The work reported here was carried out whilst the author was Head of Education and Training at the TSB of Birmingham and the Midlands. Ten studies were carried out. They were part of a new training operation and so their objectives and relationship to the work of the Department and the needs of the Bank are carefully described. The major influences on the work are reviewed from three perspectives: Psychological definitions of man; promoting learning at work; evaluating the learning enterprise. The studies were directed at establishing a method whereby managers can significantly influence the development of the learning competence of their staff, and at installing a management development system using the principles on which this method is based. The early part of the research dealt with the nature of learning in organisational settings and the role of education and training processes in achieving business results. The survey-based proposal to management about how to cost-effectively direct managerial learning was not taken up, and the sequence of studies was concluded by acquiring a detailed understanding of the rejection of the proposed learning philosophy. Whilst this work was in progress, the method for influencing the learning competence of subordinates was developed. It is based upon the philosophy of self- organisation of learning elaborated by the Centre for the study of Human Learning. Its utility for engendering significant revision of both the conceptualisation and practice of learning was confirmed.

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Historically society has, at various periods in time, protected the health, safety and welfare of those most disadvantaged by using socially based collective mechanisms. Within the United Kingdom the model used to achieve this collective protection has developed from proscription, under the Factories Acts, to a more self-regulatory and risk based approach advocated by Lord Roben's under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and its relevant statutory provisions. The body tasked with providing examples of good practice and regulating the provisions of the Act, The Health and Safety Executive, advocate a management-led model using the principles of total quality management (TQM). This model is one which purports to focus on a systematic and empowered approach by involving all staff in the evaluation and reduction of systematic error within processes throughout the whole organisation. It can be argued that the contemporary disadvantaged are no longer the children of the industrial revolution but are those members of society who seek employment yet are handicapped by society through disability or impairment- the paradigm of disability. This study sought to explore this paradigm of disability and TQM within the context of two contrasting industrial sectors - the engineering and retail sectors. The study sought to break new ground by exploring whether the TQM model, which advocates system totality, reduction in variation and continuous improvement as fundamental principles, does in fact provide improved cognitive adequacy (a construct of institutional responsibility, communication and problem resolution) within the paradigm of disability. The study used a triangulation methodology to collect qualitative data at the individual and institutional level. This involved a number of phases comprising group discussions, focus groups and self-completed questionnaires (n=1135) by economically active disabled, impaired and handicapped individuals and at the organisational level case study analysis (n=8) and self-completed questionnaires (n=2181) by institutional key players. Although the construct of disability is multifaceted, the study concluded that at the individual level a number of factors were perceived to be ranked higher and as such more important to disabled employees in maintaining their health, safety and welfare. These were further classified into 'software' and 'hardware' domains of a safety management system with institutional social support being most important. Social support comprised support, communication and trust and was perceived to be low at the organisational level. At the institutional or organisational level social support can be measured using the theory of cognitive adequacy comprising responsibility, communication and problem resolution. When measured at the organisational level, via the policy domain, cognitive adequacy was once more concluded to be low or absent. These results applied equally to individuals within both the retail and engineering sectors. The study also concluded that, at the organisational level, safety systems which can be categorised as formal did not exist to meet the needs of the disabled within the organisations studied. This was particularly evident at the policy domain level where it was noted that few companies had included provisions for the allocation of specifically defined responsibility and control. However there existed many informal sub-systems which had developed through group dynamics and personal interrelations. In many cases those tasked with operational responsibility were unaware of such sub-systems. There also existed many barriers within the disability paradigm to both the duty holder and disabled employees meeting specific duties under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. In particular communication, both verbal and non-verbal, presented the highest ranked barrier to organisations achieving a high cognitive adequacy condition. Each construct was measured using contingency tables and log-linear analysis to determine any association between TQM and non-TQM organisations for the paradigm of disability. Significant differences in data acquisition, performance measurement and problem resolution existed between TQM and Non-TQM organisations. However in relation to the paradigm of disability, the study concluded that the data supported the null hypothesis that, in the context of the paradigm of disability, no significant differences were exhibited between the safety management systems (SMS) of organisations who had adopted TQM and those that had not. Holistically this study has provided a deeper understanding of the complexity of the disabled paradigm and safety provisions at work.

This research is concerned with establishing a rationale which will link safe printmaking practices with artists' individual and sustainable creative practices, by investigating the preconception that printmaking practices may be limited by adopting such an environmentally sensitive approach. This has been investigated through a practice-led approach, which implicitly involves the researchers' professional practice as a visual artist printmaker. The cross disciplinary nature of this practice-led research has established that diverse and non-text based sources be included in the literature review. The resulting contextual review established the evolutionary nature of printmaking practices, the role played by individual artists perceptions of risk, and the limited ability of available literature to adequately link evolving and didactic creative practices to emergent boundaries established by environmental and occupational health and safety legislative criteria. There was evidently no theoretical framework for linking these apparently divergent criteria. The multi-disciplinary and practice-led context i. e. the research was generated by practice and carried out through practice, determined the range of methods employed: questionnaire, quantitative tests of materials; participation in, and initiation of collaborative case studies; documenting workshop practice and visual development of printed art works; and exhibition for peer review. These multiple methods and their complex interrelationships were visualised as a system of consequential actions, in order to externalise possible alternative actions and choices made by the researcher in response to this research. Analysis of these methods revealed that: the collaborative case studies and the researcher's own visual and practical response, established that a systematic revaluation of practice could link the idiosyncratic and individual creative practices to the use and selection of nonhazardous practices, which did respond to objective occupational health and safety rationale. This revealed the extent to which a systematic re-evaluation of 'established practices' may be synthesised into the working practice of the researcher and lead to the diversification of that practice - visually and practically. This process has resulted in the generation of a body of printed art works which implicitly embodied the hypothesis developed in this research; the development of a electronic database or 'morphological framework', which initiates a sequential examination of process at a structural level, collating, comparing and promoting previously un-considered alternatives based on a heterarchical model of risk. This process has offered tangible means of visualising the generative processes involved in making prints. The 'morphological framework' has implicitly linked the researcher's printmaking to a sustainable and environmentally sensitive creative practice, which is methodologically transparent and procedurally transferable.

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Yes / This paper examines the value of participatory approaches within interventions aimed at promoting mental health and wellbeing in the workplace. Specifically the paper explores data from the thematic evaluation of the Mental Health and Employment project strand within the Altogether Better programme being implemented in England in the Yorkshire and Humber region, which was funded through the BIG Lottery and aimed to empower people across the region to lead better lives. The evaluation combined a systematic evidence review with semi-structured interviews across mental health and employment projects. Drawing on both evaluation elements, the paper examines the potential of workplace-based 'business champions' to facilitate organizational culture change within enterprises within a deprived regional socio-economic environment. First, the paper identifies key policy drivers for interventions around mental health and employment, summarizes evidence review findings and describes the range of activities within three projects. The role of the 'business champion' emerged as crucial to these interventions and therefore, secondly, the paper examines how champions' potential to make a difference depends on the work settings and their existing roles, skills and motivation. In particular, champions can proactively coordinate project strands, embed the project, encourage participation, raise awareness, encourage changes to work procedures and strengthen networks and partnerships. The paper explores how these processes can facilitate changes in organizational culture. Challenges of implementation are identified, including achieving leverage with senior management, handover of ownership to fellow employees, assessing impact and sustainability. Finally, implications for policy and practice are discussed, and conclusions drawn concerning the roles of champions within different workplace environments. / This work was supported as part of the evaluation of the Altogether Better programme, which is funded through the UK BIG Lottery fund and aims to empower people across the Yorkshire and Humber region of the UK to lead healthier lives.

Avund bland anställda är en negativ emotion som drivs av att anställda jämför sina kvaliteter och prestationer med varandra. Syftet med studien var att undersöka om känslor av avund, såväl att avundas som att bli avundad, är associerade med uppfattningar om psykosociala faktorer på kvinnodominerade arbetsplatser. Undersökningens deltagare bestod av 127 kvinnor inom vårdsektorn i Mellansverige. Deltagarnas uppfattningar om psykosociala faktorer i arbetslivet mättes med mätinstrumentet QPSnordic. Deltagarna fick även besvara åtta påståenden ur Workplace envy som mäter två dimensioner av avund. Studiens resultat visade att flera faktorer i den psykosociala arbetsmiljön är associerade med avund. Att vara avundad på arbetet kan höja arbetstillfredsställelsen medan att avundas en kollega kan minska motivationen och sänka skickligheten att utföra sitt arbete, då relationer kan påverkas negativt.

abstract: Scholars and practitioners increasingly recognize that coworker friendships are integral to both individual- and organizational-level outcomes. At the same time, though, the rapid increase in virtual work has taken a principal source of adult friendships – workplaces – and drastically changed the way that individuals interact within them. No longer are proximity and extra-organizational socializing, two of the strongest predictors of coworker friendships in a co-located workplace, easily accessible. How, then, do employees become friends with each other when interacting mostly online? Once these virtual coworker friendships are forged, individuals must balance the often-conflicting norms of the friendship relationship with the coworker relationship. How, if at all, are these tensions experienced and managed when co-worker friendships are virtual? My dissertation seeks to answer these questions through a longitudinal, grounded theory study of virtual coworker friendship in a global IT firm. The emerging theory articulates the “barrier of virtuality” that challenges virtual coworker friendship formation, necessitating that individuals employ two sets of activities and one set of competencies to form friendships with one another: presence bridgers, relational informalizers, and relational digital fluency. The data also suggest that the coworker friendship tension process itself is largely similar to the previously articulated process in co-located contexts. However, the virtual context changed the frequency, types of shocks that elicited the tensions, and management of these tensions. My findings have numerous implications for the literatures on relationships at work, virtual work, and organizational tensions. They also suggest significant ways in which individuals and organizations can more effectively foster virtual coworker friendships while minimizing the potential harm of virtual coworker friendship tensions. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Business Administration 2017

Even though playing and playfulness can make us feel happy and joyful, for some adults, it might not feel comfortable to be playful at work, especially if it is not perceived as contributing to productivity. Evidence exists, however, regarding positive outcomes of playfulness in the workplace including openness to new ideas and psychological benefits such as divergent thinking, emotional regulation, strengthening of relationships, enhancement of positive communication skills, and providing resources for dealing with stress (Csikszentmihalyi, 2014; Van Vleet & Feeney, 2015b; West, Hoff, & Carlsson, 2016, 2017). Research on playfulness in the workplace is quite limited and this study was conducted to shed light on this behaviour trait in the context of work. Both interpretive (van Manen, 2014, 2016) and post-intentional (Vagle, 2018) phenomenological analytical frameworks were applied to explore the research question: What is the lived experience of playfulness in the workplace? Through semi-structured interviews eight participants, identified as being particularly playful at work and representing a range of professions, discussed the feelings and attitudes of playfulness at work. During interviews participants described attributes of playfulness as feeling alive, fun, goofy, silly, being light-hearted, and happy. Other playfulness attributes were discussed such as an ecstatic experience, spirit lifting, as a planned strategy for building relationships, a method of welcoming new solutions, and a strategy for overcoming difficult tasks. Data was initially classified into categories and clusters of meanings and these summaries were further consolidated into codes and subcodes. Subsequently, the codes and sub-codes were considered as being continuously interconnected and related, always moving with no clear aspect or reduction to a singular theme or essence. Testimonial evidence emerged that revealed the complexity of this phenomenon and that creating a playful environment at work is not as easy as saying, “Let’s have fun!” Playfulness at work was shown to have interrelated components that are flexible and continuously being produced. The behaviour trait of playfulness in the workplace environment is a unique and complex reality and is relatively unexplored. This study contributes to the ongoing discussion regarding the complex nature of this phenomenon and offers a recognition of the challenges of creating a playful climate at work. By adding to the conversation about possible processes for including playfulness in the work environment, this project illustrates that developing a playful climate at work involves intersecting components and an awareness and consideration of these interrelationships. This exploratory study highlights that there is no precise technique to promote playfulness at work, but that it is a complex and continuously shifting phenomenon potentially generating positive workplace outcomes. / Graduate