http://hdl.handle.net/10540/86082 Sat, 25 May 2013 19:41:53 GMT 2013-05-25T19:41:53Z http://hdl.handle.net/10540/283598 Title: Gender relations, masculinities and the Fire Service: A qualitative study of firefighters' constructions of masculinity during firefighting and in their social relations of work Authors: Baigent, Dave Abstract: This thesis is a qualitative study of firefighters, and focuses on how firefighters, a predominantly male, white and able-bodied group with popular public support, form tight knit teams on and off the fireground, and their motivations for so doing. It is also a study of gender, which aims to describe and deconstruct masculinity. In part the thesis was undertaken with a view to assisting the fire service (specifically the few women who are firefighters) with its difficulties in relation to equal opportunities. One understanding the thesis provides is that firefighters bond around a common professional ethos: to provide an efficient service to help the public. To achieve this, firefighters form informal hierarchies through which they create protocols for firefighting, thus setting the standards for what comprises a ‘good firefighter’: a label firefighters test themselves against when they ‘get in’ to fight a fire. However, before firefighters can achieve this they must first access the skills of firefighting (which experienced firefighters are pleased to hand on), but only after a newcomer ‘fits in’ with the agendas of the informal hierarchy, some of which have little to do with firefighting. However, there is a second view, and this suggests that ‘fitting in’ and ‘getting in’ to pass the test of being seen as a ‘good firefighter’ also coincides with the way firefighters form their masculinity. This then provides a second common cause amongst firefighters, and so might explain why firefighters gather so successfully under the umbrella of their union to resist their officers’ attempts to deskill and cut the fire service. Cuts would limit firefighters’ ability both to fight fires as they currently do and to pass the test of being a ‘good firefighter’. Thus blocking a third central but unacknowledged element: that of masculinity. This analysis involves a discussion of class, and recognition that antagonistic relations between officers and firefighters are not only economic, but are also about petty dividends involving power, status and gender construction. The conclusion provides a comprehensive overview to suggest that firefighters form their masculinity by acting at work in the way they subjectively judge that they are seen, by themselves, their peer group and the public. In so doing, they set themselves apart from the ‘others’ who cannot meet their expectations. It is these ‘special people’, as identified by both firefighters and others that this thesis has studied, a group of ‘special’ men and women. Tue, 01 May 2001 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10540/283598 2001-05-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10540/276334 Title: Stillborn to reborn: a dramatherapy journey from post trauma to recovery Authors: Bar-Yitzhak, Rachel Abstract: This research explored the role of extra-therapeutic variables contributing to recovery from chronic Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Within the context of dramatherapy treatment, those variables were identified as three crucial concepts: 'Client, Post Traumatic' (C.PT), ‘Imaginary Existence Zone’ (IEZ) and 'Time Adjusted Encounters' (TAE). Together they created the notion of a Curative Zone (CZ). Establishing and understanding the significance of these new concepts helped the researcher to explain the PTSD recuperation phenomenon. The research was conducted within the qualitative–naturalistic paradigm, and based on real-life dramatherapeutic occurrences. The choice of an inductive case study approach and design was possible due to the fact that a single individual was willing to participate in this research as an active partner by contributing her reflections on the therapy, four years after its termination. Iris, the client and the collaborating respondent was a childless woman aged 43, who suffered from chronic PTSD for three years following stillbirth of her baby daughter and the repetitive failure of fertility treatments. The findings reveal a direct linkage between: the neurological system and its activation, and the cardinal role of the C.PT during TAE, working through prolonged engagements in the IEZ facilitated by dramatherapy. These processes gradually integrated and synthesized to create the CZ, a development which explains this instance of recovery from chronic PTSD. The conclusions are: the chronic PTSD recovery was a holistic body-mind cure phenomenon. It resulted from the interaction between the extra-therapeutic variables, combined with the curative characteristics of the dramatherapeutic nonverbal imaginative language and activities, which compounded a new synergetic constellation. The research findings contribute to the theory and practice of dramatherapy as a discipline; additionally, the model developed by this research can be potentially applied as an appropriate treatment of PTSD. These conclusions challenge valid psychotherapy knowledge regarding effective therapeutic factors that contribute to successful outcomes. However, in this case they verified credible, dependable and transferable attributes features this naturalistic research. Therefore, they make a contribution to knowledge in the dramatherapy field. Fri, 01 Oct 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10540/276334 2010-10-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10540/276333 Title: Conflict resolution among children in a kindergarten class inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach Authors: Porat, Anat Abstract: This study investigated the conflict resolution abilities employed by 3-4 year old children within an Israeli kindergarten that was inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach in Italy. Conflict resolution is a significant phenomenon worldwide and the subject of considerable research, due to potential negative outcomes from involvement in conflict, and escalation of the conflict to a stage of violence. Nevertheless, a gap in knowledge was identified, regarding the Reggio Emilia educational approach, as an intervention to support the development of children‘s social-emotional competence to enable them to resolve interpersonal conflicts using pro-social strategies. An in-depth case study was conducted using grounded theory principles to develop a model to answer the question: To what extent might a Reggio Emilia inspired approach support resolution of interpersonal conflicts between 3-4 year old children in an Israeli kindergarten class? The rich qualitative data were gathered through video filmed observations, teacher's semi-structured interviews, children's interviews, documents, and field notes. A four-phase content analysis of the data enabled conceptualisation of the characteristics of the educational setting and the children's conflict resolution strategies. The findings allowed the emergence of a model evidencing that both direct and indirect intervention strategies were used to support the conflict resolution among the children. Teachers responded in a range of ways to children's request for direct intervention, and most especially used a clarification-mediation conversation. Indirectly, they promoted democratic pedagogy with children through participation, listening and dialogue. The findings reveal the children's development in their conflict resolution, which indicate a significant advancement in their pro-social negotiation abilities. Additionally, the findings show a significant increase in the children's spontaneous intervention as peer observers of the conflict and a decrease in their request of teacher intervention. The research suggests that over time, no extra-curricular intervention is needed within a supportive and democratic educational approach, such as the Reggio Emilia inspired approach provides. It illuminates strategies to support teachers, teacher trainers and policy makers for enabling children resolving conflicts independently using pro-social strategies. The research contributes to knowledge regarding selecting an intervention for improving kindergarten children's conflict resolution strategies. Thu, 01 Sep 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10540/276333 2011-09-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10540/276332 Title: Success factors of selective information technology outsourcing in enterprise resource planning projects in Israel Authors: Itzhaik, Yehoshua Abstract: IT Outsourcing (contracting-out of Information Technology services) has become a pivotal economic trend in recent decades. This study traces the interlacing of IT Outsourcing with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software systems. Little research has considered the reciprocal relations between these two phenomena. This was the gap in knowledge addressed by the research. More specifically, the research investigated: why organisations turn to IT Outsourcing providers to implement and maintain ERP systems and what are the success factors for selective IT Outsourcing within ERP projects in Israel. Field research was conducted in organisations during 2006-2008, employing IT Outsourcing for ERP systems in two stages: Stage One used qualitative data-collection tools: five semi-structured interviews and fifteen open-ended questionnaires. Inductive content and thematic analysis conducted on data from these tools produced themes that formed the basis for a closed-ended questionnaire used in the next stage. Stage Two employed seventy two closed-ended questionnaires. Quantitative data from this questionnaire underwent deductive statistical analysis to test and confirm findings from Stage One. Results indicated that significant differences between ERP package-based centralised cross-organisational systems and the out-dated self-developed legacy IT systems produced different organisational requirements for IT Outsourcing services. Respondents thought it essential to employ IT Outsourcing for ERP projects, noting different motivations for this strategy. Respondents identified four success factor groups for IT Outsourcing in ERP projects, grading the factors according to relative importance. Management commitment and support was the most important success factor group. The research showed that organisations that implement ERP systems regard it as essential to employ the IT Outsourcing services since they provide experienced updated experts. Organisations stress that they need these services to ensure effective, operable systems, understanding that initially there is little cost reduction. Management commitment, wise choice of vendors and intelligent contracting can establish successful vendor-organisation collaboration. Contribution to knowledge is made by offering a better understanding of the unique phenomenon of IT Outsourcing within ERP projects in Israel, motivations to use and success factors Tue, 01 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10540/276332 2012-05-01T00:00:00Z