Masters Theses

Abstract

"In response to today’s increasingly diversified labor force, this study looks at the impact of disability on workplace relationships. Specifically, this investigation asks the following questions: 1) How does disability status affect trust? 2) What is the impact of work experience on trust? And 3) Can trust toward disabled individuals be improved by work experience? The first study surveyed 15 0 student participants from two college campuses. The first study was completed creating a 2x5 matrix of disability status and degree of experience. Types of disabilities included were: hearing impaired, HIV positive, cerebral palsy, wheelchair bound, and no disability. Experience variables were either: no previous work experience or ample work experience. Measuring trust between subjects, participants were asked to read a short background scenario. From this, they were instructed to indicate their level of trust toward a hypothetical team member. Using independent t-tests, results indicated that there was a significant difference in ability- based trust between experienced and inexperienced co-workers, regardless of the disability. In the second study, using the previous method, 73 company employees were queried through a web-based survey questionnaire. Participants were asked to indicate the level of trust they felt toward a hypothetical team member. This time, a 2x2 matrix of disability and work experience was employed. Disability categories were either in a wheel chair or not disabled. Again, results showed that there was a significant difference between experienced and inexperienced individuals when looking at ability-based trust"--Abstract, page iii.

Advisor(s)

Raper, Stephen A.

Committee Member(s)

Ammeter, Tony
Montgomery, Robert

Department(s)

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering

Degree Name

M.S. in Engineering Management

Publisher

University of Missouri--Rolla

Publication Date

Summer 2003

Pagination

viii, 61 pages

Note about bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 58-61).

Rights

© 2003 Holly Rose Bentley, All rights reserved.

Document Type

Thesis - Restricted Access

File Type

text

Language

English

Subject Headings

TrustPeople with disabilities -- AttitudesTeams in the workplace

Thesis Number

T 8312

Print OCLC #

54818940

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