published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

This study aims to investigate individual and collective resistance strategies used by social service workers to improve their work situation. It also aims to describe what consequenses their acts of resistance has on an individual, collective and structural level. The study include ten qualitative interviews and three participating observations with social service workers within children and youth unit at the social Services in Stockholm County. The result is analysed with Hollander & Einwohners typology of resistance (2004). The study shows that speaking up towards high work load, union organization and to shift responsibility from the individual to the structural are powerfull ways to change the work load. This can lead to being seen as a trouble-maker, a vulnerable position in the workplace, but also to expanded resources like new positions. To take breaks, work slowly, a good atmosphere and overriding internal requirements for documentation are strategies that can bring stress and guilt but also make a great difference and bring understanding and support from the group. Covert resistance can lead to overt and individual resistance can lead to collective. The gist is that a rested social service worker can make a big difference to an experienced high work load.

Much generational research has been conducted in the last decade, prompted most likely by the drastic social and technological changes of the late 20th century, the increase in enrollments in higher education, the increase in families with two working parents, and the meteoric rise in the widespread use and acceptance of emerging technologies. These changes, experts have argued, have led to greater than usual differences between and among the generations. These differences have been the subject of much research on the behaviors and interactions of the generations (Veterans, Baby Boomers, Generation Xers and Millennials) socially and in the workplace. Current generational research has shown that major differences exist between the workplace values and motivations of younger workers (Generation X and Millennial) and older workers (Veterans and Baby Boomers). Indeed, private sector employers have determined that applying the same recruitment methods and workplace practices that have been used commonly for the last 50 years does little to attract and, perhaps more importantly, retain younger workers. Therefore, these types of employers have begun to rethink their long-held practices. This study focused on a group which had not been studied closely for generational differences: community college faculty. The problem addressed was the question of whether or not the generational characteristics exhibited in private sector employees would also be apparent in higher education. That is, do future faculty have noticeably different workplace values than their older colleagues and are such differences likely to influence the recruitment and retention of future faculty? This question is especially important in light of increased demand for faculty, especially at community colleges, due to anticipated retirements of older faculty and increased student enrollments. This study ascertained, through focus groups, interviews, and surveys, whether or not such differences existed in the population studied and offered suggestions to address any differences. The research results indicated that statistically significant differences do exist in the importance of various areas related to reasons for choosing to teach in higher education, reasons for accepting a particular position, and reasons to consider leaving a position. Specifically, Institutional location, Institutional climate, Personality of colleagues, Family environment, Tenure, Opportunity to do research, and Ethnic diversity were all significantly more important to future faculty than to current faculty. / text

The vast majority of social exclusion research has taken place outside of the workplace (i.e., in social settings). In addition, researchers often use a myriad of terms (i.e., ostracism, exclusion, rejection) when describing and investigating exclusion-related phenomena thus contributing to widespread conceptual confusion with respect to this construct. Moreover, past studies have failed to consider the role of social exchange in determining how individuals may react to being excluded by others particularly in a work setting. I sought to address these issues by conducting three multi-wave studies which develop and test a social-exchange based model of interpersonal workplace exclusion (IWE). Specifically, I created and validated two measures (i.e., coworker and supervisor) of IWE. In addition, I examined the discriminant, convergent and predictive validity of these scales. The results of these studies produced two distinct, unidimensional measures of IWE an 8-item coworker IWE scale and an 8-item supervisor IWE scale. Additional analyses revealed that IWE is negatively related to, albeit distinct from, workplace inclusion and is part of the broader conceptual domain of antisocial workplace behavior which includes theoretically similar constructs namely, workplace incivility, counterproductive workplace behavior and workplace bullying. In addition, IWE was found to be negatively related to perceived interpersonal fair treatment, job satisfaction and leader-member exchange (LMX) as well as positively related to job induced tension. Lastly, results of the third study provided support for an exchange-based model of IWE such that both coworker and supervisor IWE measures were associated with employee social undermining behavior, reduced effort and lower levels of organizational citizenship behaviors.

My dissertation examines how individuals respond to workplace social comparisons. I measure the explicit set of referent others that individuals compare themselves against in order to evaluate their own level of performance. I examine how the social context of these comparisons impact discretionary performance related behaviors by examining how an individual’s position within a social network and the structural characteristics of an individual’s reference group influences the experience of discrete emotions. Specifically, I examine how malicious envy and benign envy mediate the relationship between social comparison and workplace behavior in a field setting. Results indicate that social network structure plays a significant role in motivating both productive and counterproductive responses to social comparison. Whether or not an employee responds to upward social comparisons by increasing their own work effort or engaging in deviant behavior is influenced by the experience of benign and malicious envy, which is in turn influencedby the network structure of reference groups. Furthermore, social network position plays a moderating role in the occurrence of workplace deviance by either enhancing or limiting the opportunities an employee has to engage in deviant behavior.

This dissertation develops the Focus Theory of Group Productivity, describes the use of the theory to guide development of several electronic group support tools, and reports the results of experiments testing whether the tools yield the predicted productivity gains. Focus theory posits that to be productive group members must divide their attention between three cognitive processes: communication, Deliberation, and information access. Communication, Deliberation, and information access are, in turn, constrained by limited attention and fading memory. Finally group members are only willing to engage their attention resources to the extent that the group goal is congruent with their individual goals. Electronic tools can reduce the attention demand of each of the three cognitive processes, and focus participant attention on appropriate problem-solving behaviors. Electronic tools can foster goal congruence under some circumstances. This dissertation describes how Focus Theory guided the development of the several electronic tools to support the needs of real groups experiencing real productivity problems. It reports the results of several laboratory experiments to test the goal-congruence hypothesis of Focus Theory. The first experiment frames social loafing and social comparison as goal congruence issues, showing that subjects using a real-time graph to compare their own performance to that of an average group generated more unique ideas than a group with no basis for comparison. Facilitation techniques boosted the salience of the comparison, further increasing performance. The second study frames affective reward as a goal congruence issue and develops and validates a measure for the construct. The third study frames user interface design in terms of goal congruence and demonstrates the strengths (pointing, selecting, moving, fine motor control) and weaknesses (handwriting recognition) of pen-based interfaces in those terms. The fourth study frames the classroom as a group-productivity setting and demonstrates that group support systems can be used to improve classroom interactions.

Studien analyserar vad arbetsgivare har för uppfattningar beträffande personer med ADHD på en arbetsplats. Semistrukturerade intervjuer har använts som datainsamlingsmetod. Urvalet består av sju arbetsgivare inom den privata sektorn. Studien har inspirerats av den fenomeno-grafiska ansatsen, där olika uppfattningar om ett fenomen står i centrum. Teoretiska analysbe-grepp för den här studien är social kategorisering och den medicinska och sociala modellen kopplat till funktionsnedsättningar. Resultatet presenteras i fem teman. Viktiga slutsatser är att informanterna ansåg att ADHD är ett svårfångat fenomen. Personer med ADHD anses kräva mycket tid, tolerans och tålamod av arbetsgivaren. Det ansågs finnas en lägsta gräns för hur mycket vinstdrivande verksamheter kan och bör anpassa sig efter de anställdas behov. Eko-nomiskt stöd ansågs vara nödvändigt för att kunna anpassa arbetsplatsen. Informanterna ansåg att det kan gagna arbetsgivaren och personen själv om personen berättar om sin diagnos. Sam-tidigt trodde informanterna att det kunde finnas svårigheter i att få ett jobb om en person be-rättar att denne har en diagnos innan denne är anställd. Genomgående för studien är att ar-betsgivarna anser att det är viktigt att se personen och inte diagnosen. Informanterna utgick mestadels från den medicinska modellen i studien och hade en tendens att kategorisera perso-ner med ADHD. / The purpose of this study is to analyze what kind of perceptions employers have regarding ADHD in the workplace. Semi-structured interviews were used as data-collection-method. The selection consist seven interviews with employers within the private sector. The study has been inspired by the phenomenographic approach. The medical and social model in relation to disability as well as social-categorizations is the analytical tools. The results are presented in five themes. Our study shows that employers thought that ADHD is a phenomenon which is difficult to define. According to the informants ADHD requires much time, tolerance and pa-tience. For the employers there seemed to be a limit regarding how much the workplace can adapt to the individual, and financial support was considered necessary to adapt the work-place. Employers felt that it is beneficial if the person with ADHD is open about his diagno-sis. However, they also thought it could be more difficult to get a job if the person talked about his diagnosis before he is employed. Throughout the study employers considered it to be important to see the person behind the diagnosis. The employers regarded mostly disabili-ties from the medical model and had a tendency to social-categorized people with ADHD.

<font face="Arial">This study investigated the attitudes and responses of male employees to the implemention of the Gender Equity Strategy and considered the implementation for the development of a gender education and training intervention. The study investigated the initial resistance to the introduction and implementation of the Gender Equity Strategy at the Polymer Plant by male employees. </font>

The proposed study explores the cognitive miser approach to perception formation in job interviews, as well as factors that may motivate people to not act as cognitive misers. Personality type (introverted and extraverted) and gender are characteristics of people that are associated with many stereotypes (Heilman, 2001; Andersen & Klatzky, 1987), and can have a large influence on an employer’s perception of an applicant, particularly when the employer is acting as a cognitive miser. It is hypothesized that in longer interviews, employers will be motivated to not act as cognitive misers, because they have more information about the applicant, have more of an opportunity to disconfirm any biases they may hold about the applicant, and experience greater liking toward the applicant. To test this, participants will conduct interviews with job applicants (who are actually confederates) and rate their perceptions of the applicants’ expected job performance. Participants will either conduct a long or short interview with a male introvert, a female introvert, a male extravert, or a female extravert. Job applicants will provide participants with the same information, although the information about personality type and the amount of information given will depend on the condition. It is predicted that participants who conduct shorter interviews will rate the applicants in line with popular stereotypes that favor extraverts over introverts, and males over females. Conversely, participants in longer interviews will be motivated to thoroughly think through their evaluations of the applicants, and there will be no significant difference in their ratings of male extraverts, female extraverts, male introverts, and female introverts.

This hermeneutic phenomenological inquiry describes the lived experiences of three visibly tattooed teachers and what it is like to sense their tattooed flesh while they are at school. Lived experience descriptions were collected during in-depth interviews and from personal reflective writings conducted by the study author, who is also a tattooed teacher. Using hermeneutic research approaches outlined by Max van Manen and Linda Finlay, lifeworld descriptions of visibly tattooed teachers are presented in the form of anecdotal passages that urge readers to ‘step into tattooed skin’. Drawing from Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology of perception, Luce Irigaray’s work on intersubjectivity, Michel Foucault’s notion of the disciplinary gaze, theories of the look in education forwarded by Madeline Grumet, and Judith Butler’s notion of subversive bodies, meanings are made of tattooed teachers’ experiences of adopting uncomfortable teacher identities and then growing comfortable in their professional roles. Through hermeneutic analysis, five main themes are presented, constituting the “essences” of the phenomemon of living as a visibly tattooed teacher: Trying to Fit; Mis-fit; Fit. You? Fit You!; Fitting In; and One Size Does Not Fit All.