The retention of artisans is becoming an increasingly important challenge faced by many organisations. The decision to intensify artisan retention strategies arises from the fact that there is currently a shortage of artisans in the country. This situation is aggravated by the fact that many of our country's current supply of artisans are being lured away to Canada and Australia by the highly competitive packages offered them. For effective retention of their artisans, organisations must be aware of the factors that artisans perceive as being important in the decision to remain with an organisation. The main research objective was, therefore, to establish the factors that are important for artisan retention. It was also decided to measure the level of intention to leave among a sample of artisans, as there were no results available from previous research. The research was explorative in nature and a mixed-methods design was used to achieve the objectives. The participants were selected by means of a judgement sample to consist only of participants who hold a formal qualification as an artisan, as prescribed by Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA) standards. Employees were requested to take part voluntarily in the research and a total population of 14 employees responded (N = 14). A semi-structured interview was used as means of collecting the qualitative data, while the quantitative data were collected by means of questionnaires. The results indicated that remuneration had the highest rank of all the factors for the retention of artisans, closely followed by development opportunity in second place. Other factors that were also perceived as important for artisan retention by the participants included equality (ranked third), recognition (ranked fourth), management and the working environment (ranked fifth), working relationships (ranked sixth), while change management, job security, belongingness, the merit system, job satisfaction and employee wellness were all ranked jointly in seventh place. With regard to Turnover Intention, the results indicated a mean score of 2,38 out of 5,00; it can thus be concluded that the sample reported an average level of turnover intention. The spread of the scores was quite large, indicating that some artisans had a strong intention to continue working at the organisation, while others were likely to consider other offers. By way of conclusion, recommendations were made both for the organisation and for future research. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010.

The retention of artisans is becoming an increasingly important challenge faced by many organisations. The decision to intensify artisan retention strategies arises from the fact that there is currently a shortage of artisans in the country. This situation is aggravated by the fact that many of our country's current supply of artisans are being lured away to Canada and Australia by the highly competitive packages offered them. For effective retention of their artisans, organisations must be aware of the factors that artisans perceive as being important in the decision to remain with an organisation. The main research objective was, therefore, to establish the factors that are important for artisan retention. It was also decided to measure the level of intention to leave among a sample of artisans, as there were no results available from previous research. The research was explorative in nature and a mixed-methods design was used to achieve the objectives. The participants were selected by means of a judgement sample to consist only of participants who hold a formal qualification as an artisan, as prescribed by Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA) standards. Employees were requested to take part voluntarily in the research and a total population of 14 employees responded (N = 14). A semi-structured interview was used as means of collecting the qualitative data, while the quantitative data were collected by means of questionnaires. The results indicated that remuneration had the highest rank of all the factors for the retention of artisans, closely followed by development opportunity in second place. Other factors that were also perceived as important for artisan retention by the participants included equality (ranked third), recognition (ranked fourth), management and the working environment (ranked fifth), working relationships (ranked sixth), while change management, job security, belongingness, the merit system, job satisfaction and employee wellness were all ranked jointly in seventh place. With regard to Turnover Intention, the results indicated a mean score of 2,38 out of 5,00; it can thus be concluded that the sample reported an average level of turnover intention. The spread of the scores was quite large, indicating that some artisans had a strong intention to continue working at the organisation, while others were likely to consider other offers. By way of conclusion, recommendations were made both for the organisation and for future research. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010.

Research shows that supervisors in the social service field require on-going training and supervision; however, we do not know much about supervisors’ training and supervision and whether it prepares supervisors for the responsibilities of their jobs. This study used a telephone survey to explore the training and supervision experiences of community agency social service supervisors. The survey directly addressed 20 supervisory knowledge and skill areas identified from the literature review as those necessary for social service supervisors to be effective. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze participants’ responses and describe their training and supervision experiences. The goal of the study was to describe the training and supervision that supervisors receive to see if they address the supervisory knowledge and skill areas identified from the literature. Although the study found that supervisors access more training and supervision than expected, it also found significant inconsistencies in the training and supervision. / Graduate / 0534 / mahbrown@uvic.ca

Although soccer is one of the more researched intermittent team sports, there is a surprisingly modest amount of information available on the effects of fatigue on skill performance. The main reasons for this are due to the problems of overcoming the barriers of controlling the many variables in the field and a lack of reliable and valid skill tests. The Loughborough Intermittent Shuttle running Test (LIST) is a recently developed exercise protocol which closely simulates the demands of multiple-sprint sports such as soccer in a controlled environment. Furthermore, the Loughborough Soccer Passing Test (LSPT) and Loughborough Soccer Shooting Test (LSST) were developed (and modified further as part of this thesis, Chapters 5 and 6) and found to be reliable and valid indicators of soccer skill. Therefore, one of the main aims of this thesis was to investigate the influence of 90 min of the LIST on soccer skill performance. Early researchers (e. g. Karlsson, 1969 and Saltin, 1973) reported the -benefits of maintaining a high muscle glycogen content on soccer performance and more recent investigators looked at the effect of providing carbohydrate (CHO) during exercise on work rate and soccer skill. However, many of these experiments were completed in the field setting and used poor tests of skill. Therefore, the primary aim of these series of experiments was to determine the influence of ingesting a carbohydrate-electrolyte (CHO-E) solution during the LIST on soccer skill performance. There was an 8% deterioration in LSPT performance following 90 min of intermittent high-intensity running, even with fluid ingestion (p<0.05). Furthermore, the ingestion of a CHO-E solution during exercise showed tendencies for better maintenance of skill performance towards the end of exercise. Moreover, CHO-E supplementation better maintained sprint performance and a higher relative exercise intensity during exercise (p<0.05). This is crucial in soccer perfon-nance, as players who are unable to sprint to get to the ball will be unable to perform the necessary skill. From the results of Chapters 5 and 6 it was found that the modified passing (LSPT) and goal-shooting (LSST) tests were valid and reliable tests of soccer skill. Moreover, they were found to be more repeatable when higher calibre players performed the tests. As in previous studies there was a speed-accuracy trade-off' in LSST performance i. e. subjects increased the time taken to complete each shot sequence and reduced the shot speed to maintain shooting accuracy post-LIST. There was a trend for CHO-E ingestion to maintain a better shot speed and time taken for each sequence. The ingestion of CHOE also reduced the perception of effort (p<0.05) and led to more positive feelings of affective valence during the last 30 min of the LIST. Therefore, based on these findings, it was concluded that the ingestion of CHO-E solutions over water alone should be encouraged to soccer players because of the tendency to better maintain soccer skill and the associated physiological, biochemical and psychological benefits during such exercise.

It has been suggested that improvement in the performance of many motor sequence tasks such as playing musical instruments, operating complex machinery or tools, and/or performing a variety of athletic activities results from the learner’s ability to parse the movement into fundamental action primitives called motor chunks. Moreover, it has been suggested that the organization of motor chunks within a sequential behavior can be influenced by consolidation occurring outside the boundary of practice during which reorganization can occur leading to faster sequence production. The present study involved modest practice of a discrete sequence production task (DSPT) followed by subsequent assessment of performance of this task either immediately after the completion of practice or after a 24-hr delay. Of critical interest was the change in performance from the end of training to the test phase in three features of the sequence implementation namely sequence initiation, motor chunk transition, and element execution components. It was anticipated that motor chunk transition would be susceptible to significantly greater offline enhancement in the 24-hr delayed test case. Based on the extant literature it was also expected that sequence initiation and/or execution processes may also be sensitive to offline consolidation. No evidence emerged that supported the proposal that motor chunk transitions revealed additional gains following a longer interval between training and test. It is possible this effect was underestimated because of some imprecision in the manner in which motor chunk transitions were identified. There was clear evidence for offline gains for both sequence initiation and element execution processes. These data are difficult to interpret within the framework of a number of contemporary accounts of sequence production such as the dual-processor model in which sequence production is governed by a cognitive and motor processor.

This research investigated the perception of social presence that students in a virtual high school have of using computer-mediated communication (CMC): email, discussion board, tutoring sessions, and asynchronous classroom activities. The research analyzed data for social presence based on gender, years of experience in a cyber school, and self-proficiency ratings on each form of CMC. The purpose of this study was to identify if high school students in a virtual community perceive email, discussion board, tutoring sessions and asynchronous classroom activities as enhancing their social presence within the virtual community. The findings of the study are: &lt;br&gt;1. Students perceived that email showed more social presence than the other forms of CMC and asynchronous classroom activities showed more social presence than discussion board and tutoring sessions. &lt;br&gt;2. There was no significant difference found between male and females social presence in any of the CMC studied. &lt;br&gt;3. Students who rate their own self proficiency as being above average or expert had higher social presence scores on email and asynchronous classroom activities than students who rate their proficiency average, below average or novice. &lt;br&gt;4. Students perceived that email showed more social interaction than discussion board, tutoring session and asynchronous classroom activities. Asynchronous classroom activities showed more social interaction than discussion board or tutoring sessions. &lt;br&gt;5. The number of years a student attends a cyber school has no relationship with the student's perceived social presence in any form of CMC studied. &lt;br&gt; Understanding students' perception of social presence based on the use of CMC will enable cyber schools to use the appropriate form of CMC to help students develop their social skills. / School of Education / Instructional Technology (EdDIT) / EdD / Dissertation

国立情報学研究所で電子化したコンテンツを使用している。

国立情報学研究所で電子化したコンテンツを使用している。

The purpose of this study was to find whether cross training could improve male adolescent rugby skills. Three major sports (soccer, basketball and wrestling) were selected to form the base of the cross training intervention program. Pre- and post-tests were performed with the entire rugby squad (24 participants) prior to and at the conclusion of the intervention program. After pre-testing, the participants were grouped into either the intervention (12) or the control group (12). Supervised cross training sessions were performed twice a week for 10 weeks as well as traditional rugby training twice a week for 10 weeks with the intervention group. The control group performed supervised conventional rugby training twice a week for 10 weeks. All participants (24) played in a rugby match once a week during the 10 week period of the study.

The purpose of this study was to find whether cross training could improve male adolescent rugby skills. Three major sports (soccer, basketball and wrestling) were selected to form the base of the cross training intervention program. Pre- and post-tests were performed with the entire rugby squad (24 participants) prior to and at the conclusion of the intervention program. After pre-testing, the participants were grouped into either the intervention (12) or the control group (12). Supervised cross training sessions were performed twice a week for 10 weeks as well as traditional rugby training twice a week for 10 weeks with the intervention group. The control group performed supervised conventional rugby training twice a week for 10 weeks. All participants (24) played in a rugby match once a week during the 10 week period of the study.