Disentangling Achievement Orientation and Goal Setting: Effects on Self-Regulatory Processes

Creativity has been underscored as a key factor to organizational adaptability and competitiveness in today\u27s rapidly changing business environment. Designing as well as managing work environments that facilitate creativity have therefore received growing attention, resulting in a multitude of research examining the social-psychological work environment. Few studies, however, have focused on the contribution of the physical work environment to supporting creativity in the workplace. This study focuses on the role of the physical environment in supporting creativity in organizations by identifying specific physical features and attributes of the work environment perceived to promote or inhibit creativity. The research design compares four organizations publicly acclaimed for their innovative social-psychological work environments, but which are distinctly different in terms of the physical work environment. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected by means of survey questionnaires [N = 1 30). Results indicate that the physical work environment exerts indirect influence on creativity by contributing to two significant social-psychological conditions that are conducive to creativity, namely dynamism and freedom. The study specifies attributes of the physical work environment perceived to be positively and negatively associated with both of these conditions

Map Ta Phut as an Exemplar of the Industrial Estates of Thailand

The industrial estate has played an important part in the post-WWII economic development of Thailand, representing a focal point for the inward investment necessary to promote the version of the East Asian Economic Model employed in the country. Industrial estates have also been influential in shaping internal labour migration and in determining which economic activities provide competitive advantage in export sectors. The presence of the estates has not, however, been entirely positive since migration is often associated with social issues, because of excessive industrial pollution and because they made profitable otherwise unprofitable and undesirable activities. One of the largest and most significant industrial estates is that of Map Ta Phut, which is located on the eastern seaboard of Thailand. This estate has become particularly strongly linked with the presence of industrial pollution and with the protests of local residents who claim their health has been negatively affected by the various factories and facilities involved. This paper adopts Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate as an exemplar of all industrial estates of Thailand and uses it to identify the various characteristics and individualities of the Thai version of this institution. By doing this, lessons are drawn for both business practitioners and policy-makers concerning the regulation of pollution and other administrative activities, together with forward planning for employment and labour market upgrading

Pollution Management and Industrial Estates: Perceptions of Residents in the Vicinity of Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate, Thailand

Industrial pollution has become a serious problem in most states and has been tackled by initiatives at the national and transnational levels. However, public opinion is still affected by the events of the past. This situation is explored through the case of Map Ta Phut industrial estate in Thailand,which has been bedeviled by environmental and safety issues since it was opened in 1989. Despite improvements in management systems, notwithstanding the explosion in 2012 which killed 12 workers in one factory, the opinions of nearby residents has been badly affected by the memories of the past. This has led to mistrust and suspicion of the industrial estate among those residents and so protests and dissent have been more common. This study employs a quantitative survey of 400 residents living in the vicinity of Map Ta Phut with a view to understanding their perceptions of environmental management on the estate and, hence, some indications of how better flows of information might improve confidence among these important stakeholders. There will need to be more effective long-term methods of dealing with health issues relating to pollution and conveying knowledge about what is being done in order to recapture public trust

Evaluation of material surface profiling methods: contact versus non-contact

This thesis was submitted for the award of Master of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonAccurate determination of surface texture is essential for the manufacturing of mechanical components within design specifications in engineering and materials science disciplines. It is also required for any subsequent modifications to physical properties and functional aspects of the object. A number of methods are available to characterize any surface through the measurement of roughness parameters that can then be used to describe surface texture. These methods may be divided into those in that direct contact is made with the surface and those where such contact is not required. This report describes two methods approach for the surface profiling of a quartz glass substrate for step height, and tungsten substrate for roughness measure. A stylus profilometer (contact method) and vertical scanning interferometer, (VSI) or (non-contact optical method) were used for step height and roughness parameter measurements. A comparison was made with nominal values assigned to the studied surface, and conclusions drawn about the relative merits of the two methods. Those merits were found to differ, depending on the parameters under consideration. The stylus method gave better agreement of step height values for dimensions greater than a micron. Both methods showed excellent accuracy at smaller dimensions. Both methods also provided accurate average roughness values, although the VSI data significantly overestimated 35% above the peak-to-valley parameter. Likely sources and nature of such differences are discussed based on the results presented, as well as on the previous comparison studies reported in the literature. Because of such method-specific differences, the multi-technique approach used in this work for accurate surface profiling appears to be a more rational option than reliance upon a single method. Both contact and non-contact approaches have problems with specific roughness parameters, but a hybrid approach offers the possibility of combining the strengths of both methods and eliminating their individual weaknesses.Department of Science Service, Thailan

Organizational Resilience and Job Security on Building Employee Engagement During Covid-19 Pandemic of Thai Hotel Industry

The purpose of this study was to develop a structural equation model to examine the effect of organizational resilience, on perceived job security and employee  engagement,  among  Thai  hotel  employees  during  the  Covid-19 pandemic. A quantitative approach was applied using an online questionnaire. A purposive sampling technique was employed to collect data, based on the respondents’ specific levels of employee tenure and work experience during the pandemic. A total of 485 Thai hotel employees participated in the study. Data were analyzed through PLS-SEM. The results of the analysis revealed a good fit of the model with the empirical data (CMIN/DF = 2.82, RMSEA = 0.06, CFI = 0.97, TLI = 0.96).  Moreover,  the  findings  indicated  that  organizational resilience  had  positive  direct  and  indirect  effects  on  employee  engagement during the unprecedented outbreak of Covid-19. A theoretical foundation was established to explore possible key drivers of employee engagement amid a globally disruptive event. Hotel businesses can employ this model for better preparedness in forthcoming fast-changing situations

THE ROLE OF CONFLICTS ON TEAMWORK EFFECTIVENESS: A STUDY OF THAI AND GERMAN EMPLOYEES OF AN INTERNATIONAL AIRLINE

Conflicts seemed to be an everyday phenomenon in each organization. Nowadays, many multiethnic organizations realize how importance of conflict on teamwork effectiveness. This study anticipates not only examining how conflicts have an effect on teamwork performance, but also to investigate how flight attendants resolve interpersonal conflicts. Moreover, to suggest an appropriate approach to overcome conflict encountered. Nevertheless, the main objective is not to eliminate it but to learn how to manage it productively. The study adopts in-depth interview approach of qualitative investigation for data collection. Respondents are Thai, and German flight attendants of an international Airline who reported experiencing in conflict with their colleagues in the past two years and the strategy they adopted to manage such conflicts from their own perspectives. The result of the study indicated that the main cause that initiated conflicts for Thai flight attendants is discrimination; whereas German flight attendants mentioned the two major factors that cause conflicts which are lack of communication and misinterpretation. Surprisingly that conflict management styles both of them used is competing. However, both Thai and German strongly agreed that conflicts play tremendous role on teamwork performance. They believed that it is people who initiate and engage in conflict and determine whether it will finally be productive or destructive. Nevertheless, his study provided some suggestions to de-escalate conflicts that respondents experienced as it is the main goal of its solution

Study of network-service disruptions using heterogeneous data and statistical learning

The study of network-service disruptions caused by large-scale disturbances has mainly focused on assessing network damage; however, network-disruption responses, i.e., how the disruptions occur depending on social organizations, weather, and power resources, have been studied little. The goal of this research is to study the responses of network-service disruptions caused by large-scale disturbances with respect to (1) temporal and logical network, and (2) external factors such as weather and power resources, using real and publicly available heterogeneous data that are composed of network measurements, user inputs, organizations, geographic locations, weather, and power outage reports. Network-service disruptions at the subnet level caused by Hurricanes Katrina in 2005 and Ike in 2008 are used as the case studies. The analysis of network-disruption responses with respect to temporal and logical network shows that subnets became unreachable dependently within organization, cross organization, and cross autonomous system. Thus, temporal dependence also illustrates the characteristics of logical dependence. In addition, subnet unreachability is analyzed with respect to the external factors. It is found that subnet unreachability and the storm are weakly correlated. The weak correlation motivates us to search for root causes and discover that the majority of subnet unreachability reportedly occurred because of power outages or lack of power generators. Using the power outage data, it is found that subnet unreachability and power outages are strongly correlated.PhDCommittee Chair: Ji, Chuanyi; Committee Member: Clark, Russell; Committee Member: Copeland, John; Committee Member: Juang, Biing Hwang (Fred); Committee Member: Riley, Georg