harassment. In Article 2, the awareness of sexual harassment policies and procedures were determined. Various aspects of policies were investigated, such as content, development, types and implementation. The results show that despite indications that sexual harassment policies do exist and that they are regarded as effective tools in addressing sexual harassment, the implementation of such policies is not effective. In addition, few academic staff members receive training/guidance on the utilisation of these policies. Significant correlation coefficients were found between the elements of an effective policy and between population groups and some of the elements. Article 3 reports on findings regarding the sufficiency of grievance procedures in dealing with complaints of sexual harassment. The results show a positive correlation between confidence in the grievance procedure, the amount of attention that supervisors pay to grievances, regular feedback to employees regarding the progress of grievances, willingness of supervisors to take decisions, the amount of confidence in supervisors and the effectiveness of the procedure. The reluctance of management to deal with grievances unless they are reported via the grievance procedure was related to the perceived effectiveness of the procedure. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Sociology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010.

abstract: Observational tutoring has been found to be an effective method for teaching a variety of subjects by reusing dialogue from previous successful tutoring sessions. While it has been shown content can be learned through observational tutoring it has yet to been examined if a secondary behavior such as goal-setting can be influenced. The present study investigated if observing virtual humans engaging in a tutoring session on rotational kinematics with embedded positive goal oriented dialogue would increase knowledge of the material and perpetuate a shift an observer's goal-orientation from performance avoidance goal orientation (PAVGO) to learning goal orientation (LGO). Learning gains were observed in pre to post test knowledge retention tests. Significant changes from pretest to posttest occurred across conditions for LGO. Additionally, significant changes from PAVGO pretest to posttest were observed in the control condition however PAVGO did not significantly change in the experimental condition. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Applied Psychology 2014

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Knowledge management has become one of the most important challenges inorganizations’ pursuit of competitiveness and long-term success. Essentialaspects of managing knowledge are its creation, transfer and retention.Organizational learning, which comprises these three processes, aims forimproving an organization’s performance. Hence, having an effective approachto organizational learning is crucial. In the literature, numerous guides, models and opinions on organizational learning exist, yet organizations struggle to learn from their experiences. This can be explained by the fact that the theory focuses on how to capture rather than how to apply learnings. Moreover, a description of a practical approach is lacking. Therefore, this thesis aims to develop a holistic strategy for an effective use of organizational learnings. For this purpose, a case study at the transmission development department ofa large Swedish commercial vehicle manufacturer was conducted. The statusquo of organizational learning as well as potential barriers to and drivers andenablers for an effective learning approach were investigated qualitatively. The data gathered was analyzed under the lens of organizational learning viewed from the outpost of social learning theory. Furthermore, Law and Chuah’s (2015b) theoretical framework for the study of organizational learning was applied. Great similarities between this study and previously conducted studies werediscovered. The research confirmed that even though organizationsacknowledge the value of organizational learning, they tend to lack an effective learning strategy. Learnings are seldom captured and applied even more rarely. One of the main reasons found is that the drivers for organizational learning, i.e. strong leaders, and a shared vision and mission, are poorly developed. These findings subsequently fed into the development of a learning strategy, which was adapted iteratively. It is designed to facilitate organizational learning in order to improve the learning outcome. For the learning strategy, the authors describe concrete learning actions as well as the underpinning drivers and enablers. The results of this thesis can serve as a springboard for further studies. The thesis opens up the possibility to examine the effectiveness of diverse strategies and to determine practical approaches to how organizational learning can be promoted. This study provides a relevant example for the setup of such a strategy and accentuates the importance of organizational learning.

My aim was to explore the experiences of social workers working with unaccompanied refugee children when hearing traumatic narratives shared by the children. This is a qualitative research based on semi-structured interviews with three social workers with experience of working with these children in the social services in Sweden. The transcribed interviews have been interpreted with themes and the theoretical framework used is countertransference and vicarious trauma theory. The result shows that all the informants have been influenced by the traumatic narratives they have heard and their interaction with the client was affected by their personal experiences. The result also shows that a trustful relationship between the client and the social worker is fundamental for good communication, but also that more education and knowledge combined with support from the workplace and opportunities to exchange knowledge contribute to developing good and respectful interactions with clients.