published_or_final_version / Nursing Studies / Master / Master of Nursing

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Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Commerce (M Com) at the University of the Witwatersrand, February 2017 / Information systems development (ISD) project teams are involved in requirements elicitation, analysis, development, testing and deployment of various information technology solutions. These teams often compete with each other for limited resources in an attempt to fulfil their organisational mandate. As a result, project teams can exert power over each other and employ various influence tactics in attempt to gain and maintain positions of power which allow them to control key resources and influence decision making processes. This study examined the strategic environmental and structural conditions of fulfilment which influence the power of ISD project teams, and the extent to which influence tactics can impact on team power level. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire instrument. A sample of 106 teams from five companies was obtained. The companies operate in the financial services and government sectors. A single key informant responded on behalf of their team. Correlation and regression analysis was used to test the hypothesized links between power and the structural conditions of fulfilment namely centrality and substitutability, as well as, the environmental condition of coping with uncertainty. The moderating effects of influence tactics on these relationships was tested via hierarchical moderated regression. Results indicated that the strategic condition of coping with uncertainty significantly and positively affects perceived team power, whilst substitutability significantly and negatively affects perceived team power. Support for the structural condition of centrality was not found to be significant. Additionally, the influence tactic of rational persuasion was found to moderate the relationship between power and coping with uncertainty such that rational persuasion interacts with coping with uncertainty to affect power. Results also indicated that the influence tactic of collaboration was not a moderator but rather has significant direct effects on perceived team power. The study concluded that ISD project teams who cope with project uncertainties and whose tasks and functionalities are difficult to replace, as well as, those who effectively collaborate with other teams will have greater power within project settings. Moreover, ISD project teams can combine rational persuasion tactics with coping with uncertainty to exert even stronger effects on power. The outcomes of this study help to bring an understanding of the impact of the strategic conditions factors on perceived team power within ISD project settings, as well as the role of specific influence tactics in the formation of power. / GR2018

The aim of the study was to examine employees' attitudes towards work shifting to the digital space and whether there will still be a need for the physical workplace in the future in relation to the development of information and communication technologies. For this study a survey was conducted to answer the following questions; how is the digital transformation of work affecting the workplace for employees in the Icelandic tech sector, what are the factors that affect the choice of workspace, and how can the choice of office space influence job satisfaction? Literature and theories about workplace development, digitalization, organizational communication and information, and communication technologies were used to gain a broader and deeper knowledge of the field. The study shows that it is likely that there are still some changes to take place in today's workplaces and that increased flexibility is one of those changes as 94.9% of participants in this research thought flexibility was an important feature for the organization to possess to be an attractive workplace. Face-to-face communication is more effective and there is still a need for the physical workplace according to the participants of this study. It is essential for organizations today to stay attractive and become more attractive in the eyes of current and future employees. The workplace needs to be a place where employees feel good and where they prefer to work so that face-to-face communication and relationships between co-workers and managers does not only take place in the digital environment. A balance between the physical and virtual office space needs to be the focus for organizations in the coming years. Subsequently, the results were compared with the theories and previous studies.

The proliferation and ubiquity of information technologies (ICTs) have transformed the working environment of organizations, making imperative the engagement of individuals with various technologies for the accomplishment of their work tasks. Although ICTs have offered significant benefits both to individuals and organizations, those advances have come with some costs. Recently, academic literature has shown an increased interest in the dark side or else the negative aspects of technology usage within the workplace, focusing on the stress that individuals experience due to the extended usage of ICTs called technostress. A considerable amount of literature has been published on the concept of technostress revealing its severe consequences on individuals, leading to huge monetary costs for organizations; however, few studies have investigated mechanisms for the alleviation of this phenomenon thus the need for further research is crucial. Addressing this call of research, the present study contributes to the technostress literature by adopting for the first time a mindfulness perspective. The current study aims to examine the role of mindfulness as an organizational mechanism that can mitigate the impact of technostress on individuals as well as alleviate its negative consequences. By following a mixed methods approach, the current study involved two phases; At first, a theoretical framework was developed, based on the transactional-based model of stress, in order to examine the influence of mindfulness on technostress as well as its impact on job related and IT usage related outcomes. By conducting a survey-based approach and exploring a sample of 500 working individuals, the developed model was validated through SEM analysis revealing that mindfulness constitutes a powerful mechanism that can effectively reduce technostress, increase job satisfaction while also enhance user satisfaction while utilizing ICTs for work tasks and improve task performance. During the second phase of the study, the thematic analysis of the collected data, derived from semi-structured interviews, validated the results of the quantitative analysis confirming the role of mindfulness in reducing technostress conditions; while also yielded deeper insights revealing a set of strategies that more mindful individuals deploy during technostress experiences. Overall, the current study enhances existing literature in the IS domain by revealing the valuable role of mindfulness in protecting individuals against the negative impact of stressful events occurring due to ICT usage while also providing substantial practical implications; By introducing mindfulness programs for their employees, corporate and HR managers can significantly improve employees' work life, increase individual productivity and enhance overall wellbeing at work thus ultimately improving the business performance and overall success of the organization.

Underlying the process by which Japan emerged as a global industrial power in the twentieth century was a particularly powerful ideology of gender and sexuality which equated masculinity with the public/work sphere and femininity with the private household sphere. Within this ideological framework, the archetypal male citizen - indeed, the ‘ideal’ male citizen - over the post-World War Two decades came to be represented by the ‘salaryman’ (sarariirnan, in Japanese). The term referred to permanent, predominantly white-collar, male private-sector employees, who were seen as being the foot-soldiers, the kigyô senshi (‘corporate warriors’) of Japan’s high-speed economic growth over the 1960s, 1970s. and even into the 1980s. Even after the slowing down of economic growth from the 1990s. the salaryman, and all that the discourse of masculinity built up around him represented, has continued to exert a powerful presence on the social landscape. This is despite the fact that, even at the high-point of economic growth in the 1960s and 1970s, only a minority of men would have fallen within the strictest definitional parameters of the term. However, it was the discourse associated with the salaryman - one infused with the gender ideology of the male breadwinner - that was far more extensive in its reach. In this respect the form of masculinity associated with the salaryman may be regarded as what R.W. Connell terms ‘hegemonic masculinity’. / This thesis explores the ways in which the discourse of salaryman masculinity became the hegemonic form of masculinity in Japan over the postwar decades, and the ways in which it continues to operate in present-day Japan. In exploring the dynamics at work, the thesis draws attention to the fact that rather than being some kind of immutable, biologically determined ‘given’, masculinity is a constantly shifting process. Indeed, rather than a single overarching masculinity, there are multiple masculinities at work. It is within the context of this matrix of masculinities that one particular form - the hegemonic masculinity - has the greatest ideological power. However hegemonic masculinity itself has to be constantly ‘crafted’ and ‘re-crafted’ through engagements with other masculinities. This occurs both at the wider societal level, and at the level of the individual. Consequently the discussion in this thesis is carried out at both the ‘macro’ societal level, and at the ‘micro’ level of the individual. The former level of analysis situates the emergence of the discourse of salaryman masculinity within the historical framework of Japan’s modernization and nation-building project, and also examines the ways in which socio-cultural spaces such as popular culture were, and continue to be, significant in the process. The second level of analysis explores the dynamics of the ‘crafting’ of hegemonic masculinity at the level of the individual male. The discussion draws upon intensive interviews carried out with young male employees of two private sector civilization, during an eighteen-month period of fieldwork. / It explores the ways in which these informants negotiate with the ideological expectations of salaryman masculinity vis-a-vis their own masculine identities, expectations which encompass various aspects of their lives. The discussion at both the ‘macro’ and micro’ level of analysis reveals that the dynamics of ‘crafting’ masculinity, rather than being a tidy, easy-to-categorize process, are infused with ambiguity, contradictions, richness, and nuance. It is through these contradictions that the contours of hegemonic masculinity are shaped and re-shaped.

The researcher explored interpersonal trust (a construct from the fields of psychology and sociometry) in the context of engineering work groups. The study explored the potential antecedents of trust and the relationships among trust, creativity, communication, emotional empathy and positive affect. The study attempts to argue that 1) trust is deeply involved in the neurological development of humans from a very early age, 2) the level of trust is an important factor in the development of a person's emotional experience, 3) an individual's level of trust can improve with experience, 4) higher levels of trust can streamline task team performance, especially when creativity and communication are important, and 5) in industries that use task teams and that require innovation, high levels of interpersonal trust can be a source of competitive advantage. Analysis of the literature of social and industrial psychology leads to the hypothesis that trust is positively and significantly correlated with creativity, communication, emotional empathy and positive affect. Sociometric survey research of engineers (n=43) employed at a medical device manufacturing company fails to show support for this hypothesis. / Graduation date: 1998

Although teams are a common method of structuring work activities, there is still much concern over their effectiveness. The primary purpose of this study was to describe the current state of teamwork training in Oregon and to identify critical training design activities, situational barriers and demographic variables related to the perceived success of workplace teamwork training programs. A self-administered questionnaire, based on the literature and a Delphi panel, was mailed to over 500 members of two professional training associations (The American Society for Training and Development and The National Society for Performance and Instruction) representing workplace trainers in Oregon. Of the 319 questionnaires returned, 134 indicated they provided teamwork training in the workplace. Data analysis included computing descriptive statistics on the frequency with which respondents actually performed 61 design and delivery/facilitation activities, the importance they placed on these activities, and the barriers they faced. Factor analysis was used to reduce the items, and correlational methods, including regression and ANOVA, were used to determine the relationships between derived factors and success and the relationship between demographic variables and success. Descriptive analyses indicated that these respondents place highest priority on activities related to a systemic, yet traditional view of teams within an organization. They pay close attention to the potential impact of organizational variables, primarily management support and goal alignment; lesser attention to rewards. They place lower priority on items relating to the task and technology used by the team. Respondents employ participative, problem-solving approaches, encouraging total, voluntary participation, and focus on clarifying individual responsibilities, team goals, and decision-making. Aspects of a systems approach to training (performance objectives, task and person analysis, and continuous evaluation) are among the less frequently performed activities. According to this study, successful teamwork training programs are performance-based, utilize constructive feedback and address individual attributes. Dysfunctional management practices are negatively correlated with success. Management must define clearly what teamwork means and then model desired behaviors. Implications and recommendations for further research are also included. / Graduation date: 1995