I dagens samhälle anses det som väldigt viktigt att fokusera på sina medarbetare. Detta kan bland annat bero på att tjänstesektorn har växt sig allt större och där medarbetaren anses som en av företagens viktigaste resurser. Att hålla personalen motiverad och engagerad genererar generellt sätt en positiv effekt för företagen. Det kan till exempel handla om att företag vill ha en god image gentemot sin omgivning som man bland annat kan åstadkomma genom att ha nöjda medarbetare. Ett stort svenskt industriföretag har studerats för att ta reda på vad företaget har för personalpolitik med fokus på motivation och engagemang, samt även för att identifiera eventuella komplikationer som kan uppstå när man jobbar med detta. Det har gjorts två semistrukturerade intervjuer med personer på ledningsnivå. Det har även genomförts en enkätundersökning med personal från ”golvet”. Enkäten är utformad utifrån svaren från de kvalitativa intervjuerna. Detta har gjorts för att se om inställningen som ledningen har kring motivation och engagemang skiljer sig från medarbetarnas uppfattning. Resultatet utifrån den kvalitativa undersökningen visar på att ledningen arbetar med att motivera sina medarbetare. Det framgår ifrån undersökningen att det både finns likheter och skillnader mellan de båda personerna ur ledningen för hur man går tillväga för att motivera och engagera sin personal. Resultatet ifrån enkätundersökningen visar också på att det finns olika uppfattningar om hur de anställda upplever hur ledningen arbetar för att engagera och motivera sin personal.

The purpose of this study was to investigate reading motivation in students from grades one to four. Five Manitoba schools participated in this study. The Motivation to Read Profile (MRP) reading survey (Gambrell, Palmer, Codling, & Mazzoni, 1996) was administered to 225 students. The survey scores provided information about gender and grade level when considering student motivation to read. The study further explored what two highly motivated grade four boys and two highly motivated grade four girls (as identified by the MRP survey) had to say about reading and their personal reading experiences as each of the four students participated in a semi-structured interview with the researcher. The study also identified factors that appeared to influence the students’ reading motivation. The survey results collected from the 225 elementary school students indicated that grade one students valued the task of reading less than students in grade two. The survey results also revealed that boys valued the task of reading less than girls. When students responded to questions in regards to their personal self-concepts as readers, no clear pattern emerged between grades or for gender. Following the completion of the four semi-structured interviews, the ideas the students shared were categorized. 16 categories were identified. Study of the students’ comments revealed that many different factors appeared to have contributed to the students’ high levels of reading motivation. These factors included family members acting as reading role models and a wide variety of reading options. Particular weight was given to the role that peers and friends played in the students’ personal reading choice. Students also indicated that it is important for teachers to expose students to a number of different literacy experiences, and it is equally important to avoid spending excessive amounts of time with a single text. In light of these findings, the author provides suggestions for ways that teachers might restructure current classroom practise to increase the levels of student motivation to read.

La motivation influence l’apprentissage de l’élève dans tous les domaines et son niveau de motivation détermine son rendement scolaire. Cette recherche explore donc que c’est la motivation intrinsèque qui permet à l’élève de trouver satisfaction dans le processus même de réalisation de son travail et non seulement dans le produit final. Dans ce contexte, cette étude vise le soutien de 6 élèves de la 5e année ayant des difficultés d’apprentissage dans l’utilisation des stratégies d’autogestion, dans la création d’un portfolio d’apprentissage électronique portant sur des tâches ouvertes de lecture. L’étude a utilisé une méthodologie qualitative, afin de créer un récit narratif pour chaque participant. L’intervention de cette recherche a réussi à accroître la motivation de tous les participants envers la lecture et a renforcé leur lieu de contrôle interne. Il serait recommandé de continuer le progrès commencé en allongeant la période d’intervention et la période d’apprivoisement à la navigation dans le portfolio électronique pour permettre de consolider les habiletés d’autogestion chez les participants.

This thesis is a third-grade teacher's examination of student engagement. The promotion of student engagement is an important issue for teachers and educational researchers since engagement is considered essential for learning to occur. The purpose of this study was to identify and discuss several classroom contexts in which students motivate themselves for engagement, that is, to behave, feel, and think in ways that relate positively to school and learning. The method chosen was self-study, which is a form of narrative inquiry, whereby the author used memory work to recall and reflect on his childhood and professional experiences of student engagement. The insights gained and the issues raised from this inquiry are organised around three key themes: relationships, meaningful instruction, and goal orientation. Connections are made between the author's childhood and teacher experiences, and these experiences are linked to empirical and theoretical research on student motivation in classroom settings.

At times, people can confront information that challenges their passions in life. The purpose of this research was to examine how passionate people react when confronted with information that threatens their passion, to determine if these responses were related to levels of harmonious and obsessive passion (Vallerand et al., 2003), and to test two mechanisms that might reduce biased processing. In Study 1, passionate Facebook users indicated their preferences towards a list of article titles, some of which either supported or opposed the use of Facebook. Before reporting their preferences, as a manipulation of self-affirmation, some participants affirmed a self-enhancement value and others affirmed a self-transcendent value. Study 2 was a replication of Study 1, but adopted an experimental design in which passion types were manipulated using a mindset induction. Participants in Study 3 were passionate hockey fans who, after undergoing the same self-affirmation procedure as Study 1, read an article arguing that their fan support contributed to concussions in the National Hockey League. Study 4 replicated Study 3; however, before reading the article, participants completed a task designed to deplete their ability to apply self-control. The results revealed that people’s responses to these messages were predicted by passion type. In each study it was harmonious passion, not obsessive passion, that predicted biased information processing in terms of higher levels of exposure bias (Studies 1 and 2) and skepticism (Studies 3 and 4) towards passion-threatening messages. Affirming an important life value attenuated the positive association between harmonious passion and selective-exposure bias in Study 1, but the positive association between harmonious passion and skepticism was unaffected by prior self-affirmations (Study 3) or ego-depletion (Study 4). Although previous research has identified obsessive passion, and not harmonious passion, as being associated with defensiveness (Vallerand, 2010), the current research demonstrates that in some situations an opposite pattern emerges. This raises the possibility that harmonious passion may be associated with defensiveness when the target of threat is the correctness of one’s decision to engage in a passion, rather than one’s ability or opportunity to pursue a passion-related goal.

The purpose of this study was to investigate reading motivation in students from grades one to four. Five Manitoba schools participated in this study. The Motivation to Read Profile (MRP) reading survey (Gambrell, Palmer, Codling, & Mazzoni, 1996) was administered to 225 students. The survey scores provided information about gender and grade level when considering student motivation to read. The study further explored what two highly motivated grade four boys and two highly motivated grade four girls (as identified by the MRP survey) had to say about reading and their personal reading experiences as each of the four students participated in a semi-structured interview with the researcher. The study also identified factors that appeared to influence the students’ reading motivation. The survey results collected from the 225 elementary school students indicated that grade one students valued the task of reading less than students in grade two. The survey results also revealed that boys valued the task of reading less than girls. When students responded to questions in regards to their personal self-concepts as readers, no clear pattern emerged between grades or for gender. Following the completion of the four semi-structured interviews, the ideas the students shared were categorized. 16 categories were identified. Study of the students’ comments revealed that many different factors appeared to have contributed to the students’ high levels of reading motivation. These factors included family members acting as reading role models and a wide variety of reading options. Particular weight was given to the role that peers and friends played in the students’ personal reading choice. Students also indicated that it is important for teachers to expose students to a number of different literacy experiences, and it is equally important to avoid spending excessive amounts of time with a single text. In light of these findings, the author provides suggestions for ways that teachers might restructure current classroom practise to increase the levels of student motivation to read.

La motivation influence l’apprentissage de l’élève dans tous les domaines et son niveau de motivation détermine son rendement scolaire. Cette recherche explore donc que c’est la motivation intrinsèque qui permet à l’élève de trouver satisfaction dans le processus même de réalisation de son travail et non seulement dans le produit final. Dans ce contexte, cette étude vise le soutien de 6 élèves de la 5e année ayant des difficultés d’apprentissage dans l’utilisation des stratégies d’autogestion, dans la création d’un portfolio d’apprentissage électronique portant sur des tâches ouvertes de lecture. L’étude a utilisé une méthodologie qualitative, afin de créer un récit narratif pour chaque participant. L’intervention de cette recherche a réussi à accroître la motivation de tous les participants envers la lecture et a renforcé leur lieu de contrôle interne. Il serait recommandé de continuer le progrès commencé en allongeant la période d’intervention et la période d’apprivoisement à la navigation dans le portfolio électronique pour permettre de consolider les habiletés d’autogestion chez les participants.

Bakgrund: I dagens snabbt föränderliga värld krävs det mer än en bra affärsidé och en god struktur i ett företag för att lyckas. Den viktigaste resursen i dagsläget för företagen är personalen. För att företaget ska vara effektivt och kunna överleva på lång sikt är det viktigt att organisationen kan införskaffa, behålla och motivera personalen, med hjälp av bland annat ett bra fungerande belöningssystem. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur befintliga belöningssystem påverkar säljarnas motivation och identifiera hur utformningen av dessa belöningssystem bidrar till målkongruens inom företag. Vidare är syftet med studien att undersöka om det finns skillnader mellan chefer och anställdas syn på belöningssystem och i sådana fall fastställa vilka dessa skillnader är. Metod: Studien är utförd med en abduktiv ansats och har samlat in empiriskt material genom intervjuer och en enkätundersökning hos två företag. Intervjuerna har analyserats på ett kvalitativt sätt medan enkätunderökningen har analyserats på ett kvantitativt sätt. Slutsats: Studien visar att belöningssystemen som används i företagen är motiverande och leder till målkongruens. Den visar även skillnader mellan chefernas och säljarnas syn på vad som motiverar.

v, 274 leaves / 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 Philosophy, 1970

Thesis (M.Ed.)--Regis University, Denver, Colo., 2007. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Jan 17, 2008). Includes bibliographical references.