Abstract not available

Doctor of Philosophy / This work was digitised and made available on open access by the University of Sydney, Faculty of Dentistry and Sydney eScholarship . It may only be used for the purposes of research and study. Where possible, the Faculty will try to notify the author of this work. If you have any inquiries or issues regarding this work being made available please contact the Sydney eScholarship Repository Coordinator - ses@library.usyd.edu.au

While many studies have been carried out on organizational culture, leadership, conflict and change, mostly from an instrumentalist perspective, studies have left unanswered the question of how they are related. This thesis employs narrative theory and especially that of Ricoeur together with the social theory of Bourdieu. By considering organization culture (and its sub cultures) as being configured by multiple narratives; leaders as enacting or developing narratives; conflict as the attempt by one or more persons to impose their narratives on others as the correct interpretation of a given situation; and change as the adoption of new narratives it has been possible to impart new understandings to these concepts. Extensions are offered of the narrative theory of Ricoeur and the social theory of Bourdieu (which has strong implications for culture and the operation of power). They are then combined and applied to a narrative presentation of empirical data. This new or extended theory has powerful explanatory value with regard to the relationship between the chosen organisational aspects. Emphasis is given to the dynamic interplay which prevails between the individual (habitus) and the organisation (field).

Includes bibliographical references. / vii, 408 leaves : ill. ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Psychology, 1972

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Delaware, 2007. / Principal faculty advisor: Mary Dozier, Dept. of Psychology. Includes bibliographical references.

Bibliography : leaves 85-115

<p>The paper focuses on attitudes and behavior on the concept of the youth’s buying behavior towards branded sports shoes, different consumers have got different decision making process. The buyer’s ultimate goal is to buy the product of qualitative, quantitative with low/best affordable price. In order to identify different kinds of consumer’s behavior towards buying of different branded shoes and Nike sports shoe. I have carried out buying behavior of youth and different kind of consumer behavior models, literature and theory of consumer behavior; finally, I analyzed and concluded with research based on questionnaire of Nike shoes and case studies of Nike sports shoes at Halmstad University.</p>

The threespot damselfish, Stegastes planifrons, maintains individual territories that are clustered on coral patch reefs. My objective was to understand the effects of territory clustering on behavior and fitness. Fish with territories in the center of a cluster had (relative to edge fish): higher mating success (number of eggs), higher aggressive chase rates with conspecifics, lower chase rates to heterospecifics, lower overall chase rates, lower grazing rates by intruders, and smaller territories. Feeding rate, survivorship, and age at maturity did not vary with territory position. Therefore, central fish appeared to have higher fitness, which was probably related to the lower energetic costs of territory defense there. Center and edge territories differed in habitat complexity, and the density of potential algal competitors, egg predators, and various food and invertebrate species. These microhabitat features could provide different quality shelter, nest or feeding sites and thus might explain the positional differences in fitness. An experiment in which I changed the position of treatment fish from the center to the edge of a cluster, without altering microhabitat, showed that position per Se, and not microhabitat variation, caused the center-edge differences. Vacated space in the center of a cluster was fought over more vigorously and reoccuppied sooner than similar space on the edge. Settlement to one of two depopulated clusters was preferentially to the cluster center. These data indicated that threespots compete for the more desirable central positions. Therefore, these populations can be considered simultaneously recruitment limited (in terms of local population size) and resource limited (in terms of local reproductive output and perhaps global population size). Aggressive chases with conspecifics were lower on the cluster edge than at any distance toward the center, while chases to heterospecifics had the opposite pattern. The results of chases with conspecifics did not fit the predictions of the model by Stamps et al. (1987) . This discrepancy may be a result of habituation between territorial neighbors. / Graduation date: 1995

The 3-5 year cyclical fluctuations in populations of many vole and lemming species have perplexed ecologists for many years. Numerous hypotheses have been proposed to explain microtine rodent cycles, including various aspects of social behavior. Microtine rodents commonly form kin groups composed of related females. Charnov and Finerty (1980) proposed that the formation and breakup of kin groups could, in part, explain the rates of population increase and decline associated with cycles. My experiment sought to determine if kin groups provided population-level benefits in gray-tailed voles, Microtus canicaudus. I compared unmanipulated populations with populations in which kin-structuring was experimentally disrupted to determine if kin groups affected population growth rates and size, reproduction, pregnancy and lactation rates, and recruitment, movement and survival of juveniles. I monitored demography and reproductive behavior in eight 0.2 ha experimental enclosures during a summer breeding season. I found no differences in demographic or female reproductive parameters between control and treatment enclosures, with the exception of a delayed time to first pregnancy for females introduced into the treatment enclosures. In addition, I found no differences in the time to sexual maturation or dispersal movements of juvenile males between control and treatment enclosures. I conclude that disrupting the formation of kin groups does not adversely affect demographic or reproductive parameters at the population-level in gray-tailed voles, and suggest that the contribution of kin groups to social behaviors that may affect population regulation is probably quite small. / Graduation date: 1998

Despite recognition in the literature that adolescence represents a relatively high-risk developmental period for health-risk behaviors, only limited attention has been given to the subjective meanings adolescents assign to such behaviors. One potentially fruitful avenue to explore in understanding the adolescent perspective on health-risk behaviors is the use of word association techniques. Word association techniques are an efficient way of determining the content and representational systems of human minds without requiring their expression in the full discursive structure of human language. A free-association technique was used to provide insight into the meanings adolescents give to a variety of behaviors. Using this technique, 411 high-school students (age range 14-20 years) provided up to five associations for each of nine behaviors. Six of these behaviors (drinking beer, drinking liquor, smoking cigarettes, smoking marijuana, using cocaine, and having sexual intercourse) were conceptualized as health-risk behaviors. The remaining three behaviors (exercising, using a seatbelt when riding in a car, and using a condom) were conceptualized as health-protective behaviors. Based upon a five-point scale (from 1=very negative to 5=very positive), respondents also indicated whether their associations meant something negative or something positive to them. In addition to exploring the subjective meanings adolescents assigned to a variety of behaviors, the study examined whether assigned meanings differed by degree of participation in the behaviors, by gender, and by age. Results indicated that images associated with adolescent health-risk and health-protective behaviors were linked to the anticipation of specific outcomes. The specific goals of adolescent health-risk behaviors that emerged from this study included: social facilitation, having fun, physiological arousal, relaxation and tension reduction, sexual facilitation, and positive affective change. Given that health-risk behaviors were found to be associated with specific outcomes for adolescents, the present study supported a possible shift in prevention and intervention programs from a problem-focused approach to an approach that offers less destructive alternatives for meeting adolescent needs. / Graduation date: 1994