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Background: Interpersonal conflict may have a significant impact in organizations since blue collar-workers can spend time and effort on other things then their main duties. This can lead to less profitability for the organizations, that is why this is something worth exploring. Previous studies shows that many factors work together to create interpersonal conflicts between blue collar-workers. The purpose of this study was to examine if interpersonal conflicts has any significant correlation with interpersonal relations, experienced supervisor support, well-being, age and years in the workplace and if there is any gender differences. Methodology: This study was implemented on 67 blue-collar workers (42 men and 25 women) from five different organizations in the south of Sweden. To examine the result this study used a survey. The survey had three demographic questions: gender, age and years in the workplace. Four validated questionnaires was used as instruments to measure if interpersonal conflicts had any correlation with the examined variables: Interpersonal Conflict at Work Scale (ICAWS), Interpersonal Conflict in Organization Scale (ICOS), Social Support Scale (SSS) and Job-related Affective Well-Being Scale (JAWS) Result: The result showed that interpersonal conflicts had a significant correlation with interpersonal relationships, experienced supervisor support, well-being and years at workplace. The result showed that interpersonal conflicts had no significant correlation with age. The gender differences were further tested in the variables but did not find any statistically significant differences. Conclusion: The result of this study confirms that interpersonal conflicts correlates with interpersonal relations, experienced supervisor support, well-being and years in the workspace. / Bakgrund: Interpersonella konflikter kan ha stor betydelse för en organisation eftersom verksamma arbetstagare tid och prestation kan läggas på annat och ta fokus från deras huvudsakliga arbetsuppgifter. Detta kan i sin tur leda till lägre lönsamhet för organisationer och är därför intressant att undersöka. Tidigare studier har visat att det finns många faktorer som samspelar för att en interpersonell konflikt ska uppstå verksamma arbetstagare emellan. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka om interpersonella konflikter har ett samband med interpersonella relationer, upplevt ledarskapsstöd, välmående, ålder och år på arbetsplatsen samt om det finns en könsskillnad. Metod: Studien genomfördes på 67 verksamma arbetstagare (män 42 och kvinnor 25) från fem olika företag i en mindre stad i södra Sverige. Studien använde tre demografiska frågor: kön, ålder och år på arbetsplatsen. Fyra validerade test användes som mätinstrument för att undersöka om interpersonella konflikter hade ett samband med ovanstående faktorer, Interpersonal Conflict at Work Scale (ICAWS), Interpersonal Conflict in Organization Scale (ICOS), Social Support Scale (SSS) och Job-related Affective Well-Being Scale (JAWS). Resultat: Resultatet visade att interpersonella konflikter har ett statistiskt signifikant samband med interpersonella relationer, upplevt ledarskapsstöd, välmående och år på arbetsplatsen. Inget statistiskt signifikant samband hittades mellan interpersonella konflikter och ålder. Vidare testades ifall det fanns några könsskillnader inom de olika faktorerna, men inga statistiskt signifikanta könsskillnader hittades. Slutsats: Resultatet bekräftar att interpersonella konflikter har ett samband med interpersonella relationer, upplevt ledarskapsstöd, välmående och år på arbetsplatsen

This is a study of the trade union journal for female blue collar women in Sweden, Arbetets Kvinnor, between 1927 and 1931. The purpose is to examine how a female trade union activist's constructs collective identity by those notions of social class, sex, and moral values that are articulated in the journal. The main theoretical basis is Alberto Melucci's analysis where he argues that a collective identity in social movements is made in an interaction between individuals, where the action possibilities and limits are defined. Another purpose is how the female blue collar worker's resistance and/or adaption to the male hegemonic trade union and the bourgeoisie hegemonic society are presented. The essay shows how the collective identity is made of both historical and contemporary images of the working class women as workers and trade union activists. It also shows that the identity is based on an international class struggle in which the labour women walk hand in hand with the labour men, embracing social democratic ideas. The conception of the woman of the labour class is multifaceted, for example she is pictured as a class comrade and simultaneously as a one whose main purpose is motherhood. Arbetets Kvinnor shows that the trade unionist women bid the bourgeoisie dominance resistance and it also depicts the women making opposition to the male hegemony in the trade union. The moral values that are presented are solidarity, responsibility and the urge of education into making the goal of an equal society possible to reach.

This thesis aims to find out the job satisfaction level in large and small enterprises by founding on Locke&rsquo / s model and to compare job satisfaction levels. Although, Locke&rsquo / s job satisfaction model includes many dimensions, it is lack of some variables, which are very important for sociology. In order to fill this gap, demographical information and status in the work place have ben added within variables. Consequently, job satisfaction levels of workers who work in large and small size enterprises in different status (white collar, blue collar) and who comes from different demographical structures have been determined / additionally, their expectations from work and their point of views about the work have been tried to understand. In order to reach these findings, a field research, which took approximately 10 months, has been conducted in a large and a small enterprise. Field research has been conducted by applying questionnaire for 64 questions to 85 people. However, some of important information about the work place has been found as consequence of depth interviews done with respondents. While social rights in large enterprises and image of the enterprise effect the job satisfaction positively, in small enterprises social environment and behavior to the workers are important. To get homogeneous answers are easy in large enterprises / because, changes like promotion, increase of salaries are done within a system and formal / which is permanent is not people but the works. However, answers and results are heterogeneous in small enterprises because works are done within informal relations by attaching to people. Whatever the size of the enterprise, as qualifications of the work and educational level increase, as expectations increase and to get satisfaction from the work becomes difficult. On the other hand, most difficult part of conducting this research in Turkey is that workers pay attention to the workplaces where they can get their total salary at right time and where they feel secure, instead of job satisfaction and most of time they think that get satisfaction from work is luxury. Field research was not only of help to this research, but also provide workers who participated to the research to think about their job satisfactions.

Doctor of Philosophy / Psychological Sciences / Patrick A. Knight / Satisfaction with work-family balance is a relatively new construct that differs from other work-life constructs in several ways: it is not focused on conflict between work/family domains, does not include cross-domain transfer processes, has no directional implications, and is not multidimensional. The current study has three purposes: 1. Examine work-family balance issues for both blue-collar and white-collar employees, as the literature has focused mainly on white-collar employees. 2. Examine relationship between technology and satisfaction with work-family balance. 3. Assess how role salience influences satisfaction with work-family balance. Participants were recruited and compensated for completing a 60 item online survey via Qualtrics. Blue-collar participants were recruited from manufacturing industries, while no industry was specified for white-collar employees. The sample consisted of 210 participants (105 blue-collar, 105 white-collar). Several checks were included throughout the survey to ensure data quality. Two hierarchical regression analyses were conducted. The first regression revealed that boundary control and autonomy predict satisfaction with work-family balance, while employee type and boundary interruptions do not. Boundary control, family identity, and stress significantly predicted satisfaction with work-family balance in the second regression, while boundary interruptions, work identity, hours worked, and technology use did not. Results indicate white-collar workers have higher satisfaction with work-family balance, lower stress, and lower turnover intentions compared to blue-collar workers. Results also reveal that technology use to complete work outside of work hours is significantly and positively related to stress. Nearly half of participants report feeling expected to utilize technology to complete work outside of work hours. In addition, while it was hypothesized that those higher on family identity would have lower satisfaction with work-family balance when they used technology outside of work hours, worked longer hours, and had more frequent boundary interruptions than would those lower on family identity, the opposite effect was found for each of these variables. Implications of the study include: 1. Organizations may improve employee satisfaction with work-family balance by increasing autonomy and boundary control. 2. Employees may improve satisfaction with work-family balance by taking time to de-stress from work and limiting use of technology to complete work outside of work hours.

Background: In South Africa, limited research has focused on the task demands and workers responses associated with forestry silviculture work, particularly pitting and planting. The methods currently in use are manual, but despite our lack of understanding of the existing demands, advances in forestry engineering have resulted in an introduction of semi-mechanised versions of these tasks. This project aimed to compare the task demands of silviculture tasks using the current manual techniques and the more modern, semi-mechanised techniques. Methods: A holistic investigation focused on the worker characteristics of a sample of black male pitters and black female planters from the Kwa-Zulu Natal forestry industry, as well as biomechanical (spinal kinematics and L5/S1 forces), physiological (heart rate, oxygen consumption and energy expenditure) and psychophysical (ratings of perceived exertion and body discomfort) responses associated with manual and semi-mechanised pitting and planting. Results: The pitting task saw significant improvements in the spinal kinematic measures as a result of the increased mechanisation, with eight of the 16 recorded variables decreasing to a lower level of risk classification. Physiologically, the manual task was associated with a mean heart rate of 157 bt.min⁻¹ and absolute energy expenditure of 11.27 kcal.min⁻¹, which were not found to be significantly different to the values of 143 bt.min⁻¹ and 9.8 kcal.min⁻¹ recorded during the semi-mechanised technique. Psychophysical responses indicated that the workers perceived manual pitting to be more physically demanding than the semi-mechanised method. The manual and semi-mechanised planting tasks were, in general, found to be acceptable from a spinal kinematics perspective, with the majority of variables classified as low risk. However, the maximum sagittal angle was reduced by more than 20 degrees as a result of the new equipment. The physiological and psychophysical demands associated with manual planting were found to be within acceptable limits. Conclusion: In terms of pitting, it can tentatively be concluded that the semi-mechanised technique is better than the manual one, based on the biomechanical and psychophysical findings, however physiological demands require further investigation. When considering the planting techniques, the semi-mechanised method showed a slight improvement from the biomechanical perspective, but further physiological and psychophysical investigations are needed.

This short story collection includes five original works of fiction, three of which make up a trilogy titled "The World Drops Beneath You," which follows the life of James McClellan from 1969 in Texas until roughly 2009, when he is struggling to care for his wife, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease. One of the two remaining stories, "She Loved Him When He Looked Like Elvis," prominently features James McClellan's parents and is set approximately eight years before the start of the trilogy. Each of the stories is concerned with blue-collar families trying to make their way in postindustrial America and the forces that buffet them, including some brought on by the choices they make.

Text in Afrikaans / According to Kerkspieel III (s.a. :20) a tendency has been observed in the Dutch Reformed Church during the last decade, to aim its ministry mainly at members of ·the higher professional careers, consequently failing to reach people from the lower blue collar occupations. This tendency has caused a rise in membership of the higher professional career group, from 27.43% to 36.90%; and a consequent drop in that of the lower blue collar occupations, from 28.74% to·20.21% during this time. Is it possible for members of the Dutch Reformed Church, belonging to a -lower socio-economic status (S.E.S.), to have certain needs which ~he church cannot satisfy? The purpose of· this study is to investigate the issue of church members with a lower S.E.S., having peculiar needs which are not satisfied by the ministry of the Dutch Reformed Church. Ellisras-Wes, are atively young industrial congregation. _ It was revealed from the literature· study that churches or denominations in general are inclined to feel an affinity with a limited section of society. Protestant Churches in particular are inclined to pay special attention to ·certain S.E.S. groups. Although certain differences regarding patterns of conduct and attitude have been. identified among various S.E.S. groups,. there was no considerable indications that a correlation exists between members' S.E.S. and needs. The perception that.people with a lower S.E.S. would be irreligious, uninvolved and disinterested, can therefore be rejected. Evidence to the contrary is that the religious experience of lower S.E.S. members is more genuine and traditional, while members with a higher S.E.S. tend to have a critical attitude against the Bible and church-doctrine. Even atheism occurs to a greater extent within this group. This tendency will continue until such time as the Dutch Reformed Church acknowledges its deficiency in this respect and reach to lower S.E.S groups. The church may consequently show a considerable growth. / Philosophy, Practical & Systematic Theology / D.Th. (Practical Theology)

Text in Afrikaans / According to Kerkspieel III (s.a. :20) a tendency has been observed in the Dutch Reformed Church during the last decade, to aim its ministry mainly at members of ·the higher professional careers, consequently failing to reach people from the lower blue collar occupations. This tendency has caused a rise in membership of the higher professional career group, from 27.43% to 36.90%; and a consequent drop in that of the lower blue collar occupations, from 28.74% to·20.21% during this time. Is it possible for members of the Dutch Reformed Church, belonging to a -lower socio-economic status (S.E.S.), to have certain needs which ~he church cannot satisfy? The purpose of· this study is to investigate the issue of church members with a lower S.E.S., having peculiar needs which are not satisfied by the ministry of the Dutch Reformed Church. Ellisras-Wes, are atively young industrial congregation. _ It was revealed from the literature· study that churches or denominations in general are inclined to feel an affinity with a limited section of society. Protestant Churches in particular are inclined to pay special attention to ·certain S.E.S. groups. Although certain differences regarding patterns of conduct and attitude have been. identified among various S.E.S. groups,. there was no considerable indications that a correlation exists between members' S.E.S. and needs. The perception that.people with a lower S.E.S. would be irreligious, uninvolved and disinterested, can therefore be rejected. Evidence to the contrary is that the religious experience of lower S.E.S. members is more genuine and traditional, while members with a higher S.E.S. tend to have a critical attitude against the Bible and church-doctrine. Even atheism occurs to a greater extent within this group. This tendency will continue until such time as the Dutch Reformed Church acknowledges its deficiency in this respect and reach to lower S.E.S groups. The church may consequently show a considerable growth. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / D.Th. (Practical Theology)

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document / Dissertation (MA(Human Movement Science))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Biokinetics, Sport and Leisure Sciences / unrestricted