The purpose of this study was to determine whether ski tourers in the Swedish mountains have enough knowledge and experience to perform the activity safely. Adventure oriented activities that demands equipment has over the last years increased among outdoor practitioners in Sweden. Because of the growth, ski touring equipment have had a rapid development and made the activity more accessible. In the northern parts of Sweden a survey- and a field study, were examine risk behavior, avalanche equipment and techbindings. The results shows that ski touring has increased over the last years and that the activity is mainly performed by young men that are experienced downhill skiers. According to the result men seems to have a higher risk acceptance and many off-piste skiers are prepared to take risks to get good skiing/ski touring. Nearly everyone from the study are carrying avalanche equipment, but it seems like some are not sufficiently prepared in case of an accident. The results also indicates that some ski tourers dis-trust the retention function of techbindings and some manually lock out the release mechanism of the binding exposing themselves to a high risk of lower leg injury.

This thesis focuses on explaining why group encounters with rural landscapes in Scotland are deemed to be positive for mental wellbeing. The relationship between greenspace and human wellbeing is a phenomenon that researchers across multiple disciplines are grappling with, though little research engages qualitatively. This thesis clarifies, ethnographically, why some people make excursions into rural spaces and why these excursions are believed to be positively transformational and associated with mental wellbeing. It outlines motivations for engaging in excursions from urban central Scotland to areas in rural Scotland. My research explores the intangible, ineffable and ephemeral experience of case study groups in ‘natural’ rural landscapes and what is relevant in the relations between the self and non-human in these circumstances. This thesis describes how and why group interactions within ‘natural’ space is adopted as a positive self-transformation strategy. It considers the ‘nature experience’ as relational between the self, the social and place - with what constitutes the social as ambiguous within case study interaction. This project was multi-sited: I travelled with my case study groups to rural spaces around the lowlands, highlands, and islands of Scotland. Case studies were multiple and diverse: A community living initiative, a youth development project, a mental health initiative, a forestry management project, and a loose community of artistic, neo-shamanic and psychotherapeutic practitioners. To remain responsive to my research communities and their activities I have developed a framework for a serendipitous ethnography which is outlined within the thesis. This project adopted a transdisciplinary research strategy, engaging with a theoretical framework spanning psychotherapy, psychology and eco-psychology, sociology, philosophy, human geography, anthropology and outdoor education as well as landscape and performance studies. This transdisciplinary thesis contributes to understandings of human and nature connectedness providing an account of cognitive, social and cultural experience. Primarily, this research was concerned with the self, the perception of the ideal and ought self in relation to motivations to journey in this manner and the self as part of a group and within the landscape as a dynamic and relational subject. I have considered the sense of self within these experiences as a metaphorical liminal site. I have discussed the group collectively as a site of dynamism and thus liminality. I then argue that this allows for the way that the landscape is perceived to be a site of liminality. With this we see the importance of temporality and structure, or indeed anti-structure, within these excursions as something which aids in the perspective that they are transformative. I have considered notions of perceived affordance and how this changes throughout experience with the increasing ability to associate ideas and abstract experience within one’s personal narrative. I explain how each group differs in how they perceive the rural landscape as something to instrumentalise, personify or anthropomorphise. With this comes an exploration of complex anthropocentric mindsets and the influence of these ways of thinking on experience. I suggest that individuals choose to journey to ‘natural’ rural environments to self-verify an aspect of their ought or ideal self with a desire to re-imagine the self through engagement with others. In self-verifying one’s ideal or ought sense of self, finding a sense of belonging within a group and believing oneself to be doing something good in relation to the ‘natural’ rural space, individuals and groups experience a sense of personal and social transformation.

Effectiveness and performance in groups are largely dependent on how group members manage to share their individual knowledge with each other. When group members share and combine their individual knowledge at an optimal level in order to find new solutions, they achieve knowledge integration. In this thesis, we examine how group leaders act to encourage knowledge integration. An observational study was used to evaluate how leaders in three different groups act when solving a group task. We focused on the leaders’ actions in relation to group behaviours that would promote and prevent knowledge integration. With support from theories, we created a behaviour model to help us identify a set of relevant behaviours. We also supported our analysis with leadership theories. The results showed us that leaders’ actions were to a great extent dependent on the current followership and dynamics of each group. Another result was that group members who were familiar with one another before entering the group, had more difficulties in adopting behaviours that would promote knowledge integration. This meant that the leader did not come to terms with the leadership in order to promote knowledge integration. / I en alltmer komplex omvärld ökar behovet av samarbetsskicklighet. Kunskapsintegration anses vara ett viktigt fenomen när grupper samarbetar för att prestera bättre och arbeta effektivt vid mötet av nya behov och problem. Grupper uppnår kunskapsintegration då deltagarna på en optimal nivå utbyter kunskap med varandra, eftersom gruppen då utnyttjar sin fulla kunskapspotential till att finna nya lösningar. Den rådande gruppdynamiken blir därmed avgörande för gruppens prestationsförmåga. En person som har ett särskilt ansvar för gruppens kollektiva arbete är gruppledaren. Huruvida ledare faktiskt agerar för att främja kunskapsintegration är därför centralt i den här uppsatsen. Syftet med studien är att undersöka ledarageranden i förhållande till de gruppbeteenden som kan antas främja eller förhindra kunskapsintegration. Vi har valt att fokusera på arbetsprocessen i en undersökning som går ut på att observera ledaren för en grupp som tilldelas en uppgift, där deltagarna tillsammans ska lösa ett problem. Vi observerade tre grupper på sex personer vardera där en av deltagarna utsågs till ledare genom lottdragning. Processerna dokumenterades med hjälp av filminspelning. Vi har använt oss av teorier för att kunna identifiera gruppbeteenden som kan antas främja och förhindra kunskapsintegration. Med hjälp av teorierna skapade vi en egen beteendetabell att ta stöd av i våra observationer och i vår analys. För att ytterligare undersöka ledarens roll i observationsgrupperna har vi använt oss av ledarskapsteorier. I analysen gick vi först igenom händelseförloppen i filmerna, för att sedan kunna urskilja de beteenden som stämde överens med vår beteendetabell. Därefter specificerade vi ledarens ageranden i förhållande till dessa. Resultaten av studien visade att ledarskapet tycks anpassa sig mycket utefter följarskapet och därmed dynamiken i gruppen och därför identifierade vi inga gemensamma nämnare för ledarageranden i grupperna. Följarskapet i grupperna varierade stort och därför agerade också ledarna på olika sätt. Resultaten gav oss även en oförmodad slutsats som visade att grupper där fler deltagare känner till varandra sedan tidigare hade svårare att anta beteenden som kan antas främja kunskapsintegration. Detta ledde därför till att ledarens agerande blev svårt att bedöma.

Orientador: Regina Coeli Ruschel / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Civil, Arquitetura e Urbanismo / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-15T14:58:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 GuimaraesFilho_AutimioBatista_D.pdf: 6056243 bytes, checksum: ccd1e4bc21ba7d7514ee5a62d7e33e5f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010 / Resumo: O processo de projeto em Arquitetura, Engenharia e Construção (AEC) é naturalmente colaborativo. Entretanto, o projeto colaborativo desenvolvido remotamente mediado por tecnologia não é de fácil mapeamento para a ação de colaboração tradicional. Esta pesquisa tem como questionamento principal: como incentivar, dar suporte tecnológico e acompanhar a colaboração nas atividades de ensino/aprendizagem de projeto colaborativo em AEC por meio de Ambientes de Educação à Distância. Assim, procurou-se investigar se a introdução de metodologias e técnicas de dinâmica de grupos seria um meio efetivo para incentivar, favorecer a interação e colaboração nos cursos, mais especificamente nas disciplinas de projeto de arquitetura e construção civil apoiadas por Ambientes de Educação à Distância. Este trabalho faz parte do Projeto de Tecnologia da Informação no Desenvolvimento da Internet Avançada - Aprendizado Eletrônico (TIDIA-Ae) da FAPESP que tem como intuito a pesquisa e desenvolvimento colaborativos suportadas por redes de alta velocidade. A pesquisa desenvolveu-se como estudos de casos múltiplos adotando-se como unidades de caso disciplinas de graduação e pós-graduação dos cursos de Engenharia Civil (EC) e Arquitetura e Urbanismo (AU) da UNICAMP, unidade de vínculo deste pesquisador, que abordavam o ensino de projeto colaborativo mediado pela Tecnologia da Informação e Comunicação. Como protocolo para o estudo definiu-se identificar: a dinâmica que orquestra a colaboração entre os alunos no desenvolvimento de projeto colaborativo proposta em cada disciplina e os recursos dos Ambientes Colaborativos que suportam e registram a colaboração. Na análise buscou-se comparar os casos estudados por meio dos protocolos criados e identificar padrões específicos de ensino. Observou-se que o incentivo e motivação à colaboração por meio de estratégias pedagógicas variaram entre disciplinas que enfatizavam o aprendizado colaborativo e o projeto colaborativo. O aprendizado colaborativo foi incentivado por meio do compartilhamento do conhecimento e da construção coletiva do mesmo, focando o uso de ferramentas de discussão ou construção coletiva do saber. Consequentemente, a mensuração da colaboração foi efetuada observando-se a participação dos alunos nestas ferramentas. Nas disciplinas que enfatizaram o projeto colaborativo verificou-se ênfase na construção coletiva dos produtos de projeto. Desta forma, o desenvolvimento da mensuração da colaboração foi efetuado pela quantificação e caracterização do compartilhamento de dados. A contribuição desta tese está na demonstração de como o acompanhamento da atuação dos alunos pode ser auxiliado por mecanismos de mensuração da colaboração propostos para abordagens diferentes da colaboração: ensino ou projeto. Delineamentos para o desenvolvimento à distância de técnicas de trabalho de grupo, observadas, foram propostos / Abstract: The design process in Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) is naturally collaborative. However, the collaborative design developed remotely mediated by technology is not of easy mapping to the designer, used to the traditional collaboration practice. This research main question is: how to encourage, support and monitor technological collaboration in the activities of teaching/learning collaborative project in AEC through Distance Education environments. Thus, it was investigated whether the introduction of methodologies and group dynamics would be an effective way to encourage, promote interaction and collaboration in courses, more specifically in classes of architectural design and construction supported by Distance Education. This work is part of the Project for Information Technology in Advanced Internet Development in E-Learning (TIDIA-Ae) of FAPESP that aims research and development for collaborative learning supported by electronic high-speed networks. The research was developed as multiple case studies adopting as cases classes of graduate and undergraduate classes in the Civil Engineering course and Architecture and Urbanism course at UNICAMP; where the class objective was to teach collaborative project mediated by Information Technology and Communication. As protocol for the study it was defined to identify: the dynamics that orchestrated the collaboration between students in the development of collaborative project proposal and the resources of the Environments that supported and recorded the collaboration. The analysis developed a comparison between case studies using defined protocols in order to identify specific teaching patterns. It was observed that different dynamics and resource were used to encourage collaboration depending if the teaching objective was to develop collaborative learning or collaborative design. If collaborative learning was desired than knowledge sharing and collective construction of knowledge was focused by the use of discussion tools or collaborative editing tools. Consequently, the measuring of collaboration was developed through the observation of student participation in such tools. If collaborative design was desired than the collective construction of design products was emphasized. Therefore, the measuring of collaboration was developed by the observation of data sharing. The contribution of this theses lies on the demonstration of how the student or class follow up can be accomplished by the proposed collaboration measurements. This study also presents how group dynamics can adapted for use in distance education / Doutorado / Edificações / Doutor em Engenharia Civil

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2018-08-27T17:08:31Z No. of bitstreams: 1 marciacristinavalle.pdf: 6139300 bytes, checksum: 14e3311f537634ad84cea337c7b3dc88 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2018-08-28T14:12:42Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 marciacristinavalle.pdf: 6139300 bytes, checksum: 14e3311f537634ad84cea337c7b3dc88 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-28T14:12:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 marciacristinavalle.pdf: 6139300 bytes, checksum: 14e3311f537634ad84cea337c7b3dc88 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-04-13 / Não obstante as discussões sobre o ensino de Língua Portuguesa façam parte do cenário nacional, desde a década de 1980, os dados negativos em relação às competências linguísticas dos alunos e a ambiência conflituosa em sala de aula ainda são realidades comuns em escolas públicas brasileiras. Neste contexto, esta pesquisa-ação participativa (MORIN, 2006), de natureza interventiva, do MESTRADO PROFISSIONAL EM LETRAS/UFJF​, tem por objetivo aliar a reflexão sobre a língua e seu uso, nos seus quatro eixos de ensino-aprendizagem (oralidade, leitura/escuta, produção - escrita e multissemiótica - e análise linguística/semiótica), à formação de sujeitos participativos e conscientes de seu papel na construção de uma sociedade mais ética e solidária. Denominada DINÂMICAS DE GRUPO PARA SE FAZER NA ESCOLA, ​esta ​pesquisa aponta uma tecnologia estruturada por meio de dinâmicas de grupo como uma possível alternativa ao modelo clássico de aula predominante na maioria das escolas. Acredita-se que o uso dessa ferramenta pode, entre outras vantagens, despertar o interesse dos alunos pelo processo de construção dos conhecimentos linguísticos necessários a uma formação cidadã; contribuir para a ampliação do universo linguístico, cultural e humano dos discentes, além de propiciar a criação de um ambiente favorável ao ensino-aprendizagem da Língua Portuguesa. Ela foi desenvolvida em uma escola pública municipal, em Juiz de Fora (MG), em uma turma de 6o e 7o Anos, do Ensino Fundamental II, na qual os alunos apresentavam dificuldades nas competências linguísticas e de relacionamento interpessoal. A proposta interventiva tem como ponto de partida a carência dos estudantes em práticas de letramentos prestigiadas e as relações conflituosas em sala de aula. DINÂMICAS DE GRUPO PARA SE FAZER NA ESCOLA é, pois, uma proposta de intervenção composta por quatro dinâmicas de grupo, orientadas por temas e elaboradas com o escopo de oferecer aos alunos aulas efetivas de Língua Portuguesa, interconectando os quatro eixos do ensino como condição para a formação de sujeitos participativos e conscientes de seu papel na construção de uma sociedade mais ética e solidária, em oposição a um mundo de relações cada vez mais “líquidas” (BAUMAN, 2003). As análises decorrentes de sua aplicabilidade demonstram que as dinâmicas de grupo propostas se apresentam como uma possibilidade de amenizar ou talvez superar alguns dos problemas da sala de aula, tais como: falta de protagonismo dos alunos, hostilidade, carência das competências linguísticas dos discentes, pouca vivência em práticas sociais de linguagem, falta de respeito à pluralidade. A presente pesquisa-ação pode ter valor não apenas como forma de repensar o ensino da língua, mas também como tentativa de romper os silenciamentos de protagonismo, de autoria e autoridade de professores e alunos decorrentes do sistema escolar. Em outras palavras, as dinâmicas de grupo podem trazer para as aulas de português experiências situadas de interação social e cognitiva, minimizando assim as lacunas existentes entre a escola e as necessidades do aluno no mundo contemporâneo. / Although discussions about Portuguese language teaching are part of the national scenario, since the 1980s, negative data regarding students' language skills and conflicting classroom environment are still common realities in Brazilian public schools. In this context, this participatory action research (MORIN, 2006), of an interventional nature, of the PROFESSIONAL MASTER IN LETTERS / UFJF, aims to combine reflection on the language and its use in its four teaching-learning axes (orality, reading / listening, production - writing and multisemiotics - and linguistic / semiotic analysis), to the formation of participatory subjects and aware of their role in building a more ethical and supportive society. Named DYNAMICS OF GROUP TO BE IN SCHOOL, this research points to a technology structured through group dynamics as a possible alternative to the classic classroom model prevalent in most schools. It is believed that the use of this tool can, among other advantages, arouse students' interest in the process of constructing the linguistic knowledge necessary for a citizenship formation; to contribute to the expansion of the linguistic, cultural and human universe of the students, besides providing the creation of an environment favorable to the teaching-learning of the Portuguese Language. It was developed in a municipal public school, in Juiz de Fora (MG), in a class of 6th and 7th years, Elementary School II, in which students presented difficulties in language skills and interpersonal relationship. The intervention proposal has as its starting point the lack of students in prestigious literacy practices and conflicting relationships in the classroom. GROUP DYNAMICS TO DO IN SCHOOL is, therefore, an intervention proposal composed of four group dynamics, guided by themes and elaborated with the scope of offering students effective Portuguese Language classes, interconnecting the five axes of teaching as a condition for the formation of participatory subjects and aware of their role in building a more ethical and supportive society, as opposed to a world of increasingly "liquid" relationships (BAUMAN, 2003). The analysis of its applicability shows that the proposed group dynamics present as a possibility to soften or perhaps overcome some of the problems of the classroom, such as: lack of protagonism of the students, hostility, lack of language skills of students, few experience in social practices of language, lack of respect for plurality. According to Bronzato (2009, p 106), "group dynamics is a perfect tool to be used in the classroom, since in addition to promoting knowledge, it sensitizes participants to a new look at themselves and the group. " The present action research can have value not only as a way of rethinking the teaching of the language, but also as an attempt to break the silencing of protagonism, authorship and authority of teachers and students resulting from the school system. In other words, group dynamics can bring localized experiences of social and cognitive interaction to Portuguese classes, thus minimizing the gaps between the school and the student's needs in the contemporary world.

Magister Commercii - MCom / The South African financial services sector has experienced phenomenal growth over the past two decades, and financial institutions that were previously regional are now operating nationally. To enhance operations and meet customer expectations, financial institutions have turned to technology and virtual project teams. There is mounting evidence of the use of virtual project teams throughout the financial services sector; however, the effectiveness of virtual project teams in South Africa, and the support they receive, is yet to be determined. This case study aims to investigate the effectiveness of virtual project teams by focusing on the organisational systems and group dynamics of the virtual project teams at one of South Africa's leading financial institutions. The study involves a cross -sectional survey conducted by means of a Lickert-scale questionnaire distributed among all 23 project team members (10 in Cape Town and 13 in Johannesburg). The findings are predicted to indicate the support provided by this particular financial institution to the virtual project teams’ operations, while also identifying the organisational systems in place and measuring the effectiveness of the virtual project teams. The financial institution on which this case study is based gave consent for the case study to be conducted, on condition of anonymity.

Context: Group dynamics play an important role in software projects. All of the existing software engineering methodologies (like Rational Unified Process, Microsoft Solutions Framework, Agile, etc.) use the concept of the teamwork and emphasize the necessity to manage them in order to organize the business processes in the best way. The application of group dynamic techniques is aimed at improvement of teamwork management to make it more efficient. The implementation of group dynamic techniques has an impact on teams working in software engineering and it also faces some challenges for industry such as lack of resources and preparation. Both need additional investigation which regard to the actual practiced situation in industry. Objectives: The given work is devoted to identification of group dynamics techniques and their impact on teams in the context of industrial software development projects. The objectives of the research is to identify the existing and in an industrial context, actually used group dynamics techniques in software engineering as well as their impact and methods of its evaluation. Since the application of group dynamics techniques is not a trivial task, we also identify those challenges and corresponding mitigation strategies. Methods: The basic methods applied during the research conduction are systematic literature review and survey. Literature review was used in order to collect the data on group dynamics techniques, their impact and implementation challenges. The survey and additional interviews with the practitioners from the software development companies were done with the purpose to find out which of the techniques are applied in practice. Results: Based on the data from systematic literature review we identified group dynamics techniques such as equalizing participation, electronic communication, conflict resolution, summarizing, whole and small group discussions, brainstorming, etc. The discovered impacts include team performance and cohesiveness, staff satisfaction and communication quality, software quality, reasonable decision-making and knowledge sharing. The possible challenges of group dynamics techniques implementation are company’s limited resources, lack of leadership and preparation, over-dominating of some team members and cultural diversity. The survey provided us with additional information about the importance of mentioned group dynamics techniques and their impact on team performance and cohesiveness, job satisfaction and software quality. Conclusions: We conclude that group dynamics techniques in software development projects influence the performance and cohesiveness of the teamwork as well as the quality of the software solutions and products. The possible challenges can be overcome by promotion of open communication and trust among team members, and additional psychological preparation and training of facilitator. The research discovered a slight difference in the literature review and survey results. In particular we found out that, some group dynamics techniques are overestimated in literature, while the others are undervalued. Also the survey results helped to identify the techniques such as small group discussion, conflict resolution and many more were used by the teams of definite size, which was not possible to discover in the SLR for example large teams pay much attention to feedback and electronic communication The obtained results can be used by software engineering practitioners in order to organize and rearrange their teamwork, which can positively affect team performance and project success. / SANDEEP KUMAR GOUD DOMMATA: +91-9848783435

The objectives of this study were to assess the perceptions of educational value of group learning held by students and compare it with the intentions of lecturers involved in the MBA programme. Eighty-two MBA students enrolled at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) of the University of Pretoria completed an online questionnaire, the results of which reflected an overall positive perception of educational value of group learning. However, negative perceptions of group dynamics, fairness and administrative processes also surfaced. There appears to be some evidence of racial undertones to the negative perceptions. These perceptions were significantly different between junior and senior students. Semi-structured interviews with lecturers and administrative staff revealed markedly different intentions and approaches to group learning. An awareness of the difficulties faced by students in group activities could be demonstrated, but different opinions were held on appropriate interventions. The study concludes with suggestions to improve identified weaknesses through a more focused educational approach. Such an approach would place greater emphasis on personal reflection and addressing of dysfunctional behaviour in groups, as part of a posited central skill in management.Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

This study analyzes the relationship between inter rebel group dynamics and rebel biased third party interventions. Concerning the considerable amount of multiparty civil conflicts and internationalized civil conflicts, prior studies largely overlook the cause and effect of inter rebel dynamics in terms of third party interventions. I delve into two related research questions; How do inter rebel dynamics influence a third party’s decision to intervene in a multiparty civil conflict? What kinds of rebel group interactions are facilitated by such third party interventions? Existing rebel group interaction patterns play a key role in determining conflict process and, influence third party’s decision to intervene. I predict that a cooperative interaction pattern between rebel groups generates an intervention enriched environment for the rebel groups, due to the increased likelihood of successful intervention and the decreased cost of war. The third party’s involvement in ongoing multiple party civil conflict generates a change in bargaining structure between rebels in terms of number of bargainers and distribution of capabilities. I predict a conditional effect of rebel biased interventions on inter rebel dynamics; while forceful intervention boosts cooperation between rebels, weak intervention fuels competition between them. To test my theoretical conjectures, the interlocking relationship between rebels’ interactions and rebel biased interventions has been empirically estimated on a large-N framework. The estimated results strongly confirm my theoretical predictions that rebel cooperation encourages rebel biased interventions and, that increased cooperation and competition is dependent upon third party’s commitment. Overall, my findings highlight a distinctive process of multiparty civil conflicts in terms of third party interventions and rebel group dynamics. My first findings regarding rebel biased interventions, expand the existing intervention literature by focusing on rebel group dynamics in multiparty civil conflicts. The empirical evidence showing boosted competition and cooperation caused by intervention, can be linked to studies that discuss the correlation between interventions and conflict terminations. For the policy community, this project suggests that the success of intervention lies in the third party’s measure of intervention.

Heaviside‟s dolphins, Cephalorhynchus heavisidii, are among the least known cetaceans. They are endemic to the coastal waters along the west coast of southern Africa. The occurrence, behaviour and group dynamics were investigated for these dolphins in Table Bay, South Africa during the summer of 2008 and 2009. Markrecapture photographic identification techniques, modelling techniques and Geographical Information System (GIS) were used to analyse the data. The dolphins were observed primarily in a well-defined 7 km2 area on the south side of Table Bay along a 3 km east-west stretch of coast known as Granger Bay, and within 2 km from shore. They used this area heterogeneously; for the array of behaviours observed, all core areas (50 % kernels) were located in Granger Bay with very little overlap of areas used for milling, socialising, resting and travelling. Milling and socialising were exhibited more often than travelling and resting. Foraging was never observed in areas close to shore, which supports earlier studies suggesting that these dolphins forage primarily offshore. Of the 95 identified individuals, 24.2 % of the individuals were seen only once and 73.7 % of the individuals were sighted less than five times while two individuals were seen 11 times. Groups varied in size from one to 26 animals with a median of five animals. Many of the potential dyads were never seen and those observed had generally weak measure of association. The group structure appears highly dynamic, with great lability in group sizes and membership, suggesting a fluid social system with mostly weak inter-individual bonds. Individuals in Table Bay display low site fidelity, at least in the short-term. The observed pattern of area use and behavioural preferences indicate that coastal management strategies should consider the ecological and behavioural needs of Heaviside's dolphins to appropriately safeguard this species as a valuable component of South African natural treasures and legally protected taxa. Further continuing research is needed to build on this initial study to better understand the processes that shape the population structure and group dynamics of Heaviside's dolphins, and to provide further detail on habitat preferences and areas used, both in Table Bay and environs. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Zoology and Entomology / Unrestricted