This study makes an important academic contribution by adding a new dimension to the existing scholarly literature on the acculturative processes of immigrants through its findings from an investigation into ethnic minority migrant Chinese Chinese’s acculturation experiences in relation to workplace interpersonal conflict in New Zealand. The literature reviewed illustrates the complexities of the acculturation process for immigrants and is of prime importance and relevance to this study. The literature provides an informed academic foundation that aligns with the subject matter under study. The focus of this study is on the acculturation process experienced by ethnic minority migrant Chinese in New Zealand as they strive to adapt to various aspects of their new surroundings. The study inquires into whether the length of acculturation has an influence on ethnic minority migrant Chinese’s handling of workplace interpersonal conflict in the New Zealand. The researcher’s interest in conducting this study arises from her own personal acculturation and workplace interpersonal conflict experiences as an ethnic minority migrant Chinese. A phenomenological interpretive research methodology was adopted for this study. One-on-one indepth interviews of 25 ethnic minority migrant Chinese from China (Mainland), Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Vietnam provided primary data on the individual migrant’s experience and perspective on acculturation and workplace interpersonal conflict in New Zealand. The findings from the 25 ethnic minority migrant Chinese interviewed reveal the complexities and difficulties in the acculturation process, as they attempt to adapt to various aspects of their new environment. The adaptive strategies used almost certainly mean that the immigrants will have to make changes in their thinking, attitude, speech, and social conduct. There is a particular emphasis on the study of intercultural dynamics at play in the face of workplace interpersonal conflict between immigrants and members of the host society. The acculturation process is made more difficult for migrants who have negative workplace encounters in their intercultural interactions resulting in misunderstandings and conflict. The findings also reveal the migrants’ response mechanisms, particularly in learning to be more assertive. This study found that the cultural orientations of the ethnic migrant Chinese are such that for many, this concept (assertiveness) has to be learned since it runs counter to their educational, cultural tradition, and familial upbringing. The principles of Confucianism are deeply rooted, such as respect for authority and an emphasis on ‘giving-face’ to others and preserving social harmony. From this study’s findings, there is empirical evidence that Confucian principles are deeply entrenched in the ethnic minority migrant Chinese’ psyche irrespective of which country of origin they come from. In addition, the findings show that the acculturation experiences are unique to the individual migrant, depending on the person’s previous exposure to a foreign environment, language proficiency and personality. This study shows that the acculturation process experienced by these migrants was a period of personal growth and development, acquiring self-confidence, self-rationalisation, changes, and adjustments. Also, the findings reveal that while the length of residence in the host country is a significant factor for these migrants, other factors are significant as well, such as acquiring a certain level of language proficiency and increasing self-confidence.

People in organisations often have difficulty communicating with each other about their understanding of the problems of the organisation. The Dramatistic Approach is an organisational inquiry method, based on a notion of ?script?, which assists people in organisations to discuss interpersonal communication problems. A ?script? is defined in this document as being an unconscious socialised social routine. The purpose of this thesis is to document an inquiry into ?Human sculpture?, a process using dramatisation to facilitate discussion about the notion of ?script? in the organisational setting. The inquiry method is action research in the post positivist research paradigm, and is written in four chapters. The use of the notion ?script? within the disciplines of therapy and organizational studies is examined. The appropriateness of the positivist paradigm for human inquiry is debated, reaching the conclusion that a post positivist paradigm needs to underpin a human inquiry of the nature of the inquiry about ?Human sculpture?. The nine cycles of the inquiry are documented. The learnings which have emerged from this inquiry are discussed, addressing the primary focus of the inquiry, the procedure and facilitation of ?Human sculpture?, as well as two secondary focii which emerged, the notion of ?script? and the facilitation of a human inquiry / Master of Science (Hons) Social Ecology

This thesis investigates the research question: What are the day-to-day work experiences of middle managers, and how do these experiences personally impact them in and beyond the workplace? The focus is on respondents’ meaning and understanding of their experiences as a middle manager in the private sector, and the effects these have on their lives outside the organisation. The study highlighted the importance of considering the whole person in organisational research, as the interconnectedness of work and the rest of life was revealed. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The program of research reported here was concerned with what makes difficult face-to-face communication in work settings difficult. A framework for analysing this problem was developed by bringing together the disparate literatures of communications theory and cognitive appraisal theory. The framework identified the outcome of an instance of face-to-face communication at work as a function of features of the situation, the appraisal that the worker makes in the situation, and the response strategies selected for dealing with the situation. The research program was directed to operationalising these constructs and studying their interrelationship. The first two studies reported in the thesis (Studies 1 and 2) revealed the types of communication encounters that are most difficult to manage at work, and offered insight into why these situations are difficult. Qualitative and quantitative data were gathered and the quantitative data analysed using multidimensional scaling techniques. The results provided a taxonomy of difficult communication situations in the workplace. The next two studies (Studies 3 and 4) focused on the development of measures of primary and secondary appraisal, and on a taxonomy of response strategies applicable to work settings. A new measure of primary appraisal was developed from qualitative data pertaining specifically to the domain of difficult communication contexts. Principal components analysis was used in the development of the response strategies instrument. Study 5, the final study, reported the results of the application of cognitive appraisal theory to the context of difficult communication at work. In this study, the theory was applied to four difficult communication situations identified in Study 1, and the relationships among appraisal, response strategy, and outcome were investigated using principal components analysis and, subsequently, hierarchical regression analysis. The results indicated that, as the appraisal of the context varies, so too does the choice of response strategy, lending support to the transactional model. Appraisal contributes significantly to response strategy choice and to the outcome of the situation over and above that offered by response strategies alone. In addition, the findings revealed that appraisal of the situation differ across situations and according to the status of the other person in the encounter. The findings of the series of studies reported here point to the value of viewing difficult communication situations in the workplace in terms of the interrelated constructs of situations, appraisals, strategies rather than, as more commonly, in terms of characteristics of ‘difficult’ persons. Some situations are inherently more difficult than others, appraisals alter the difficulty level of situations, and the availability of response strategies influence outcome. Appraisal is, however, a construct of central importance, in much the same way it is in the research context from which it was appropriated, viz stress research. Appraisal contributes significantly to choice of response strategy and directly to outcome over an above the contribution of response strategy. The research program was not without its shortcomings, among them the reliance on retrospective reports of participants about their behaviour, and these need to be addressed in future research. The findings as they stand do, however, point to more useful ways of conceptualising difficult situations at work and devising methods of intervention that will ensure better outcomes, in a significant area of life in the modern workplace.

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between self-aspects, sources of workplace satisfaction and types of organisational commitment. This study tested three expectations. The first was that employees with strongly developed relational self-aspects who find satisfaction in workplace relationships with their direct managers and colleagues were likely to experience affective committed towards their organisation. The second was that employees with strongly developed individual selfaspects who find satisfaction in the job itself were likely to experience continuance commitment towards their organisation. The third was that employees with strongly developed collective self-aspects who find satisfaction in the organisation as well as its senior management were likely to experience normative committed towards their organisation. To test these hypotheses, three empirical studies were conducted. In Study 1 respondents (N = 140) were drawn from a large aged care nursing facility. Using separate regression analyses, support was found for the expectation that relational self-aspects would predict satisfaction with colleague relationships and that satisfaction with colleague and manager relationships would predict affective commitment. Support was also found for the expectation that collective self-aspects would predict satisfaction with the organisation and its senior management, however only satisfaction with the organisation was found to predict normative commitment. The expected relationship between individual self-aspects, job satisfaction and continuance commitment was not supported. It was argued that the strong relational nature of the sample and the high percentage (87%) of females within the sample may have influenced the results. Study 2 was designed to reconfirm the expected relationship between sources of workplace satisfaction and types of organisational commitment using a broader sample. Respondents (N = 146; females =86, males = 60) were drawn from four sources; a credit co-op, an adventure based training organisation, a commercial cleaning organisation, and a Graduate School of Business. As expected, satisfaction with colleague relationships was a significant predictor of affective commitment, while a non-significant trend was observed for satisfaction with manager relationships. Some support was found for the expectation that job satisfaction would be a significant predictor of continuance commitment through an observed non-significant trend. Satisfaction with the organisation was a significant predictor of normative commitment, while satisfaction with senior management was not. The influence of gender on these results were also examined and discussed. The purpose of Study 3 was to introduce a newly developed work specific selfaspects scale and test the integrated model that examined the relationship between three types of self-aspects, three sources of workplace satisfaction on three types of organisational commitment. The influence of gender was also examined and discussed. Respondents (N= 119) were drawn from an Australian financial institution. Using standard regression analysis to test the model, it was found that collective work selfaspects together with satisfaction with colleague and manager relationships were the only predictors of affective commitment, while collective work self-aspects together with satisfaction with the organisation were the only predictors of normative commitment. No support was found for the expectation that individual self-aspects together with job satisfaction would significantly predict continuous commitment. The results of this research provided some support for the view that the strength of an employee's self-aspects may determine the type of workplace experiences they are likely to find satisfying. Furthermore, these sources of workplace satisfaction are likely to lead to different forms of organisational commitment. It was argued that the results observed across the three studies may have been influenced by organisational context. It was suggested that further research should sample a broader range of organisations in order to test the validity of the integrated model.

This thesis sought to advance understanding of the politics of workplace reform, explaining the respective roles of management and employees and how they relate. The literature on workplace reform usually argues that reform is predicated on greater workforce participation in managerial decisions. More specifically, different approaches to workplace reform can be aligned to different forms of participation. Thus quality management can be associated with direct forms of participation, institutional workplace reform may depend on representative forms, and best practice may require a combination of both. This thesis uses empirical evidence to explore this alignment between the different approaches to workplace reform and forms of participation. The period chosen for empirical study is approximately 1985-1992 - an era of rapid innovation in workplace reform for Australian manufacturing. Three workplaces were chosen for intensive study from automotive component manufacturers because that industry was itself a laboratory for workplace reform and also because these firms exemplified different approaches to competitiveness and reform. Three approaches to workplace reform - quality management, institutional workplace reform, and best practice - were distinguished to capture the range of Australian practice at that time. Similarly two approaches to workplace participation were distinguished - direct and representative - to reflect the range of observable practices at that time and to represent competing philosophies. Direct participation illustrated an approach founded in managerial context of the political status quo, whilst representative forms were considered to permit a pluralist shift of power to enable employees to manage in place of management. The three case studies depict companies sharing the competitive crisis of their industry. From this stems the impetus for workplace reform. At this point the firms diverged in their choice of competitive strategies for workplace reform. The case studies reveal, at the superficial level, a match between the chosen approaches to workplace reform and forms of participation. Basically, quality management is associated with direct employee participation, institutional workplace reform with collective bargaining and representative consultative committees, and best practice with both. However when the implementation of reform and participation are examined this match becomes less significant. One firm, Auto Air, achieved highly effective outcomes in both reform and participation. Another firm, Auto Electrical, failed in both. The thesis concluded that the relationship between forms of participation and reform is less significant than the effective implementation of policy. Unitarist or pluralist approaches to power distribution count less than managerial capacity to integrate successive reform initiatives and their commitment to workforce participation hi change.

Over the past decade, the lament that 'we need more male primary school teachers' has flourished in media and populist discourse, within education systems and in government inquiries in both Australia and the rest of the Western world. Whilst this discourse commonly assumes that more male primary teachers will benefit both boys in schools and society in general, other important considerations are silenced and overlooked and attention is seldom paid to the experience of male primary school teachers. This study explores the experience of male primary school teachers and the prevailing societal discourses about them. It focuses on their experience of crossing over into a career that is commonly regarded by society as 'women's work', and charts the advantages and disadvantages they face as a result of their maleness. The understandings that are found within this study are informed by relevant literature and by data emanating from media discourse analysis, statistical analysis and life history interviews. As a result of examining the relevant literature and data, this study has found that the experience of male primary teachers is likely to be complex, contradictory and problematic. Whilst some of their experiences are similar to those of female primary teachers, this study only focuses on the part of their experience that differs from female teachers and is the direct result of their maleness. Their choice to cross-over into women's work such as primary teaching appears to yield a unique and complex mixture of experiences that are poorly understood by both themselves and others. In particular, it is apparent that they experience a vexing combination of advantages and disadvantages as a result of being a male in women's work. This study has identified eight categories of disadvantage and four categories of advantage that the males experience. The various sources of literature and data have differing constructions as to whether the males are advantaged and / or disadvantaged. Most commonly, the sources privilege either the disadvantages or the advantages and silence the other. More rarely, they acknowledge and accommodate both. On the whole, the disadvantages are better articulated, understood and documented than the advantages, which are often silenced and ignored. In order to fully explore the experience of male primary teachers, this study has also sought to identify the prevailing societal discourses and debates about them and to examine whether they are affecting the experience of the males. Information about societal discourses was found in the literature, media and life history interviews, with media discourse providing the most significant and comprehensive data. After examining these prevailing discourses about male primary teachers, this study has found that they have an enormous impact on the experience of male primary school teachers. However, in contrast, the study has shown that the experience of male primary school teachers is not contributing to, informing or shaping either societal or media discourses. As a result, these discourses can be seen to be largely inaccurate, unreflective and unproductive because they do not reflect the experience of male primary teachers. This examination into the experience of male primary teachers makes an important contribution to knowledge because there are so few Australian studies of males who cross over into women's work or on the sexual division of labour in contemporary Australian society. Whilst the study produces many more questions than it supplies answers, it nevertheless results in extremely important understandings about the experience of male primary school teachers and crossing-over into non-traditional work. In particular, the study reveals the problematic nature of their experience and the complex experiences, advantages and disadvantages that they face as a result of their maleness. It also charts the unhelpful ways that prevailing societal debates and discourses about them have been constructed. It points to the need for new and more sophisticated societal debates and discourses about male primary teachers that will accommodate the complexity of their experience. It is therefore anticipated that these findings will make an important contribution to understandings about the experience of male primary teachers and to the development of more informed societal discourses about them. Most importantly, the study will provide a language and framework to enable the issues that have been identified about the experience of male primary teachers to be adequately addressed within education policy, teaching practice and teacher education strategies.

A grounded theory approach was used to explore the reasons why staff who work in alcohol and drug treatment services smoke cigarettes. Eleven in-depth interviews were conducted with staff in Victoria across a variety of service types and roles. Data gathered from the interviews were analysed and grouped into categories. From analysis of the interviews it appeared that cigarette smoking is given legitimacy in the alcohol and drug treatment field that reinforces its place in these services. Legitimacy was evident in three main ways - Permission, a Therapeutic Tool and Rewards. Permission to smoke was communicated by means which included the opportunity to smoke at work, the provision of smoking areas, the absence of no-smoking rules and policies, and an acceptance of smoking. Smoking was seen as a therapeutic tool that enhanced the treatment provided to clients. Some smokers saw cigarettes as a tool to convey empathy, develop rapport, promote a feeling of engagement and manage difficult clients. Smokers also received some rewards to reinforce their behaviour. There was a benefit of feeling an increased acceptance by other staff, increased socialising, work breaks, a reduction in perceived stress levels and the opportunity to readily satisfy cravings for nicotine that reinforced the smoking behaviour. Punishments, or negative rewards, for smoking were also described. These included being recipients of harassment or pressure from non-smoking staff and concerns about the impact of smoking on their health. These three categories of permission, therapeutic tool and rewards contribute to the legitimacy of smoking in this field and support the continued presence of this behaviour.

<p>The aim of this study was to investigate how a workplace should be formed to promote health according to the employees. The study was made in IKEA handla hemma in Älmhult, Sweden. The aim of the study was to find out why people experience health at their workplace environment, from a salutogenetic point of view. The study is based on 12 strategically selected interviews and where analysed according to Grounded Theory. This resulted in a model where the core category was “The prevailing spirit of the organisation” and the five main categories was “That the organisation creates favourable conditions to promote health”, “That there is a god atmosphere amongst the colleagues and the bosses”, “The personal point of view about health”, “The relationship to goals and responsibility” and “The personal point of view about their surroundings”. The result shows that it’s important to look upon health in its entirety. Health isn’t stronger than its weakest point. The findings should work as a guide in the on going work with the employees at IKEA handla hemma. For the future it would be interesting to do a study in a workplace with worse health and then compare them with each other.</p>

<p>This research was initiated due to the novelty of the topic. Humor is a common phenomenon in the daily interaction of many people; however this study is particularly interested in humor as used by managers. As a preconception to the study it was assumed that appropriately used humor results in benefits for a leader, thus we wish to explore how managers in Swedish organizations reason about <em>if</em> and <em>how</em> humor can be used as a management tool. For this purpose we employed qualitative research with semi-structured interviewing method. The subjects for investigation reside in Umeå, northern Swedish town, and are leaders in 8 medium/big sized, private, service companies.</p><p>The findings of this research suggest that managers often do realize the benefits of using humor and even consider it as a management tool. Our findings furthermore illustrate that the utility of humor to achieve the desired organizational outcomes of reduced stress, group cohesiveness, improved communication, creativity and leadership effectiveness is in fact very situation dependent.  We could also see that our respondents tended to attribute the use of humor to their natural skills as they reason that they rarely use humor on purpose. Interestingly though, our findings showed both that managers were aware of the effects of humor and that they often utilized the benefits of humor. We therefore conclude that humor thus instead is consciously used as the managers often clearly are aware of the beneficial effects that humor brings. However, we do believe that it could be difficult to state to what extent one implements the benefits of humor in practice since humor is, as mentioned by the majority of our respondents, simply a part of their personality.</p><p>We think that one of the most important things that this study can contribute with would be to inform the reader that it is acceptable and OK to use humor also as a manager or a leader. People do not have to be less serious or effective because they have fun at work. On the contrary there are instead many benefits with humor that our research shows and if implemented, humor could contribute to make the workplace more pleasant.</p>