Thesis (PhDBusinessAdministration)--University of South Australia, 2003.

University of Technology, Sydney. / The study critically examines definitions of "informal learning", focussing on the term's application in workplace training contexts. Drawing on Foucault, Heidegger and Habermas, it is argued that we cannot understand ourselves (and thus our informal learning) without challenging the assumptions of modernity and coming to terms with what Lyotard has termed "the postmodern condition". Industry trainers are at the forefront of implementing "designer" corporate cultures which, in the rhetoric of "work-based learning", make enterprises more innovative and competitive. This study challenges that rhetoric, showing that the implicit philosophy of contemporary workplace learning and training is framed by an economistic "human capital theory". The "stories" of industry trainers from several multinational corporations challenge assumptions about what is learnt through competency-based training and about corporate uses of informal learning. It is argued that being at work entails far more than simply performing the tasks one is required to do, which, in turn, effects the links between informal learning and formal education. The final chapters are directed towards expanding and realigning interpretations of "informal learning" away from the narrow and instrumental purposes for which the term has been appropriated. Equity, respect for the dignity of others, and a philosophy of ethics have a place in "workplace learning". Informal learning is shaped by our deepest ethical and moral responses. It does not follow that measurable tasks, what one can be observed doing at work, represent one's learning.

An integrative model of effects of office characteristics and individual differences on workspace satisfaction and work behaviour was developed and tested using survey data from 139 office employees working for four organisations. Workspace experiences, role stress, environmental stressors, and interpersonal interaction were treated as intermediary variables. The variables employed in this study were derived from previous research as well as self-developed, and were divided into seven group variables. The group labels and their respective variables are: (1) office characteristics: office openness, shared office, and number of people sharing; (2) individual differences: job level, organisation tenure, and Type-A behaviour pattern; (3) workspace experience: privacy and distraction; (4) role stress and environmental stressors: role ambiguity, role conflict, superior stressor, co-worker stressor, and physical stressor; (5) interpersonal interaction: attention, social relation, and listening; (6) workspace satisfaction; (7) work behaviour: task performance and friendliness.

Trust is a complex concept and our understanding of what creates, sustains and builds trust within organisations is variable. The purpose of this study was to examine the antecedent factors influencing employee perceptions of trust in organisations, and this was achieved by aggregating qualitative trust data gathered from four surveys conducted in two related mining companies. Analyses of questions that referred to trust in the 'company', produced one set of factors which described generalised leader behaviours and characteristics that influence employee perceptions of trust in leaders throughout their employing company. Analyses of questions that referred to employees' trust in their immediate managers produced factors that described behaviours and characteristics influencing their perceptions of trust in the leader with whom respondents had the most intimate supervisory relationship. Many factors were common to both phases of analysis, but the most frequently described was Open and Honest Communication. Some factors were unique to the company analysis, including Managers' Competencies, Provides Benefits, Safety Obligations, Stability of Managerial Personnel and Profit Motives. Others were unique to the immediate manager analyses and included Confidentiality, Consistency and Predictability, and Role Limitations. Similarities and differences in factors described within company analysis and immediate manager analysis were reconciled to produce six factor groupings. The different factor structure found in the company and immediate manager analyses reflect, to some extent, the impact of hierarchical distance on the basis for trust. Mayer, Davis and Schoorman's (1995) Integrative Model of Organisational Trust was used as a starting point for factor identification and grouping because of its links to previous antecedent factor research. Several factors not represented in that model were extracted. Four factors described leaders' behaviours associated with employee trust: Managers' Competencies, Benevolence, Integrity, and Investment of Role and Task Responsibilities. Propensity to trust was present, but had two subtly different forms. Contextual Factors not represented in Mayer et al.'s, model were also extracted. These factor groups formed the components of an elaborated model of the antecedents of organisational trust. Exploring trust at the company level as well as the immediate manager level provided important insight into trust behaviours attributed to managers and leaders of the company and those attributed to the immediate manager. Similarities and differences in company and immediate manager analysis provided a strong argument for future trust research making this distinction.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Jyväskylä--[Jyväskylä, Finland], 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 81-91).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Western Australia, 2006.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--George Mason University, 2008. / Vita: p. 123. Thesis director: Lois E. Tetrick. Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Aug. 28, 2008). Includes bibliographical references (p. 114-122). Also issued in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1993. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 248-262). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (M.Ap.C.T. & M.)--Cleveland State University, 2008. / Abstract. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on July 8, 2008). Includes bibliographical references (p. 79-82). Available online via the OhioLINK ETD Center. Also available in print.

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Auburn University, 2005. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references (p.102-115).