Kwok, Tak Yee. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 99-115). / Abstract also in Chinese; appendix II-IV in Chinese. / ABSTRACT --- p.i / 摘要 --- p.iii / ACKNOWLEDGEMENT --- p.iii / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.iv / LIST OF TABLES --- p.vi / LIST OF FIGURE --- p.vii / Chapter CHAPTER 1 --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter CHAPTER 2 --- LITERATURE REVIEW --- p.6 / Overview of Climate --- p.6 / Content of Climate --- p.10 / Outcomes of Climate --- p.12 / Individual Processes Linking Climate and Outcomes --- p.14 / Deriving Climate from Perception of Human Resource Systems --- p.16 / Climate for Commitment - Perceptions of Commitment Human Resource Systems --- p.74 / Overview of Goal Orientation --- p.28 / Dimensionality of Goal Orientation --- p.30 / Trait versus State Goal Orientations and their Antecedents --- p.32 / Outcomes of Goal Orientation --- p.34 / Overview of Job Performance --- p.37 / Team Role Performance --- p.40 / Predictors of Team Role Performance --- p.43 / Chapter CHAPTER 3 --- MODEL AND HYPOTHESES DEVELOPMENT --- p.46 / Theoretical Underpinnings of Model --- p.46 / Model Development --- p.50 / Hypotheses Development --- p.54 / Climate for Commitment and Team Role Performance --- p.54 / Mediating Role of Learning Goal Orientation in the Relationship between --- p.54 / Climate for Commitment and Team Role Performance --- p.58 / Chapter CHAPTER 4 --- METHODS --- p.68 / Sample and Procedures --- p.68 / Measures --- p.70 / Chapter CHAPTER 5 --- RESULTS --- p.76 / Factor Structure of the Measures --- p.76 / Descriptive Statistics and Correlations --- p.80 / Test of the Hypothesized Model --- p.82 / Chapter CHAPTER 6 --- DISCUSSION --- p.86 / Theoretical Implications --- p.88 / Practical Implications --- p.91 / Limitations --- p.92 / Future Directions for Research --- p.95 / Conclusion --- p.98 / REFERENCES --- p.99 / APPENDIX --- p.116 / Appendix I: Measurement Items for this Study --- p.116 / Appendix II: Questionnaire for Subordinate at Time 1 (Chinese) --- p.118 / Appendix III: Questionnaire for Subordinate at Time 2 (Chinese) --- p.124 / Appendix IV: Questionnaire for Supervisor (Chinese) --- p.130

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Teams have, over the last decade, become a popular feature of workplace design. The basis for this trend Is the belief that teamwork allows Individuals to satisfy more of their work-based needs and should therefore, ultimately, improve performance. Despite the increased implementation of teams across a broad spectrum of organisations, empirical research on teams is still in its formative stages and precisely what contributes to team effectiveness remains elusive. Addressing this need, the present study embodies an exploratory empirical investigation of teams as they are practised at the rock face of a gold mine. The research involved examining a sample of these teams using three specific variables which It was hypothesised, may explain the differences In performance between these teams. More specifically, this study Investigated the impact of Job satisfaction, internal work motivation and perceived psychological participation on team performance. Each of these individual variables was examined using a previously-validated scale. The variables were incorporated into a single questionnaire which was administered In a group session with each Individual in the teams sampled. A team performance measure (m2/man) was obtained directly from the mine. Statistical analysis of this data followed a logical progression. At the outset, a one-way ANOVA was run to assess whether statistically there were significant differences between the teams on each of the factors. Indicating that differences do indeed exist, the results justified the reduction of Individual scores in each team to a single aggregate of that variable for the team. Correlation tests were then run between each of the variables and the team performance measure. The results of this study suggest that there Is a significantly positive relationship between Job satisfaction and team productivity (r=.6376). This runs contrary to much of the previous research examining job satlsfactlon and Individual productivity, although it supports some researchers' suggestion that performance should be more broadly defined. This notion is / AC 2018

Leadership has been a much studied area within industrial and organizational psychology. Recently, scholars have begun to focus on the negative side of leadership; however, a lack of research has limited our understanding of toxic leadership. One step forward in this domain has been the development of the toxic triangle, which posits that toxic leaders are aided by toxic followers with a toxic environment. Although the leader has been studied within this triangle, relatively little has been researched regarding the follower or the environment. Specifically, that there has been a lack of research in the organizational environment that allows the rise of toxic leaders is concerning. In this study, a toxic work environment scale was developed to help capture pieces of organizational environments that contribute to the rise of toxic leadership. A refined scale was used along with a qualitative piece. Four other scales were used to establish convergent and divergent validity. From the results of this study, although refinement is needed, support for three of the dimensions was found: favoritism, perceived threat, and overall organizational climate. Additionally, through the qualitative portion, additional themes that emerged (e.g., bullying) could be utilized in future use of measures to help assess toxic work environment features. Finally, I recommend that researchers interested in the toxic triangle endeavor to conduct studies that examine all elements simultaneously.

The purpose of this study was to expand on previous literature by examining the role of racial identity attitudes in the workplace, which have been infrequently studied. The current study tested the relationships between workplace variables and racial identity attitude statuses, specifically in STEM fields. This study, using a national sample of 485 STEM employees, examined associations using bivariate correlations between two predictor variables (racial climate and racial/ethnic microaggressions) on three outcome variables (job satisfaction, turnover intentions, and person-organization fit). Moderation relationships of four variables (racial identity attitude statuses: Conformity, Dissonance, Immersion, Internalization) on the paths between the predictor and outcome variables were also examined using structural equation modeling. Results provide mixed support for hypothesized associations. Racial climate and microaggressions attitudes yielded significant direct associations with the workplace outcome variables and Dissonance and Immersion attitudes yielded moderation effects on the paths between predictor and outcome variables. Implications of these findings are discussed, as well as implications for future research, clinical interventions, and workplace recommendations.

Workplace bullying has escalated among U.S. workers, and aside from its mental and physical toll, it can affect productivity, absenteeism, and turnover. Researchers have identified the primary causes of workplace bullying as envy, leadership disregard, a permissive climate, organizational culture, and personality traits. This non experimental, quantitative study investigated the predictors of workplace bullying at the target level, and specifically examined if target EI, age, gender, and/or race/ethnicity predicts experienced workplace bullying. Participants (N = 151) 18 years or older with one year of work experience were recruited from the WBI database, a newspaper column, public presentations, and a blog. Participants completed the Negative Acts Questionnaire to assess experienced workplace bullying, the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (Short Form) to assess EI, and a demographic questionnaire. A Pearson's correlation and multiple regression analyses were used to test the hypotheses. Global trait EI and the 4 trait EI factors of well-being, self-control, emotionality, and sociability were not statistically significantly related to workplace bullying. Further, EI, age, gender, and race/ethnicity were also not related to workplace bullying. Further research is suggested, to include examining organizational effects on workplace bullying. The implications for social change it that resources currently allocated for target can be more appropriately directed toward supervisors and the organization's culture.

In 2014, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reported multiple claims of workplace discrimination in the United States; the claims resulted in costly settlements. The purpose of this qualitative, multiple-case study—which used the theory of enterprise risk management as the conceptual framework—was to explore how 4 human resource managers in small-to-medium sized enterprises in the southeastern region of the United States successfully implemented proactive strategies to reduce the financial and legal risk resulting from workplace discrimination. Using Yin’s 5 steps of data analysis along with triangulation of findings from the semistructured interviews, company documents, and websites, the following 4 themes were identified and verified: the need for education, external accountability, formalized policies and procedures, and the barriers to proactive strategies. To reduce risks from workplace discrimination, 3 recommendations for future action by human resources managers were proposed: education, external accountability, and formalized policies and procedures. The findings and recommendations can bridge the gap between small-to-medium enterprise human resource practices and efficacious enterprise risk-management strategies. A diverse workforce can catalyze innovation, increase organizational effectiveness, and thus benefit employers and employees. Communities may benefit by experiencing a culturally representative work environment and lower unemployment for underrepresented populations.

Through an exploratory qualitative, interpretive frame that employed an ethnographic methodological approach, this research focuses on teaching assistants (TAs) teaching in a lab, tutorial, or discussion group. Nine TAs share their learning journey as they begin teaching in higher education. The theoretical lens that frames this research is workplace learning. Interviews, observations, video-recordings, field notes, and learning diaries were subjected to thematic analysis, looking for dominant themes associated to TAs’ characteristics, their learning process related to teaching, and the knowledge they developed about teaching and student learning. Key findings include the recognition that TAs bring robust conceptions and dispositions to their first teaching position that is approached from a student subject position as they are becoming teachers. As TAs are being teachers, they control their self-directed learning process as they make decisions on-the-fly within a diverse learning environment that ranges from expansive to strategic to restrictive affordances. Coupled with a discretionary reflective practice, TAs’ knowledge development about teaching and student learning is solely dependent upon their experience, making forthcoming development of knowledge about teaching and student learning relegated to chance. This focus on TAs’ learning in the workplace illuminates the need for a deep learning approach to learning about teaching and student learning that needs to begin with graduate students’ first appointment as a TA. In addition, this deep learning approach needs to be encased in an expansive learning environment that provides opportunities for continuous support through various forms of mentorship, instruction, and development of reflective practice. / Graduate

This thesis, a qualitative study, examined the literacy practices of nine workers who self-report literacy difficulties. Through a series of interviews it specifically investigated how, in the course of their daily work, their mediated behaviour resulted in development of literacy competence. Through analysis of the workers’ experiences this thesis explored sociocultural themes deriving from Vygotskian traditions such as the central mediational role of psychological tools and signs and the importance of activity taking place in social settings. It took the theoretical position that literacy is an increasingly complex construct that extends beyond functional connotations such as reading, writing and spelling. It focused on the kinds of literacy skills that individuals require in a world characterised by rapid and frequent changes. In doing so this thesis recognised the diverse modalities in literacy performance that emphasise ways of knowing and ways of doing or designing as well as reading, writing, listening, thinking, speaking and comprehending across a range of modalities. This thesis argues that sociocultural concepts are applicable to adult learners. In particular it concludes that adult learners in the course of their jobs demonstrate a repertoire of literacy competence through engagement in meaningful literacy practices. This thesis reports that a significant indicator of the reported broadening in literacy competence is the support structures available in the workplace and in particular the specific characteristics of mentors / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This thesis investigates the research question: What is the individual's experience within a work team? The concern is for respondents' meaning and understanding of the team experience and how team membership impacts their lives. The introductory chapter considers the researcher's concerns leading to the formulation of this question, including the uncritical nature of much of the literature on teams and the limited attention given to impacts and outcomes for individual team members. These concerns are expanded further in a review of both current and extant literature on teams. The current research is predominantly focused on team effectiveness and productivity, and this research is examined before moving on to review research conducted into individual factors relating to teams using a qualitative research methodology. The Heideggerian phenomenology, used in this study, is discussed. Data analysis is outlined. The research methods lead to the development of the model, comprising four themes. The first theme discusses respondents' concerns regarding the positioning of their immediate team within broader team structures within the organisation. Next, respondents' desire for, and expectation of, support from within the team is considered. The third theme, ambiguity,examines the uncertainty experienced by respondents with respect to team goals. Finally, respondents' experiences of dissonance and incongruity with relation to their teams are discussed, again considering the related issues of organisational rhetoric and sensemaking. The implications for organisations is discussed, and avenues for future research are presented. / Master of Commerce (Hons)

Organisational learning and knowledge management theories are illustrated in this study as converging around discussion of three major themes: the role of the individual in the knowledge of the organisation; the increasing problematisation of the nature of knowledge; and debate over the role of mental models and organisational schema in the learning of the individual and organisation. In this study it is argued that these themes are aligned with central themes in complexity theories, and complexity is posited as an appropriate lens through which organisational experience might be viewed. The confluent themes and complexity underpin a methodological approach that is inspired by grounded theory, but which recognises the value that complexity provides as a sensitising device to the research. Narrative methods are used to collect data and participants' sense-making informs the researcher's analysis of the results. The emergence of a complex adaptive systems heuristic from the analysis of the collective narratives provides a ground for exploration of organisational members' experience using the grammar of complexity. This exploration leads to discussion of the ways in which complexity accommodates the consideration of learning and knowledge within a single frame. While the experience of organisational members in many ways reflects the properties and mechanisms of complex adaptive systems, in this study the theory does not adequately describe the nature of their learning and knowledge development in the organisation. In this exploration, tension between the formal organisation and the emergent organisation leads to a disconnect between the local learning of members in interaction and the knowledge of the organisation. The nesting feature of complex adaptive systems, where levels of aggregation build hierarchy, is not apparent in this study and this finding is discussed as having important implications for learning and knowledge sharing in the organisation. In addition, the participants of this study do not describe their learning as simply mechanical, involving the building and rebuilding of mental models, as complex adaptive systems would suggest. Learning is described as far more elaborate than the theory immediately implies. The findings of the study provide insight into the relationship between learning and knowledge in organisations through the lens of complexity as well as providing some input into developing theories of complexity. These insights are discussed with reference to the literatures across organisational learning, knowledge management and workplace learning fields and a number of implications for practice are suggested as a result. The study supports the integration of organisational learning and knowledge within a single theoretical frame and points to more integrated organisational practice. That learning and knowledge management in organisations should remain discrete in practice is at odds with the theory and with the findings of this study.