Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.Sc.)--Acadia University, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references. (leaves 98-99). Also available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2007. / Also available as an electronic resource. Includes bibliographical references (p. 159-168).

Master-Arbeit Univ. St. Gallen, 2006.

Master-Arbeit Univ. St. Gallen, 2006.

<p>Den psykiska ohälsans utbredning är omfattande och är idag ett folkhälsoproblem i Sverige. Många människor söker vård för psykisk ohälsa genom telefonrådgivning. Syftet med denna studie har varit att undersöka och beskriva sjuksköterskors erfarenheter av att bemöta patienter med psykisk ohälsa i arbetet med sjukvårdsrådgivning. För att genomföra denna studie valdes en kvalitativ metod. Sju sjuksköterskor som arbetar med telefonrådgivning intervjuades. I resultatet framkom fem olika teman som benämndes: ”att känna att man betyder något för en annan människa”, ”att känna obehag inför samtal”, ”att inte kunna göra något och att känna sig otillräcklig”, ”att inte ha tid och resurser” samt ”att inte kunna se varandra”. Studien visar att det är viktigt för sjuksköterskan att betyda något för patienten. Den visar också att samtal om psykisk ohälsa kan innebära känslor som stress och obehag hos sjuksköterskorna. I studien framkommer för- och nackdelar med att inte ha en visuell kontakt mellan sjuksköterskan och patienten.</p> / <p>Mental illness is today an extensive problem, which affect the public health in Sweden. Many people with mental illness, try to get help through healthcare call centres. The aim of the study was to examine in what way nurses in healthcare call centres experience receiving patients, suffering from mental illness. To implement this study, a qualitative method was chosen. Seven nurses who work with counselling by phone were interviewed. Five themes appeared in the result: “to feel that you mean something to another human being”, “to feel discomfort with some calls”, “feeling insufficient and feelings of dejection”, “lack of time and resources” and “being unable see each other”. This study emphasizes that it is important for the nurses to mean something to the person who calls the healthcare call centre. Its also shows that calls about mental illness could create stress and discomfort feelings among the nurses. This study also shows advantages and disadvantages about the disability of not seeing the patient.</p>

<p>Optioner är ett instrument som investerare kan använda för att spekulera i framtida upp-eller nedgångar på olika tillgångar. Om dessa optioner är felprissatta finns det möjlighet att göra riskfria vinster med hjälp av Stolls köp-säljparitet. Tidigare studier visar att marknaden inte alltid är effektiv i sin prissättning av aktieindexoptioner och att det därigenom finns möjlighet till arbitrage. Denna studie undersöker huruvida marknaden är effektiv i sin prissättning av VINX30 aktieindexoptioner, d.v.s. <em>finns det möjlighet till arbitrag på VINX30 aktieindexoptioner?</em></p> / <p>Options are an instrument which investors can use to speculate in future pricemovements on different assets. If these options are misspriced there are an opportunity to get riskfree profit by using Stolls put-call parity. Earlier research shows that the market sometimes is inefficient when pricing stock index options allowing arbitrage. This study investigate whether the market is efficient in the pricing of VINX30 stock index options, i.e.<em> are there arbitrage opportunities on VINX30 stock index options?</em></p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file (viewed June 8, 2007). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 159-168).

Thesis (MScEng (Industrial Engineering))--University of Stellenbosch, 2008. / Call centres form an increasingly important part of the modern day business environment and perform an important role in the strategic and operational aspects of organisations. Call centres have emerged and developed to provide efficient and cost effective communication channels between organisations and their customers. Call centres are often the largest or only channel used to access customers or for customers to access organisations. Early call centres were seen as cost centres and operated in a similar manner, often resulting in poor and unsatisfactory performance. Modern call centres are being approached in a different way. They are aligned with the strategic objectives of the organisation and are seen as performance centres and revenue drivers. Modern call centres are dynamic and complex organisations, both technologically and operationally. Performance objectives are often conflicting and controlling parameters have to be finely balanced in a volatile environment. It is therefore imperative to utilise call centres effectively and efficiently. This can only be achieved by a structured and scientific operations research based approach. The research was initiated by the requirement of a call centre design and implementation as part of a larger business process reengineering project. The thesis provides an overview of the call centre environment and operational aspects. A structured call centre design model is reviewed and two aspects namely workforce management and performance management are found to form the core of the design and operations activities. The call centre design model is then integrated with the proposed workforce management and performance management models. These models are developed using scientific operations research approach. The structured modelling approach is then used to guide the design, operation, and optimisation of the call centre of the case study. The structured and scientific operations research based approach proved to be of great significance when confronted with the dynamic and complex call centre environment. Through using the structured approach the design, operation, and optimisation activities could be conducted successfully and performance objectives were reached.

Thesis (MComm)--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The aim of this study was to explore the relationships between burnout, emotional labour (EL) and emotional intelligence (EI) in the call centre industry and to determine whether EI played a moderating role in the relationship between EL and burnout. A nonexperimental research design (i.e. exploratory survey study) was used to explore the relationships between the three constructs. The constructs were defined as follows: burnout, as a syndrome consisting of three negative response patterns which include: emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and diminished personal accomplishment (Maslach, Jackson & Leiter, 1996); EI, as the capacity to effectively perceive, express, understand and manage emotions in a professional and effective manner at work (Palmer & Stough, 2001); and EL, as the process where employees regulate their emotional display in an attempt to meet organisationally-based expectations specific to their roles (Brotheridge & Lee, 2003). A convenience sample of 250 employees was drawn from two inbound customer care call centres of a leading South African telecommunications company that was approached to participate in the research. The Maslach Burnout Inventory – General Survey (Maslach et al., 1996), the Emotional Labour Scale (Brotheridge & Lee, 2003) and the Swinburne University Emotional Intelligence Test (Palmer & Stough, 2001) were administered. Two hundred and ten (210) respondents completed and returned the questionnaires. The results showed that surface acting (a dimension of EL) was positively related to and predicted emotional exhaustion (i.e. increased burnout). Conversely, deep acting (a dimension of EL) was related to an increase in personal accomplishment scores (i.e. decreased burnout). As hypothesised, EI was found to relate negatively to surface acting and positively to deep acting and emerged as a strong predictor of deep acting, explaining 20% of the variance in deep acing scores. These results revealed that those individuals higher in EI were more likely to engage more often in deep acting techniques, which could likely influence their levels of burnout. Furthermore, EI was related to an increase in personal accomplishment (i.e. decreased burnout) and emotional management (a dimension of EI) emerged as the strongest predictor of increased personal accomplishment. Whilst EI did not emerge as a moderator in the relationship between EL and burnout, support was found for the value of developing EI interventions that foster deep acting techniques in the call centre environment. Tenure (length of service) was found to be positively related to emotional exhaustion and negatively related to deep acting, indicating that the implementation of EI interventions in call centres should not be restricted to the induction phase of an employee’s career but continue throughout their working lives. The limitations of the study and recommendations for future research were discussed. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van hierdie studie was om die verwantskap tussen uitbranding, emosionele arbeid (EA) en emosionele intelligensie (EI) in die inbelsentrum bedryf te ondersoek en om te bepaal of EI ‘n modererende effek op die EA en uitbranding verwantskap het. Daar is gebruik gemaak van ‘n nie-eksperimentele navorsingsontwerp (nl. ‘n verkennende opnamestudie) ten einde die verband tussen die drie konstrukte en hul sub-dimensies te ondersoek. Die konstrukte is soos volg gedefinieer: uitbranding, as ‘n sindroom bestaande uit drie negatiewe respons komponente: emosionele uitputting, depersonalisasie en verminderde gevoel van persoonlike bekwaamheid (Maslach, Jackson & Leiter, 1996); EI, as die individu se kapasiteit om emosies binne die werksomgewing effektief waar te neem, uit te druk, te verstaan en op ‘n professionele en effektiewe wyse te bestuur (Palmer & Stough, 2001); en EA, as die proses waardeur werknemers hulle eksterne, sigbare emosies reguleer in ‘n poging om aan die verwagte vertoon reëls van hul organisasie (spesifiek tot hulle werksrol) te voldoen (Brotheridge & Lee, 2003). ‘n Gerieflikheidsteekproef van 250 werknemers verbonde aan twee inbelkliëntedienssentrums van ‘n toonaangewende Suid Afrikaanse telekommunikasie maatskappy was genader om aan die navorsing deel te neem. Die respondente het drie vraelyste voltooi: die Maslach Uitbrandingsvraelys – Algemene Opname (Maslach Burnout Inventory – General Survey) (Maslach et al., 1996); die Emosionele Arbeid Skaal (Emotional Labour Scale) (Brotheridge & Lee, 2003); en die Swinburne Universiteit Emosionele Intelligensie Toets (Swinburne University Emotional Intelligence Test) (Palmer & Stough, 2001). Twee honderd en tien (210) respondente het die vraelyste voltooi en terugbesorg aan die navorser. Die bevindinge toon dat oppervlakkige toneelspel (“surface acting”) (‘n dimensie van EA) ‘n positiewe verwantskap het met emosionele uitputting, asook om dit te voorspel (nl. vermeerderde uitbranding). Omgekeerd, was diep toneelspel (“deep acting”) (‘n dimensie van EA) verwant aan ‘n vermeerdering in persoonlike bekwaamheid (nl. verminderde uitbranding). EI het ‘n negatiewe verwantskap met oppervlakkige toneelspel maar ‘n positiewe verwantskap met diep toneelspel getoon, en het 20% van die variansie in diep toneelspel voorspel. Die resultate wys daarop dat mense met hoër EI meer waarskynlik diep toneelspel tegnieke sal gebruik, wat uitbranding vlakke sal beinvloed. Verder was EI verwant aan ‘n vermeerdering in persoonlike bekwaamheid (nl. verminderde uitbranding). Emosionele bestuur (‘n dimensie van EI) het die grootste variansie in persoonlike bekwaamheid voorspel. Die resultate toon dat EI nie ‘n moderator in die verwantskap tusseen EA en uitbranding is nie. Ondanks hierdie bevinding, was daar genoeg bewyse gevind vir die waarde van die ontwikkeling van EI intervensies (wat diep toneelspel tegnieke bevorder) in die inbelsentrum bedryf. Dienstyd was positief verwant aan emosionele uitputting en negatief verwant aan diep toneelspel. Die resultate bewys dat EI intervensies in inbelsentrums nie net in die begin van ‘n werknemer se loopbaan geïmplementeer moet word nie, maar deur die hele loopbaan moet voortduur. Die beperkinge van die studie en voorstelle vir toekomstige navorsing is bespreek.