Thesis (M.H.A)--University of Michigan, 1961.

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No description available.

Introduction: The under-representationo f minority ethnic staff groups within the clinical psychology profession has been a serious area of concern for some time. Central to these concerns has been the questionable ability of the profession to adequately address, provide for and meet the needs of an increasingly diverse multi-racial and multi-ethnic society, for whom the utilisation of clinical psychology services are extremely poor. Literature review: The literature review indicated that minority ethnic groups were generally marginalized and excluded from clinical psychology services on a number of different levels, due to a combination of referral conventions, professional misunderstandings of psychological distress, the limitations of conceptual frameworks and cultural factors. Research report: Given the profession's lack of success in attracting and recruiting staff from minority ethnic groups, this thesis was undertaken to: (a) explore the perceptions of clinical psychology held by different ethnic groups, using psychology undergraduates as the target population and (b) investigated their intention or otherwise to pursue a future career in clinical psychology, using the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) as a model. The results showed the TPB to be predictive of intention in all cases. However, for the minority ethnic groups, there were significantly more perceptions of disadvantage in pursing clinical psychology, as there were the factors that would deter them from entering the profession. Methodological limitations of the study, practical implications and directions for future research are discussed. Critical appraisal: An appraisal of the research process is presented, concluding with salient learning points for the future.

This research critically examines school support staff’s perceptions of strategic change within a post ’92 higher education institution. The need for effective communication as well as valuing and empowering employees during any change process is discussed. The research uses a mixed methods approach. Qualitative and quantitative data are obtained from questionnaires and emerging themes identified. Further qualitative data are gathered from diary logs, interviews and focus groups. This research represents the opinions of school support staff at a particular moment in time within a particular educational context. The results suggest some limitations to the change capabilities of the post ’92 institution, but also some areas of good practice. The production of a change framework and the change competencies workbook provides both the institution and its employees, with an opportunity to explore further the prospect of improving their ability to manage change. Both the framework and the competencies require an environment of trust for them to work effectively. The subject headings of identity, perception and communication are utilised in the change framework and the change competencies. The subject headings were chosen in order to assist the researcher to categorise various data covering areas of concern raised by research participants. This thesis suggests that the post ’92 institution has yet to establish a corporate change policy or embed a continuous change culture within its organisation. This thesis concludes that incorporating the following could assist the institution’s management of change: * create a culture of change by utilising the change framework and implement a corporate change strategy based on Kotter’s (1996) eight steps for change; * create an environment of trust through excellence in two-way communication by promoting Perkins (2008) supportive communication and listening skills; * create empowered and change sophisticated people by improving their change competencies using the workbook and regular targeted staff development.

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Staff Development and Performance Review (SDPR) was introduced in Northern Ireland in 1992, in compliance with the Education (School Teacher Appraisal) Regulations (1991) in England and Wales. This qualitative study examined issues relating to SDPR and staff development. Qualitative research was chosen because the research involved an in-depth examination of social processes and the researcher would be closely associated with the research, the findings of which would have direct implications for her professional practice. The research involved four case studies, each conducted in four post-primary schools in Northern Ireland, a voluntary grammar school, an integrated school, a maintained school and a controlled school. Twenty-five semi-structured interviews were carried out. Findings showed that there is a close relationship between the management of SDPR and the perceptions held of it. When the principal for example embraced SDPR in a positive light, other teachers in the school did likewise. Constraints to SDPR included: lack of time; SDPR being perceived as appraisal; the difficulty of choosing a suitable focus for review; concerns about writing up the report following the review; and inadequate training. Personal professional development was being encouraged and supported in all four schools. Two of the schools offered funding for in-service degree courses. The other two did not. This highlighted inequity in relation to financial support for teachers undertaking part-time degree courses. A number of respondents thought that the introduction of performance related pay (PRP) would have a positive effect on the staff development aspect of the SDPR process. Others believed that if performance related pay and SDPR were to be linked, the purpose of SDPR would be defeated. The study refers to a number of recommendations. These include the fact that money should be held centrally by the Department of Education in Northern Ireland for the purpose of supporting personal professional development.

This study examined the motivation of outdoor staff working in multi-activity residential centres. The study took place against the background of an outdoor industry undergoing major legislative and cultural changes. These changes were discussed at length. Notable amongst the outcomes of the discussed changes was a need to improve staff retention within multi-activity residential centres. The motivation of staff was studied with this in mind. Following an initial pilot study, there were three major phases to the research. These were, a mail-shot questionnaire, focus group interviews and an investigation of personal constructs using a repertory grid (rep grid) technique. Structuring the study in this way allowed for quantitative data to be given depth and developed through qualitative techniques. Following a discussion of the major motivational theories, Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory was nominated as the grounding theory upon which the study was structured. This motivational theory a spect of the study was balanced with consideration of the social and cultural aspects of working in the outdoor industry. The major finding of the study was that outdoor staff are heavily motivated by autonomy, responsibility, challenge, altruism and variety. They are most strongly de-motivated by external factors, notably poor centre administration and inadequate resources. A multilayered motivational model was developed to give structure and synthesis to these findings. It was also found that outdoor staff are less interested in linear career progression in the conventional understanding than in progression through personal and professional development. It was noted, however, that this progression was subject to lifestage changes. Although outdoor staff were found to be transitory it was put forward as a recommendation that challenge and variety could be found from within a stable employment situation and that, as a result, the outdoor industry needed to adopt a different approach to career structure. A second model, the redeveloped career pyramid, was suggested to demonstrate these recommendations.

Previous research reports that individuals working with children with autism can positively affect social behavior through the use of socially embedded consequences. There is no research on training teachers to use socially embedded consequences. The current study had three purposes: to evaluate the effects of video modeling on teachers' embedded consequences, to evaluate the addition of feedback to increase effectiveness, and to evaluate the effects of the teacher's use of socially embedded consequences on other teacher behaviors. Results indicate that video modeling alone was not sufficient in changing teacher behavior and that the addition of feedback was necessary for meaningful teacher behavior change. Additionally, the increased used of socially embedded consequences had positive effects on teacher social engagement and indices of interest. A discussion of the results and suggestions for future research is also provided.

Knowledge management only recently gained respect as a strategic business tool. Assisted by technology, the ability to gather, formulate and share data took on new dimensions. Knowledge management is multifarious and covers areas such as cognitive science, business process and human resources management. Human resources management in turn covers a wider area than knowledge management. The two areas overlap because knowledge creation is primarily a human activity. Critical success factors and specific objectives for human resources management within a knowledge-based environment were the main outcomes derived from this research. Human resource practitioners need to change their work practices in order to be effective in a knowledge-based environment. This was a key finding of the research. It was established that information technology management was still the main driver of knowledge management projects in organisations, but had also grown tremendously in understanding human issues within technical environments.