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    Professional identity positioning of internationally qualified nurses during workplace interactions with colleagues in New Zealand healthcare settings : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Applied Linguistics at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2024) Taylor, Dana
    The global nursing shortage has been a catalyst for the international migration of nurses. Internationally qualified nurses (IQNs) are valued in New Zealand as capable and competent healthcare professionals. As limited research exists into the professional identity of IQNs in New Zealand, my aim for this study was to explore IQNs’ discursive identity positioning. Research determining ways to support IQNs’ career sustainability was missing in the extant literature, which this study sought to address. Taking a social constructionist perspective, I employed narrative inquiry to empower eight IQN participants to tell stories of challenging and positive workplace interactions with their colleagues. The participants had English as their first or additional language and had been nursing in New Zealand for at least three years. Narrative data from participants were collected during COVID-19 pandemic restrictions in New Zealand by means of semi-structured interviews (‘Story-Led Conversations’) and peer-facilitated conversations via Zoom (‘Zoom Pair Shares’). Participants’ storied experiences were analysed to reveal aspects of IQNs’ discursive positioning. This allowed me to identify: how IQNs positioned themselves and others as they told stories of participating in workplace interactions with colleagues in New Zealand healthcare settings; how they used discursive positioning in their stories to jointly construct aspects of their professional identity; and the implications of understanding, and responding to, participants’ stories for the IQNs themselves and the wider nursing community. I used thematic analysis to construct six themes related to IQNs’ workplace interactions. I also developed an analytical framework based on positioning theory—the multimodal positioning analysis (MPA) model—to analyse participants’ discursive positioning of self and others when telling their stories of workplace interactions. Research findings indicated that IQN participants’ workplace interactions with colleagues impacted upon their professional identity positioning. The nature of this impact included IQNs’ sense of professional self, agency, collegiality, and wellbeing, which are critical for IQNs’ feelings of belonging and career sustainability. Findings from this study may lead to greater understanding and support of IQNs as they build a successful long-term nursing career in New Zealand.
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    The politics of teacher professionalism in teacher unions : a case study of Aotearoa New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2023) Niu, Huidan
    Teacher unions are important policy actors in many English-speaking jurisdictions; however, few studies have examined the role of teacher unions in shaping teacher-related education policies. This study critically analyses how teacher unions frame teacher professionalism discourses in New Zealand. Adopting a critical education policy scholarship approach, the study positions teacher professionalism discourses within their socio-political contexts. It explores how the meanings of teacher professionalism have been constructed and how teacher unions have shaped these discourses since the late 1980s. This study chose the two main teacher unions in Aotearoa New Zealand, the New Zealand Educational Institute, Te Riu Roa (NZEI) and the New Zealand Post-Primary Teachers’ Association, Te Wehengarua (PPTA). Data were collected from documents and archival material, as well as through elite interviews with 24 union leaders, including national presidents, secretaries, executive members, and senior union officials. Data analysis followed a broadly grounded theory method: from codes to themes. Findings highlight the political nature of the teaching profession. Three key findings are identified in this study. First, the teacher unions articulate explicitly counter-professionalism discourses to those of dominant official discourses. The teacher unions tend to emphasise the complexity and relational aspects of teaching, collaboration and collegiality, and trust in the teaching profession. Second, the teacher unions are often actively involved in developing democratic professionalism by mobilising teachers to exercise their agency and by collaborating with other policy actors. Third, the meanings of the professional role of the teacher unions have been enlarged over the last 30 years, explicitly expressing their concern about broader educational and social issues. By doing this, the teacher unions intend to improve their legitimacy as teachers’ representatives and increase their political influence. Overall, this study suggests that the teacher unions, as collective actors, navigate the tensions and sometimes conflicts between the teaching profession and government in the process of constructing teacher professionalism discourses.
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    Supporting interprofessional collaborative practice through relational orientation : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education at Massey University, Albany Campus, Aotearoa New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2021) Vasilic, Branka
    Relational processes in the context of interprofessional collaboration are understood mainly in terms of individual action. This study argues that focusing on individual action limits our understanding of some of the most successful relationship-based collaborative practices. To shift the focus from individual action to co-action, this study investigated co-action oriented practices in multi-agency teams working with children and young people identified as living with High and Complex Needs (HCN). The methodology used in this study combined a relational research orientation with the principles of narrative theory, in order to engage HCN practitioners in dynamic conversations. Through dialogue, the HCN practitioners investigated their valued collaborative practices. These practices were then further explored in terms of how collaboration could shift from individual to co-action. The outcomes of the study highlighted a number of successful relationship-based collaborative practices that are often overlooked. These range from simply having small talk, being personal and flexible, to addressing more complex situations that might otherwise be avoided. Appreciative exploration was identified as a way to step outside of one’s own beliefs and become curious about how contradictory views might be valid within a community of understanding. Finding a respectful way to approach what we want to avoid holds arguably most potential for positive change. The study concluded that three aspects were critical to the engagement of practitioners in collaborative co-active practice: (1) paying attention to the process of relating; (2) acknowledging values, interests and concerns of practitioners in their daily practice, and (3) respecting current practices. Engaging with co-active practices in this way energised practitioners and fostered an innovation-seeking attitude and collective learning. As the practitioners in this study demonstrated, relational orientation opens up possibilities to shape co-action, and offers a unique tool for transforming collaborative practices. Put simply, the relational shift shows what we achieve together, we cannot do alone.
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    Identity construction by Aotearoa/New Zealand entrepreneurial professionals on LinkedIn : a tensional approach : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Organisational Communication at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2019) Barnett, Sandra Jane
    This study explores if, and how, the business social media site, LinkedIn, is providing for Aotearoa/New Zealand entrepreneurial professionals an alternative site for the construction of identity. The two foci of this study are; firstly, a shift to where we increasingly live our lives, the world of social media; and secondly, the tensions that this shift creates for identity and identity construction, or the basic human need to know ‘who we are’ and ‘how we fit in the social world’. The study began with the observation of family, friends and acquaintances, who had taken up self-employment, and were becoming involved in a virtual world of work-related social media through LinkedIn. The researcher’s interest was in if, and how, this virtual world acts as a site for construction of this new work identity, for an entrepreneur or small-business person. The definition of this identity was widened to include ‘professional’ when participants in the study repeatedly referred to themselves as ‘professionals’; thus, the study became a study of a hybrid identity, i.e. the entrepreneurial professional. The specific group identified was Aotearoa/New Zealand entrepreneurial professionals who engaged on LinkedIn. This research therefore is boundary spanning in that it spans the disciplines of: organisational communication and new forms of organisation; ICT and social media use; identity and identity construction, entrepreneurial, professional and digital; and globalisation, by juxtaposing the globalising effect of social media with local discourse. The research approach was from a social/constructionist paradigm, utilising a qualitative methodology. This methodology was considered appropriate as it emphasises an inductive relationship between theory and research that is consistent with the assumptions of the interpretive/ constructionist paradigm, by foregrounding the ways in which individuals interpret their social world, and embodying a view of social reality that is constantly shifting and emergent (Tracy, 2013). As this was an exploratory interpretive study, the researcher was concerned not to predict or pre-empt the findings. Accordingly, the exploration of the participants’ experience on LinkedIn was not organised around predicted or possible themes, but three interrelated communicative processes on LinkedIn identified by Putnam, Phillips, & Chapman, (1996) as three metaphors of communication itself. These were; ‘engagement’ in general terms, with an emphasis on the participants’ engaging in and making sense of the context of social media, secondly, ‘connecting’ or ‘networking,’ and thirdly, ‘interacting’. All three align with an overarching constructionist approach, but each highlight certain features that other two perspectives neglected and provide important and interrelated insights into identity construction on LinkedIn. Twenty-five in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with those who responded to a request, on NZ SME groups on LinkedIn, to be participants. The interview transcripts analysed through thematic analysis. In the process of analysis, tensions, contradictions and paradoxes emerged as a dominant concern. Tensions, such as identity tensions, have long been identified a part of organisational experience (Trethewey & Ashcraft, 2004), and a growing body of literature posits that irrationality is a normal condition of organisational life, and is reflected in the tensions evident in the discourses around the construction of identity in organisations (C. A. Clarke, Brown, & Hailey, 2009; Larson & Gill, 2017; Tracy & Trethewey, 2005; Trethewey & Ashcraft, 2004).These tensions have increased as work increasingly moves to alternative or “less predictable settings of organizing”(Cheney & Ashcraft, 2007, p. 161). The participants’ discourses revealed evidence that LinkedIn was in fact being utilised as a necessary, and for many a normal, site for the construction of entrepreneurial professional identity, yet one fraught with tensions. The identified tensions were complex and interrelated and were interpreted through the analysis as occurring in different levels and dimensions. Tensions at the first level were: two tensions around engagement in the virtual context of identity construction, four tensions around networking and making connections, and finally, five identity construction tensions around interacting and relationship-building on LinkedIn. Further interpretation of these tensions indicated underlying and overlaying tensions, or meta tensions, woven through the participants’ discourses in two dimensions One dimension identifies the tensions specific to the contexts of LinkedIn, Aotearoa/ New Zealand, and entrepreneurial professionals. This dimension of analysis accords with the advice of Cheney and Ashcraft (2007) to pay “particular sensitivity to institutional and contextual variation” (p.161) when researching identity construction in unpredictable organisational settings. The second dimension of analysis identified meta-tensions or overlaying tensional themes around identity work in organisations, that have taken on a different emphasis and character when experienced in the LinkedIn context. These tensions in two dimensions are presented as an integrated framework of identity construction tensions. For each individual these tensions will intersect at different points, illustrating that identity resides not in the person themselves, but in the context, in the broadest sense, in which they engage. The study makes several contributions. Firstly, it identifies the tensions inherent in engaging in LinkedIn and constructing a digital identity there. Secondly, it provides evidence that LinkedIn has, in fact, become, or at least was in the process of becoming, an alternative organisational site, and thus a site for organisational identity construction. Thirdly, it presents in a multi-level and two-dimensional framework for analysis of identity construction in this context. In one dimension it suggests that identity construction on LinkedIn needs to be understood, in the context of personal work situation of the individual, of a local yet global site of communication, and in the context the unique features of a virtual social world. In another dimension, the identity construction can be understood as the tensions likely in an organisational setting. Lastly it suggests utilising the lenses of three different metaphors of communication to explore communication on LinkedIn, engagement, networking, and interaction, and to analyse identity construction on LinkedIn. The study concludes with a discussion of how an understanding of managing these tensions can be utilised in tertiary education courses and to inform small business owners about LinkedIn use.
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    The place of professional learning groups in the induction of in-service teacher educators : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education in Adult Education at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2009) Lancaster, Doris
    In New Zealand In-service Teacher Educators (ISTEs) provide professional development for teachers, principals and management in Early Childhood Centres and Schools. ISTEs have been teachers or principals themselves. However, the role of ISTE is different to that of a teacher or principal. There are varied practices throughout New Zealand relating to the induction of ISTEs. The research of Trowler and Knight (1999) concluded that educators required support in gaining explicit knowledge about their new professional role and a process was required to enable this learning to take place. This study investigated how the use of professional learning groups (PLGs) supported the professional learning of five new ISTEs and also examined the perspectives of three members of the team responsible for implementing the PLGs. A mixed-methods approach was taken with predominantly qualitative and some quantitative information gathered from on-line surveys and semi-structured interviews. Broadly, the study's findings suggested that ISTEs do find the transition into their new role difficult and that the PLGs were a relevant structure to support their professional learning and induction. The findings also identified factors related to the broader area of induction of ISTEs. These were collaboration, observation and feedback related to ISTE practice and the leadership and facilitation of the PLG. This study's findings support research that concluded PLGs had the potential to strengthen professional learning and that there were conditions that were necessary for this to occur. The first was the purpose of the PLG related to the PLG as part of a larger induction structure. The second was what occurred in the PLG including the composition of the PLG and the environment that was necessary within the PLGs for them to be effective. Finally, the findings are presented relating to the ISTEs' and the Implementation Team's perspective on the continuation of the PLGs to support the professional learning of new ISTEs. The findings support research that proposed the transition into new professional roles was stressful and that an induction process that met educators' needs was vital to positively support the transition. The findings culminate in five recommendations and three suggestions for further research.
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    It's all about relationships : women managing women and the impact on their careers : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Management at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2017) Hurst, Jane Ann
    Women represent nearly half of New Zealand’s workforce, making it likely that a woman will, at some stage during her working life, have a woman manager. She may also manage women employees. However, despite this likelihood, very little is known about the nature of women’s hierarchical workplace relationships and even less about the impact these relationships have on women’s careers. This research used narrative inquiry, relational cultural theory and the Kaleidoscope Career Model (KCM) to explore the relational experiences of 15 New Zealand women and the impact of these hierarchical relationships on career decisions. It was undertaken in two phases. Phase One used a combination of creative methods and semi-structured interviews to explore the participants’ experiences. Phase Two brought the participants together in workshops to develop personal and organisational strategies aimed at strengthening workplace relationships. Phase One found that most of the participants had experienced a negative relationship with a women manager and/or employee. Many of those participants subsequently left the organisation they worked for as a direct or indirect result of that relationship. Conversely, nearly half of the participants spoke of a positive relationship and while these were beneficial, they were not linked to a subsequent career decision. These findings suggest that negative relationships affect a woman’s career decisions to a greater extent than positive relationships. The research also extends the KCM by adding the impact of women’s hierarchical relationships to the career parameters of balance and challenge. Phase Two delved further into these findings to determine that women have gender-based expectations of women managers, such as an expectation of a higher degree of emotional understanding and support from a woman manager than would be expected from a man. In addition, while the participants look to women managers for some form of career support, most were not striving for senior management positions. They were instead motivated by a desire to make a difference and live a balanced life, with the demands of senior organisational roles seen as being in conflict with their relationships and family responsibilities. This raises a dilemma from a gender equity perspective, with research suggesting that a critical mass of women at the senior leadership level reduces the gender pay gap and increases the promotional opportunities of women at all organisational levels. Phase Two identified a number of personal and organisational strategies to better support women’s hierarchical relationships, as one way of enhancing women’s careers. Taking a relational approach, an holistic gendered framework is proposed that situates relationships within the broader personal, organisational, societal and temporal context. Strategies are recommended to enhance personal and organisational relational awareness and acceptance, development of relational skills and support, as well as structural change to better align career paths to senior management with women’s career aspirations and realities. In doing so, this thesis aims to progress the discussion on the ways in which organisations and women can better support each other to promote workplace gender equity.
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    Work integrated learning (WIL) practitioners' perceptions of the value of communities of practice : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Education in Tertiary Education at Massey University (Manawatū), New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2017) Nicholas, Leanne
    Work integrated learning (WIL) practitioners design and deliver situated, experiential learning opportunities for a growing number of programmes within the New Zealand tertiary sector. Professional development opportunities for WIL practitioners’ should lead to effectively designed and delivered WIL programmes for learners. Due to the limited availability of formal professional development opportunities, much of WIL practitioner development is through informal and incidental on-the-job learning (Lazarus, Oloroso, & Howison, 2011). Greater collaborative learning opportunities have been advocated as beneficial by the WIL community (Brown, 2010). In addition, professional development initiatives are increasingly focusing on Communities of Practice (CoP) to support situated learning for educators. The pressure on teachers required to design, teach, administer and manage WIL experiences, raises issues of how best to develop and support them in effectively fulfilling their roles. This qualitative study explores and interprets the experiences and perceptions of WIL practitioners of the value of communities of practice. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews. A recursive approach to the data collection and analysis stages (an adaption of the Wenger, Trayner, and de Laat (2011) five cycles of value creation framework) was adopted. The study findings indicate a lack of common understanding of WIL terminology, and that WIL practitioners want greater access to WIL networks, expertise, best practice and related policy information. The many and varied relationships of WIL practitioners, provide inherent values, upon which to benchmark and develop their practices. However, the invisible nature of many WIL activities, hidden within programmes, makes it difficult at times for WIL practitioners to identify each other, connect in networks and develop relationships. WIL practitioners want more collaborative learning opportunities and sharing of best practice resources. In spite of this, WIL practitioners are seeking out expertise that assists them to be more competent, knowledgeable and effective practitioners. The study has highlighted that WIL practitioners are engaging in, and gaining value from, the very same process of learning within CoPs, that they co-ordinate for their students. WIL CoPs are valuable mechanisms for WIL practitioner development that should be acknowledged and encouraged.
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    Workplace bullying among New Zealand veterinarians : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Psychology at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2016) Rasmussen, Wendy
    Workplace bullying is a global issue associated with devastating consequences for individuals and is costly to organisations. Veterinarians play a vital role in New Zealand and whilst there has been considerable research on workplace stress within the profession, little is known about the extent to which workplace bullying occurs and the problems it gives rise to. This study examined job demands (team conflict and destructive leadership) and job resources (ethical leadership and perceived organisational support) and their relationship to employees’ physical health, level of strain and organisational variables in the context of workplace bullying. In addition, the buffering role of psychological capital against workplace bullying was examined. This study investigated these relationships by means of an online survey, using multiple regression analyses to test the main hypotheses. Workplace bullying was prevalent amongst this sample of New Zealand veterinarians and was associated with worse physical health, higher levels of strain, reduced self-rated job performance and higher intentions to quit. Destructive leadership and team conflict had direct effects on personal and organisational variables and created an environment where workplace bullying was able to flourish. Workplace bullying did not mediate relationships to the extent expected. Positive resources reduced the effects of workplace bullying on strain and selfreported job performance but not on physical health symptoms, intentions to quit and absenteeism. Overall, the results indicate negative work conditions are stronger than positive work conditions and are associated with undesirable individual and organisational variables. Workplace bullying is a potent stressor and is fostered by negative work environments. This study concludes it is vital that organisations create positive work environments to prevent or reduce bullying from occurring.
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    Trauma, relational trust and the effects on the midwife : a thesis presented in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, School of Health and Social Sciences, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2011) Calvert, Irene
    This qualitative thesis uses a method of narrative research to explore the effects of a traumatic practice experience on the 16 midwives interviewed for this project. It is an investigation of relationships at play influenced by power games and their consequences creating conflict. The issues of partnership and autonomous midwifery practice are the key drivers that make New Zealand midwives more likely to be blamed and their competence in practice challenged. Partnership negates domination for collaboration and as a result challenges the beliefs of the dominant groups of medicine and management. Midwives questioned why when they had coped with similar situations in the past was this incident ‘the straw that broke the camels back’. The investigation uncovers that the trauma experienced was prolonged due to a breakdown of relational trust in organisations, management, colleagues, women and self. The breach of trust altered the meaning of the traumatic event for the midwives which impacted on their personal and professional identities creating biographical disruption and exacerbating the initial stress reaction. Loss of personal and professional identities elicited grief which in most cases was disenfranchised and therefore not supported. Grief associated with maternal death was supported. As a result of the increase of emotional stress some of the midwives suffered illness such as anxiety, post traumatic stress disorder and chronic back pain implying that the aetiology of the disease could be emotions. These illnesses experienced by the midwives contributed to workforce attrition. Midwifery has an oral history whereby relationships are built and experiences shared, making narrative research an ideal method for this personal topic. The analysis of the study data draws upon the narrative concepts of Margaret Somers (1994), Arthur Frank (2005) and Davis and Harre (1990) and Bourdieu (1982) theory of economic practice to facilitate an understanding of the effects of these traumatic practice experiences for the midwife participants. Midwives in New Zealand are legally required to provide care to childbearing women using a partnership model of care based on trust and mutual respect (MCNZ,2004). Consideration was given to the influence of the model on the effects experienced by the midwives. Substantive chapters explore the effects of biographical disruption, grief, support, violence in the workplace, destroyed relationships and disrupted lives, trust and dysfunctional organisations. In the text gathered from this study I have developed two theoretical models; one explains how the trauma is exacerbated rather than supported; the other outlines the effects of the trauma. The study adds to the literature by providing evidence that biographical disruption occurring as a result of a traumatic practice experience can lead to a chronic illness. My research has addressed gaps in midwifery, biographical disruption, grief, workplace violence and trauma literature.