This thesis is a study of gender and organisation in Sri Lanka, a society of diverse cultural identities. The research question addresses factors related to women and men's orientations to work and the extent to which institutional factors, located in the broader societal context of Sri Lankan organisations, add explanatory power in analysis of the degree of job satisfaction and work perceptions. The thesis also investigates the relationship between organisational level attributes and the understanding of managers' work perceptions, as well as seeking variation at the institutional level. The main research instrument was a questionnaire, and quantitative data was generated from field surveys of 382 Sri Lankan male and female managers. The data is stratified randomly, forming a sample of top, middle and junior level managers. These managers belong to diverse Sri Lankan organisations in terms of size, ownership, and line of business. The findings illustrate that organisational level attributes have greater explanatory power in interpreting the work perceptions of male and female managers in Sri Lanka than do the institutional factors. However, qualitative interviews that were conducted reveal the salience of institutional factors to explain aspects of work perceptions. Organisational policies and recommendations that can be derived from this finding are elaborated in the conclusions. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Clinical social workers have roles in providing end-of-life care in the United States. Although clinical social workers are present in the intensive care unit (ICU) setting and have expertise to address end-of-life care dynamics, social workers are not consistently included in end-of-life discussions in the ICU setting. The purpose of this action research study was to explore the barriers that prevent clinical social workers from being included in end-of-life discussions in the ICU and how clinical social workers perceive their roles in end-of-life discussions in the adult ICU setting. Open-ended questions were used to gather data by facilitating 4 focus groups with 17 clinical social workers employed at a Florida hospital. This study was guided by complexity theory, which is concerned with complex systems and how systems can produce order while simultaneously creating unpredictable system behavior. A thematic analysis coding technique was used to analyze the data collected. Three themes emerged from data analysis: the ICU setting as chaotic, complex, and unpredictable; role ambiguity; and lack of confidence of social workers to perform expected roles in end-of-life discussions. The implications of this study for social work practice and social change relate to closing the gap between the patient, family members, social workers, and the medical team by developing protocols that consistently include social workers in end-of-life discussions, including education for the multidisciplinary team in the ICU on the skill set and role of clinical social workers in end-of-life discussions and formal training and education for clinical social workers regarding end-of-life care.

As work environments become more complex and demanding, organizations are becoming more interested in measuring the impact of their human resource development programs and initiatives. With this increased attention on data and measurement, human resource professionals have been encouraged to utilize data collection and data analysis techniques to make more objective and rationale human capital decisions and to verify business impact. As a result, the human resource profession has seen a significant increase in the use of surveys to measure anything from training effectiveness to the efficacy of recruitment procedures. The increase in the use of survey instruments requires that more focused attention is placed on the reliability and validity of data from any instrument used to make important human resource and business decisions. One instrument that is currently being used to measure career plateaus and job fit is the Work Perceptions Profile. The purpose of this research study was to conduct a construct validity analysis of the Work Perceptions Profile data and to determine the factor structure of data from its items. The data in this analysis supported a two-factor model structure with the first factor measuring Work Characteristics and a second factor measuring Performance. The results of this analysis will be helpful in exploring further how employees perceive their work place, their careers and their relationships with others within the organization.