The face of the American workforce is changing. As more women and minorities enter the workplace and globalization continues, workers must work with. interact with, and sell to people who are different from themselves. Workers bring their cultures, attitudes, and modes of operation with them. To address the issue of being productive in a diversified environment, corporations have implemented diversity training programs. For the purpose of this study, diversity was defined as gender differences. This research examined the effects of diversity training on increasing the awareness and understanding of gender differences in the workplace. The experimental design of the study was a pretest posttest involving two groups in a large corporation who received different forms of training to address gender differences. One group received its training in the traditional manner currently used in the corporation. The second group participated in enhanced training targeted to include multiple learning styles and focused on why this effort was important to the individuals as well as the corporation. A true-false test based on gender differences was given prior to the training to account for individual differences and to establish the means for the groups. The same test was given following the training to determine the effectiveness of the training. The statistical procedure used in this study was an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) in order to determine whether there was a significant difference between the mean scores of the two groups. A level of significance of .05 was specified. Calculations were done using the computer program SPSS version 9.0. The data yielded a statistically significant difference between the employees who received the enhanced training and the employees who received the standard training on knowledge of gender differences in the workplace.

This dissertation is an interdisciplinary work that explores the intersection of humanities and technical communication by focusing on the presence and impact of software company workplace bias in technical professional communication. It focuses on workplace bias in technical communication because, when present, bias can impact the experiences that technical communicators and end-users (people who use the software) have with the software. This mixed-methods study consists of a survey, an interview, and a new diagram designed to help technical communicators mitigate biases in technical documentation. To understand better the presence and impact of bias in these workplace contexts, this study surveys and interviews technical communication professionals (TCPs) with software industry work experience. First, I introduce key relationships and terms that connect the software industry to technical communication, discuss the significance of workplace bias in technical communication, and provide an overview of the study, including its research questions, research methods, and design. Next, I present background based on a literature review, including defining and presenting workplace bias issues in the software industry and technical communication field. I also present intersectional feminism as the theoretical framework. Thereafter, I detail research methods, which include the mixed-methods design, strategies for a feminist research approach, and a detailed explanation of the survey and interview design. Next, I present survey and interview results and discuss implications from professional and scholarly technical communication lenses. Finally, I draw conclusions about workplace biases based not only on survey and interview data but also by discussing new intersectional themes that offer new bias-based perspectives and legitimize issues of intersectional feminism and social justice in technical communication.

This investigation was conducted in response to the need for effective diversity awareness programs to help employers create intergenerational-friendly work environments. An experimental pre- and post-test control group randomized block design was employed to answer two research questions about the effects of a simulation game on knowledge and attitudes about age-related changes in learning and work behaviors of older workers. Participants were assessed immediately prior to and following the treatment, followed by a third assessment 60 days later. Necessary measures were taken to control for threats to the study's internal validity. An applicant pool comprised of human resource management and development practitioners and senior undergraduate students enrolled in human resource management courses yielded a sample of 65 participants. Chapter one introduces the study. Chapter two provides a review and summary of relevant literature on ageism in the workplace, training older workers, and simulation games. Chapter three describes the procedures and methods used to answer the research questions. Chapter four presents the results of all analytic procedures related to the investigation. Chapter five provides the conclusions and recommendations based on the findings of this investigation. In this investigation, the treatment group did not score significantly higher on their knowledge of age-related changes in learning and work behaviors of older workers than the control group following treatment. The attitudinal change experienced by the treatment group did not differ significantly from the attitudinal change experienced by the control group. Recommendations for further research include the following: (a) the disordinal interactive effect of the control group's performance on the knowledge measure during the 60-day interval between post assessments warrants further investigation, (b) the statistically significant change in attitude that occurred within each group during the 60-day interval following treatment warrants further investigation, and (c) more reliable instruments need to be developed for measuring the effects of heightened awareness following diversity interventions.

Cultural diversity is affecting every aspect of society today and nurses need to be able to provide culturally competent care to remain relevant, and useful, within the current climate. Cultural immersion experiences are one of the teaching strategies that have been incorporated in an attempt to prepare nurses to be culturally competent in practice. However, there are only a few research studies that have been conducted, within the discipline of nursing, to empirically document the process and outcomes of a cultural immersion experience. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine factors that facilitate a meaningful cultural immersion experience during a nursing program, as well as the short-term effects of such experiences on personal and professional growth and cultural awareness. The theoretical framework for the study was Leininger's theory of Culture Care Diversity and Universality.This study identified factors that were relevant and important in facilitating a meaningful cultural immersion experience within the categories of situational predetermining factors, modifying factors, and transitional factors (adjustment strategies). Situational predetermining factors identified as relevant included prior personal and professional experiences, prior attitudes and values, preparation before departure, andprior cultural knowledge. Modifying factors identified as relevant included the perception of living in another world, and being "stuck there," as well as the type of location, type of nursing experience, and people met on site. Transitional factors identified as relevant included social support from classmates and the use of coping responses such as humor, self-reliance, personal strength/faith, as well as adjustment of communication style to be able to talk with host-nationals. Finally, personal and professional growth and changes in cultural awareness were identified as outcomes of the immersion experience. Further research on the process and outcomes of cultural immersion is needed to continue to generate a base of nursing knowledge related to cultural immersion, and to assist nurse educators in the planning and execution of such experiences. / School of Nursing

Cette thèse propose un examen empirique du programme de modernisation de l’État articulé en France, entre 2014 et 2017, autour du concept d’« État plateforme » et interroge l’intérêt étatique pour la modernité technologique des administrations — souvent qualifiée de numérique. Le cahier des charges confié aux modernisateurs de l’État était le suivant : simplifier la réalisation des démarches administratives des usagers, évaluer et améliorer la qualité des services publics, investir dans des équipements informatiques communs aux administrations, expérimenter de nouveaux modes de gouvernement ; le tout en faisant participer les usagers et les agents publics. Ce programme d’action ne prétendait pas transformer tout l’État, je soutiens qu’il se présenterait plutôt comme une boursoufflure technologique sur le paysage administratif, un pli. Pour rendre compte de ce nouveau monde de la modernisation et de ces conséquences politiques et matérielles, mon travail se positionne au croisement des études des sciences et des techniques, de la sociologie de l’activité et de la sociologie de l’État. À partir d’une enquête ethnographique menée dans le service du Premier ministre responsable de l’activité coordonnée de réforme de l’État, j’analyse cette modernisation en train de se faire, sous la forme alors déterminante des projets. La thèse s’ouvre sur un état des lieux des littératures sur la réforme de l’État et les phénomènes de modernisation. Elle est ensuite divisée en quatre chapitres, chacun retraçant un projet. Tous les projets instrumentés par le design, l’ergonomie, l’informatique, l’économie et la sociologie parcourent une facette de l’action coordonnée de transformation technologique de l’État, en même temps qu’ils explorent un lieu de l’État. / This thesis offers an empirical examination of the programme of state modernization developed in France, between 2014 and 2017, around the concept of the ‘Platform State’. It examines the state’s interest for the technological modernity of public administrations – often labelled digital. The state modernisers’ mandate was as follows: simplify the implementation of administrative procedures, assess and improve the quality of public services for users, invest in digital infrastructure, experiment with new modes of government, involve users and public officials. This programme did not claim to transform the state as a whole. I argue that it constituted rather a technological swelling on the administrative landscape, a fold. To account for this new world of modernisation and its political and material consequences, my work is positioned at the crossroads of science and technology studies, the sociology of activity and the sociology of the state. Based on an ethnographic study carried out in the Prime Minister’s department in charge for the coordinated activity of state reform, I analyse this modernisation in-the-making as a process, and a project. The thesis starts with review of the literature on the reform of the state and the phenomena of modernisation. It is then divided into four chapters, each analysing one specific project. All projects, instrumented by design, ergonomics, computer science, economics and sociology, engage different facets of the state’s transformation, and explore different sites of the state.

In the domain of access control, the notion of zone is still ambiguous. The zone demands clearer contextualization that resonates with the security operators in their workplace. Through interpretive research, this project aims to investigate intuitive ways to monitor the overview of security through visualisation and propose a groundwork that can facilitate discussion around future possibilities of zones in physical access control. Based on the sense making process, this project presents three visualisation models: textual, physical, and abstract. Each model explores various representations of zones to communicate zone-to-zone relationships to improve usability. Also, the design work demonstrates diverse expressive qualities interacting with spaces that are physical, conceptual, and logical. In the most practical sense, the zone means groups of doors, however, the zone also embodies an abstract layer of interpretation that is not strictly connected to a physical space.

Policing in The United Kingdom is an intricate business, balancing the enforcement of statute and other laws while dealing with public safety and security. Policing engages a diverse and complicated set of organisational structures and processes relying heavily on the skill and expertise of officers on the ground. Their role in preventing and or intercepting crime before, during and after it occurs is integral to sustaining peace, security, law and order in communities. The police operational and logistics staff work day to day with information and communication technologies, ranging from conventional databases and information systems to ubiquitous and specialised tools.  Understanding the use of technology and its management in policing has formed the backbone of this research conducted through a qualitative approach. This study adopted an interpretive paradigmic analytical lens using ethnography situated in the workplace as a methodology. The qualitative study took the form of field immersion for nine months using interviewing, and shadowing/observation to suit the complexity of the socio-technical context. Analysis was conducted using thematic analytical methods. Understanding how the police force interact with and shape the way that information and communication technologies enable them to fight crime is, then, the subject of this thesis. The findings highlighted the complexities and  intricacies involved in the use of technology, identifying unique differentiations in the way technology is engaged and integrated into policing including comparative understanding relative to other sectors and industries.  On the whole the central features of this work highlight understanding of the role information and communication technologies; usefulness, usage in practice and operational activity, strategic business goals, knowledge management, business intelligence and intelligence led architecture, governance and performance models in policing the county of Bedfordshire, England.