Background Every company nowadays needs to use ICT artifacts to cope with the business development. The adoption and use of ICT involves different actors who make sense of ICT in relation to their work environment. This thesis focuses on the relationships between the actors involved in SME’s ICT adoption and their influence upon the process. Purpose          The purpose of this thesis is to explore the interactions between different actors in the SME’s network and analyze how they influence the SMEs ICT adoption process. Method          An embedded single case study strategy was chosen as research strategy, in line with the explorative nature of the purpose. A conceptual framework was created giving structure to the entire research. The empirical data was gathered through observations, one in-depth interview and ten semi-structured interviews. The method used for data analysis had the same qualitative and deductive nature following the areas highlighted by the conceptual framework; the data was summarized condensing meanings around the relationships between actors and the evolution of the sense-making process of ICT adoption, in order to provide answers to the two research questions. Conclusion    The research has shown that the customer and the strategic suppliers as human actors have an important influence on the sense-making process of ICT adoption as well as the non-human actor - the ICT artifact. The actors are influencing the ICT adoption process through series of adaptive processes generated by an inter-organizational sense-making process shaped by the design of the ICT artifact. The study contributes to the body of knowledge through a new construct that enriches the conceptual framework with the findings of the research.

Abstract In 2007 the Ministry of Education in Ontario identified Aboriginal education as one of its key priorities with the release of the First Nation, Métis and Inuit Education Policy Framework (FNMI). Improving educational outcomes and closing the achievement gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students is the focus of this policy. This study examines the policy implementation process in one school board in Ontario by focusing on how teachers in two elementary schools made sense of the policy expectations and how this sense-making impacted their professional practice. In order to examine how implementation was understood and acted upon by these teachers, the sense-making/co-construction model developed by Datnow, Hubbard, & Mehan (2002) provides the starting point for analysis. This study seeks to make visible the sense-making cues that teachers used to notice and select new information and to examine how these cues impacted teacher enactment of the FNMI policy. Sense-making theory supports the examination of change at the micro level of local policy actors; while the co-construction model with its meditational system of individual agency, organizational structure/culture, and environmental messaging contextualizes the individual sense-making of teachers within a larger social environment. The research methodology included teacher interviews designed to collect evidence of teacher sense-making during the policy implementation process, and school visits to observe evidence of school culture and structure. Interview responses of 15 elementary teachers and 2 principals were analyzed for sense-making cues. The findings revealed clusters of sense-making cues connected to three main sense-making frameworks or discourses. These discourses included the teacher as professional, equity and inclusion, and leadership and change. These findings support previous research on sense-making and policy implementation and contribute further insight into the micro processes of policy implementation, which could be leveraged to improve policy implementation. Key Words: policy implementation, teacher sense-making, leadership, co-construction model

Abstract In 2007 the Ministry of Education in Ontario identified Aboriginal education as one of its key priorities with the release of the First Nation, Métis and Inuit Education Policy Framework (FNMI). Improving educational outcomes and closing the achievement gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students is the focus of this policy. This study examines the policy implementation process in one school board in Ontario by focusing on how teachers in two elementary schools made sense of the policy expectations and how this sense-making impacted their professional practice. In order to examine how implementation was understood and acted upon by these teachers, the sense-making/co-construction model developed by Datnow, Hubbard, & Mehan (2002) provides the starting point for analysis. This study seeks to make visible the sense-making cues that teachers used to notice and select new information and to examine how these cues impacted teacher enactment of the FNMI policy. Sense-making theory supports the examination of change at the micro level of local policy actors; while the co-construction model with its meditational system of individual agency, organizational structure/culture, and environmental messaging contextualizes the individual sense-making of teachers within a larger social environment. The research methodology included teacher interviews designed to collect evidence of teacher sense-making during the policy implementation process, and school visits to observe evidence of school culture and structure. Interview responses of 15 elementary teachers and 2 principals were analyzed for sense-making cues. The findings revealed clusters of sense-making cues connected to three main sense-making frameworks or discourses. These discourses included the teacher as professional, equity and inclusion, and leadership and change. These findings support previous research on sense-making and policy implementation and contribute further insight into the micro processes of policy implementation, which could be leveraged to improve policy implementation. Key Words: policy implementation, teacher sense-making, leadership, co-construction model

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Yes / We examine how managers in Oman make sense of localization policies (Omanization) through their use of talent management (TM). Through an institutional logics (IL) lens, it is possible to examine how organizations confront institutional complexity and understand the interplay between state, market and societal logics. The paper analyses twenty-six interviews with managers in the Petroleum and Banking sector and is the first to examine TM within the context of Omanization using a layered, IL perspective. The paper finds that punitive state logics encourage organizations to focus on the societal wellbeing of their TM measures and inspires a sense of corporate social responsibility. Yet, the market logic dictates a stratified and differentiated approach that manages impressions of inclusivity while safeguarding organizational interests.

Ett stort antal nya företag startas varje år och bara under första kvartalet 2015 startades 18 618 stycken. Vid start av nya företag krävs, av entreprenörer som startar det, en idé och en plan för hur detta ska genomföras. Idag utgör nystartade företags entreprenörer en central del i samhällsekonomin, vilket gör dem intressanta att studera. För att entreprenörerna ska lyckas med sitt företag är det viktigt att redovisningen fungerar. Flera tidigare studier diskuterar att entreprenörer inte har den kunskap om redovisning som krävs i nystartade företag och anledningen till varför flertalet entreprenörer inte lyckas med sitt företag är just avsaknaden av kunskap om redovisning. Syftet med studien har varit att öka förståelsen för externredovisningens roll i nystartade företag, vilket har gjorts genom att beskriva entreprenörers delaktighet i bokslutsprocessen. Vi har valt att dela in bokslutsprocessen i fyra faser, avstämnings- och periodiseringsfas, värderingsfas, bokslutsdispositionsfas samt årsredovisningsfas. En kvalitativ undersökning har använts under studien för att besvara syftet, där vi intervjuade tio entreprenörer från nio olika nystartade företag avseende deras delaktighet i bokslutsprocessen. Studiens resultat visar att samtliga entreprenörer är delaktiga i bokslutsprocessen, där de deltar i avstämnings- och periodiseringsfasen, värderingsfasen samt årsredovisningsfasen. Ingen av entreprenörerna deltog i bokslutsdispositionsfasen. I studien påvisas även att entreprenörer i nystartade företag tar hjälp av externa aktörer för att få ihop alla delar i bokslutsprocessen. Vi har använt oss av sense-making teorin för att få en förståelse om varför och på vilket sätt entreprenörer deltar i bokslutsprocessen, genom vilken vi fick fram flera värdeskapande anledningar till deltagandet. Det är svårt att dra en generell slutsats av vad som är en värdeskapande handling till följd av deltagande i de olika faserna för samtliga entreprenörer. Däremot går det att urskilja olika anledningar för de olika entreprenörerna som kan ses som värdeskapande. / A large number of new businesses are started every year and only in the first quarter of 2015, 18 618 businesses started up. Starting up a new business requires, by the entrepreneur that is starting it, an idea and a plan for how it should be implemented. Today entrepreneurs in start-ups are a central part of the economy, which makes them an interesting topic to study. For the entrepreneurs to succeed in their business, it is of importance that the accounting functions. Several previous studies discuss the fact that entrepreneurs do not have the knowledge about accounting that is required in start-ups. The reason why several entrepreneurs do not succeed in their business is in fact the lack of knowledge about accounting, as showed in previous studies. The main purpose of this paper was to increase the understanding of the importance of external accounting in start-ups, which have been done by describing the entrepreneur´s participation in the year-end procedure in start-ups. A qualitative approach was used during the study to answer the purpose, where we interviewed ten entrepreneurs from nine different start-ups regarding their participation in the year-end procedure. Empirical results conclude that all entrepreneurs are involved in the year-end procedure. The study also demonstrated that entrepreneurs in start-ups are taking help from external parties to put together the year-end procedure. We have used the sense-making theory to gain an understanding of why and how the entrepreneurs participate in the year-end procedure, by which we could obtain several value creating reasons for participation. It is difficult to draw a general conclusion of what a value-creating action is as a result of participation in the various phases for all entrepreneurs. However it is possible to distinguish various reasons for the different entrepreneurs that can be seen as value creating.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-16T15:23:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1101799 bytes, checksum: d54bb52c10e9f93c9be5c261d13a4cd3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-02-26 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / This inquiry analyses the search behavior and the information used by the teachers in Law Courses of the CCJ UFPB/Campus I and of the UNIPÊ João Pessoa University Center. It was used quantitative and qualitative nature approach and descriptive type for the data collection, using the mixed questionnaire created by Google Docs and sent by e-mail, associated with the application in loco. Examined by the partnership category technique, taking as a method the model Sense Making proposed by Brenda Derwin which emphasizes the active subject paper in the search process and the information use through the sense construction. Referring to the results, it can be noted that the teachers are predominantly men, age between 25 and 55 years old, white skin and all married. Besides this, they from Paraiba, most of them resides in João Pessoa. They have more than five years of academic formation plus two years acting in superior teaching, having, simultaneously, other legal activities. Regarding search process, it is done daily, aiming to provide academic nature needs and legal-technically, in digital channels specially. / Analisa o comportamento de busca e uso da informação dos docentes dos Cursos de Direito do CCJ UFPB/Campus I e do UNIPÊ Centro Universitário de João Pessoa. De natureza quanti-qualitativa, quanto a abordagem, e de tipo descritiva, utilizou, para a coleta de dados o questionário misto criado pelo Google Docs e enviado por e-mail, associado com a aplicação em loco. Para a análise lançou mão da técnica de categorização em parceria com método o modelo Sense Making proposto por Brenda Derwin, que ressalta o papel ativo do sujeito no processo de busca e uso da informação, através da construção de sentido. No que se refere aos resultados, verificou-se, no que tange ao perfil, que os docentes são predominantemente do sexo masculino, com idade entre 25 e 55 anos de idade, cor da pele declarada branca e casados. Além disto, têm origem paraibana, a maioria da própria cidade de João Pessoa, onde residem predominantemente. Possuem mais de cinco anos de formação acadêmica e mais dois anos de atuação no ensino superior, compartilhada, simultaneamente com outras atividades jurídicas. Em relação a processo de busca, o fazem diariamente, tendo como objetivos suprir suas necessidades de natureza acadêmica e técnico-jurídica, em canais, predominantemente, digitais.

Submitted by Viviane Lima da Cunha (viviane@biblioteca.ufpb.br) on 2015-05-27T11:17:34Z No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 2312161 bytes, checksum: 48e879d8c2275fe997250abf0e6e2dd1 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-27T11:17:34Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 2312161 bytes, checksum: 48e879d8c2275fe997250abf0e6e2dd1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-02-21 / It analyzes the informational demands of the PPGCIs' professors from the Northeast Region concerned with both teaching and research practice. The Sense-Making approach, by the American – Brenda Dervin, was applied in order to base the research, so as to understand the meaning the individual assign to information at the moment in which one realizes a cognitive gap, while proceeding to a determined task, configurating the situation-gap-use triad. It refers to a descriptive research on a quantitative qualitative basis. A mixed questionnaire was employed as the data gathering‟s tool. Bardin‟s categorization technique was used to analyze the researched users‟responses. Twenty-two Professors took part in the research. The achieved results displayed that they usually search for information in Information Units, such as libraries, archives and documentation centers. Furthermore, to respond to informational needs, the greatest part of the researched individuals use the internet as information source. Concerning information channnels, they make use of books, journal articles, monographs, dissertations, theses, research reports, special collections.The major part of the researched perceive that such channels improve teaching practice because they keep themselves up to date with the following aspects: issues that are being discussed in classroom, the discovery of new methodological approaches, the updating of the existing knowledge as well as new experiences. As to the search process and to the information use, the greatest aim is to update knowledge on the researcheds‟ area, and to seek to information in order to apply on researches. The most recent problem which has led them to information search and use has been the demand for informational material that could have been applied as the support to carry on researches in process. The Professors state that whenever they are engaged in such a process, they – as a whole – become satisfied. In this context, normally, the feeling that prevails the mentioned search process is, somehow, some questioning; in other words, the need to find out something new about a certain issue, a gap, a cognitive empty. Barrier time is one of the informational obstacles that mostly hampers the information search process and use, as well as the information excess to which everyone is subject nowadays. The most used strategy to overcome such a barrier is the selection by means of the trustfulness criterion. Therefore, the knowledge about the informational behavior has demonstrated itself, considering the Professors‟ speech, as an alternative to know how they are doing to handle the informational bulk and to retrieve relevant information to use in their teaching practice. / Analisa as necessidades informacionais dos docentes dos PPGCIS da Região Nordeste na prática docente de ensino e pesquisa. A Abordagem Sense Making, da americana Brenda Dervin, foi utilizada para nortear a pesquisa no intuito de compreender o sentido que o indivíduo atribui à informação no momento em que ele percebe um vazio cognitivo para dar prosseguimento a uma determinada atividade do seu cotidiano configurando a tríade situação-lacuna-uso. Trata-se de uma pesquisa descritiva e de cunho quanti-qualitativo. O instrumento de coleta de dados utilizado foi um questionário misto. A técnica de categorização de Bardin foi usada para analisar as respostas dos usuários pesquisados. Vinte e dois docentes participaram da pesquisa. Os resultados encontrados revelaram que eles costumam suprir as necessidades informacionais em unidades de informação como bibliotecas, arquivos e centros de documentação, bem como a maioria deles faz uso da internet como fonte de informação. Quando se trata de canais de informação eles utilizam os livros, artigos de periódicos, monografias, dissertações, teses, relatórios de pesquisa, coleções especiais. A maior parte dos pesquisados disse que eles contribuem com a prática docente no sentido de mantê-los atualizados com relação aos temas que estão sendo trabalhados em sala de aula, na descoberta de novas abordagens metodológicas, atualização dos conhecimentos já existentes e novas experiências. Com relação ao processo de busca e uso de informação o maior objetivo é atualizar o conhecimento em sua área de atuação, assim como buscar informações para utilizar em pesquisas. O problema/situação mais recente que os levou à busca e uso da informação foi à necessidade de material informacional que servisse de apoio para dar continuidade às pesquisas em andamento. Os docentes afirmam que quando se envolvem nesse processo geralmente saem satisfeitos. Nesse contexto, o sentimento que normalmente permeia esse processo de busca é uma inquietação, a necessidade de descobrir algo novo sobre um determinado tema, ou seja, uma lacuna, um vazio cognitivo. A barreira de tempo é um dos obstáculos informacionais que mais dificultam o processo de busca e uso da informação, bem como também o excesso de informações do qual estão todos submetidos na atualidade. A estratégia mais utilizada para driblar essa barreira é a seleção por critério de confiabilidade. Portanto, o conhecimento do comportamento informacional se mostrou, a partir da fala dos docentes, uma alternativa para saber como eles estão fazendo para driblar a explosão informacional e recuperar informações relevantes para utilizar em razão do fazer docente.

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Kommunikationsdirektör vid Sundsvalls kommun önskade undersöka hur man på bästa sätt kommunicerar vid kris med personer som inte talar svenska. Detta eftersom att Sundsvalls kommun ansåg att man saknade tillräckliga språkkunskaper för att hantera kriser. Enligt forskningen är det just personer av annat ursprung än landet det bor i som är mer utsatta vid kris (Olofsson, 2007:7), varför det är viktigt att anpassa kommunikationen så att den når ut till och kan hjälpa alla medborgare. Jag fann det därför intressant att undersöka Sundsvalls kommun och dess kriskommunikativa anpassning genom att intervjua de som inom kommunen är ansvariga för kriskommunikationen samt undersöka hur det ser ut i landet i stort. Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka om Sveriges kommuner anpassar sin kriskommunikation för medborgare med utländsk bakgrund med huvudfokus på hur Sundsvalls kommun arbetar strategiskt med sin kriskommunikation.   Metod och material: Kvalitativ samtalsintervju med Camilla Nilzén och Ulf Wallin vid Sundsvalls kommun med kompletterande kvantitativ webbenkät till 121 svenska kommuner. Huvudresultat: Sundsvalls kommun är inte anpassade i sin kriskommunikation till medborgare med utländskbakgrund vilket även antas gälla en större del av landets kommuner. Däremot visar resultatet på att kunskapen om att kommunicera på ett anpassat sätt finns varför Sundsvalls kommun och de av landets kommuner som inte är anpassade på ett enkelt sätt kan bli bättre på att anpassa sin