What lies beneath organisational behaviour : the role of hidden and unconscious processes at work

There is much controversy about the value that psychoanalytic theory can add to the study of organisational behaviour, which goes beyond the rational and technological explanations offered by orthodox management perspectives. A key tenet of psychoanalytic theory is that mental processes that are "hidden" and operate at an "unconscious" level can impact employee behaviour, outside of their awareness (Kets de Vries, 2009). (In this thesis such processes are referred to as "below-the-surface" motivation.) Given the value of this knowledge to organisational leaders, it is surprising that so little is known about the potential impact of "below-the-surface" motivation on employee attitude, engagement and performance. This four-study thesis investigates the role of "below-the-surface" motivation in employees' "propensity to resist change", "avoid conflict" and "show less commitment to the organisation", which are implicit processes referred to in this thesis as "below-the-surface" motivation. It does so firstly by describing the researcher’s positioning and philosophical approach, and the theoretical and practical objectives of the thesis. The researcher was guided by the belief that organisations exist as concrete entities, which prompt employees to react to them in psychological ways (Durkheim, 1895). Having adopted a combination of positivist and post-positivist approaches, the process of "operationalising" was used in an attempt to measure "below-the-surface" motivation in a standardised way (Arnaud, 2012). Opportunity sampling was used to select participants from three public-sector organisations in the UK and the Middle East region. Study 1 reviewed two psychoanalytic-informed coaching methods and found evidence of their usefulness for improving self-awareness of implicit processes, and for working/consulting at a "below-the-surface" level. Study 2 examined the relationships between employees' use of "immature psychological defence mechanisms" and their propensity to resist organisational change, finding evidence that employees' level of "core self-evaluation" played a mediating role in this. Study 3 found evidence to suggest that adopting a systems-psychodynamic coaching approach was useful for helping leaders from the Middle East region to develop awareness of their conflict avoidance behaviour. Study 4 applied Winnicott's (1952) "good-enough" care theory and found evidence to suggest that it could further understanding of the relationship between employees' perception of organisational support (POS) and affective commitment (AC) in the context of organisational change. The thesis concludes with a reflective account of the overall findings, which suggest that "below-the-surface" motivation can impact employee behaviour in the workplace. The implications of these findings for the occupational psychology community are that psychoanalysis can offer an alternative and critical perspective of organisational behaviour, which has wide explanatory power. Reflective and reflexive statements are offered throughout to highlight some of the challenges that the researcher encountered during this doctoral journey. For example, despite the philosophical choices made, due to the researcher’s involvement in the process, at first it was a struggle to "step back" from defending the theory, attending to the limitations, partialities and flaws in the evidence base. The underlying reasons for the researcher’s appeal for positivist and post-positivist approaches are also reflected on. Recommendations are made for the design and delivery of development interventions to raise awareness of "below-the-surface" motivation within organisations, and suggestions made around possible areas of future investigations. The thesis adds nuance to our understanding of organisational behaviour, and it evaluates the value and contribution of psychoanalytic thinking to the practice of occupational psychology

Factors that affect the rate of preterm birth: An examination of the inter-related impacts of social determinants, behavior and physical health status

The work seeks to examine the factors that have significant relationships to the rate of preterm birth (PTB) along with its cost to society. There are four papers within this work. This purpose of the first paper is to measure the impact that healthy behaviors have on the rate of PTB when modeled with other factors like household demographics, community deprivation, chronic disease and mental health. This work finds that positive health behaviors has a negative relationship with PTB. The interaction between body mass index (BMI) and social class and its relationship to PTB is examined in the second paper. This paper finds that there is a curvilinear between BMI and PTB for women who are of a lower socioeconomic status (LSES). This result is not present with women who are of a higher socioeconomic status. This work also finds an obesity paradox for LSES women where the rate of PTB decreases as BMI increases except for those who were morbidly obese. The third paper re-examines Black women\u27s risk of PTB. This study results indicate that although Black women have a higher rate of PTB than other races of women, race itself is not a risk factor. Race\u27s interaction with other health and social factors are more significant than race as an independent factor. The final paper is a cost effective analysis that examines the cost of free standing birth centers compared to standard hospital care with respect to the estimated reduction in PTB. The analysis shows that free standing birthing centers are the most cost effective alternative for low to no risk pregnant women. This option also has lower rates of PTB. The final conclusion of this paper is that promotion of birthing centers can not only potentially reduce the national rate of PTB, but also can save the healthcare system money in the cost of birth and preterm birth

Doping Effects on the Performance of Paired Metal Catalysts for the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Metal heteroatoms dispersed in nitrogen-doped graphene display promising catalytic activity for fuel cell reactions such as the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Here we explore the effects of dopant concentration on the synergistic catalytic behaviour of a paired metal atom active site comprised of Co and Pt atoms. The metals are coordinated to six atoms in a vacancy of N-doped graphene. We find that HER activity is enhanced with increasing N concentration, where the free energy of hydrogen atom adsorption ranges from 0.23 to -0.42 eV as the doping changes from a single N atom doped in the pore, to fully doped coordination sites. The results indicated that the effect of N is to make the Co atom more active towards H adsorption and presents a means through which transition metals can be modified to make more effective and sustainable fuel cell catalysts

A Clinical Prediction Score to Guide Referral of Elderly Dialysis Patients for Kidney Transplant Evaluation.

IntroductionDialysis patients aged ≥70 years derive improved life expectancy through kidney transplantation compared to their waitlisted counterparts, but guidelines are not clear about how to identify appropriate transplantation candidates. We developed a clinical prediction score to identify elderly dialysis patients with expected 5-year survival appropriate for kidney transplantation (>5 years).MethodsIncident dialysis patients in 2006-2009 aged ≥70 were identified from the United States Renal Data System database and divided into derivation and validation cohorts. Using the derivation cohort, candidate variables with a significant crude association with 5-year all-cause mortality were included in a multivariable logistic regression model to generate a scoring system. The scoring system was tested in the validation cohort and a cohort of elderly transplant recipients.ResultsCharacteristics most predictive of 5-year mortality included age >80, body mass index (BMI) <18, the presence of congestive heart failure (CHF), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), immobility, and being institutionalized. Factors associated with increased 5-year survival were non-white race, a primary cause of end stage renal disease (ESRD) other than diabetes, employment within 6 months of dialysis initiation, and dialysis start via arteriovenous fistula (AVF). 5-year mortality was 47% for the lowest risk score group (3.6% of the validation cohort) and >90% for the highest risk cohort (42% of the validation cohort).ConclusionThis clinical prediction score could be useful for physicians to identify potentially suitable candidates for kidney transplantation

Underhull Material Transport Rig: Aircraft Carrier Maintenance Processes

The clearance under a ship in the Newport News Shipbuilding dry dock is approximately 62 inches. As a result, workers are either crouched or hunched over as they carry materials and equipment underneath the ship to their work zone. This can cause physical strain on workers’ bodies, leading to safety and health problems. This design project solves the problem by creating a transport system that uses a cart suspended from two trolleys that ride on a track attached to the bottom of the hull. A working prototype was built, demonstrated, and tested. This prototype cart maneuvered through a straight and a 90 degree curved section of rail. Scaffolding was built to simulate the bottom of the ship\u27s hull. The main constraints for this system included - setup time, ground clearance, and load capacity. The setup time could not exceed 8 hours, the lowest point of the system must be at least two feet off the ground, and it must be able to carry a load of 150 lbs, with a factor of safety of 2.5. The approach taken was to suspend the system from the bottom of the hull. Design decisions included the type of track or rail, the type of trolley, the cart design, the connection of the cart to the trolley, and cart stabilization methods. A successful prototype of this design was built and tested. The prototype meets all of the design specifications. Two improvements that could be made to the design include a way to move the cart without manually pushing it and a way to switch the cart between different tracks. This project impacts Newport News Shipbuilding by creating a safe and efficient way to transport materials while under the hull of a ship.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/capstone/1127/thumbnail.jp

Geochemical evolution of municipal water in the natural hydrologic system

Austin, Texas is experiencing rapid urban development, posing challenges to the resilience of water resources. Geochemical differences between stream water from relatively pristine rural vs. impacted urban watersheds in the Austin area indicate several distinct controls on stream water composition. These include differences in the composition and permeability of watershed bedrock, extent of urbanization, and the varying degrees of failure within the City of Austin’s municipal water infrastructure. Significant losses of municipal water from infrastructure is common to most cities, yet little is known about the evolution of such water once it enters the natural hydrologic system, and the present study focuses on this evolution. Austin draws municipal water from the Colorado River, which drains a terrain comprised of multiple rock types/ages having relatively high Sr isotope ratios (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr), compared with those of the Cretaceous limestone bedrock and natural stream water of Austin’s watersheds. This compositional distinction between municipal water/wastewater, local natural stream water, and bedrock is used as a tracer of the sources of and processes by which seven Austin-area streams acquire their dissolved constituents. These include fluid mixing between municipal water and natural stream water, water-rock interaction (WRI) processes such as dissolution, precipitation, and recrystallization, and varying groundwater residence times. Stream water in Waller and Shoal Creeks, Austin’s most extensively urbanized watersheds, have high ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr values and geochemical compositions closer to values for municipal water than to values for streams from the more rural watersheds (e.g., Onion, Barton and Bull Creeks). The compositions of stream waters from the urbanized watersheds can largely be accounted for by models of fluid mixing between natural and municipal endmembers. Additionally, the Waller and Shoal urban stream waters are less chemically evolved, with lower Sr/Ca values, than stream waters from the more rural watersheds. Waller and Shoal Creek water compositions can be accounted for by limited WRI via dissolution of these watersheds’ Austin Chalk limestone bedrock. Stream water from the other watersheds can be modeled by more extensive WRI via both dissolution and recrystallization of the Glen Rose and Edwards limestone bedrock of those watersheds. The consistently limited WRI reflected in Waller Creek may be a consequence of fracture flow in the chalk, whereas more extensive WRI common to the more rural watersheds may be facilitated by higher matrix permeability and inferred longer residence time in the Glen Rose and Edwards. These results indicate that the geochemical evolution of municipal water, once transmitted into the natural system, is influenced by multiple fluid-mixing and WRI processes that reflect subtle but distinguishable differences in watershed geology. These differences also have implications for potential differences in contaminant transport in these watersheds.Geological Science

Self-Directed Support: A Review of the Barriers and Facilitators

This is a report on the published literature on the barriers and facilitators of self- directed support. It was undertaken to inform a research study funded by the Scottish Government 2009-2011 that is evaluating initiatives in three local authorities. These initiatives aim to improve take up of self-directed support for people eligible for social care and other public funds. The three test site areas are working to reduce bureaucracy; to make the processes easy and 'light touch'; and to provide training and leadership to people working on these developments. Scottish Government has provided extra money to assist these three authorities and to help people in other areas learn from their experiences

Luminous Intensity for Traffic Signals: A Scientific Basis for Performance Specifications

Humnan factors experiments on visual responses to simulated traffic signals using incandescent lamps and light-emitting diodes are described