The European Parliament (EP) and the Council of Europe (CoE) are two internationally renowned organisations sharing a common goal of progressing human rights action and social cohesion within their respective member states. At the point of data collection (early 2007) both organisations were undergoing a period of significant change. Various Southern and Eastern European nations had been given their first opportunity to participate in the official European bodies thus increasing the member states of the EP to 25 and the CoE to 46. Access to the large secretariats of these organisations provided a unique opportunity to explore the organizational and individual implications of European Enlargement amongst employees from the widest possible range of European nations. With a firm grounding in the Diversity Management literature, this research also examines how the public discourse from official representatives of the EP and CoE on the topic of European Enlargement relates to individual and collective experiences within the organisation's own workforce. The impact of European Enlargement on day-to-day workplace experiences of employees within the secretariats was explored through two studies that were sequentially linked. The first study involved semi-structured interviews with key Human Resource personnel in each organisation (n = 20). The interview data was subjected to thematic analysis and the emergent themes were used to form the basis of the questions for the second study, which consisted of 22 focus groups (n = 88). Thematic analysis was again used to analyse the data, and a matrix analysis indicated that there were differences in experiences according to employees' gender, European region of origin and level within the organizational hierarchy. There were also differences between the two organizations. A third study involved the analysis of press articles on the topic of European Enlargement written by representatives of each organization; these were selected from the same time period as the interview and focus group data collection phases. The underlying assumptions and values about European Enlargement were explored through a critical discourse analysis of these texts. Discourses identified included: a) a discourse of power and subordination in which the position of the supranational organisations is assumed to be a part of the 'natural' order; b) a discourse of difference which betrays the assumption that 'west-is-best' and that inclusion is commensurate with dissolving rather than valuing difference and c) a discourse of paternalism in which the CoE and the EU are conceptualized as 'families', with Member States positioned as offspring who need to be kept under control by their authoritarian fathers, the institutional authorities. A comparison of the way in which the discourses identified were reflected in the organizational experiences related in studies 1 and 2 revealed that there was a high degree of overlap between the external discourse and internal experiences, though some notable differences were also identified. It is clear that the findings have major organizational and individual implications. Firstly, a division in women's equality agenda is indicated; whilst Western women press for more equality initiatives and Eastern women argue for fewer, the competing needs of these two groups are not going to be simultaneously met. Secondly, competition is created between men, with Eastern men aspiring to reach the envious position enjoyed by Western men. Furthermore, the backlash against gender equality initiatives, previously seen in the UK and other western nations in the 1980s, is given a new, Eastern European voice. It is also apparent that the content of an organizations publicly available discourse may well impact on employees' experiences within that organization. This leads to the conclusion that organizations have a responsibility to explore the assumptions and values that they are consciously and unconsciously promoting, not only for the benefit of the wider public but for the wellbeing of their own employees.

Facilitators are encouraged to get all meeting attendees to participate in the meeting. There is the assumption made that, if they do participate, then this participation will increase the group's general satisfaction of the meeting. Also, knowing the factors that can increase the probability of a successful meeting has been a focus of previous research, yet attendee participation has not been studied. The current research study empirically examines participation's effect on meeting evaluations. This study is a field experiment conducted in a team-based organization, where successful meetings are critical. Data was collected on the amount of participation of team members in their weekly team meeting and their evaluations of the meeting. After running correlations and a principal components analysis, this study found a relationship between participation and meeting evaluations. A scale of meeting success was also created.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the application of the chunking process to the design and delivery of workforce training. Students in a 1-hour course (N = 110) were measured on learner reaction, learning score achievement, and knowledge retention to see whether or not chunking training in a 1-hour session into three 20-minute sessions to match adult attention span resulted in a statistically significant difference from training for 1-hour without chunking. The study utilized a repeated measures design, in which the same individuals in both the control group and experimental group took a reaction survey instrument, a posttest after the training, and again 30 days later. Independent samples t tests were used to compare the mean performance scores of the treatment group versus the control group for both sessions. Cohen's d was also computed to determine effect size. All hypotheses found a statistically significant difference between the experimental and control group.

Encouraging positive work team growth depends on, in part, the form and availability of organizational resources and support. Support systems have been found to be important for work team health and survival. However, managers are challenged to make resource decisions while working within company budgetary restraints. Previous research has indicated a positive relationship exists between teams provided with appropriate resources and support, and increased team performance. This study extended previous research by exploring if team performance can predict resources and support. Specifically, the means by which managers allocate resources based on team performance was examined. Archival data included 36 work teams and their managers drawn from four geographically dispersed manufacturing companies. Information gathered from a modified version of an original team support system instrument was used to assess the importance and presence of four resource systems. Additionally, a gap score was calculated from these scores to assess the alignment between resource need and resource existence. Data was used to assess the potential relationships between managers' perceptions of team performance and the manner by which resources are allocated. All hypotheses produced non-significant findings. Results of the hypotheses, data patterns, and limitations of the study are discussed, and opportunities for future research are presented.

Work is a natural part of human life. Such is the phenomenon of death. This study investigate the relevancy of death within the context of the workplace. The goal of this study is to explore to what extent an bereaved employee is a troubled employee within the context of Employee Assistance Programs. The first objective is to conceptualize the death of a spouse and work performance. Secondly to launch an empirical investigation of the impact of the death of a spouse on the work performance of the bereaved employee. This study used a qualitative research mythology. The phenomenology research strategy helped to understand the meaning that the respondents gave to their experience of returning to the workplace after the death of their spouse. The population of this study were all working persons in the North West Province who lost a spouse through death. The sample consists of all working persons in Klerksdorp who lost a spouse through death. The criteria for the sample were persons within the age of 30 and 60 years who work full time that lost their spouse through death during April 2003 and April 2005 and don’t stand in a remarriage yet. A semi-structured questionnaire is used to guide the 10 one-to-one interviews as a data collection method. To analyze the data, classification is used to identify four general themes. The findings of the study show that every aspect of human life is affected by the death of a spouse. The bereaved employee can be a troubled employee, yet the South African workplace is not prepared to deal with death and it’s consequences. / Dissertation (MSD (Employee Assistance Programmes))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Social Work and Criminology / unrestricted

The main theme of the research was to investigate associations between levels of job satisfaction in virtual and face-to-face to teams for multiple generations. Using quantitative techniques to test hypotheses, the study found that there are no significant differences between how multiple generations feel about job satisfaction. In addition, there was no evidence to suggest that there is a significant difference in levels of job satisfaction for multiple generations in different work teams. The level of utilisation of technology does not influence the levels of job satisfaction differently for multiple generations. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

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Diversity training programs are increasingly being incorporated into organizations as a strategy to meet moral standards and legal challenges. Unfortunately, little research as been conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of these programs. This study describes an effective diversity training program as one that changes a member of the organization's negative attitude about racial differences toward a positive attitude.

Background: Healthcare workers are most at risk and most vulnerable toworkplace violence (WPV) when compared to other professions. Despite highrates of exposure to violence, it is highly underreported.Aim: To identify the prevalence rate of WPV and the existing demographicrelationship to WPV in the healthcare sector. To check for risk factors and healthimplications of this type of WPV on victims. Also, this research work intends tohighlight the proposed strategies and interventions that can be used to mitigateagainst this type of WPV.Methods: To achieve this aim, a literature review methodology was employed.The Malmö university library and google scholar search engines were utilizedwith several inclusion criteria to arrive at a total of 24 articles for this review.Results: Prevalence rate for WPV is high with the prevalence for non-physicalviolence being higher than physical violence. Age and years of experienceshowed a significant relationship with being a victim of WPV while gender didnot provide a conclusive result. There were few cases of physical injuries but ahigh percentage of victims of nonphysical violence suffered from psychologicaltrauma such as fear, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder - PTSD, andanxiety. Prevention strategies and interventions have been recommended byvictims and researchers of WPV.Conclusion: WPV is an existing phenomenon with adverse effects which reducethe quality of lives and services of workers. There is need for effective preventivemethods to reduce WPV such as the implementation of zero-tolerance policy toWPV, the presence of police officers in at-risk health care facilities andinvolvement of victims in the development of prevention strategies.

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