In this thesis it is argued that the use and design of computer artefacts can be fruitfully studied by focusing on use problems and design contradictions, defined as problems and contradictions in relation to organisational improvements planned by the IT-practitioner. The position taken in this thesis is that the important thing with computer artefacts and systems design is their contributions to human organisations at large. The purpose is to contribute to the design of contributing computer artefacts by studying, first, use problems and design contradictions, and second, the importance of IT-perspectives held by the practitioner. That is, the practitioner's tacit assumptions about what computers really are. Based on Action Science three case studies are made. What was found in these cases were use problems such as context dependency, discriminating information systems, misinterpretations and misuse. Among design contradictions were observed narrow design domains, unimaginative and pointless staff trainings, too fixed positions concerning goals and problems, and an assumption concerning relevant knowledge that effectively was excluding important knowledge related to the organisation at large. In all of these cases a tool perspective was interpreted as the dominating IT-perspective. In order to find out whether or not a tool perspective can be regarded as causing the use problems and design contradictions observed, the thesis examines this IT-perspective more closely. The conclusion made from this examination is that the tool perspective can be causing the problems and contradictions observed. In an attempt to formulate an alternative to this tool perspective theoretical studies into systems thinking and reflective practice were made, ending up in a framework labeled contextual IT-understanding. It is a framework built on principles such as a systems view, purposefulness, product-producer perspective, and constructivism. It is also built on assumptions such as that practitioners have a capacity to make sense out of a situation that initially makes no sense, that their actions are formed through a reflective conversation with the materials of the situation, that design is a matter of reflection, both in and on the actual action, and that in training it is important to make the trainee start to reflect on the tacit assumptions guiding her actions. According to a contextual IT-understanding an information system is a systemic and culturally dynamic artefact and as such, an artefact that will serve certain interests at the expense of others, will be ambiguous, will be misinterpreted, will be misused, etcetera. An information system should also be considered as part of a larger value creating process under the constant influence of a tacit dimension, implying that the relation between an information system and organisational improvements is not causal, that a lot of important design will take place in use, etcetera. More radically though, every information system can be seen as having a tacit dimension acting like an intellectual superstructure, and this tacit dimension can be fruitfully utilized in design. On the overall level a conclusion is drawn that both researchers and practitioners should emphasis the IT-perspectives held by IT-practitioners and the tacit dimensions influencing practice. / digitalisering@umu

Syftet med aktionsforskningsstudien är att lyfta fram förskoleklasslärares egna åsikter om förskoleklassverksamheten. Det är ett relativt outforskat område, förskoleklassreformen genomfördes 1996. Denna studie ska bidra med mer kunskaper med hjälp av förskoleklasslärares egna berättelser om förskoleklassverksamheten utifrån pedagogernas perspektiv. De fyra deltagande förskoleklasslärarna var ett strategiskt val, de fyra förskoleklasslärarna som deltog i aktionen erbjöds även att delta i studien.  I denna kvalitativa studie utgår empirin från de gemensamma samtalen i aktionen. Förskoleklasslärarnas berättelser kondenserades och det skapades två fiktiva pedagoger Aina, som fick symbolisera samarbete, flexibilitet och framförhållning och Berit, som fick symbolisera konservatism, individualism och nuorientering. De två fiktiva pedagogerna representerar bägge de fyra förskoleklasslärarnas röster. Resultatet presenteras som en narrativ, ett samtal mellan Aina och Berit. Resultatet visade fram ett ensamt och otydligt uppdrag och ett flertal upplevda dilemman som mellan det förplanerade och det spontana, barns intresse eller läromedelsböcker och metoder, lek eller lärande med mera. Resultatet bekräftade även en hel del av andra studiers resultat som  exempelvis  skolifiering. Det visar att trots att förskoleklasslärarna fick stor hjälp med att inta en inlärningsriktad kunskapssyn vidgades perspektivet mot att innefatta en mer utvecklingsinriktad och interaktionistisk kunskapssyn. / The purpose of this research paper, based upon the principle of action science, has been to raise preschool teachers’ opinion relating to the preschool activity. The preschool activity, in its present form after the reformation was introduced in 1996, is to date a relatively new and unexplored area. This study, with the assistance of preschool teachers’ stories about their work from the perspective of their professional pedagogical training and experience, is meant to contribute further knowledge in this area. Four preschool teachers, whom were also offered to participate, were a strategic choice for this study. The empirical basis for this qualitative study originates from joint conversations within the action. The preschool teachers’ stories have been condensed and eventually two fictive personalities were created. These are the two pedagogues Aina and Berit. Aina symbolise cooperation, flexibility and considers future/proactive planning. Berit symbolise conservatism, individualism and considers reactive planning. These fictive personalities represent the voices of all four preschool teachers having participated in the study. The result is presented as a narrative, a conversation between Aina and Berit.  The study produced results of a preschool teacher’s assignment described as isolated and unclear with several experienced dilemmas.  These dilemmas arise between the planned and the spontaneous, between the child’s interest and teaching aids/books/methods and between play and learning etc. Furthermore, the result confirmed several other studies having shown e.g. “schoolification”. Therefore, this paper strongly support the notion that, in spite of preschool teachers receiving great assistance in terms of incorporating a learning aimed at knowledge, this perspective was here widened toward incorporating a learning aimed more at development and interaction.

These decades in the past, the progress of science and technology brought the human happiness; it is exhausted to also bring the serious environmental pollution, ecological disruption, resource day by day. So go over the faith that ' man is the master of his own fate ' begin to shake changing into and becoming gradually ' people are a natural part, mankind must with getting along naturally ', sustainable development become key concept of new paradigm. In 1978 Dunlap & Van Liere thought that the dominant social paradigm at that time was to demonstrate the inside out ecological image, only consider the social one's own demand, and get rid of the mankind outside the nature, ignore the environmental impact on society, so call this kind of view ' Human Exceptionalism Paradigm, HEP ' . Dunlap & Van Liere propose a kind of ' New Environmental Paradigm, NEP ¡¥, the reason why they call that ' New Environmental Paradigm ' because with mankind at that time for to model very different dominant social paradigm. It can be with the change of faith , attitude and values that the appearance of NEP mainly hopes, enable mankind to make a thorough review on people and naturally real relation, change mankind's attitude immoderate to the natural demand. Environmental sustainable planning deeply international while paying attention to , Taiwan environmental planning professional person, body in environmental front most of planning, in the face of new environmental paradigm arrival of times, how much deep understanding about the concept of the environmental sustainable ? The impact that is changed fast by the whole external environment condition, plan also the revolutionary transformation is taking place in the planning paradigm, the professional personnel of urban planning get along with during the process of adapting to. Has planned the contention in theory to extend all the time constantly in the last hundred years, and planning paradigm to replace constantly, so the related one influences planners to public interests cognition and treatment method . In the face of the arrival of the era of knowledge-driven economy, the city is in global economy and ripe democratic politics day by day competed for day by day, plan to need marching toward the new model badly. So face the transitions of the paradigm of planning and ideological trend, does the environmental planning professional person in Taiwan do a good job of due adjustment? Over a long period of time, the urban growth and renovation in Taiwan have been spinning out of control and falling into disorder. The same problems have arisen time and again. For instance, deforestation and overexploitation of hillside lead to landslide; urban sprawl resulted in the shortage of public facilities; the developers were unable to internalize the externalities. If learning is deemed as a process of accumulating and readjusting life experience, then what¡¦s the problem with our society, which has failed to learn from the repeated urban issues and create new models for practice. What are the factors impeding this society¡¦s potential to remold the past experience? Traditional planning, overweight the human space and satisfaction of the demand, so that often neglect the carrying capacity of the ecological environment , and the inspiration that the whole social people's train of thought link and giving a new lease of life to. ' the Environmental planning ' which the advanced country emphasizes at present, its idea is conversely; The planning of the environment, is a kind of new idea, the ones that emphasized from ecological environment carrying capacity, or the potentiality , chance or limiting conditions of the supply, have priority to suitability analysis, but not meet the human demand simply . Namely the planner must respect the resource and environmental supply, mediate the human demand. This kind of planning could make the balance between development and preserve. So this research one is in the face of new environmental paradigm appears, such as transition of ideological trend and public interests, etc. to describing of person who understands environmental planning professional, practice crisis of urban planning of Taiwan , the emerging in an endless stream of environmental planning problem of Taiwan, influence its to be cognitive with the behavior further? To present domestic environmental planning professional education and training is enough to deal with the changes like this of the environment? Possibility which the professional person practice community produces? So this research is probed into from it by this: 1. Planner personal basic attribute with and its environmental view (new environmental paradigm), environmental behavior (responsible environmental behavior) and what is relation to learning style? 2. Planners face the environment (Environmental view, action approach, practice crisis), person (self-regulatory, self-efficacy) and with to influence each other what is relation to behavior (environmental behavior, production of practice community)? Through the distinguishing of above-mentioned problems relation, achieve the following research purposes: 1. Probe into environmental planners of Taiwan and present the environmental paradigm shift. 2. Probe into the social cognition model of planners under the new environmental planning discussion. 3. Probe into the possible change and meaning of environmental planning specialized education of Taiwan. This research is mainly studying social learning and cognitive social cognition view of the theory of society of society proposed through Bandura, as the key structure of this research, this theory thinks that the behavior is to emerge via the reciprocal function of person and environment, instead of be determined by any dimensions among them. This view transform environment (E ) , person (P ) and behavior (B ) into three interrelated dimensions and acts on to some extent, namely ' the social learning theory ' and ' the social cognitive theory ' with Bandura - Probe into the self- regulation system among the person cognition, behavior and environment. Retrospect via relevant theory documents of this study, put it in order out under the social cognitive theory, professional person's influence way of environmental program among the three of ' the environment ,person , behavior ', and planner's personal learning style way is set up. With the new environmental paradigm concept, action approach of planning , planning practice crisis of the whole , planner personal self-efficiency and self-regulatory, responsible environmental behavior, and plan practice relevant parameter that community produce influence, and then build the intact model which construct out a environmental planner's social cognitive theory, and then concern the analytical method of the way (LISREL ) to verify this theory model with Joreskog & Sorbom linear structure of development. This study attempts to set up a planner's social cognitive theory way from the retrospect of theory documents, offer the school, the department is carrying on environmental planning education public and private, knowledge and action are being linked etc. The result of study of this study can be summed up as follows on policy implications: 1. To test and verify of the social cognitive theory - Have proved on one's to the environmental planning professional person that among the three of ' the environment , person , behavior ' hand in the relation influenced in social cognitive theory, environmental influences person; Individual influences the behavior; The behavior influences the environment. 2. To indicate and verify the new arrival of times of environmental planning paradigm - So no matter in the school, public department or private consultant firm is in the future in planning educational course design and arrange, environmental draft, implementation of planning of policy, etc., should change to some extent. 3. To Assert and introduce of the learning style of the persons who plan the professional roles - The educational professional of environmental planning that this research is thought to be domestic, arrange with the design in course of professional training, real should make relevant adjustment and plan, there can be chance of balanced study in the training course of letting the profession form, pay attention to ' concrete experience ' and 'active experimentation ' more with the planning.

Organisatoriskt lärande är ett begrepp som i dagens föränderliga värld är relevant för alla organisationer. Då det är individer som utgör organisationer, är medarbetarnas utveckling essentiell för organisationens utveckling. Vilka faktorer kan då främja organisatoriskt lärande? Denna studie syftar till att ur ett medarbetarperspektiv, med hjälp av systemteori, dra slutsatser angående hur faktorer som organisationskultur, kommunikation, samarbete, visioner och uppsatta mål påverkar lärandet i en organisation. Utifrån syftet formulerades tre frågeställningar som behandlar vilka förutsättningar till lärande som kan identifieras i en organisation, medarbetares upplevelser av organisationens klimat och kultur, samt hur medarbetarna upplever att de övergripande mål och visioner som finns i organisationen speglar deras personliga mål och visioner. För att besvara dessa frågeställningar genomfördes sju halvstrukturerade intervjuer med medarbetare i en svensk arbetsorganisation för att samla in den empiriska datan. Som analysverktyg användes Peter Senges systemteori, såväl som andra relevanta teorier inom fältet. Resultatet visar att det råder beroendeförhållanden mellan medarbetarens personliga visioner, organisationens övergripande mål och visioner, organisationskultur och kommunikation. Vidare påvisas att alla dessa faktorer har inverkan på lärandet. Att finna hävstångskraften betyder att identifiera vilka möjligheter som finns till att påverka nämnda faktorer, för att i slutändan främja det organisatoriska lärandet. / Organizational learning is a concept that in a changing world is relevant to all organizations. As organizations consist of individuals, employee development is essential for the organization's development. So what factors can promote organizational learning? The purpose of this study is by taking an employee perspective, and using systems theory, draw conclusions about how factors such as organizational culture, communication, cooperation, vision and goals affect learning in an organization. Based on the design of this study, three questions were formulated regarding the conditions for learning that can be identified in an organization, employees' perceptions of organizational climate and culture, and how employees perceive that the overall goals and visions that exist in the organization reflects their personal goals and visions. To answer these questions seven semi-structured interviews with employees in a Swedish organization were conducted, to collect the empirical data. The analytical tools used are Peter Senge's systems theory, as well as other relevant theories in the field. The result shows that there are interdependences between the employee's personal vision, the organization's overall goals and vision, organizational culture and communication. Further demonstrated is that all these factors have an impact on learning. Finding the leverage means to identify the opportunities that exist to influence the aforementioned factors, to ultimately promote organizational learning.

The purpose of this study was to explore how social institutions in South Africa and Zimbabwe respond to the mainstreaming of pregnant learners in formal education. A case study was used as the strategy of inquiry. Utilising a phenomenological, social constructivist and interpretivist lens and guided by a theoretical framework of action science theory, this exploratory qualitative study set out to investigate and compare how various stakeholders in South Africa and Zimbabwe respond to the policy of mainstreaming pregnant learners in schools. Data collection methods took the form of focus group and key participant semi-structured interviews, document analysis and a researcher observation and reflective journal. Two research sites comprised the case study. The sample at each of the identified sites consisted of 12 pregnant and former pregnant learners; 12 mainstream learners; 6 parents/legal guardians; 6 teachers; 6 community representatives on the school governing body. Data analysis consisted of a mix of hermeneutic, content and discourse analysis. Three findings emanated from this study. First, the socio-cultural beliefs, norms, practices and expectations of the community about pregnancy and ideal motherhood were more influential governing variables to educational access and participation of pregnant teenagers than the official school policy. Second, educators at both sites were found to have inadequate capacity to assist pregnant learners with schooling. Third, the South African school was found to provide more access to pregnant learners because of the more liberal and open response to teenage pregnancy. In contrast the conservative tendency to conceal the problem was observed at the Zimbabwean site. This study revealed that institutional policies that do not take into consideration the social, cultural and lived experiences of the relevant stakeholders are difficult to implement. The proposition is that there is usually a split between policy and practice, and that policy can be nothing more than political symbolism. An all-inclusive and consultative approach to policy formulation processes is recommended as an intervention strategy that could be used to counteract the problem. / Thesis (DPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted

The Black-Litterman model is analyzed in three steps seeking to investigate, develop and test the B-L model in an applied perspective. The first step mathematically derives the Black-Litterman model from a sampling theory approach generating a new interpretation of the model and an interpretable formula for the parameter weight-on-views.  The second step draws upon behavioural finance and partly explains why managers find B-L portfolios intuitively accurate and also comments on the risk that overconfident managers state too low levels-of-unconfidence. The third step, a case study, concerns the implementation of the B-L model at a bank. It generates insights about the key-features of the model and their interrelations, the importance of understanding the model when using it, alternative use of the model, differences between the model and reality and the influence of social and organisational context on the use of the model. The research implies that it is not the B-L model alone but the combination model-user-situation that may prove rewarding. Overall, the research indicates the great distance between theory and practice and the importance of understanding the B-L model to be able to keep a critical attitude to the model and its output. The research points towards the need for more research concerning the use of the B-L model taking cultural, social and organizational contexts into account. / QC 20101202

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2006. / Title from first page of PDF file (viewed July 21, 2006). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 253-284).