Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) has been previously conceptualized as an extreme variant of normal personality traits, captured by continuous indices. A previous study successfully developed and validated a self-report BPD measure, the Minnesota Borderline Personality Disorder Scale (MBPD). I conducted two studies aimed at providing further validation for this measure. Results from Study 1 (clinical sample of substance users) indicated that MBPD exhibited strong positive correlations with measures of convergent validity (self-report and diagnostic measures). Additionally, the MBPD showed similar correlations with external correlates as those of the convergent validity measures, in addition to incremental utility in predicting these external correlates above and beyond negative affect. Third, a Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis indicated that diagnostic accuracy of the MBPD was excellent for differentiation between BPD and non-BPD individuals. Likewise, Study 2 (non-clinical sample of undergraduate students followed over 6 months) showed strong correlations with an index of convergent validity (self-report measure), similar correlations with external correlates as that of the convergent validity index, and incremental predictive utility. Finally, in this study, the MBPD exhibited high rank-order stability, but significant mean-level and individual-level change over time. These data suggests that these scales are measuring the same latent construct of BPD, providing further evidence for the construct validity of the MBPD.

Systems Thinking, (ST), has lately received increased attention, once again, as a result of accelerate change conditions and as organisations seem to operate in a more complex and uncertain context, which demands a new way of thinking. ST is an answer to these challenges as it is a way of thinking and acting that adopt a broader perspective. However, the perspective is not new itself and despite its positive aspects, it is still received inferior attention in the academia as well as practice. The purpose of this research was to contribute to an understanding of the employees perception of the change process towards this perspective, in order to gain an understanding of what is difficult and what factors that have helped these individuals to gain the perspective. A theoretical framework was developed and by conducting an exploratory study of the individual change, data were collected from in-depth interviews. The research findings come up with a model of nine key factors that are considered helpful to the employees in the change process, and three of those especially useful when implementing the ST perspective. The model can be seen as practical guidelines for implementation of ST reforms.

A review of literature indicates limited effort to understand and explain employees' acclimation to, and adoption of, new behaviors required by organization change initiatives. Psychological theories of individual behavior change have, in restricted instances, been applied into organizational environments. The transtheoretical model of change (TTM) offers a comprehensive explanation of behavior change uniting multiple theories of individual change. TTM describes change as a series of stages that individual progress through before arriving at the decision to implement a change in behavior. Movement through the stages is facilitated by processes which increase the probability of a behavior change effort's success. The present research investigated the potential applicability of TTM for explaining individual level change within a new context, specifically, an organizational environment. To examine if individual change in the context of an organization occurs in the fashion described by TTM, measures of core TTM constructs were delivered to employees in a water department of a city in the American southwest. The water department was immersed in an organization change initiative necessitating individual behavior change by its employees. Results of TTM core construct measures and their relationships with each other and the stages of change were examined. Initial findings are indicative of TTM's potential applicability as a description of behavior change within an organizational context. Implications of these findings, potential applications, imitations of the current research, and recommendations for future research are discussed.

Thesis focuses the topic of individual change and discusses possibilities of its support in terms of psychological (self)coaching. The theoretical part summarizes key psychological traits, which may affect the success of change implementation, than provides insight into the various phases, stages and processes of both individual and organizational change. Attention is then moved to the issue of individual change goals setting and there are shown several models of goals formulation. Next chapter introduces psychological coaching as a suitable approach to the facilitation of individual change and describes specific techniques and strategies that support individuals achieving goals. Particular attention is also paid to the strategy of small steps or quick wins, also known as Kaizen, as well as the other mentioned techniques and tools that can be used in (self)coachning and selfmanagement. The research verifies the effect of Kaizen strategy on individual goals achievement. Results confirm the positive impact of Kaizen on individual success in goal achieving, but also the degrese of precieved satisfaction derived from working on goals.

AbstractThe present study aims to examine mean-level, rank-order, and individual-level change in personality in two population-based samples of women. Participants were followed over 37 years from mid-life to old age, including two cohorts aged 38 to 75 years and 46 to 83 years. Participants completed the Cesarec-Marke Personality Schedule – a self-report measure of Murray’s psychogenic needs – in 1968 and 2005. Mean levels of need for affiliation, order, nurturance, and succorance increased whereas need for dominance, aggression, and defense of status decreased, but effect sizes were generally small and test-retest correlations were generally strong, suggesting personality stability. By contrast, significant changes were observed at the individual level, with participants both increasing and decreasing in most psychogenic needs. Eighty five percent (85%) of the participants changed significantly in at least one psychogenic need. / SammanfattningDenna studie undersöker medelvärdes-, rangordnings- och individuell förädring av personlighet i två urval av kvinnor. Deltagarna följdes över 37 år; den ena kohorten från 38 år till 75 år och den andra från 46 år till 83 år. Deltagarna besvarade Cesarec-Marke personlighetsformulär – ett självskattningsmått av personlighet utifrån Murrays psykogena behov – 1968 och 2005. Medelvärdet ökade för behov av tillhörighet, att ha ordning, att bli omhändertagen samt att ta hand om andra. Medelvärdet minskade för behov av att leda/dominera, att hämnas/retas samt känslighet för andras åsikter/att undvika misstag. Effektstyrkan var generellt liten, och korrelationskoefficienterna mellan baslinje och uppföljning var generellt höga vilket tyder på personlighetsstabilitet. Å andra sidan sågs signifikanta förändringar på individnivå, med deltagare som både ökade och minskade signifikant på de flesta psykogena behov. Åttiofem procent (85%) av deltagarna förändrades signifikant på minst ett psykogent behov.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:26:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Maximiliano Liubomir Slivnik.pdf: 1464818 bytes, checksum: 650011dfff532f8d110a83ecf9f219df (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-02-06 / In the current competitive world, organizational change plays a relevant role in the sustainable survival of organizations. The Social Sciences literature analyses the various factors that influence organizational change, which involves people, structures, strategies, processes and timing. Among these factors, organizational values are principles and beliefs, hierarchically organized according to desirable organizational behaviors and goals. This work pretends identify the predictive power of organizational values for understanding change within organizations. A descriptive, transversal, quantitative research was done with 183 employees of one organization in the Brazilian food industry, represented in many states of the country. The organization had been through a top-down and planned organizational change. Interviewees were asked to fill a questionnaire divided in four parts organizational values; attitudes facing change; perception of individual change; and perception of organizational change. The data was treated with descriptive and inferential analysis. The results show that the value Autonomy is a relevant predictor for all the factors of organizational change. The same result was obtained for the attitude Acceptance and Fear of change. The data also show that, when organizational values and attitudes are taken as a single statistic variable, the perceived factors of organizational change Pursuit of Results, Technical Competence and Welfare are explained by the organizational value Autonomy; the factors Horizontality, Participation and External Image are explained by the attitude Acceptance. / As mudanças organizacionais desempenham papel relevante para a sobrevivência sustentável das organizações no mundo competitivo atual. Na literatura encontram-se vários fatores que influenciam a mudança organizacional, que é um fenômeno que envolve pessoas, estrutura, estratégias e processos, além da questão temporal. Entre esses fatores, encontram-se os valores organizacionais que são princípios ou crenças, organizados hierarquicamente, relativos a comportamentos ou metas organizacionais desejáveis, que orientam a vida da organização. Este trabalho pretendeu identificar o poder preditivo dos valores organizacionais para a mudança no âmbito organizacional. Realizou-se uma pesquisa descritiva, transversal, com método quantitativo junto a 183 membros de uma organização da área de alimentos com filiais em vários estados do país, que passou por uma mudança organizacional planejada topdown. Os dados foram coletados mediante questionários autopreenchíveis, compostos por quatro escalas, sendo uma para valores organizacionais, uma para atitudes frente à mudança, uma para mudança individual percebida e uma para mudança organizacional percebida. Os dados foram tratados com análise descritiva e inferencial. Os resultados mostraram que o valor organizacional, Autonomia se mostrou um preditor relevante para todos os fatores de mudança organizacional e ele se deu para atitude de Aceitação e Temor à mudança. Os dados revelaram, ainda que, quando os valores organizacionais e as atitudes compõem uma única variável estatística, os fatores de mudança organizacional percebida Busca por resultados, Competência técnica e Bem-estar são explicados pelo valor organizacional Autonomia, e os fatores Horizontalidade, Participação e Imagem externa são explicados pela atitude de Aceitação.