The study was done within the local government environment. It was conducted with the aim of assisting municipalities to achieve optimum levels of operational efficiency, following the realisation that all over the world there is an increasing need for organisations, including government organisations, to become efficient. One of the major challenges facing governments worldwide is the need for them to supply basic services to their populations, who are increasing at a disproportionate rate to the resources available to sustain and improve the quality of life of these people. Thus for government to overcome these challenges, it needs to utilise its available resources cautiously to be able to meet these escalating challenges effectively. Therefore, ten practices were presented in this study as key instruments capable of bringing about efficiency to the manner in which local government operates or delivers services. It was found during the literature review that when these practices are deployed, they will ensure the achievement of operational efficiency within the local sphere of government. The empirical study was conducted in Matjhabeng Local Municipality (MLM), located in the Northern region of the Free State Province. This local municipality came into existence on the 5th of December 2000 after the amalgamation of the former six transitional local councils into one financially viable and economically sustainable municipality. It incorporates the city of Welkom and the towns of Virginia, Odendaalsrus, Hennenman, Allanridge and Ventersburg, with an estimated population of more than 500 000 people. During the background review of the municipality, several challenges were encountered which included parts of the population without access to proper sanitation and electricity. However, in all the municipal challenges presented, it was argued that the solution can be found in the effective management of municipal input with relation to its output, which means that the municipality has the huge task of managing its scarce resources in an efficient manner to be able to deliver on its mandate and to meet the expectations of its residents. Furthermore, the study was conducted from a sample consisting of the four senior managers and twenty line managers from the four departments within the municipality. A representative sampling method was employed to ensure that all relevant aspects (such as race, gender and department), considered important for selecting a sample, are included and to also obtain global responses from respondents selected to participate in the study. Furthermore this sample was drawn from a population of nine senior managers and 35 line managers. The research was conducted with the expressed permission from the office of the accounting officer. Different impressions of the responses made by the participants from this municipality were obtained and then analysed. Overall, there was a negative response from the majority of the participants regarding most of the questions on the ten practices identified. Moreover, in terms of the devised model for measuring efficiency of the municipality based on three levels, the most desirable being Level 3, it was found that the municipality could be classified as a Level 1 organisation, which means that the municipality is at an elementary phase as far as achieving efficiency in its operations is concerned. Lastly, recommendations were made based on the findings of the empirical research conducted. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2009.

The study was done within the local government environment. It was conducted with the aim of assisting municipalities to achieve optimum levels of operational efficiency, following the realisation that all over the world there is an increasing need for organisations, including government organisations, to become efficient. One of the major challenges facing governments worldwide is the need for them to supply basic services to their populations, who are increasing at a disproportionate rate to the resources available to sustain and improve the quality of life of these people. Thus for government to overcome these challenges, it needs to utilise its available resources cautiously to be able to meet these escalating challenges effectively. Therefore, ten practices were presented in this study as key instruments capable of bringing about efficiency to the manner in which local government operates or delivers services. It was found during the literature review that when these practices are deployed, they will ensure the achievement of operational efficiency within the local sphere of government. The empirical study was conducted in Matjhabeng Local Municipality (MLM), located in the Northern region of the Free State Province. This local municipality came into existence on the 5th of December 2000 after the amalgamation of the former six transitional local councils into one financially viable and economically sustainable municipality. It incorporates the city of Welkom and the towns of Virginia, Odendaalsrus, Hennenman, Allanridge and Ventersburg, with an estimated population of more than 500 000 people. During the background review of the municipality, several challenges were encountered which included parts of the population without access to proper sanitation and electricity. However, in all the municipal challenges presented, it was argued that the solution can be found in the effective management of municipal input with relation to its output, which means that the municipality has the huge task of managing its scarce resources in an efficient manner to be able to deliver on its mandate and to meet the expectations of its residents. Furthermore, the study was conducted from a sample consisting of the four senior managers and twenty line managers from the four departments within the municipality. A representative sampling method was employed to ensure that all relevant aspects (such as race, gender and department), considered important for selecting a sample, are included and to also obtain global responses from respondents selected to participate in the study. Furthermore this sample was drawn from a population of nine senior managers and 35 line managers. The research was conducted with the expressed permission from the office of the accounting officer. Different impressions of the responses made by the participants from this municipality were obtained and then analysed. Overall, there was a negative response from the majority of the participants regarding most of the questions on the ten practices identified. Moreover, in terms of the devised model for measuring efficiency of the municipality based on three levels, the most desirable being Level 3, it was found that the municipality could be classified as a Level 1 organisation, which means that the municipality is at an elementary phase as far as achieving efficiency in its operations is concerned. Lastly, recommendations were made based on the findings of the empirical research conducted. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2009.

<p>IT outsourcing is a hot topic in today’s demanding environment. Many organizations start to outsource information technology in order to achieve benefits such as cost reduction, improve quality of service, and focus on the core competence. However, IT outsourcing projects are not an easy task to manage and many projects fail even though there exists a lot of research within the area. In order to increase the possibility to achieve project success, today’s literature indicates that trust is an important factor to achieve. This thesis aim is to identify and describe the process of how to achieve trust in IT outsourcing relationships. The methodology is a literature study as its purpose is to cover the aspects of trust and how the literature proposes how to achieve trust in IT outsourcing relationships.</p><p>Relevant literature has been identified, analyzed, and categorized in order to define the thesis concepts and to create a framework based on critical success factors of how to achieve trust in IT outsourcing relationships. The framework can be used as a guiding principle of how organizations can achieve trust in IT outsourcing relationships to increases the possibility to achieve project success. The framework can also raise the awareness that makes it possible to deal with different IT outsourcing situations.</p>

IT outsourcing is a hot topic in today’s demanding environment. Many organizations start to outsource information technology in order to achieve benefits such as cost reduction, improve quality of service, and focus on the core competence. However, IT outsourcing projects are not an easy task to manage and many projects fail even though there exists a lot of research within the area. In order to increase the possibility to achieve project success, today’s literature indicates that trust is an important factor to achieve. This thesis aim is to identify and describe the process of how to achieve trust in IT outsourcing relationships. The methodology is a literature study as its purpose is to cover the aspects of trust and how the literature proposes how to achieve trust in IT outsourcing relationships. Relevant literature has been identified, analyzed, and categorized in order to define the thesis concepts and to create a framework based on critical success factors of how to achieve trust in IT outsourcing relationships. The framework can be used as a guiding principle of how organizations can achieve trust in IT outsourcing relationships to increases the possibility to achieve project success. The framework can also raise the awareness that makes it possible to deal with different IT outsourcing situations.

No description available.

O objeto da dissertação é o estudo de uma classificação das obrigações entre aquelas de meios e as de resultado, as primeiras obrigando o devedor a uma prestação de diligência, as segundas, à realização de uma vantagem para o credor, sem o que não haveria o devedor de exonerar-se. Um estudo histórico abre o trabalho, pesquisando os antecedentes remotos da distinção, até a sua consagração, no Traité de René Demogue, o que tornou famosa a distinção que passou a gerar profundas discussões doutrinárias na França e no resto do mundo. São também tratados os antecedentes mais recentes, o contexto histórico do surgimento da classificação e sua evolução sucessiva, tanto na França quanto em outros países, para, enumeradas algumas das muitas dificuldades envolvidas no estudo do tema, ainda hoje severamente combatido, pesquisar-se, do ponto de vista da estrutura do vínculo obrigacional, como esta classificação se relaciona com a prestação devida. Assim, acredita-se, seria possível dizer se, uma vez que todo vínculo obrigacional surge tendo em vista um resultado, a prestação obrigacional admite uma distinção entre aquelas que implicam uma atividade do devedor limitada por sua diligência (obrigação de meios) e aquelas que somente conduzem a obrigação a seu termo mediante cumprimento uma vez realizado um resultado, ou seja, desde que produzido um benefício específico para o credor (obrigações de resultado). / The purpose of the dissertation is to study the classification of obligations in the ones so called best efforts duty and those referred to as duty to achieve a result, the first imposing to the debtor the duty to act diligently, the second attain a certain benefit to the creditor, without which the debtor would never be exonerated. A historical study initiates the dissertation with the research of the remote antecedents of such classification until its public recognition through the Traité written by René Demogue, which brought it great fame and created deep debates both in France and throughout the world. The recent antecedents of the classification are also pointed out, the historical context of its emergence and successive evolution in France and in other countries, to, after listing some of the many difficulties involved in the study of such subject, strongly criticized even nowadays, research through the scope of the legal relationship how the classification would relate with the duties imposed to the debtor. In doing so, it is believed to be possible to say, since every legal duty emerges to accomplish a certain objective, if would be possible to admit a distinction between duties that imply a conduct limited by diligence (best efforts duty) and those that would only be extinguished by the fulfillment of its purpose, in other words, since a specific result is produce and delivered to the creditor (duty to achieve a result).

<p> </p><p>This study aims to deepen the understanding of which opinions and perceptions the teachers in the study have about the national goals, as well as local, when they plan their lessons in science studies for the younger ages. We wish to illustrate which goals these teachers find most important, their opinions on how they use these and how the different goals affect their design of teaching. The study also aims to examine which syllabuses, national or local, the teachers believe have an effect on their planning. </p><p>Data were collected by interviews with four teachers, combined with questionnaires sent to 25 teachers teaching in science studies in forms 1-6. To analyse the data, key terms from Vygotsky and a sociocultural theory was used, such as situated learning, artifacts, the zone of proximal development, thinking in group and mediation. The data was also interpreted and examined by recent studies regarding this subject. </p><p>The results show that the teachers find their own knowledge, the national syllabus and their colleagues as most important for their planning. Approximately half of the group of teachers, who answered the questionnaire, expressed that their school has a local syllabus, but only a few of these state that they find this document important for their planning. The interviews, however, showed that these documents were regarded as very important by the teachers using them. The teachers also claimed that too little time was set aside for working with the local and the national syllabus.</p><p>The study also showed that goals to strive for were considered most important and influential on the teacher’s design of lessons in science. The teachers however expressed that they find these goals hard to understand and pursue.</p><p>The results also show that when working on goals to strive for, discussions in groups, experiments and observations were the most used methods.  </p>

<p>This essay is about how newly graduated teachers experience their first year in teaching. The main focus is linked to the theory about the pedagogy triangle of Bermuda. It involves two dimensions with six main aspects. The first dimension is the psychosocial-, including, ambition, demands and the possibility to achieve ambition and demands. The second dimension is the didactic-, including the what-, why- and how-qustions.</p><p> The results of the study shows that teachers experience their first year in teaching different, depending primarly of the ascpets of the psychosocial dimension. The didactic dimension tends to incoroprate into the psychosocial dimension via ambition and demands. Ambition and demands are vital for the understanding of  how newly graduated teachers experience their first year in teaching. It is throw these aspects they look upon the reality and estimate their performance. If the ambition and the demands are inline with the how the reality develop the feeling of satisfaction grow.</p>

This study aims to deepen the understanding of which opinions and perceptions the teachers in the study have about the national goals, as well as local, when they plan their lessons in science studies for the younger ages. We wish to illustrate which goals these teachers find most important, their opinions on how they use these and how the different goals affect their design of teaching. The study also aims to examine which syllabuses, national or local, the teachers believe have an effect on their planning.  Data were collected by interviews with four teachers, combined with questionnaires sent to 25 teachers teaching in science studies in forms 1-6. To analyse the data, key terms from Vygotsky and a sociocultural theory was used, such as situated learning, artifacts, the zone of proximal development, thinking in group and mediation. The data was also interpreted and examined by recent studies regarding this subject.  The results show that the teachers find their own knowledge, the national syllabus and their colleagues as most important for their planning. Approximately half of the group of teachers, who answered the questionnaire, expressed that their school has a local syllabus, but only a few of these state that they find this document important for their planning. The interviews, however, showed that these documents were regarded as very important by the teachers using them. The teachers also claimed that too little time was set aside for working with the local and the national syllabus. The study also showed that goals to strive for were considered most important and influential on the teacher’s design of lessons in science. The teachers however expressed that they find these goals hard to understand and pursue. The results also show that when working on goals to strive for, discussions in groups, experiments and observations were the most used methods.

This essay is about how newly graduated teachers experience their first year in teaching. The main focus is linked to the theory about the pedagogy triangle of Bermuda. It involves two dimensions with six main aspects. The first dimension is the psychosocial-, including, ambition, demands and the possibility to achieve ambition and demands. The second dimension is the didactic-, including the what-, why- and how-qustions.  The results of the study shows that teachers experience their first year in teaching different, depending primarly of the ascpets of the psychosocial dimension. The didactic dimension tends to incoroprate into the psychosocial dimension via ambition and demands. Ambition and demands are vital for the understanding of  how newly graduated teachers experience their first year in teaching. It is throw these aspects they look upon the reality and estimate their performance. If the ambition and the demands are inline with the how the reality develop the feeling of satisfaction grow.