This study aims to contribute to a better understanding of communication differences in effective and ineffective teams. It investigates task and socio-emotional verbal behaviours over time and its relationship to team effectiveness and team members' self-perceived member viability. The author used an aural observational method to examine verbal communication of three teams. Participants were post-graduate students formed into teams, working on a complex and dynamic task over a project duration of five days in a classroom setting. Spoken interaction was audio recorded and analysed using Bales' (1950) Interaction Process Analysis (IPA). Three questionnaires were developed, mainly by combining existing measurement instruments from communication and small group research, measuring team effectiveness and member viability. The analysis of selected team meetings with IPA displayed interesting task and socio¬emotional communication differences in effective and ineffective teams. These differences were more visible in socio-emotional interaction than in task-related interaction. Observed interaction patterns changed over time, although communication behaviours were more stable in the effective teams. Findings indicate that a consistently high level of positive socio-emotional communication in combination with a consistently low level of negative socio-emotional interaction seem to facilitate team effectiveness, while a high level of negative socio-emotional interaction or constantly changing socio-emotional behaviour seems to inhibit team effectiveness. It seems to suggest that communication behaviours impact upon team effectiveness and member viability. When communication behaviours could be described as task focused with a consistent level of positive reactions, outweighing negative reactions, effectiveness and member viability can increase. Opposite behaviours, shifting from task to interpersonal issues in combination with negative reactions outweighing positive reactions can lead to low levels of perceived member viability and a lack of effectiveness. The results lead to the suggestion that communication behaviours and member viability, particularly cohesion and willingness to continue as a member of this team, seem to be indicators for a team's 'well-being' and impact upon its effectiveness. These factors seem to be especially visible at the beginning and the temporal midpoint of a project. During these two periods, monitoring of the team process is recommended, either self-managed or with support from outside the team in order to prevent communication problems impacting on team effectiveness.

This thesis argues for greater recognition of assessment staff in community care/home and community care (HACC) and a more comprehensive and considered approach to preparing such a workforce. By offering deeper insights into the practice of assessment and the individuals employed in these positions, the thesis makes the case that these are emerging identities: a new specialism in the emergent space of community care. This specialism has arisen to fill the gap which has developed as a result of changing socio-cultural practices in relation to care for the frail aged and people with disabilities, and the inability of established disciplines to keep pace with the new demands of the contemporary world. / The study employed a qualitative methodology using in-depth interviews with key informants with various stakeholder interests and expertise in the area of assessment and home and community care, and workers employed in assessment roles in HACC services in Victoria. The conceptual framework is represented as theoretical perspectives from current adult educational scholarship that focus on professional disciplines (including multidisciplinary/interprofessional perspectives), those that focus on communities of practice, and those that focus on the workplace. / The thesis shows that HACC assessment workers are a product of contemporary workplaces and systems of health and community care. The nature of their practice derives substantially from the local contexts in which they work; there is no single profession or discipline-based narrative that drives their practice. Instead they draw from a diverse range of knowledge sources including their embodied practice. In this way, it is argued that they are emergent practitioners, whose practice and identities share many elements with traditional professions in comparable work contexts (similar levels of autonomy, reflective practices, and development and application of ‘know how’ and tacit wisdom). The case is put that their embodied practice is the site of a robust professionalism which can provide the foundation for new approaches to the education, training and development of this increasingly important and growing occupational group. A model of learning is proposed which builds on authentic learning attained in daily work activities with clients, in the workplace as a social setting, and developing the self as a resource for practice. This model is based on a hybrid approach that builds on the learning strengths of both educational institutions and the workplace.

Thesis (MComm)--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 96-101).

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Toronto, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 119-124).

Thesis (Ph.D. in Information Sciences)--Naval Postgraduate School, September 2007. / Dissertation Advisor(s): Nissen, Mark ; Arquilla, John "September 2007." Includes bibliographical references (p. 239-277). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (Dip.App.Psych.) -- University of Adelaide, Dept. of Psychology, 1976.

Thesis (M.Comm. (Hons.)) -- University of Western Sydney, 2002. / "A thesis presented to the School of Management, College of Law and Business, University of Western Sydney for the degree of Master of Commerce (Honours)" Bibliography : leaves 120-147.

Dissertation (DPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2008. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, 2006. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 259-265).