This study explored the relationship between leadership styles and organisational climate by means of quantitative research. Data from an organisational climate survey was used during the analysis. The results indicate that there was a positive correlation (0,749 at the 0,01 level) between leadership styles and organisational climate, thus supporting the research hypothesis. A standard multiple regression analysis was conducted and three leadership styles were found to predict 55,6% of the variance in organisational climate. The Authoritative leadership style made the largest unique contribution to the variance in organisational climate. The interaction between biographical and organisational variables and leadership styles and organisational climate was studied by means of t-tests and ANOVAs. Although statistically significant differences were found, these terms were of little practical significance and the effect sizes were generally small. The study concludes with recommendations for Industrial and Organisational Psychology practices and further research. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.A. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

Change in today’s business environment may be seen as inevitable however in the absence of a generic and endemic Change Framework for Managing and Leading Change; South African businesses face a difficult task of surviving into the future unless they are able to find an Organisational Change Management Approach that will assist them in navigating the Organisational Change Landscape for the 21st Century. This study provides an exploratory approach to understanding the nature of Organisational Change Management in South Africa, by exploring the following key concepts: (1) An understanding of the nature of Organisational Change Management in South Africa (2) The Critical Success Factors needed for Organisational Change Management to succeed in South Africa (3) The provision of a practical Organisational Change Management Framework and Scorecard for the measurement of Organisational Change Management processes and initiatives (4) Recommendations towards a Organisational Change Management Scorecard The study which is largely qualitative in nature makes use of a multiple case study design methodology for the collection of empirical evidence as well as quantitative research data from a survey questionnaire to support the underlying constructs and research questions posed within the study. The use of data and methodological triangulation, namely research interviews, survey data, company and archival documentation as well as focus group discussion points has provided the research study with the necessary validity and reliability to support research results, findings and recommendations.This information should be utilized by Change Practitioners practicing organisational change within a rapidly transforming environment, where Mergers and Acquisitions are major force for change as it would help to provide the necessary change framework and change scorecard for the management and measurement of organisational change interventions. This study also highlights the Critical Success Factors for change by focusing on the Emotional side (Low impact) and Change Imperatives / Prerequisites (High impact) for the management of organisational change. In addition, the study also provides a first view of some change performance measures in the form of a Change Scorecard, which can be used to assess the overall impact of the current change intervention being implemented. / Graduate School for Business Leadership / DBL

The 21st century has posed challenges and provided opportunities for organisations, and although a large body of research exists on both leadership and organisational climate, these two concepts have become a matter of urgency in South African organisations. The dynamics in the organisation have a direct effect on the people the organisation serves and business performance. The aim of this research was to explore the relationship between leadership and organisational climate in a South African fast-moving consumable goods (FMCG) organisation. There are few research studies that focus on leadership and organisational climate in the South African context and this study builds on limited existing knowledge. Using a descriptive, cross-sectional field survey approach, a sample of 896 participants employed at one organisation was surveyed. Explanatory factor analysis and the structural equation modelling (SEM) multivariate analysis technique revealed a new set of organisational dimensions and confirmed the relationship between leadership and organisational climate and organisational climate and its various dimensions. The findings emphasise the importance of certain generic and specific leadership practices in creating the desired organisational climate in the South African context. This study contributes to knowledge on the relationship between leadership and organisational climate in the South African context. / Psychology / M. Com. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

The thesis deals with the analysis of the marketing communication and advertising campaign of the running event Nike Run Prague, which took place in Prague 3 September 2011. It also deals with semiotic and narrative means and with the research of the effectiveness of the campaign. Nike Run Prague is a 10 km long run throughout Prague and it was organized by Nike for the very first time. The running event was amply publicized and within its advertising campaign adopted the marketing strategy targeted on the youthfulness, amusement and brand image, utilizing the various communication channels. Nike Run Prague relies on originality, interactivity, contact with registered runners and on promoting by unusual kinds of advertising and media contents. These types of advertising and used media messages, visual, verbal and nonverbal means are analyzed in this thesis. For each type of advertising is placed an emphasis on narrative and semiotic analysis. Further quantitative research was carried out that examined the effectiveness of the means utilized in the advertising campaign Nike Run Prague. The research target group is formed by individuals aged 18 to 24 years in which the campaign was targeted. After subsequent analysis of obtained data they were explicated and finally the effectiveness of the used...

Health of Migrants in Czechia - Political and Regional Perspective Abstract The submitted thesis analyses an access to and use of health care among migrants from Ukraine and Vietnam in Czechia in the regional and political context. The analysis is based both on data collection of research of the Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague in 2013 and further information that were gathered by author of the thesis in the course of survey questions focused on experts (doctors, representatives of medical and non-profit organizations as well as on representatives of health insurance companies and the ministries). There were used methods of qualitative and quantitative research in the analytical part of the thesis. There were also identified key factors that influence an access of migrants to their own health condition and also to the health care that were further interpreted in the regional context. The thesis reveals differences in access to the health of migrants in different regions within Czechia. The thesis conclusions are compared with the health policy standards in Czechia. Key words: health care, health condition, health policy, qualitative and quantitative research, migrants from Ukraine and Vietnam, Czechia

Esta pesquisa analisou o 2º oferecimento (2011-2012) do curso on-line de Especialização em Ensino de Ciências (EEC), realizado pela Faculdade de Educação da Universidade de São Paulo (FEUSP), em parceria com a Secretaria da Educação do Estado de São Paulo (SEE-SP), intitulado Rede São Paulo de Formação Docente (REDEFOR). Nesta pesquisa, verificou-se como interagem os participantes de fóruns de discussão em um Ambiente Virtual de Aprendizagem (AVA) para formação continuada de professores. Mais especificamente, conciliaram-se técnicas de análise qualitativa e quantitativa para interpretar a interação dos participantes desses fóruns. Inicialmente, empregaram-se análises estatísticas para descrever os principais conjuntos de dados: cada uma das disciplinas e seus respectivos oferecimentos de fóruns de discussão; número de participantes por fórum de discussão; número de mensagens por fórum de discussão. A partir dos estudos de estatística descritiva, foram selecionados os principais casos para estudos de Análise de Redes Sociais (ARS) que, por sua vez, foi empregada para mapear e depois caracterizar as redes de interações dos fóruns de discussão por meio da: a) verificação da frequência e das tipologias de interações que se estabeleceram entre os professores-cursistas com os seus respectivos pares e desses com os seus tutores; b) obtenção de indicadores sociométricos para caracterização dos participantes dos grupos estudados. Em decorrência do grande volume de análises e de informações, optou-se por detalhar as centralidades entre os integrantes de um grupo de discussão ao longo da disciplina EC08 Vida e Educação em Ciências. Finalmente, a abordagem qualitativa promoveu as análises das interações discursivas nos debates realizados na disciplina EC08 Vida e Educação em Ciências por meio da aplicação do quadro analítico Rainbow. O quadro analítico Rainbow demonstrou ser eficaz para a obtenção e exemplificação das relações dialógicas estabelecidas entre as professoras-cursistas do Grupo 9B durante os debates em três fóruns de discussão da EC08 vida e Educação em Ciências. Também foi possível constatar que, conforme as participantes ampliavam a sua aderência na realização da tarefa para alcançar o objetivo pedagógico estabelecido pelas professoras-autoras, mais mensagens foram classificadas entre as categorias de cunho argumentativo (5-7), em detrimento das outras categorias que apresentam um caráter de cunho social (2 -3). No último fórum de discussão (Semana #5), houve um maior pronunciamento da tutora em relação à orientação da tarefa (4), juntamente com outras duas professoras-cursistas (IMF e CASZ), possibilitando aferir que, quando há um engajamento da tutoria na atividade, há uma tendência de a discussão focar nas últimas categorias (5-7). Finalmente, foi possível constatar que abordagem mista (ora quantitativa ora qualitativa) foi útil para categorizar e entender por que o grupo 9B, considerado como um outlier, se destacou dos outros grupos em publicações de mensagens. / This research analyzed the 2nd offer (2011-2012) of the Specialization in Science Teaching Course (SST), conducted by the Faculty of Education of the University of São Paulo (FEUSP), in partnership with the Department Education of the State of São Paulo (DE-SP), entitled Rede São Paulo de Formação Docente (REDEFOR). In this research, we verified how the participants interact in a discussion forum in a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) for in-service teachers. More specifically, techniques of qualitative and quantitative analysis were employed to interpret the interaction of the participants in these forums. Initially, statistical descriptive analyzes were used to describe the main data sets: each of the disciplines and their respective offerings of discussion forums; number of participants per discussion forum; number of messages per discussion forum. From the descriptive analyzes, we selected the main cases for Social Network Analysis (SNA), which, in turn, were concerned with mapping and then characterizing the interaction networks of the discussion forums by: a) verifying the frequency and the typologies of interactions that have been established between the teacher-trainees with their respective peers and those with their tutors; b) obtaining sociometric indicators to characterize the participants of the selected groups. Due to the large volume of analysis and information, it was decided to detail the centralities among the members of a discussion group along the course ST08 - Life and Education in Sciences. Finally, the qualitative approach promoted the analysis of the discursive interactions in the debates carried out in the discipline ST08 - Life and Education in Sciences through the application of the framework Rainbow. The framework Rainbow proved to be effective in obtaining and exemplifying the dialogical relations established between the participants in group 9B during the debates in three discussion forums of ST08 - Life and Science Education. It was also possible to verify that, as the participants broadened their adherence in the accomplishment of the task to reach the pedagogical goal established by the teachers, more messages were classified among the argumentative categories (5-7), to the detriment of the other categories that have a social character (2-3). In the last discussion forum (Week # 5), there was a greater pronouncement by the tutor regarding the orientation of the task (4), together with two other participants (IMF and CASZ), making it possible to ascertain that when there is an engagement of mentoring in activity, there is a tendency for the discussion to focus on the latter categories (5-7). Finally, it was possible to verify that a mixed approach (sometimes quantitative or qualitative) was useful to categorize and understand why group 9B, considered as an outlier, stood out from the other groups in message publications.

Bakgrund: Hypotermi är ett vanligt förekommande problem inom operationssjukvården som kan leda till allvarliga följder för patienten och ökade kostnader för samhället. Förebyggande åtgärder i det preoperativa skedet har visat sig viktiga för att minska risken att hypotermi utvecklas. Syfte: Syftet var att undersöka patienters kärn- och perifera temperatur under de preoperativa förberedelserna vid dagkirurgi. Hypotesen var att patienters kärn- och perifera temperatur sjönk under de preoperativa förberedelserna. Metod: Totalt 50 patienter på en dagkirurgisk avdelning på ett mellanstort sjukhus i Sverige gav sitt muntliga samtycke att medverka i studien. Kroppstemperaturen mättes vid två tillfällen; när de precis bytt om till patientskjorta samt när de placerats på operationsbordet. Kärntemperaturen mättes med en axillartermometer, och den perifera temperaturen mättes på fyra punkter med en infraröd termometer. Datan var normalfördelad och statistisk signifikans beräknades med parat t-test. Resultat: Resultatet visar att det inte sker någon signifikant förändring av patienternas kärntemperatur men att den perifera temperaturen förändras. Riktningen är dock inte entydig då resultatet visar att mätpunkterna på överkroppen sjunker medan mätpunkterna på underkroppen stiger. Slutsats: Kärntemperaturen kan vara oförändrad genom de preoperativa förberedelserna, men det innebär inte att temperaturen ligger inom rekommendationerna för preoperativ kärntemperatur. Mer forskning krävs för att studera patientens kroppstemperatur genom hela den perioperativa processen, dvs. pre- intra, och postoperativt. / Background: Hypothermia is a common problem within the surgical context and can lead to serious consequences for the patient and increased costs for society. Efforts to prevent hypothermia in the preoperative phase have proven important to minimize the risk of developing hypothermia. Aim: The aim was to examine core- and peripheral temperature of surgical outpatients, during the preoperative phase. The hypothesis was that the temperature would decrease during the preoperative preparation. Method: 50 patients, at a medium-sized hospital in Sweden, participated. The temperature was measured twice; when the patient had changed into surgical attire, and when placed on the operating table. The core temperature was measured using an axillary thermometer, and the peripheral temperature was measured at four locations using an infrared thermometer. The data was normally distributed and paired t-test was used for statistical analysis. Result: The results show that there was no significant change in core temperature, whereas a change occurred in the peripheral temperature. The direction of change was incoherent, where the points of measurements on the upper body decreased in temperature, while the points of measurement on the lower extremities increased. Conclusion: The core temperature can remain unchanged during the preoperative period. This does not imply that the temperature is within preoperative temperature recommendations. More research, studying the temperature throughout the perioperative process, is necessary to attain knowledge regarding the development of the temperature of the patient undergoing surgery.

The thesis focuses on development and use of information and communication technologies and their final impact on tourist behaviour in the sector of tourism. First part is dedicated to the theory od tourism in general, it states the main participants, it defines more specifically tourist behaviour from the point of view of consumer, it describes the development of modern technologies that directly or indirectly influence the sector of tourism industry. The target of the practical part of the thesis, using the quantitative research, is to point out on the influence that brings the concrete technology as Internet and its services to his users and in the same time consumers in tourism.

As a way to gain greater insight into the operation of Library and Information Science (LIS) e-learning communities, the presented work applies automated text mining techniques to text-based communication to identify, describe and evaluate underlying social networks within such communities. The main thrust of the study is to find a way to use computers to automatically discover social ties that form between students just from their threaded discussions. Currently, one of the most common but time consuming methods for discovering social ties between people is to ask questions about their perceived social ties via a survey. However, such a survey is difficult to collect due to the high cost associated with data collection and the sensitive nature of the types of questions that must be asked. To overcome these limitations, the paper presents a new, content-based method for automated discovery of social networks from threaded discussions dubbed name networks. When fully developed, name networks can be used as a real time diagnostic tool for educators to evaluate and improve teaching models and to identify students who might need additional help or students who may provide such help to others.

Accepted for publication in Physics World (January 2007) / With the vast majority of scientific papers now available online, this paper (accepted for publication in Physics World) describes how the Web is allowing physicists and information providers to measure more accurately the impact of these papers and their authors. Provides a historical background of citation analysis, impact factor, new citation data sources (e.g., Google Scholar, Scopus, NASA's Astrophysics Data System Abstract Service, MathSciNet, ScienceDirect, SciFinder Scholar, Scitation/SPIN, and SPIRES-HEP), as well as h-index, g-index, and a-index.