Since the use of computers and IT systems has become an essential part of many people’s daily work, the quality of IT systems’ is becoming more important for efficient, healthy and sustainable work. It has often been argued that the full potential of a new, supportive IT system seldom is achieved, because – despite implementation of the new system - outdated work procedures are still being preserved. We can also see an increase in occupational health problems that are related to the use of poorly designed IT systems. This thesis addresses the questions of how to create a process for developing a sustainable, IT- supported work for the future and how to provide a solid foundation for the development of IT systems. What underlying perspectives should be applied and how can such a process be carried out in practice? Utilizing an action research approach inspired by participatory design methods, a user-centred seminar process called the Vision Seminar Process (VSP) has been developed to address these questions. Observations are presented from three cases in which the VSP has contributed to the organizations’ development and during which the Vision Seminar Process itself continued to evolve. The process provides a framework where practitioners and designers cooperate in the design of both sustainable work and usable IT systems. It is of central importance that a reflective in-depth analysis of users’ work practices is carried out, that their entire work situation and organization is questioned and discussed, and that the design process is carried out with a focus on healthy and sustainable work. Underlying perspectives that advocate a focus on a future work are essential for the successful implementation of the process, in that IT should be the engine that drives the development of work and creates the conditions for a healthy, sustainable work.

Driven by the demands of drastic changes in today’s nature of work due to globalization and technological advances, researchers have continually revisited, redesigned, and restructured work design processes in a quest to identify the key characteristics that can result in desired organizational outcomes. Specifically, in current times, organizations are looking to develop socially responsible outcomes, otherwise referred as corporate social responsibility (CSR). A possible link between work design and CSR has been postulated by researchers, but few studies have emerged where the associations between work design and CSR factors are examined. The purpose of this study was to explore the link between work design and CSR using a work design-CSR conceptual model that was developed based on previous literature. The model depicted relationships between work design factors and CSR factors. Work design factors included work characteristics and worker characteristics. Work characteristics were measured using task, knowledge, social, and contextual characteristics; while worker characteristics were measured using personality traits. CSR Orientation (CSRO) was used as a reflective indicator of CSR at the individual level. The study sample consisted of 941 job incumbents of a public education institution in Texas. The data were collected using an online survey that included the work design questionnaire, the short Big Five Inventory, and the CSRO questionnaire. The model was tested using Structural Equation Modeling. Based on the results, a significant association between work characteristics and CSRO factors were obtained. As hypothesized, associations were found between task characteristics and profit CSRO, and between social characteristics and legal CSRO and philanthropic CSRO. The knowledge characteristics were found to have negative association to philanthropic CSRO. The findings also suggest that jobs that are high on problem solving and job autonomy had a negative association to philanthropic CSRO. Similarly, as the job complexity increased, individuals’ orientation towards profit making decreased, and information processing was found to be linked to legal compliance. Research and practice implications of these results are discussed.

This study was prompted by my suspicion that spatial design undergraduates’ production of paper-based freehand sketches during design ideation was in decline. Seeking to find out why, I conducted video-recorded focused interviews with undergraduates from a range of UK spatial design degrees, during which we examined their sketchbook material and discussed their ideational activities (termed ‘ideational moves’). I subjected the data to a form of content analysis, but the outcomes appeared to contradict my initial premise whilst revealing that the interactions during the interviews between myself, the respondents and the sketchbook material (termed ‘discursive moves’) warranted examination. This persuaded me that the study’s focus should emerge through ‘evolved’ grounded theory rather than being stated a priori, which highlighted my presence in, and impact on, the data and prompted me to adopt a constructivist grounded theorising approach in combination with actor-network theory’s concepts of translation and circulating references. This study has thus been qualitative, relativist, iterative and multi-modal. Grounded theorising led to the identification of a number of categories and sub-categories of ideational move across the sample, and indicated that the respondents had used a ‘core’ of each. ‘Core’ categories comprised: making paper-based ideational moves, carrying out research and using photographic material. Several respondents also evidenced producing digital imagery and physical models. ‘Core’ sub-categories comprised using paper-based freehand perspective sketches, sketch diagrams and word-based approaches, plus supporting visuo-spatial research. Several respondents also evidenced producing paper-based freehand plan, section and elevation sketches, plus collage. Grounded theorising also revealed that each respondent had utilised a different combination of sub-categories, with different degrees of connectedness. I did not set out to evaluate the design outcomes showcased, but, as a spatial design academic and practitioner, I felt compelled to. This led to the tentative conclusion that respondents who added to the ‘core’ of categories and sub-categories and worked with greater connectedness appeared to produce more thoroughly-considered work, whilst those who forsook the ‘core’ and worked with less connectedness appeared to produce more unexpected results by allowing ‘ ... room for chaos ... ’: periods of confusion and surprise. Regarding the discursive moves, grounded theorising indicated that the sketchbook material tabled by each respondent during the study was not one fixed thing, but an abstraction using placing-for and directing-to techniques to focus attention on certain ideational moves and away from others. This made the sketchbook material a performance within the network of human and non-human actors who, in effect, co-constructed it as a temporary reality without necessarily realising this. Research into sketchbook material appears to regard it, once shared with others, as having the candour of a secret diary, and as eligible for formative and summative assessment because it documents design process authentically. My study, whilst not claiming generalisability, suggests that this view should be challenged. The new knowledge is now informing my future teaching practice and will, I hope, prompt other academics to investigate whether their own students manifest similar outcomes and, through this, contribute to wider discussions on the formative and summative assessment of undergraduate spatial design development activity.

In contemporary organizations, managing workers’ attention is more critical to success than managing workers’ temporal location. Mindfulness, which represents an essential dimension of attention, has been associated with many important individual and work outcomes. However, we know relatively little about how mindfulness is cultivated at the individual level, and the little we know places the individual in full control of cultivating mindfulness; implicitly conceptualizing managers as relatively passive characters in the cultivation of worker mindfulness. Integrating the mindfulness literature with work design, I propose an attention-based model of work design, through which key work characteristics are linked to worker mindfulness through the mediating effects of psychological demands and job-based psychological ownership. I test portions of this model with two samples. In sample 1, I use survey data from 555 employees from a regional healthcare system to examine the relationships between key work characteristics and job-based psychological ownership. In sample 2, I use survey data from 211 individuals to test both the proposed job-based psychological ownership path to mindfulness, as well as the proposed psychological demands path to mindfulness. I end with a discussion of the findings, limitations, and opportunities for future research.

Background: People have long sought to be able to influence and form their own work lives to align more with their personal beliefs and satisfy their needs and wants. Due to digitalization, opportunities for professionals to do so have increased, and theories such as job crafting have emerged. There are however some questions as to how IT-professionals in different work settings utilize these strategies to craft a better work life for themselves, along with questions regarding their freedom to be able to craft. Research Problem: Increased autonomy for workers has enabled them to take more control of their work lives and given them more choices in how they work, but there are still questions regarding how workers are enabled to job craft in different settings, within the same IT-industry. By applying job crafting theory to this specific context, the authors seek to address how workers pursue a more satisfying and fulfilling work life. Research Purpose: This thesis investigates IT-professionals' abilities and methods of crafting and designing a more satisfying and fulfilling work life. Research Question: How do IT professionals in different work settings craft their jobs in order to achieve a more fulfilling and satisfying work situation? Research Method: To best be able to meet the purpose of this study, a qualitative study was conducted by the authors. Data collection was made through semi-structured interviews with professionals working in the IT-industry, revolving around the topic of job crafting and autonomy. The authors committed to a sampling strategy and reached out to suitable respondents that fit the purpose of the study. Open ended questions were used in the interviews to ensure no bias from the authors. The data is analyzed through the Gioia method. Conclusion: The conclusion that can be derived from this study is that individuals are enabled to utilize the job crafting variations to give themselves the chances to have a more satisfying and fulfilling work life. An individual cannot be totally autonomous, because it is influenced by factors out of the individual's control, e.g the employing organization or the client the individual is working for. But it is evident that IT-professionals are utilizing the three types of job crafting to be able to put themselves in the best situation possible for them to create a fulfilling and satisfying work situation.

Digitalization and demographic change represent two megatrends that impact organizations and workplaces around the globe. Rapid developments in information and communication technology (ICT) are fundamentally changing the ways in which work is conducted. At the same time, workforces are becoming increasingly older and age diverse. Integrating the model of workplace ICT use and work design with socioemotional selectivity theory from the lifespan development literature, we investigate employee age as a moderator of the indirect and total effects of ICT use for task and social functions on self-rated task proficiency and job satisfaction. As potential mediators, we focus on three job-related resources: job autonomy, team cohesion, and task significance. Data were collected from 1761 employees at three measurement points across two months. The results showed that ICT use for task and social functions were not significantly associated with job autonomy, team cohesion, task significance, task proficiency, and job satisfaction, while controlling for baseline levels of these mediator and outcome variables. Job autonomy was negatively related to task proficiency, and team cohesion was positively related, whereas both job autonomy and team cohesion were positively related to job satisfaction. Contrary to expectations, age did not moderate the indirect and total effects of ICT use for task and social functions on task proficiency and job satisfaction. We discuss the implications of our findings for future research and practice regarding ICT use and age in the work context.

A review of the literature on Hackman and Oldham's (1975) job characteristics model of job design found that laboratory research of the five job characteristics was wanting. An experimental study was conducted in which each of the five job characteristics was independently manipulated. Subjects were 120 undergraduate students enrolled in psychology and marketing/management courses. All subjects performed the same job; that of a data entry clerk. Treatment consisted of increasing either a single or all five of the job characteristics under study. After completing the job, all subjects completed a 61-item questionnaire designed to determine subjects' perceptions of the presence of the five job characteristics, and designed to measure subjects' satisfaction with the work itself (SWI). Computerized data files created by the subjects served as the database from which performance measures were taken. No significant differences were found between a control condition and each of experimental treatment conditions on the dependent variable of quantity of performance. However, there were significant increases in quality of performance and SWI in those treatment conditions in which feedback was increased. Further analyses demonstrated significant relationships between perceptions of the job characteristics and SWI. Discussion centers on support which this study provides for the job characteristics model's predictions with regard to the relationship between perceptions of the job characteristics and SWI, and a possible weakness of the job characteristics model to adequately predict performance. Recommendations are made for further research. / M.S.

This study attempted to identifj and explore the role the building plays in the organisation culture of nursing homes. To do this a research plan was formulated in which the central plank was a case-study of a seventy-five bed high care nursing home. As part of the case-study, interviews were conducted at the nursing home with ten members of staff, two residents and a daughter of a resident. The study was also informed by interviews with two architects, who specialise in the design of nursing homes and aged care facilities. A theoretical model entitled the 'Conceptual Framework' was developed prior to the case-study. It was tested by applying it to findings related to the physical context and the organisation culture of the case-study venue. The hypothesis that the building does influence the culture of the nursing home environment was explored by studying the manner in which the building influenced the lives of those who work in the nursing home and those who live there. This challenge was met with the use of theoretical contributions from organisation theory and psychodynamics, which together provided a vehicle for analysis of the culture and the building's role in it.

Thesis (M.App.Psy.)--University of Waikato, 2007. / Title from PDF cover (viewed May 28, 2008) Includes bibliographical references (p. 108-117)

Submitted by Alison Vanceto (alison-vanceto@hotmail.com) on 2016-09-28T11:30:56Z No. of bitstreams: 1 TeseDBAAM.pdf: 7779532 bytes, checksum: 5ede6c76d8195cb01321dcc51c5a79b4 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ronildo Prado (ronisp@ufscar.br) on 2016-09-28T19:47:23Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 TeseDBAAM.pdf: 7779532 bytes, checksum: 5ede6c76d8195cb01321dcc51c5a79b4 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ronildo Prado (ronisp@ufscar.br) on 2016-09-28T19:47:40Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 TeseDBAAM.pdf: 7779532 bytes, checksum: 5ede6c76d8195cb01321dcc51c5a79b4 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-09-28T19:54:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 TeseDBAAM.pdf: 7779532 bytes, checksum: 5ede6c76d8195cb01321dcc51c5a79b4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-07-03 / Não recebi financiamento / Understanding the work in order to transform it is the concern of ergonomics. To expand its capacity of effective intervention this discipline gets closer to the field of engineering, especially the production engineering, searching for methods, techniques and tools, which assist it in the design process of productive facilities. The knowledge domains related to the engineering design and, specifically, the workspace design might be of a substantial contribution to the effectiveness of the incorporation of the activity’s perspective (according to the concept of situated ergonomics) in this process. From a theoretical and conceptual articulation, which laid the foundation to the field research in an oil refining company, is sought the comprehension of how the different simulation supports were determinant to the incorporation of rationale, interests, constraints and expectations from the actors participating in the conception process. To achieve this comprehension is used the concept of intermediary objects of conception and their theoretical stances in the axis “commissioning-mediator” and “closed-open”. The research makes evident the role the simulation supports play in the creation of simulation situations allowing divergent (and innovative) processes in the action of designing technical systems and convergent processes in the conduction of the project. The prescriptive propositions (from the practical world, including the activity’s perspective) and descriptive (from the theoretical world, containing in it the exact sciences and related technical questions) are also incorporated in the articulation, allowing a dialogic process of conception. The research presents recommendations which enable the design of productive facilities to entail an ongoing and distributed conception, having the simulation as an instrument oriented to the object (design action of the technical system), to the other (coordinated action) and to the self (when encompassing space to its development, learning and transformation). / A ergonomia se preocupa em compreender o trabalho para transformá-lo. Para aumentar sua capacidade de intervenção efetiva esta disciplina se aproxima da engenharia, em especial da engenharia de produção, buscando métodos, técnicas e ferramentas que a auxiliem no processo de concepção de situações produtivas. As áreas do conhecimento relacionadas ao design de engenharia e, em especial, do projeto do trabalho, podem colaborar substancialmente para a efetividade da incorporação da perspectiva da atividade (segundo conceito da ergonomia situada) neste processo. A partir de uma articulação teórica e conceitual, que serviu como referencial da pesquisa de campo em uma indústria de refino de petróleo, busca-se compreender como diferentes suportes de simulação foram determinantes para a incorporação das racionalidades, interesses, restrições e expectativas dos atores participantes do processo de concepção. Utilizou-se o conceito de objetos intermediários de concepção e suas posturas teóricas nos eixos “comissionário-mediador” e “fechado-aberto”. A pesquisa evidencia o papel que os suportes de simulação possuem na criação de situações de simulação ao permitirem processos divergentes (e inovadores) na ação projetual dos sistemas técnicos e processos convergentes para a condução do projeto. As proposições prescritivas (do mundo da prática, incluindo a perspectiva da atividade) e descritivas (do mundo teórico, contendo neste as ciências exatas e questões técnicas derivadas) também são incorporadas na articulação de forma a permitir um processo dialógico de concepção. A pesquisa apresenta recomendações para que o projeto de situações produtivas comporte uma concepção continuada e distribuída, tendo a simulação como instrumento orientado ao objeto (ação projetual do sistema técnico), ao outro (ação coordenada) e ao próprio sujeito (ao comportar espaço para seu desenvolvimento, aprendizado e transformação).