Massey Documents by Type

Permanent URI for this communityhttps://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/294

Browse

Has files: YesSubject: search.filters.subject.Organisational behaviour

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 12
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The 'climates' of the logging industry : effects on safety, commitment, turnover, and accidents : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Soc. Sci.) in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1999) Rothwell, Kelly A
    New Zealand's logging industry is one of the country's largest exporting industries. With increased global competition and demands, work environments like the logging industry are finding that problems such as accidents and turnover rates are intensifying. Much research has been completed on accident and turnover rates, yet no decrease is apparent. New approaches in identifying reasons for such problems are therefore necessary. Gaining knowledge of the rationale for high turnover and accident rates (adverse activities) within the logging industry included investigating the general PC, group and organisational climate, safety climate, organisational commitment and intentions to quit (job behaviours/perceptions)of logging industry members. Field and Abelson's (1982) model asserts that PC can affect job behaviours/perceptions and adverse activities. Their 'new evolution' model of climate also argues that aggregation of psychological climate (PC) perceptions to gain evidence of group and organisational climate is possible if there is consensus in PC perceptions within groups and across organisations. Respondents were a heterogeneous group of contractors (n=6) and crew members (n=67) drawn from a list of Corporate and Woodlot crews provided by Carter Holt Harvey Limited and Fletcher Challenge Limited. The relationships between demographic variables and PC were examined using analysis of variance (ANOVA). ANOVA's and Pearson r's correlations were also performed to analyse potential relationships between all the variables to determine effects on the adverse activities of the logging industry. The psychological climate, safety climate, organisational commitment, and intentions to turnover variables were found to be rather negative in direction. Aggregation of PC to group level climate proved unfruitful because of the lack of consensus within crews. However, organisational climate was evident across the logging industry. Some PC variables were found to be significantly related to safety climate variables, organisational commitment variables, and intention to quit variables. The contractors perceptions of the PC variables role ambiguity and workgroup friendliness and warmth were significantly related to crewmember turnover rates. Moreover, the contractors perceptions of the safety climate variable fatalism were significantly related to crewmember accident rates. The research limitations and implications were discussed along with recommendations for future research.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Finding a reflexive voice : -- researching the problems of implementing new learning practices within a New Zealand manufacturing organisation : a 100pt thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management in Human Resources Management at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2005) Paardekooper, Kaye Dewe
    This study explored the social forces mediating manager's participation in a new reflexive participative learning practice designed to improve profitability within a New Zealand manufacturing organisation. Despite a large theoretical and managerial body of literature on organisational learning there has been little empirical investigation of how people experience and engage their reflexivity towards challenging the status-quo to create high level learning and new knowledge. Power was identified as a potential moderator of the reflexive learning experience and the variable relations of power and learning were constructed from a review of literature and these relationships were explored and investigated within the case study. Two prevailing discourses were identified as powerful moderators of public reflexivity, the traditionalist discourse which constructed managers actions and conversations towards insularism and survivalist concerns and the productionist discourse in which institutionalised production practices encircled and mediated managers actions and what constituted legitimacy in conversations. This study used a critical action research method to place the reflexive experience of managers and the researcher at the centre of the study and provide data representative of the social discourses that constructed variable freedoms and constraints upon the reflexive voice.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    An ethnography of the nursing handover : a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Nursing at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2001) Rowe, Wendy Noeline
    The purpose of this study was to enable nurses to recognise the significance of their role in delivering the nursing handover, and the impact this has on direct patient care. The aims of the study were: To identify how prepared nurses perceived they were for the next shift at the end of the nursing handover; to describe what nurses identify as important to handover to the nurse on the next shift; and to examine the processes by which nurses deliver the nursing handover. The research question was: Does the nursing handover adequately prepare the nurse for the next shift? This qualitative study using an ethnonursing approach investigated the nursing handover in a large base hospital in New Zealand between the morning and afternoon shifts. Research data were collected during 5 non-participant observations of the nursing handovers between morning and afternoon shifts, and 10 nurses were interviewed using a semi-structured interview schedule. The interview questions emerged from the non-participant observations. The data was analysed using Leininger's 4 phases of ethnonursing. The findings identified that the nurses in the study perceived they were not always adequately prepared during the nursing handover for the next shift. They frequently needed to access further information from a variety of other sources to ensure the provision of safe care to their patients. My observations showed, that the majority of these nurses when handing over recited the list of tasks and procedures they had completed during their shift, rather than prospectively providing the information required by the incoming nurses. The findings also indicated that the nursing handover is still a key component of nursing practice, and serves purposes other than just handing over patient care. It is important for the communication, education and socialisation of nurses.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The eye of the team : critical incidents analysis of team metaphors used by teams in a health setting : a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2005) Ramkissoon, Vinodhini
    This study sought to explore working teams' mental models of their success and failure, to cast light on what improves rather than undermines the teams' performance. Implicit team mental models may become explicit through exploring the language, specifically metaphors, that teams use to describe successful and unsuccessful performance. Ten teams comprising 69 individuals from a large district health board and including one all Māori team, participated in semi-structured interviews, that focused on the positive and negative critical incidents, when working together. Twin Content analyses of each type of incident revealed classical attribution biases, for example self-serving biases (team failures externalised using system metaphors as in "It is not our fault, it is the computer's fault" and successes internalised as in "the high standard of work is a reflection on the integrity and skills of the team"). At the same time however teams occasionally sidestepped these biases by reflecting on whether they could have achieved even more. Unlike their counterparts, the single all-Māori team used the same "two worlds" metaphor to describe both success and failure through bi-cultural harmony and bi-cultural conflict. Discussion focuses on how metaphors enhance team development. For example through discourse analysis of training sessions, teams may become aware of what biases the team is engaging in, thereby fuelling organisational learning.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Newcomer learning and adjustment in small firms : social networks as a mechanism underpinning the socialisation process : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Management to Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2015) Field, Robert Arthur
    Recognition of the increasing importance of organisational socialisation for individuals and organisations needs to be viewed against the background of the current challenges and changes facing employees and employers that include global competition, economic uncertainty, restructuring, labour mobility and attempts to attract and retain a talented workforce. The nature, scope and speed of these challenges are affecting the world of work and changing the nature of the employment relationship between employee and employer. These factors have resulted in a greater number of newcomers requiring more frequent socialisation to their new environments and organisations having to socialise newcomers more often, in ensuring newcomers learn and adjust to their new environment and are able to contribute to individual and organisational outcomes. Small firms that represent the majority of businesses in most developed countries such as New Zealand and make a major contribution to economic development and employment generation are not immune to these challenges and changes. Given the capacity of the small firm sector to make a contribution to employment and economic growth and the importance attached to the effective and efficient socialisation of newcomers on individual and organisational level outcomes, from a small firm perspective it is argued that the key role of socialisation is just as, even if not more important and challenging in achieving desired outcomes. Underpinning the socialisation process is an implicit understanding that social networks formed through the interactions and relationships between newcomers and organisational insiders are a key factor influencing newcomer learning and adjustment and resultant individual and organisational outcomes. The primary purpose of this study was to examine the role of social networks underpinning the socialisation factors influencing newcomer learning and adjustment and resultant outcomes in small firms. The research design adopted for the current study was a mixed methods approach that consisted of two phases. The first phase of the study adopted a qualitative approach to explore the role of social networks during the pre-encounter and encounter phases of the socialisation process and made use of semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with newcomers and socialisation agents in small firms. The second phase of this study adopted a quantitative approach, using a survey questionnaire as the data collection method to examine the impact of social networks on the relationship between the individual socialisation factor of newcomer proactivity and socialisation outcomes in small firms from a newcomer perspective. Overall, the findings of the qualitative phase of the study provide evidence of the important role of social networks during the pre-encounter and encounter phases of the socialisation process in small firms. More specifically, during pre-encounter socialisation social networks consisting of individuals from newcomers’ social and familial milieu play a key role in initiating newcomer socialisation. In addition, social networks contribute to facilitating information exchange during the selection process that contributes to newcomer learning and adjustment. During the encounter phase, social networks contribute to establishing and developing effective workplace relationships that facilitate socialisation and providing access to informational sources that influence newcomer learning and adjustment. The findings for the quantitative phase of this study suggest that social networks do not significantly mediate the relationship between the individual socialisation factor of newcomer proactivity and socialisation outcomes. These findings raise the likelihood that there might be additional situational and contextual factors that play a role in determining the role of social networks as a mediator of the relationship between socialisation factors and socialisation outcomes. The study is fairly unique in that, in contrast with most socialisation research being undertaken in large firms, the context of the study was the small firm sector. This study is also one of the first to integrate the socialisation and social network literatures and makes an important contribution by examining how social network and socialisation variables are linked, and what the possible effects of this are on newcomer learning and adjustment and resultant socialisation outcomes. A number of implications that can support newcomer learning and adjustment are outlined. Various limitations are identified and opportunities for future research that can assist in increasing understanding of the important role of social networks during socialisation that can be of benefit to researchers, organisations and society are discussed.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Stories and organisational change : participants and sensemaking in local government : a thesis report presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy (Business) in Communication Management at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2002) Day, Mary
    This project explores the role of storytelling by individuals in times of organizational change. The study was carried out in a local body organization that, like other local body bodies in New Zealand, had been undergoing a series of changes over a period of several years as the result of central government reform. There is a wide body of literature supporting the theory that the performance of stories is a key part of an organization's members' sensemaking. It has been shown that people reconstruct and interpret different experiences of organizational change and learning. For this study a total of 21 employees from the local body were interviewed by way of storytelling. The main research question asked: "what do stories told by employees in an organization undergoing change indicate about the change?" Closely related sub-questions asked if stories indicated resistance or commitment to the changes, or degrees of resistance and/or commitment. Resistance to change is recognised as a critically important factor that can influence the success or otherwise of an organizational change. This resistance can be an impediment to progress. In times of organizational change, stories told by employees may indicate resistance to the change which, if not adequately addressed, may retard organizational change efforts. The major findings from the employees' stories revealed some important key themes. They were that the participants had conflicting views of what the purpose of the current changes were. In addition, there was a general sense of, "here we go again", following on from previous changes in the organization. This perception gave the effect that participants had difficulty in viewing the current changes seriously. There was also a general perception that the right people were not being included in the change- making decision process. People felt left out and therefore expressed resistance in their stories. Further, a special group of people was selected from within the organization to carry out the change process and they too indicated feelings of isolation from and rejection by the organization's employees, and that created for them feelings of resistance. Overall, it seemed clear the stories provided confirmed that participants resisted the change to varying degrees. Thornhill, Lewis and Millmore. (2000) states perceptions about change will affect its acceptance and may lead to resistance that could effectively minimise or even negate the purpose of the intended change. The analysis of these stories provided implications for change managers. This study has shown that the individuals' narratives orstories are a powerful vehicle and source of knowledge of how employees view happenings within the organization. A positive lesson to be learned from this research, and one which can be utilised by change managers in the future, is the significance of employees' stories and their importance to managers to listen to, gauge and assess the mood of the organization toward change. A second round of interviews with a small group of the original interviewees, one year on, served the purpose of giving the participants an opportunity to reflect on the events and for sensemaking of what they didn't necessarily understand or were not aware of at the time of the first round. This proved to be a valuable opportunity to consider, reflect and learn for future organizational change processes. It is suggested that it would be useful to conduct similar research within other local bodies that have also been undergoing series of changes over recent years following central government reform. Because of the uniqueness of local bodies and their position seated between public service organizations and the private sector, they are in a position where they are pressured to satisfy the demands of the stakeholders, both the community and the ratepayer-elected body of councillors. No doubt councils are continuing to investigate the most appropriate local government structures to meet their stakeholder's needs and the delivery of services. Key Words change, change management, commitment, culture, organization, organizational employees, resistance, sensemaking, stories.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    How do social dominance and minority influence affect the collaboration of refugee services? : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2015) Hahn, Sarah Helene
    Social Dominance Theory has problematic implications for humanitarian work: It suggests that stakeholders of the humanitarian sector collectively maintain the social hierarchies that disadvantage the very minorities that they are supposed to empower. Minority Influence Theory, on the other hand, suggests that social innovation in the humanitarian sector can emerge from the bottom-up, thus against the grain of social hierarchies. This thesis explores for the refugee service sector of Auckland, New Zealand, (a) if former refugees are indeed marginalised within the inter-organisational context that is supposed to empower them, (b) if this has detrimental effects on the sector’s performance, and (c) if fostering minority influence might alleviate such effects. The first research question was approached through a stakeholder analysis, which revealed that the social hierarchies within the refugee service sector indeed mirror the marginalisation of former refugees in general New Zealand society. Then, stories of positive and negative incidents of collaboration in the sector were analysed through the lenses of Social Dominance Theory and Minority Influence Theory. A thematic analysis of negative incidents of collaboration gathered accounts of discrimination through disregard, as well as legitimising myths. The latter concerned the inaccessibility of services, confounding participation with collaboration, voluntarism as unambiguously positive, feelings of indebtedness among former refugees, and the false belief in opportunities in New Zealand. These findings support the idea that social dominance perpetuates social hierarchies in the refugee service sector and thereby negatively affects its performance. However, the assumptions of Social Dominance Theory concerning behavioural asymmetry did not match the data, which indicates different root causes of social dominance than claimed by the theory’s authors. Stories of successful collaboration involved factors that facilitate minority influence, such as finding consistency, appealing to common values, enough time, bottom-up accountability in the form of community ownership, and trust. This suggests that facilitating minority influence in the Auckland refugee service sector simultaneously facilitates collaboration. Social Dominance Theory and Minority Influence Theory proved to be instrumental to analysing problems within the inter-organisational context of refugee services and for finding indications for future research and better practice.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Attitudes, attitude change, and organizational climate : a search for a pragmatic relationship : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1975) Joblin, Ian Armstrong
    This study was designed to investigate relationships among elements of a model linking organizational climate to performance. Specific focus was to be on the motivational factors located in the organizational climate, and attitudes and attitude change. Sources of attitudes were to be determined with regard to a job satisfaction-attitude link. The strength (positive or negative) of the attitude was also to be assessed. Unanticipated restrictions placed upon the research by the organization in question precluded collection of sufficient data for full analyses of relationships as proposed. An extensive review is made of pertinent research in the field of attitudes and attitude change. Emphasis is placed upon problem areas found in a majority of studies in this area. Also covered in the review section are organizational climate, job satisfaction and the attitude/behaviour consistency controversy. Attitudes to the subjects' organization and work location are assessed from semantic differential data. A job analysis questionnaire is adapted to investigate areas of potential satisfaction. Data from these instruments are analysed and subjects placed into rank order. These ranks are then compared. Results show some trend toward consistency, i.e. subjects who ranked high on the attitude scales tended to rank high also on the job satisfaction scale. Further correlational studies of attitudes as predictors of job satisfaction investigate the relationship of these two variables. Highest positive correlation was found between the E Factor on the work location attitude and job satisfaction. The proposed model offering pragmatic relationships among the elements under study was based on the functional approach to attitude change. Adoption of this model would conceivably offer a rationale for the investigation of relationships of employee performance, satisfaction, attitudes, motivation and the sources of these variables. It is suggested that future research may usefully investigate further the relationships in this model, keeping the central idea of attitudes as the major influence and predictor of an individual's satisfaction and/or performance.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Emotional processes in strategic management : the role of positive and negative affect in biasing perceptions of the organisational environment : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology
    (Massey University, 2000) Galley, Ian
    Effective strategic-level planning and decision-making are vital processes for an organisation's long-term success. Strategic decision-making is difficult to perform effectively due to both the density of data contained in the strategic environment and the often ambiguous and incomplete nature of this data. Daniels (1998) found evidence for a link between perceptions of aspects of the organisational environment germane to strategic decision-making and managers' trait negative affect. The present study sought to replicate this finding and extend this line of research with positive affect. The present study employed a cross-sectional, correlational design. A total of 150 managers employed in a range of businesses in New Zealand returned questionnaire forms mailed out to them. The hypothesis that positive affectivity could influence perceptions of the organisational environment was supported. A systematic relationship in the hypothesised direction was found between Positive affectivity and managers' perceptions of their organisational environments. Contrary to the findings of Daniels (1998), no support was found for a relationship between negative affectivity and managerial perceptions of their organisational environments. Some evidence was also found for an interaction effect between negative and positive affectivity and managerial perceptions of the environment. The implications of the results obtained are that positive affectivity may work to bias the cognitive processes of the strategic decision-maker when he or she is scanning the strategic environment for relevant data. It is concluded that emotion must be considered a substantive factor for future strategic planning research.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    "Servant leadership on the couch" : a psychoanalytic interpretation of informal work group relations : a dissertation presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Management at Massey University (Manawatu), New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2012) Lantu, Donald Crestofel
    Servant leadership, the subject of this study, captured my attention because of its recent popularity within the popular press and business consultant circles. While servant leadership has become one of the most appealing leadership philosophies in those communities, this has not been the case in other communities (e.g. executives and leadership scholars). For the latter, the idea of servant leadership seems to be too narrow, impractical, and idealistic. Another issue of concern is that there is only little empirical support has been published in peer-reviewed journals, which most of them appear to be lacked of well-designed research methodology to explore and study the complexity of servant leadership. This study explores the organizational phenomenon of servant leadership and utilizes a psychoanalytic frame of thinking and the substance of informal leadership and relationships in search of a richer explanation and better understanding of servant leadership. Psychoanalytically informed interviews of a small group of workers who operate in a New Zealand branch of a multinational cleaning service provider elicited quality stories which provided access to delve more deeply into the dynamics of servant leadership as it is enacted and experienced by the leader and subordinates in their informal work system. Psychoanalytic concepts (e.g. idealization, identification, transference, projection, ego-ideal) and Gabriel‘s (2000) poetic tropes (e.g. attribution of motive, attribution of causal connections, attribution of fixed qualities, and attribution of providential significance) are employed as the main interpretive frame to analyze the collected stories and narratives – viewed as manifest materials of unconscious organizational processes. Servant leadership is found not to be an idealistic form of leadership, but rather a by-product of the leader and subordinates‘ mutual idealization aimed to protect and maintain their narcissistic identities. In their idealization, subordinates see the leader as the symbolic mother, who echoes their wishes and desires in a way that provide each of them a healthy sense of self-esteem that could help them deal with the difficulties and hardship triggered by male managers – viewed as the symbolic father of the workplace. As a by-product of subordinates‘ idealization of the leader, subordinates establish a symbolic family-group, wherein relationships and leadership are informal. This informal system shares many similarities with many features of servant leadership, such as personal and close relationships, caring, community building, shared decision making and leadership, and the principle of ‗primus inter pares‘ – first among equals (Greenleaf, 2002). The leader‘s idealization of subordinates is also a way to confirm her narcissistic identity that drives her to engage in serving behaviours where she seeks subordinates‘ love and admiration. Such mutual idealization, as with idealization in other relationships, brings with it potential benefits, but also potential drawbacks for the leader, subordinates, and the organization. In dealing with the threat of a subordinate‘s betrayal, the servant leader longs for intervention from a Divine figure as her final resort of defence. The servant leader‘s idealization of subordinates and of a Divine figure, in addition to leader-subordinate symbolic mother-child relationships within their symbolic family group, may function as the important elements distinguishing servant leadership from other theories of leadership.