Thesis (Th. M.)--Dallas Theological Seminary, 1985. / Typescript.

This research studies the effects of group stewardship and group learning on permanent work groups performing the core work and service processes in their organizations. Stewardship has been proposed as a potentially significant form of intrinsic motivation that causes people to act collectively in the best interests of their organization's stakeholders. However, stewardship has not been operationalized nor have its antecedents and consequences been empirically tested in prior field research. After defining group stewardship, the construct is shown to be distinct from related concepts such as psychological ownership and identification with the organization. While previous research has studied the concepts of individual and organizational learning, the concept of group learning is just emerging in the group effectiveness literature. Group learning is shown to be a multidimensional concept including integration of external perspectives, within-group collaboration, and practical application through experimentation. Within and between analysis (WABA) is utilized to determine which task, group and organizational constructs relate to the development of group stewardship at the individual, group and organizational levels of analysis. Four constructs, the need for analysis in doing the group's work, group potency, affective trust, and identification with the organization, are shown to be especially significant in developing group stewardship. Additionally, each of these four factors is shown to support different aspects of group learning. Finally, group stewardship is shown to be highly correlated with the presence of group learning, proactive behaviors, group performance, and employee job satisfaction. / Ph. D.

Thesis (MComm (Industrial Psychology))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / The present study evaluates the influence on the four factors of an innovative work group climate, namely participative safety, vision, support for innovation and task orientation, of a team development intervention based on improvisational theatre exercises. In the literature study, these four factors are compared with the principles of improvisational theatre, namely trust and support, agreement, listening and awareness, and narrative skills. A quasiexperimental study was conducted. Differences in pre-test and post-test scores of an experimental group (ne=15), who took part in a half-day improvisation theatre team development intervention, are compared with the differences in pre- and post-test scores of a control group (nc=13). The sample consisted of two teams from a health care management unit, which formed part of the health care department of a large insurance company in South Africa. The results show that, for innovative work group climate as a whole, the experimental group’s scores improved significantly (p<.01) in comparison to the control group’s scores. The experimental group’s scores for the three factors, vision, participative safety and task orientation, also improved significantly in comparison to the control group’s scores (p<.05 for all three factors). However, the experimental group’s score for support for innovation did not improve significantly. It is therefore concluded that the intervention had a positive influence on climate for work group innovation, based on its impact on the three factors, vision, participative safety and task orientation. In conclusion, this study builds on previous research that endorses the application of improvisational theatre techniques in organisational development settings.

Although most working adults possess a lay understanding of understaffing in the workplace and may, in fact, feel they are experiencing such a stressor, a review of the research literature reveals a general lack of empirical work on understaffing and its consequences. Hudson and Shen (2013, Development and testing of a new measure of understaffing. Paper presented at the Southern Management Association 2013 Meeting, New Orleans, LA) recently proposed a new model of understaffing that distinguished between two types of personnel deficiencies, manpower and expertise shortages, and linked these dimensions to worker well-being and attitudinal outcomes and identified likely mediating mechanisms. However, Hudson and Shen focused exclusively on the individual level of analysis. Therefore, the current study extends their work by investigating whether prior findings also hold at the group level of analysis. Participants in this study were members of 66 intact work groups and their supervisors (N = 57 for groups with matched supervisor data) from a variety of industries and organizations, who filled out a one-time survey. Results supported that perceptions of understaffing, both manpower and expertise, are shared within work groups and that there is some convergence between work groups and their supervisors regarding levels of understaffing. Results from correlational and regression analyses also supported differential relationships between manpower and expertise understaffing and group outcomes. Finally, structural equation models generally upheld Hudson and Shen's (2013) framework at the group level of analysis; results were consistent with group quantitative workload, potency, and role ambiguity serving as key mediators in the relationships between shared group perceptions of understaffing and unit well-being and attitudinal outcomes (i.e., group emotional exhaustion and cohesion). This study broadens our understanding of the construct of understaffing and presents a number of promising directions to be pursued in future research.

Thesis (M.T.S.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 1988. / Vita. Bibliography: leaf [74]

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Organizations increasingly use work groups to perform process improvement tasks. Little research exists about groups assigned complete tasks such as process improvement which involves completing all group processes, such as: generating, selecting, negotiating, and executing. This research tested the impact of decision aids on work group processes and work group performance. Laboratory and field experiments were performed. Decision aids were shown to impact work group processes. Decision aids increased the number of ideas considered by the work group, increased the equality of participation in the work group, decreased the overall level of conversation, and reduced consensus during evaluation of sensitive issues. No significant difference was found between decision aid types and work group performance. A regression model was identified which predicts group performance. Two variables were high predictors of work group performance: the level of conversation occurring in the group and the range between high and low idea contributors. The range between high and low idea contributors was correlated with the skill level of participants in the group. / Ph. D.

I denna essä reflekterar jag över ett dilemma som är egenupplevt. Dilemmat handlar om svårigheten i att leda ett arbetslag som ännu inte är färdig utbildad förskollärare. Dilemmat belyser min utvecklingsprocess som jag genomgått under min erfarenhetsbaserade förskollärarutbildning. Jag beskriver mina inre tvivel på min förmåga som ledare och utifrån min berättelse försöker jag finna svar och nya insikter. Syftet med denna essä är att försöka synliggöra ledarskapet i förskolläraryrket. Jag använder mig av ett hermeneutiskt synsätt som innebär att försöka tolka och förstå erfarenheter och fenomen. Mina frågeställningar fokuserar på ledarskap och utveckling. Reflektionen är viktig för att kunna synliggöra mina tankar och kunna granska mig själv kritiskt. Frågor jag arbetar kring är bland annat skillnaden mellan olika ledarstilar och vad skillnaden är mellan att vara chef respektive ledare. I essän diskuterar jag FIRO teorin för att se på gruppers utveckling. I slutet av uppsatsen ser jag på läroplanen och ansvarsfördelningen inom förskolans verksamhet samt jämför den gamla läroplanen med den reviderade upplagan. I slutet reflekterar jag kring mitt eget ledarskap och olika ledarstilar. Min slutsats är att jag som ledare behöver anpassa mitt ledarskap till rådande situation samt att jag som förskollärare verkar som en förebild.

<p>Bandura definierar (1997) outcome expectancy som individens skattning av sannolikheten att ett beteende ska leda till ett specifikt utfall. Utöver individens skattning av sitt eget beteendes följder (individual outcome expectancy), är hennes bedömning av sin grupps möjlighet att nå ett specifikt utfall (collective outcome expectancy) en del av begreppet (Riggs & Knight, 1994). Studien syftar till att undersöka huruvida arbetsrelaterad- self efficacy, locus of control och collective efficacy predicerar outcome expectancy. En enkätundersökning genomfördes med 102 deltagare från olika yrkesgrupper. Resultatet visade att arbetsrelaterad- self efficacy och locus of control samvarierade med individual outcome expectancy och att collective efficacy predicerade collective outcome expectancy. Dock var gruppstorleken av betydelse för prediktionen. Studiens hypoteser bekräftades av tidigare forskning.</p>

Bandura definierar (1997) outcome expectancy som individens skattning av sannolikheten att ett beteende ska leda till ett specifikt utfall. Utöver individens skattning av sitt eget beteendes följder (individual outcome expectancy), är hennes bedömning av sin grupps möjlighet att nå ett specifikt utfall (collective outcome expectancy) en del av begreppet (Riggs &amp; Knight, 1994). Studien syftar till att undersöka huruvida arbetsrelaterad- self efficacy, locus of control och collective efficacy predicerar outcome expectancy. En enkätundersökning genomfördes med 102 deltagare från olika yrkesgrupper. Resultatet visade att arbetsrelaterad- self efficacy och locus of control samvarierade med individual outcome expectancy och att collective efficacy predicerade collective outcome expectancy. Dock var gruppstorleken av betydelse för prediktionen. Studiens hypoteser bekräftades av tidigare forskning.