Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Work colleagues'

This thesis is in the form of a novel about three work colleagues who, as part of their job, have to drive long distances together. The story is told from the perspective of all of them but mainly from one of the women who tells the story in the first person. The man and two women are so different from each other in personality and outlook on life, and the basis of the novel is their interactions with each other, the frictions within their relationships, and the thoughts that go through their heads while they are driving. These people spend long hours together in the car and in motel rooms yet they never get any closer to each other. The only one of them who seems to get anything from the experience is the woman who is in the first person, as she achieves a greater sense of her own identity. The other two regard the experiences as just another job and of no great importance in their lives.
Master of Arts (Hons)

Working in school settings can present school social workers, teachers, and counselors with multiple risk factors that increase their likelihood of experiencing burnout. Providing direct services to students on a regular basis can have a negative impact on their overall sense of well-being along with other factors associated with being employed as a social service provider. Promoting Resilient School Personnel project (PRSP) consists of a series of on-site mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) workshops aimed at providing school social workers, teachers, and counselors at a public school in Los Angeles County with the resources to understand and help prevent burnout, the opportunity to learn and practice different mindfulness-based techniques, and strategies to establish long term self-care habits that promote a high sense of well-being. A potential funder was identified, although actual funding and submission of this grant proposal were not requirements for the successful completion of this project.

Abstract The aim of the present study was to investigate what kind of factors contributed to motivate a group of nurses at a nursing home in western Sweden to to perform their work. Furthermore, the authors wanted to investigate whether the staff nurses felt that the leader helped to increase or reduce the perceived motivation to perform such work, and the way in which staff nurses perceived their relationship to the leader. The study is based on Herzberg's (1959) two-factor theory, Hackman and Oldham's (1980) work designs theory and Leader-member exchange (LMX) theory, and those theories are the basis of the study's structure. The study was of a qualitative property, interviews were conducted with seven nurses and was structured, the questions concerned their subjective experience of motivating factors in their everyday work. The results of this study demonstrated that respondents experienced confirmation, the meaningfulness of the work, work colleagues, beneficiaries of care and residents' families as contributing factors to motivate them in their daily work. It was also found in the results of the study that respondents considered the leader as a factor reducing the motivation to carry out their daily work, as the respondents also felt the relationship with the leader to be very limited. The analysis also identified a new category that the authors have chosen to call "resistance".

Tertiary institutions in South Africa have experienced radical changes in the past decades, especially due to the change from technikons to universities of technology. These changes created new mental and emotional demands for academic staff and placed them under additional pressure. Problems experienced by tertiary institutions include constantly changing systems, students from underprivileged backgrounds and decreased subsidies from the state. These factors could lead to role overload and role conflict. The objective of this research was to examine the relationships between individual indicators of work climate (job challenge demand, role overload and role conflict, job satisfaction and pay satisfaction and social support) and turnover intention. Further objectives included empirically determining if these indicators of work climate can be used to predict turnover intention and to determine if social support plays a moderating role in the translation of work climate in turnover intention. A cross-sectional survey design was used. A convenience sample was taken from a South African university of technology. Measuring instruments for all the variables of interest were administered. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data. Finally, a structural equation model was developed to explain the relations between the variables. The results obtained for the scales proved that four of the seven specific measuring instruments are reliable in terms of their specific use for employees in a South African tertiary institution. Job challenge demand, quantitative role overload and role conflict were less reliable. Results showed that when an employee feels that he/she has too much to do in too little time, or if the task is too difficult to complete, he/she will experience lower levels of job satisfaction which in turn may lead to higher levels of turnover intention. Social support from the supervisor and colleagues increase job satisfaction. A moderating effect for social support between work climate (role characteristics and satisfaction) and turnover intention was demonstrated. By way of conclusion, recommendations for future research were made.
Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

This study explores the influence of music sharing at work on social relationships between colleagues. Music sharing has been proven to facilitate friendship and maintenance in various social environments (Brown, Sellen, & Geelhoed, 2001; Voida, Grinter, & Ducheneaut, 2006). However, music sharing at work in its influence on friendships between colleagues has never been explored, even though establishing and strengthening social relationships within the workplace have become increasingly important within organisations (Berman, West, & Richter, 2002). Informal relationships are beneficial for the overall well-being of an organisation as they increase the exchange of resources between colleagues. For the individual workers these relationships satisfy their need for social interaction. The study applied a mixed methods approach involving quantitative as well as qualitative methods. Twenty-nine employees from design agencies throughout New Zealand participated in an online survey and seven in semi-structured interviews. Both online survey and interviews were used in combination in order to achieve complementarily and triangulation between quantitative and qualitative data. The results suggest that music sharing contributes to the development of social bonding that occurs in the workplace. On the basis of the music that was shared through various technologies colleagues appeared to form impressions of each other. This involved determining each others’ music preferences and associating other personality aspects with those music preferences. It appeared that the more similarly colleagues perceived each others’ musical tastes, the more likely they were to become friends and/or to form informal music taste groups at work. The degree of reciprocity of music predicted the degree of intimacy between colleagues. When colleagues who were friends shared music with each other, they were much more concerned about reciprocating the music adequately than when they shared with colleagues they knew only superficially. The findings of this study are relevant for employers who want to promote relationship development between colleagues in a work environment where employees are passionate about music.

Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att få en ökad förståelse för vad som motiverar säljare, studien ämnar undersöka hur säljares motivation påverkas av belöningssystem och det sociala samspelet i form av; tävlingar, interaktion med kollegorna och utvecklingsmöjligheter. Metod: För att samla in material till studien har semi-strukturerade intervjuer används. I studien har åtta säljare intervjuats. Slutsatser: Studien har visat att kollegor och feedback är viktigt för våra respondenters motivation på arbetsplatsen. Viljan att gå till arbetet påverkas av relationerna till kollegorna. Feedback är viktigt för motivationen till arbetet. Kollegornas feedback värmer medan chefens feedback fungerar mer som en sporre till att arbeta hårdare. Provision, tävlingar och utvecklingsmöjligheter är något som motiverar flertalet av våra respondenter. Provisionen är en morot för de flesta och tävlingar gör det lite roligare för de anställda. Utvecklingsmöjligheter är viktigt för majoriteten av studiens respondenter.
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to obtain a better understanding of what motivates salespeople, the study aims to investigate how the motivation of salespeople is influenced by reward systems and social interaction in the form of; competitions, interaction with colleagues and development opportunities. Methodology: To collect material for the study semi-structured interviews has been used. Eight salespersons were interviewed. Conclusions: The study has shown that for our study’s respondents colleagues and feedback is the most important source of motivation in the workplace. The will to go to work is influenced by relationships with colleagues while the feedback is important for the motivation to work. Colleagues' feedback is warming while the manager's feedback acts more as an incentive to work harder. Commissions, competitions and development is something that motivates the majority of our respondents. The commission is a carrot for the majority and competitions make it more fun for employees. Development opportunities are important for the majority of the study respondents.

På senare år har ett nytt sorts chefskap blivit mer och mer vanligt, ett chefskap där man är både chef och kollega. Detta sätt att vara chef på är vanligt inom många branscher i dag, även inom förskolans värld, där jag är verksam. Att balansera mellan olika roller på ett övertygande sätt är långt ifrån en lätt sak, men de dubbla rollerna har även positiva sidor. Mitt syfte med denna essä, som är baserad på självupplevda händelser, är att försöka reda ut för- och nackdelar med att vara en chef som sitter på två stolar, och att få svar på frågan: Är det möjligt för en och samma person att gå i och ur sina olika roller och vilka egenskaper behöver denna person ha?  För att få svar på mina frågor har jag fört diskussioner med den teoretiska litteraturen. Jag har samtidigt fått möjligheten att använda mig av min erfarenhetsgrundade kunskap genom ett reflekterande skrivande. För att få tillfälle att studera dessa fördelar och nackdelar har jag tittat på betydelsen av förhållningssätt hos medlemmarna i en liten arbetsgrupp, hur den skiljer sig mot förhållningssättet i större organisationer. Jag har också försökt ta reda på ledarskapets roll och betydelse i en liten arbetsgrupp i dagens samhälle, men även resonerat kring ledarskapet ur en historisk synvinkel. Jag avslutar med en artikel ur tidningen Chefs nätupplaga som visserligen inte kan räknas som vetenskaplig, men som jag tycker ger bra och tydliga exempel på hur det faktiskt kan se ut för den som är en ”chef på två stolar”. Tack vare detta essäskrivande, som gett mig tillfälle till att reflektera över mina handlingar och tankar, har jag fått möjligheten att se på mitt chefskap med nya ögon. Jag inser mer och mer att en person som har dubbla roller måste vara stresstålig, beslutskraftig och ha ett genuint intresse för verksamheten och personalen. Det viktigaste av allt är att personen har förmågan att lära sig av sina praktiska erfarenheter och göra den till en kunskap som är användbar i sitt chefskap.
In recent years, a new kind of leadership has become more and more common, a leadership which includes being both manager and colleague. This kind of leadership is today common in the business world and even in the preschool where I am active. To balance these two different roles in a convincing manner is far from easy to handle. But at the same time the dual roles also have their positive sides. The purpose with writing this essay, which is based on self-experienced situations, is to try to sort out the advantages and disadvantages of being a manager “sitting on two chairs” and to try to find the answer for the question: Is it possible for a person to step in and out of different roles and which kind of personality is suited for this?   To find answers of my questions I have used the method of reflective writing and referred to and discussed different theoretical perspectives and positions. I also have the opportunity to use the knowledge I have gained through experience. I have considered the importance of the attitude in a small work group, and how it differs from a larger organization. I have tried to find out the importance of leadership in today`s society and I have also look at leadership from a historical point of view. At the end I used an article from a web magazine called Chef. The article shows good examples of the reality for a “manager who sits on two chairs”. By writing this essay, I have got the opportunity to reflect of my own thoughts and actions in the role of manager. I now realize that a person with dual roles must be stress-resistant, decisive and have a genuine interest in the business as well as in the employees.   One of the most important skills is the ability to learn from ones practical experiences, and make it useful in the future leadership.

The factors associated with employees' work related attitudes and cognitions were examined. A sample of employees from Community Living Trust (CLT), an organisation within the disability support worker industry, completed a questionnaire that included several measures: supervisor and colleague support, role conflict, role ambiguity and role overload, time-based, strain-based and behaviour-based work-to-family/family-to-work conflict, organisational commitment, job satisfaction and turnover intentions. The purpose of this study was to explore the extent to which supervisor and colleague support contributed to a reduction in role conflict, role ambiguity and role overload. In addition, the relationship between support and work-to-family/family-to-work conflict were also explored. Finally, the organisational outcomes, in particular organisational commitment, job satisfaction and turnover intentions, were examined. It was found that supervisor and colleague support did, in some cases, moderated the relationship between role stressors, conflict and job satisfaction / organisational commitment. It was also found that job satisfaction and affective commitment mediated the relationship between the role stressors, WF strain-based conflict and turnover intentions. The major implications from this research are that human resource initiatives should be developed that aims to identify the support needs employees may have, in order to increase levels of job satisfaction and organisational commitment and decrease levels of turnover intentions. The final chapter of this research explored the practical implications to the organisation, employees and the need for future research.

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Universidade Federal de Sao Carlos
The social inclusion of people with intellectual disability becomes reality as they start occupying public spaces and do activities common to all people. In this sense, working is an important factor of social inclusion. Several legal mechanisms have been developed to help the access and permanence of people with disability into work force, such as the Quota Law and the determination of support to facilitate their adaptation. However problems related to education, prejudice and difficulty in having the necessary adjustments have been shown to be major obstacles when it comes to the fulfillment of the right of people with disability to be accepted into a job. The objective of this study was to analyze the process of adaptation of people with intellectual disability in situations of competitive labor through the use of natural support. Therefore two young people with intellectual disability were placed in competitive employment in an agricultural company, working as production assistants. Each of these young people received support from a coworker, who participated in one training to teach people with intellectual disability. Evaluations were performed before and after the training, aiming to identify changes in the work performance of colleagues in relation to teaching tasks and the impact of these changes in work performance of employees with intellectual disability. It was observed that the instructions provided by coworkers were sufficient for the employees with intellectual disability to adequately perform their work. They quickly learned and did activities with quality and skill, and showed other behaviors consistent with the work situation, such as punctuality, persistence and commitment to the activities. However, there were some behaviors that brought difficulty to their adaptation, such as social skills deficits. Some characteristics of company functioning, such as the requirement of productivity and lack of flexibility of time to adjust to the working conditions, as well as prejudice against people with intellectual disability were identified as hindering aspects of the inclusion of persons with disability in the workplace. The data obtained in this study pointed to the potential participation of colleagues in the adaptation of people with intellectual disability to work, and conducting training to make these colleagues able to play the role of coaches. It was concluded that for the inclusion of people with intellectual disability in a work situation be possible, it is necessary a larger change, involving employers, employees without disability, and persons with disability.
A inclusão social da pessoa com deficiência intelectual torna-se concreta na medida em que esta passa a ocupar espaços comuns e desempenhar atividades comuns a todas as pessoas. Neste sentido, o trabalho é importante fator de inclusão social. Diversos mecanismos legais têm sido desenvolvidos visando facilitar o acesso e a permanência da população com deficiência ao trabalho, tais como a Lei de Cotas e a determinação de disponibilização de apoios que facilitem sua adaptação. No entanto, problemas relacionados à educação, preconceito e dificuldade em dispor das adaptações necessárias tem se mostrado grandes entraves quando se trata da efetivação do direito de pessoas com deficiência exercerem um trabalho. O objetivo deste estudo foi analisar o processo de adaptação de pessoas com deficiência intelectual em situação de trabalho competitivo mediante a utilização de suporte natural. Para isso, duas jovens com deficiência intelectual foram inseridas em emprego competitivo em uma empresa do ramo agroavícola, onde atuaram como auxiliares de produção. Cada uma destas jovens recebeu apoio de uma colega de trabalho, que participou de treinamentos para atuar no ensino de pessoas com deficiência intelectual. Avaliações foram realizadas antes e depois da aplicação dos treinamentos, com o objetivo de identificar mudanças na atuação das colegas de trabalho em relação ao ensino das tarefas e o impacto destas mudanças no desempenho no trabalho das funcionárias com deficiência intelectual. Observou-se que as colegas de trabalho ofereceram instruções suficientes para que as funcionárias com deficiência intelectual realizassem de maneira adequada seu trabalho. Estas rapidamente aprenderam e desempenharam as atividades com qualidade e destreza, e apresentaram outros comportamentos compatíveis com a situação de trabalho, tais como pontualidade, persistência e compromisso com as atividades. No entanto, observaram-se alguns comportamentos dificultadores de sua adaptação, tais como o déficit de habilidades sociais. Características de funcionamento da empresa, tais como a exigência de produtividade e ausência de flexibilidade de tempo para adaptação ao trabalho, bem como o preconceito em relação à pessoa com deficiência intelectual, foram identificadas como aspectos dificultadores da inclusão da pessoa com deficiência no contexto do trabalho. Os dados obtidos nesta pesquisa apontam para a potencialidade da participação de colegas na adaptação de pessoas com deficiência intelectual ao trabalho, bem como da realização de treinamentos para tornar estes colegas aptos a desempenhar a função de treinadores. Concluiu-se que para que a inclusão da pessoa com deficiência intelectual na situação de trabalho seja possível, faz-se necessária uma mudança maior envolvendo empregadores, empregados sem deficiência e empregados com deficiência.

South African black Managers are experiencing numerous problems as pioneers in the white-dominated managerial world. Management and research studies have usually concentrated on the black managers' behaviour. The present investigation attempts to redress this by examining their work-related experiences. Phase I examined the attitudes, perceptions and experiences of 34 black managers, and of selected work colleagues (a boss, peer and subordinate,if available) in regard to the black manager and black job advancement issues. In-depth, focused interviews were conducted. Fundamental interpersonal perceptual discrepancies emerged between the black managers and their work associates. The black managers tended to attribute their work problems and behaviour to external, situational factors By contrast their work colleagues often ascribed them to personal dispositions of the black manager. Euclidean distance analyses revealed that the largest interpersonal perceptual differences were between the black manager-boss dyads. This was followed by the black manager-peer dyads, boss-peer dyads and black manager-subordinate dyads. The black managers' perceptions diverged significantly from those of their white bosses, whose perceptions were closer to those of the white peers. Finally, analyses of incomplete sentences filled in by the black managers identified two types of subjects. Type I informants possessed more positive self-concepts than Type II individuals. Phase II: Since the black managers appeared to be experiencing considerable work stress, this was followed up using focused interviews. The conceptual work of stress used involved models of personal environment fit, and role episode. The major work stressors the black managers reported were role-related, followed by interpersonal stressors. Role conflict, generated by their marginal, middleman position between white management and the black Workers, was particularly stress-provoking. Although several black managers coped with stressful work conditions by direct problem-solving action, many resort to emotional defensive mechanisms. Discriminant analyses revealed that: black managers with large boss-black manager interpersonal perceptual disparities, were under more stress than those with small disparities; more work stress was reported by Type II than Type I informants, by middle management than junior management blacks, and by black line managers than black staff managers. The thesis concludes with recommendations of an applied nature.
Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1985.

Yes
With the overnight growth in Working from Home (WFH) owing to the pandemic, organisations and their employees have had to adapt work-related processes and practices quickly with a huge reliance upon technology. Everyday activities such as social interactions with colleagues must therefore be reconsidered. Existing literature emphasises that social interactions, typically conducted in the traditional workplace, are a fundamental feature of social life and shape employees' experience of work. This experience is completely removed for many employees due to the pandemic and, presently, there is a lack of knowledge on how individuals maintain social interactions with colleagues via technology when working from home. Given that a lack of social interaction can lead to social isolation and other negative repercussions, this study aims to contribute to the existing body of literature on remote working by highlighting employees' experiences and practices around social interaction with colleagues. This study takes an interpretivist and qualitative approach utilising the diary-keeping technique to collect data from twenty-nine individuals who had started to work from home on a full-time basis as a result of the pandemic. The study explores how participants conduct social interactions using different technology platforms and how such interactions are embedded in their working lives. The findings highlight the difficulty in maintaining social interactions via technology such as the absence of cues and emotional intelligence, as well as highlighting numerous other factors such as job uncertainty, increased workloads and heavy usage of technology that affect their work lives. The study also highlights that despite the negative experiences relating to working from home, some participants are apprehensive about returning to work in the traditional office place where social interactions may actually be perceived as a distraction. The main contribution of our study is to highlight that a variety of perceptions and feelings of how work has changed via an increased use of digital media while working from home exists and that organisations need to be aware of these differences so that they can be managed in a contextualised manner, thus increasing both the efficiency and effectiveness of working from home.

碩士
健行科技大學
國際企業經營系碩士班
104
The purpose of the study is to examine the influences of servant leadership on work engagement, and to explore the mediation role of trust toward colleagues. Previous studies have shown that positive leadership behaviors can affect work engagement; however, we know little about the impact of servant leadership. In order to fill this gap, this study aims to explore how servant leadership influence on teachers’ work engagement in junior high and elementary school, and consider trust toward colleagues as a mediator in the relationship between servant leadership and work engagement. A sample of 570 teachers in junior high and elementary school in Taiwan were collected through the survey condocted by this study. The empirical results show that: 1. Servant leadership has a significantly positive impact on work engagement. 2. Servant leadership has a significantly positive influence on trust toward colleagues. 3. Trust toward colleagues has a significantly positive impact on work engagement. 4.Trust toward colleagues is a mediator between servant leadership and work engagement. 　　Finally, according to the findings, this study was made some recommendations for practices, as well as suggestions for future research.

This thesis is in the form of a novel about three work colleagues who, as part of their job, have to drive long distances together. The story is told from the perspective of all of them but mainly from one of the women who tells the story in the first person. The man and two women are so different from each other in personality and outlook on life, and the basis of the novel is their interactions with each other, the frictions within their relationships, and the thoughts that go through their heads while they are driving. These people spend long hours together in the car and in motel rooms yet they never get any closer to each other. The only one of them who seems to get anything from the experience is the woman who is in the first person, as she achieves a greater sense of her own identity. The other two regard the experiences as just another job and of no great importance in their lives.

碩士
銘傳大學
諮商與工商心理學系碩士在職專班
106
Since the employees play the crucial and indispensable role in the organization, the personality traits of employees are one of the key factors to contribute to the company growth. Therefore, the aim of this study is to determine how employees with the neuroticism personality trait and agreeableness personality trait influence to their job performance, and to infer whether the emotional intelligence (EI) and colleagues support have a regulatory effect, hopefully to obtain a better understanding on the relationship of variables through analyzing the results from this study and create a friendly and harmonious teamwork environment for employee recruitment. This research is conducted through the online questionnaire with random sampling approach, while valid questionnaires (n=550) are collected from the Taiwanese employee respondents, followed by utilizing the statistical analysis methods such as correlation analysis, hierarchical regression analysis. The result of this study indicate that: 1) the higher the neuroticism trait is, the worse the work performance; while the higher the agreeableness trait is, the better the work performance; 2) EI has a regulating effect on the relationship between neuroticism personality trait and the work performance rather than weaken the regulating effect; EI has no significant effect on the regulation between agreeableness personality trait and the work performance; 3) colleague support does not significantly influence to the regulation between the neuroticism personality trait and the work performance; the regulating effect of colleagues support on the agreeableness personality trait and the work performance is not statistically significant. Finally, among the findings of this research, the research implications, limitations, and future research directions are discussed and proposed.