There is no abstract available for this dissertation.

No description available.

No description available.

Background: Task shifting provision of basic health care services to lay health workers (LHWs) is increasingly employed to combat the global shortage of skilled health workers, particularly in low and middle income countries, where the shortage is greatest. Despite evidence for the effectiveness of LHWs in improving access to basic health services and positively impacting a variety of health outcomes, questions remain as to how recognized weaknesses in training and supervision are best addressed. This thesis employed a sequential-concurrent mixed-methods design and is composed of 3 studies with the objective of designing and rigorously evaluating a knowledge translation (KT) intervention tailored to address identified barriers to LHWs ability to function optimally as TB adherence supporters in Zomba district, Malawi. Methods & Findings: The first study utilized the qualitative methods of focus groups and interviews conducted with LHWs routinely involved in provision of care to TB patients. Lack of TB knowledge and job-specific training were identified as the key barriers to LHWs in their role as TB adherence supporters. Based on these findings, a KT intervention was developed and tailored to the identified training gaps. The second study, evaluated the effectiveness of the intervention in improving TB treatment adherence in a cluster randomized controlled trial, which showed no evidence for effectiveness of the intervention. The third study, conducted concurrently with the cluster trial, employed qualitative interviews to explore LHWs experiences with the intervention to identify ii aspects of the intervention found to be helpful and areas in need of improvement. Study 3 found that the intervention was well received and valued, with reported benefits to LHWs through improved knowledge and skills, and increased confidence. Suggestions for improvement varied considerably, with an anticipated concern with the lack of stipends and conduct of training on-site, raised as an issue by a minority of participants. Conclusion: This thesis suggests that a multi-component KT strategy tailored to address local barriers, was well received and valued by LHWs, and may represent a cost-effective approach to LHW training. However, given the trend for effectiveness did not reach significance in this underpowered study, further research is needed.

Since the late nineteenth century, clerical work has transformed from a small cluster of respected occupations dominated by men to a rapidly changing group of occupations 90 percent of which are held by women. Due to bureaucratization and the feminization of clerical work, clerical jobs are assumed to be routinized and simple, and clerical workers deemed easily replaceable. With further changes to the occupation caused by technology and globalization, clerical workers today have become increasingly vulnerable to unemployment, precarious employment and underemployment. In this research, an Ontario-wide survey with approximately 1200 respondents (including 120 clerical workers) and in-depth interviews with 23 Toronto clerical workers were combined to explore the employment situation of Ontario clerical workers. It is apparent that clerical workers are underemployed along all measured conventional dimensions of underemployment, including credential, performance and subjective as well as work permanence, salary levels and job opportunities. Relational practice is a largely unexamined aspect of clerical work that is often essentialized as a female trait and seldom recognized as skilled practice. In this dissertation, I argue that relational practice is critical to the successful performance of clerical roles and that relational practices are not innate but rather learned skills. I explore some ways in which clerical workers acquire these skills. I conclude by noting that recognizing and valuing relational skills will make the value of clerical workers more apparent to their employers, potentially reducing for clerical workers both their subjective sense of underemployment and their vulnerability to job loss.

Background: Task shifting provision of basic health care services to lay health workers (LHWs) is increasingly employed to combat the global shortage of skilled health workers, particularly in low and middle income countries, where the shortage is greatest. Despite evidence for the effectiveness of LHWs in improving access to basic health services and positively impacting a variety of health outcomes, questions remain as to how recognized weaknesses in training and supervision are best addressed. This thesis employed a sequential-concurrent mixed-methods design and is composed of 3 studies with the objective of designing and rigorously evaluating a knowledge translation (KT) intervention tailored to address identified barriers to LHWs ability to function optimally as TB adherence supporters in Zomba district, Malawi. Methods & Findings: The first study utilized the qualitative methods of focus groups and interviews conducted with LHWs routinely involved in provision of care to TB patients. Lack of TB knowledge and job-specific training were identified as the key barriers to LHWs in their role as TB adherence supporters. Based on these findings, a KT intervention was developed and tailored to the identified training gaps. The second study, evaluated the effectiveness of the intervention in improving TB treatment adherence in a cluster randomized controlled trial, which showed no evidence for effectiveness of the intervention. The third study, conducted concurrently with the cluster trial, employed qualitative interviews to explore LHWs experiences with the intervention to identify ii aspects of the intervention found to be helpful and areas in need of improvement. Study 3 found that the intervention was well received and valued, with reported benefits to LHWs through improved knowledge and skills, and increased confidence. Suggestions for improvement varied considerably, with an anticipated concern with the lack of stipends and conduct of training on-site, raised as an issue by a minority of participants. Conclusion: This thesis suggests that a multi-component KT strategy tailored to address local barriers, was well received and valued by LHWs, and may represent a cost-effective approach to LHW training. However, given the trend for effectiveness did not reach significance in this underpowered study, further research is needed.

This study examines the relationship between the self-rated cultural orientation and the self-perceived leadership style of managers of three major oil palm plantation companies in Malaysia. The cultural orientation of managers and managers' leadership style was also examined. / Three survey questionnaires, (1) Demographic Questionnaire, (2) Value Survey Module 94 (VSM 94), and (3) Bolman & Deal Leadership Orientation (BDLO) (Self) were sent to the entire population of 160 managers of the three major oil palm plantation companies. A response rate of 79 percent or 125 responses were received. Using these responses, managers' cultural orientation and managers' leadership style was established. Managers' cultural orientation was computed against each of the leadership styles to establish relationship. / The results of this study show a significant relationship between cultural orientation and leadership style. The high Uncertainty Avoidance Orientation and Collectivism Orientation was significantly associated with the Structural Leadership Style. There was a significant relationship between Collectivism Orientation and the Human Resource Leadership Style. Low Power Distance was significantly related to the Political Leadership Style; The Femininity Orientation, Individualism Orientation, and high Power Distance was significantly associated with the Symbolic Leadership Style. There was a probability of association between Femininity Orientation, low Power Distance and Structural Leadership Style; high Uncertainty Avoidance was related to the Human Resource Leadership Style. There was a probability of association between high Uncertainty Avoidance Orientation, Individualism Orientation and the Political Leadership Style; low Uncertainty Avoidance Orientation was associated with Symbolic Leadership Style. / The results of this study also indicate managers were medium Power Distance, high Uncertainty Avoidance, Collectivist, medium on the Masculinity-Femininity (thus, are more feminine than masculine), and Short-Term Oriented. Managers use all the leadership styles proposed by Bolman & Deal (1984, 1997). However they prefer the Structural Leadership Style and Human Resource Leadership Style to the Symbolic Leadership Style and Political Leadership Style. / Ethnicity, age, and level of education were found to be important variables affecting the cultural orientation of managers. On the relationship between the respondents' profile and leadership style, the results show that ethnicity, age, and number of years in current position as manager are variables which influence the leadership style of managers. / Thesis (DBA(DoctorateofBusinessAdministration))--University of South Australia, 2004.

Employer demands for flexible work practices have seen an increase in the diversity of employment relationships illustrated by a global growth of people working in contingent or precarious positions. Increasing evidence suggests that precarious employment is associated with poorer occupational health and safety (OHS) outcomes in terms of injury rates, disease risk and psychological wellbeing. This study used a cross sectional survey of 255 employees to compare the OHS experiences of temporary (N = 156, 61.2%) and permanent (N = 99, 38.8%) workers employed in three companies involved in the seasonal processing of primary agriculture products (dairy, meat and produce) in two regions of New Zealand. This research identified a clearly definable group of temporary workers (seasonals), who exhibit different characteristics to those commonly associated with precarious employment as they have an expectation of reasonable lengths of fairly secure employment (seasons exceed eight months). Many respondents only undertook one period of employment per year and were re-engaged in subsequent seasons. There are limited opportunities for alternative employment adjacent to these plants. This creates a dependant employment market, potentially putting labour in a weak bargaining position. This is countered by a high overall level of union membership (N = 181, 71%) and the operation of collective employment contracts. This may be atypical in seasonal industries. Injury numbers were similar (permanent N = 49, 49.5%, temporary N = 73, 46.8%) and serious injuries (permanent N = 23, 23.2%, temporary N = 31, 19.9%). Once a factor was introduced to compensate for exposure time, thereby creating a frequency rate, results showed a statistically significant difference with temporary workers suffering injuries and serious injuries with less exposure than their permanent counterparts (t (193.821) = -5.566, p < 0.05 and (t (236.928) = -2.160, p < 0.05 respectively). There was a significant difference in chronic injuries with permanent employees being more likely to have a chronic injury (F91,253) = 20.456, p<0.05). Most importantly, using the General Linear Model (logistic regression), when all other influences were controlled for, this research found employment status remained influential in determining whether a respondent was injured at work or not.

This study examines the relationship between the self-rated cultural orientation and the self-perceived leadership style of managers of three major oil palm plantation companies in Malaysia. The cultural orientation of managers and managers' leadership style was also examined. / Three survey questionnaires, (1) Demographic Questionnaire, (2) Value Survey Module 94 (VSM 94), and (3) Bolman & Deal Leadership Orientation (BDLO) (Self) were sent to the entire population of 160 managers of the three major oil palm plantation companies. A response rate of 79 percent or 125 responses were received. Using these responses, managers' cultural orientation and managers' leadership style was established. Managers' cultural orientation was computed against each of the leadership styles to establish relationship. / The results of this study show a significant relationship between cultural orientation and leadership style. The high Uncertainty Avoidance Orientation and Collectivism Orientation was significantly associated with the Structural Leadership Style. There was a significant relationship between Collectivism Orientation and the Human Resource Leadership Style. Low Power Distance was significantly related to the Political Leadership Style; The Femininity Orientation, Individualism Orientation, and high Power Distance was significantly associated with the Symbolic Leadership Style. There was a probability of association between Femininity Orientation, low Power Distance and Structural Leadership Style; high Uncertainty Avoidance was related to the Human Resource Leadership Style. There was a probability of association between high Uncertainty Avoidance Orientation, Individualism Orientation and the Political Leadership Style; low Uncertainty Avoidance Orientation was associated with Symbolic Leadership Style. / The results of this study also indicate managers were medium Power Distance, high Uncertainty Avoidance, Collectivist, medium on the Masculinity-Femininity (thus, are more feminine than masculine), and Short-Term Oriented. Managers use all the leadership styles proposed by Bolman & Deal (1984, 1997). However they prefer the Structural Leadership Style and Human Resource Leadership Style to the Symbolic Leadership Style and Political Leadership Style. / Ethnicity, age, and level of education were found to be important variables affecting the cultural orientation of managers. On the relationship between the respondents' profile and leadership style, the results show that ethnicity, age, and number of years in current position as manager are variables which influence the leadership style of managers. / Thesis (DBA(DoctorateofBusinessAdministration))--University of South Australia, 2004.

Due to the ageing population, an increasing number of older workers form the labour force. Unfortunately discriminatory practices against older workers are well documented and the antecedents of such discrimination are assumed to be negative attitudes towards older workers. No previous research has investigated implicit attitudes towards older workers or their behavioural consequences. Accordingly, the present research aimed to investigate both implicit and explicit attitudes towards older workers, and their predictive utility in an employment-related context. In addition, attitude malleability and the role it may play in the attitude-behaviour relationship was investigated. This thesis reports findings from 5 studies, a pilot study and 4 main studies. The pilot study determined that the Implicit Association Test (IAT; A.G. Greenwald, D. E. McGhee & J. L. K. Schwartz, 1998) was to be used in the main studies. The 4 main studies investigated implicit attitudes, and the malleability of such attitudes towards older, relative to younger, workers. The malleability of attitudes was investigated with a mental imagery intervention where the experimental group participants were asked to imagine and describe respected and valued older workers in their surroundings. The control group participants were asked to imagine holiday destinations they would like to visit. In general, it was expected that negative implicit and explicit attitudes would be found towards older workers but that such bias could be alleviated with a mental imagery intervention. In all studies, negative implicit attitudes against older workers were found and such attitudes were relatively uninfluenced by the mental imagery manipulation. Three studies included explicit measures of attitudes. Although some variation was found between the studies and the measures used, overall positive attitudes towards older and younger workers were found. The mental imagery manipulation was also found to influence the explicit attitudes to a greater degree than implicit attitudes. The final study investigated the relationship between attitudes and behaviour. Specifically, both implicit and explicit attitudes’ relationships with spontaneous and controlled-type behaviours towards an older and a younger target were examined. Overall, some evidence for youth-bias in the participants’ behaviour was found, as well as evidence for the relationship between explicit attitudes and spontaneous behaviours. Implicit attitudes were largely unrelated to behaviour. In general, the mental imagery intervention did not impact the attitude-behaviour relationship. Implications for older workers are discussed, as well as educational methods for reducing discrimination older workers face in employment.