The purpose of this investigation was to support and foster parent participation among Mexican origin parents of special needs children. However, a limited amount of empirical research existed that considered Mexican origin parents' understanding of participation in general and special education settings.Parent participation was viewed as a dynamic and evolving process through which parent participants could construct knowledge and meaning. Novice (newcomer) parents worked with veteran (experienced) parents to learn about participation. Critical and reflective discussions were central to their learning and parents moved toward full participation as they developed confidence, skills, and awareness about themselves as agents of change.A Critically Compassionate Intellectualism (CCI) model, derived from Sociocultural Theory and Critical Race Theory (CRT), was applied to analyze the ways parents demonstrated their understanding of participation through cooperation, caring, and critical consciousness. A Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach was implemented as a method through which parents' roles in the investigation and their definitions of participation were explored.Primary data sources included individual and focus group interviews, discussion/planning sessions, and a debriefing session. Secondary sources consisted of weekly journals, an open-ended survey, and audio memos. Most data sources were transcribed and coded using an "open-coding" procedure. Then primary sources were coded a second time for a more detailed analysis of parents' evolving views of participation.Novice parents reported that within a cooperative environment they could share their thoughts and feelings about their children. They acknowledged that their voices were heard and, therefore, felt validated and supported. Parents' critical consciousness was raised as they felt more confident in generating positive changes for their children. Both veteran and novice parents' roles changed over time. Veteran parents' leadership grew and novice parents became more active and vocal in the research process.This study presented alternative ways to understand parent participation. Being listened to and respected by teachers and school administrators were important reasons for parents' active participation. Feeling supported at IEP meetings and having open communication with teachers also were important factors contributing to parents' participation. Definitions of participation should continue to expand to allow a space for parents' diverse experiences.

Today, the competition between companies are very strong and fighted. In particular, small-medium size companies (SMEs) need to upgrade continuously in order to be in line with new technologies and new strategies that tends to develop companies in terms of productivity and quality. SMEs need, indeed, to be always competitive in a changeable market and to achieve competitive advantage through implementation of new technologies and theoretical methods or techniques. The implementation of those methods leads the company to increase its level of productivity and quality in order to achieve a competitive place within the market. The Gunasekaran framework is a tool which is useful in order to achieve a higher level of productivity and quality within a SME. This framework was studied and analyzed in order to be applied in a real life situation. This research focuses on the application of the same framework in a Mexican small company with the aim to develop and increase the level of productivity and quality of one department. Within the application of this framework, were applied the main concepts explained by the same Gunasekaran and they were analyzed in order to understand if a possible application could be useful to achieve success within the department.

Magistro darbe teoriniu požiūriu nagrinėjama sprendimų priėmimo samprata, sprendimų vieta valdyme, sprendimų priėmimo proceso turinys, darbuotojų dalyvavimo sprendimų priėmime samprata, darbuotojų dalyvavimo sprendimų priėmime lygiai, darbuotojų įgalinimo strategijos. Naudojant veiklos tyrimo, kaip praktinio pobūdžio, ugdomąją, konstruojančią metodologiją, tyrėjas atlieka praktinį eksperimentą įmonėje. Tyrimo metu tiria, kokia yra darbuotojų dalyvavimo sprendimų priėmime struktūra ir dinamika bei kokie yra darbuotojų dalyvavimo sprendimų priėmime rezultatai. Magistro darbo autorius, pats būdamas įmonės darbuotoju, tampa tyrėju-praktiku, dalyvaujančiu įmonės realiuose sprendimų priėmimuose ir skatinančiu, kitus įmonės darbuotojus aktyviai dalyvauti tyrime. Tyrimo metu konstruojamas darbuotojų dalyvavimo sprendimų priėmime modelis. / This master‘s final paper formulates problems in theoretical background of: conception of decisions making, position of decisions making in management, process of decisions making, stuff’s participation in decisions making, levels of stuff’s participation in decisions making, stuff’s empowerment strategies. Action research as a qualitative research method was used by the author for practical, educational, constructible experiment, which accomplished in private company. By experiment was researched structure and course of stuff’s participation in decisions making and followed up participation’s results. In that case, author becomes practical researcher, involved in real decisions making and stimulated the active participation of other participants. Hereupon, researcher builds up the model of stuff’s participation in decisions making.

This was a qualitative study carried out with one grade 8 multicultural, multiethnic, mathematics class. This research study began with the idea of finding out whether the learners home language (especially Zulu Xhosa) could be linked to algebraic misconceptions. The 40 learners (participants) in my study had just been introduced to algebra. I chose the school and participants through “convenience sampling”. This made sense since I am an educator at this particular school. I had explained the meaning of the word "variable" in depth. The concepts "like terms" and "unlike terms" had been explained. The index laws for multiplication and division of the same bases had been discussed. It was within this context that the algebra worksheet was given to the learners, in the first cycle. I examined the algebra errors made by the grade 8 learners after marking the worksheets. I linked the errors to past literature on algebraic misconceptions as well as to Bernard's (2002b) error classification list. The conclusion was that the learners were making common errors which were not affected by their home language. I spent time on reflection since the outcome was not exactly what I had anticipated (that is, I had harboured strong suspicions that English second language learners would commit more algebraic errors than the English home language learners). I then considered a possible link between culture and algebraic misconceptions. Videotaped lessons were used for this purpose. However, observations of these videotaped lessons did not produce much data. I honestly could not reach a conclusion. This formed the second cycle of my action research. Prompted by the obvious lack of interaction in the video recordings from my teaching, I changed my focus to what I, the teacher, did during the lessons, and how these actions may or may not have supported some of the algebraic misconceptions. I reflected on my teaching method and recognized the need to change to a more interactive teaching style. I needed to give the learners the space to think for themselves. I would merely facilitate where necessary. In the third cycle, I drew up a set of problems which matched the new teaching style (interactive teaching).The lessons during which the new set of problems were discussed and solved, were videotaped. These videotaped lessons were analyzed and a completely different picture emerged. The learners were absolutely responsive and showed a side of them that I had not seen before! This study came to be an action research study because I went through three cycles of reflecting, planning, acting and observing and then reflecting, re-planning, further implementation, observing and acting etc. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Edgewood, 2010.

Uno de los problemas que preocupa a la Universidades Venezolanas es la formación de docentes críticos y reflexivos, capaces de asumir con criterios sólidos el rol de investigadores y por consiguiente la investigación educativa; a la que desde su formación inicial manifiestan temores de enfrentar, aún cuando se traten de investigaciones dentro del campo de su especialidad y sea ésta una exigencia o requisito de grado, es tal el temor que se llega hablar "del problema de la tesis" o "la tesis como problema", así como del "síndrome del TMT", todo menos tesis, visto tanto en estudiantes de bajo rendimiento como en altos rendimientos y no sólo en pregrado sino en estudios de formación inicial, al verse obligados a poner en práctica una serie de supuestos teóricos no siempre asumidos y mucho menos comprendidos sobre la realidad a investigar, teniendo siempre como raíz la dificultad de acción y expresión más palpable como lo es la comunicación y elaboración del lenguaje, herramienta capaz de ofrecer una realidad de análisis basado en un conjunto de interrelaciones que observamos en nuestro contexto, sobre el cual se debiera ser autónomos para tomar decisiones, resolver problemas, tener cultura de excelencia académica crítica e investigadora, que respete la diversidad de criterios y modifique esquemas tradicionales que no permiten que la organización educativa aprenda y por ende el cliente obtenga la calidad de la enseñanza que se reclama día a día basados en las exigencias del hombre del siglo XXI. Es por ello que el estudio se realizó con el propósito de analizar la Investigación Acción como una estrategia válida para reforzar el programa de formación del rol de investigador en los docentes de la Escuela de Educación de la Facultad de Humanidades y Educación de la Universidad de los Andes, Mérida, Venezuela. Para ello se plantearon como objetivos: Analizar críticamente, si los elementos definitorios del Modelo de Investigación Acción, serían útiles, para tales fines, asimismo se consideró describir los elementos esenciales de la Política Educativa referente al rol del docente, a objeto de diferenciar los elementos teóricos constitutivos del rol del docente y del investigador, para asociar sus elementos teóricos curriculares, referentes a la formación del rol de investigador. Seguidamente se procedió a analizar la teoría de acción expuesta por Chris Argyris, en su dimensión de Teoría en Uso y la adición del Método Comunicacional de Satir, Bandler y Grinder y un modelo de observación basado en Haberlas, como un enfoque válido de Investigación Acción, a los fines de detectar, a la luz de sus conclusiones, los nudos críticos de la Teoría en Uso de los docentes de la Comunidad de Práctica, en el desempeño del rol de investigador. Con los resultados obtenidos en el estudio se procedió a elaborar una propuesta de programa de formación de docentes investigadores, a los fines de que pueda ser estudiado por las autoridades respectivas, como una vía para cumplir tal misión. La Investigación se realizó como un estudio cualitativo basado en la práctica. Asimismo, se aspira que la metodología utilizada contribuya a solucionar los nudos críticos planteados por los organismos competentes, respecto a la búsqueda de soluciones, para reforzar los programas de formación del rol de investigador en los docentes venezolanos, donde se pretenden cambios para no seguir apelando a la cultura de las ideas y paradigmas comúnmente aceptados. Se espera que los resultados obtenidos de esta investigación, contribuyan a estudiar la dimensión de su aplicabilidad en otras Instituciones, en formadores de formadores, en estudiantes de pregrado y en la formación permanente a la que todo docente debe acceder siempre y cuando este interesado en la mejora y calidad de la educación. / One of the problems that is of concern to the Venezuelan universities is the formation of critical and reflexive educators, who are capable of assuming the role of researches with solid criteria and consequently, educational research. From the time of their initial formation they show fear when facing research, even when it is in their fields of specialization and is a requisite for a degree. This fear is so great that "the problem of the thesis" or "the thesis as a problem", as well as the "ABAT (anything but a thesis) syndrome", is spoken of. This is seen both in students with low performance and in those with high performance and n ot only in undergraduate school, but also in graduate school and in the field of work. This problem is related to their initial formation; they find themselves obligated to put into practice a series of theoretical assumptions about the reality to be researched, not always undertaken and much less comprehended. The root of this problem is the obvious difficulty of action and expression, or communication and language elaboration. These tools are capable of offering an analysis reality based on a one must be independent in order to make decisions, solve problems, be open to change and break with the culture of silence and advance toward a culture of critical and research academic excellence that respects diversity of criteria and modifies traditional patterns that do not allow the educational organization to learn and hence, the obtaining of the quality of teaching that is required in the 21st century. Therefore, the study was carried out for the purpose of analyzing Action Research as a valid strategy for reinforcing the program for the formation of the role of the research among the professors of the Scholl of Education of the College of Humanities and Education of the Universidad de los Andes, Mérida, Venezuela. To this end, the following Objectives were established: a critical would be useful for such a purpose and a description of the essential elements of Educational Policy related to the role of the educator so as to differentiate the theoretical elements that constitute the role of the educator and the research in order to associate the curricular theoretical elements related to the formation of the role of researcher. Then, the Action theory expounded by Chris Argyris in his Use Theory, with the addition of the Communicational Method of Satir, Bandler and Frinder and an observation model based on Habermas, was analyzed as a valid Action Investigation approach to detect, in the light of the conclusions reached, the critical problems of the Use Theory among the educators in the Practice Community in carrying out the role of researches. With the results obtained from the study, a proposal for a program for the formation of research educators was drawn up, so that it might be studied by the respective authorities as a means for fulfilling such a mission. The research was carried out as a qualitative study based on practice. Likewise, it is hoped that the methodology used will contributed to solving the critical problems presented by the appropriate entities with respect to the search for solutions for reinforcing the programs for the formation of the role of researches among Venezuelan educators, where changes are sought in order not to have to continue resorting to the culture of commonly accepted ideas and paradigms. It is hoped that the results obtained from this research will contribute toward studying the extent of its applicability to other institutions, to teachers of teachers, to undergraduate students and to the permanent formation to which every educator should accede if he or she is interested in the improvement and the quality of education.

General characteristics and relevance of the topic. In 1995’s issue of the scientific journal Public Administration Review Robert D. Behn (1995) referring to the analogy of the science of physics formulated three major questions which, in his opinion, scholars of public management should be concerned about in the 21st century. One of them was the measurement question: how public managers can measure the achievements of their agencies in ways that help to increase those achievements? After a decade the emergence of multitude of books and articles in scientific journals, changes in public sector organizations caused by implementation of models of performance measurement, performance management and quality management, governmental initiatives to implement performance measurement programmes just confirm the Behn insight on the importance of performance measurement in public organizations. For many years performance measurement as one of the major tools in the package of the New Public Management reforms has remained a significant ‘management fashion’ (Abrahamson, 1996) and scholars as well as practicians of traditionally more developed countries of the English speaking world and the Continental Western Europe are well aware of it. The fashion gradually comes to the post-communist Central European countries which recently joined the European Union or are in the way of doing so and which learn from the experience of more ‘advanced” countries in different areas of public... [to full text] / Bendroji temos charakteristika ir aktualumas. 1995-aisiais metais Robertas D. Behnas (1995) žurnale Public Administration Review, pasiremdamas fizikos mokslų analogija, suformulavo tris didžiuosius klausimus, kurie, jo požiūriu, turėtų rūpėti viešajai vadybai XXI-ame amžiuje. Vienas iš jų buvo matavimo klausimas: kokiais būdais viešųjų organizacijų vadovai gali matuoti jų vadovaujamų įstaigų pasiekimus, kad matavimas pasiekimus teigiamai veiktų? Prabėgus dešimtmečiui nuo Behno straipsnio pasirodymo, daugybė knygų ir straipsnių moksliniuose žurnaluose, viešojo sektoriaus organizacijų pokyčiai, kuriuos sąlygoja diegiami veiklos matavimo, veiklos vadybos ir kokybės vadybos modeliai, įvairių šalių Vyriausybių iniciatyvos įgyvendinti veiklos matavimo programas tik patvirtina Behno įžvalgą apie viešųjų organizacijų veiklos matavimo svarbą. Veiklos matavimas (angl. performance measurement), viena iš pagrindinių Naujosios viešosios vadybos reformų paketo priemonių, daugelį metų išlieka reikšminga „vadybos mada”, kuria seka mokslininkai ir praktikai tradiciškai labiau išsivysčiusiomis vadinamose angliškai kalbančio pasaulio ir kontinentinės Vakarų Europos šalyse. Ši mada pamažu ateina ir į po-komunistines Vidurio Europos šalis, kurios neseniai tapo ar planuoja tapti Europos S���jungos narėmis, ir kurios įvairiose viešojo administravimo srityse perima ‘pažangesnių” šalių patirtį. Lietuvos viešojo sektoriaus organizacijos, tarp jų ir savivaldybės, taip pat dalyvauja minėtame patirties... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]

Many companies around the world have implemented Six Sigma as a problem solving methodology especially useful for dealing with recurring problems in business processes. Since the 1980s when it was developed at Motorola, many companies have tried to implement Six Sigma to fit their own company’s culture and goals. This thesis presents a longitudinal case study describing the evolution of ‘Six Sigma Management’ at Siemens in Sweden. The success of the programme was to a large degree built on previous failures, confirming Juran’s old saying ‘Failure is a gold mine’. From the case study, success factors for implementing Six Sigma at Siemens are identified and compared to those given in the literature. Some of the most critical success factors identified at Siemens had not been mentioned as such in the literature before. The main conclusion of the study is that, in order to succeed and get sustainable results from a Six Sigma programme, Six Sigma should be integrated with Process Management, instead of just running Six Sigma as a separate initiative in an organisation. Furthermore, the thesis includes papers presenting methods and tools to be used in a Six Sigma programme or in Six Sigma projects. They deal with: how to identify suitable Six Sigma projects, how to select which Six Sigma methodology to use, how to find hidden misunderstandings between people from different knowledge domains, and how to simulate the impact of improvements to iterative processes. All these methods and tools have been developed and tested at Siemens. This has been an action research project, where the author has been employed by the company under investigation for eleven years and has actively influenced the changes in the company based on knowledge gained at the company as well as on research studies conducted at universities. In action research the change initiative under investigation is conducted and analysed in a single context. The readers are invited to draw their own conclusions on the applicability of the results to their own specific cases. In addition to this, some conclusions derived using analytical generalisation, applicable to a more general case, are presented in the thesis. / <p>Defended att Chalmers University of Technolgy in 2007.</p>

Despite the perceived importance of IT, a majority of IT projects fail to deliver what was actually ordered (!). One main reason for failure is IT project management’s inability to adapt and react to a dynamic and changing project environment, instead, projects are run as if it is possible to predict all project variables before project start. In reality, IT project workers live in a dynamic, political and commercial environment where it is difficult to predict and control the future. IT projects needs to be continually aligned with their environment to stay relevant and deliver utility. Through a design science and action research approach, a model supporting IT project managers with IT project alignment is created and tested. The model is called DELTA and is designed to be easy to understand and use for IT project managers; it builds on a simplification of commonly available approaches in order to facilitate communication the different domains of expertise in IT projects. DELTA builds on four main constituents: Enterprise images, Stakeholders, Goals and Project. Guidelines for using the model is also presented. Experiences from using the model indicates that the model is perceived as a useful complement to regular project management methods, specifically by merging different conceptual perceptions into a common view. Furthermore, results highlight the conflict between IT project alignment and the traditional project model. Finally, the results show the difference between IT project issues and underlying causes for these issues.

Introduction: The lifespan of Mi’kmaq First Nations men continues to be eight years less than that of other Canadian men. Therefore, this study examined the intersecting relationships between the social determinants of gender, health practices and other factors on the health of Mi’kmaq boys and men living in Elsipogtog First Nation. Goal: To promote the health of Mi’kmaq men living in Elsipogtog First Nation and to decrease the health disparities among Mi’kmaq men and other Canadian men. Objectives: (a) To explore how Mi’kmaq men construct their masculinities across the lifespan within Mi’kmaq culture; (b) To examine Mi’kmaq men’s perceptions of health and health practices and how their practices of masculinity influence these practices; (c) To explore how the experiences of illness and health influence Mi’kmaq men’s perceptions of their masculinity and the configuration of its practices; (d) To contribute to the scholarship of masculinities, health, culture, race, and inequity; (f) To build research capacity among members of the community of Elsipogtog; and (e) To identify strategies or programs that will support the health of Mi’kmaq men and their ability to care for their own health. Method: A community based participatory action research study based on an Indigenist critical social theoretical approach was used to gather and analyze the data. A research team of four Mi’kmaq people worked with me to analyze the data from an Indigenous perspective. A community advisory committee advised the research team regarding recruitment issues and the findings of the study. Thirty Mi’kmaq men and seven women were interviewed. Findings: The masculinities practices of Mi’kmaq men were: (a) respecting women, (b) fathering their children, (c) providing for their families, (d) caring for the environment, (e) respecting self and others, and (f) respecting sexually diverse family friends and self. During their lifetimes, many participants dealt with multiple losses, addiction, racism, sexual abuse, suicide attempts, and poverty. Their masculinity practices, culture, and spiritual health practices served as resiliency factors that contributed to their health status and practices Conclusions: The masculinity practices of Mi’kmaq men were strengths in their health.

This SSHRC and Pacific Leaders funded thesis summarizes participatory action research conducted in El Salvador between January 2008 and April 2009. This research resulted in a $355,000 proposal to the Canadian International Development Agency for a sustainable agriculture research and education centre in canton Agua Blanca, Morazán, El Salvador. The project is proposed by Canadian NGO, Rainbow of Hope for Children, in partnership with Salvadoran NGO, Fundahmer. Fundahmer owns 9.8 hectares of land in Agua Blanca. The researcher analysed practices at an existing Rainbow agriculture project in Izalco, and identified options for Agua Blanca by defining project goals and objectives, conducting a risk assessment, describing proposed centre activities, quantifying beneficiaries, assessing funding requirements, and developing performance measures. Funding was rejected, citing six sections that required additional information for second submission: sector and regional context, sustainability, gender, beneficiaries, performance measures, and environmental impacts. Seven recommendations are included to move project forward.