The purpose of this study was to explore the subjective experiences of participants who had completed a fast-track management development programme (FMPD) for hospital managers. The participants in this study were part of a targeted or single-identity group FMDP in a private hospital group in South Africa. Single-identity group management development programmes target women and minorities, and are designed to equip them to fulfil more senior roles. These programmes were introduced by some South African companies in response to the Employment Act 55 of 1998 to ensure that all population groups are represented across occupational levels, including senior management. This study sought to gain insight of the participants’ perceptions of the programme and its effectiveness. Qualitative, semi-structured interviews were conducted with the participants. The sample consisted of six managers (four men and two women). The developer of the programme was also interviewed. The findings indicate that all of the participants believed there is a need for these types of programmes because of South Africa’s history. However, the interviews also surfaced concerns about the structure of the programme and the stigmatisation associated with being in a single-identity programme. The results suggest a number of theoretical and practical implications for the use of single-identity management development programmes. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Human Resource Management / unrestricted

With the current drive of both academia and practice to ensure that there is an appropriate degree of collaboration to ensure mutual benefit, any study undertaken that has the application of theory as one of its objectives, should therefore be able to make a contribution to both areas. From a strategic ICT planning perspective the ability to apply a planning process in a cohesive and coordinated manner throughout diversified or complex organisations has been one of the challenges that faced both academics and practitioners. This becomes especially relevant in view of the drive to ensure alignment between business and ICT so as to ensure that the potential utility of ICT can be leveraged and sustained to contribute towards the competitive advantage of the organisation. This situation is also relevant to the South African Department of Defence as a particular kind of diversified organisation. With this in mind the initiative was recognised to establish an appropriate strategic ICT planning process for the department and to apply it to the point where a corporate strategic ICT master plan could be institutionalised. A progressive and longitudinal action research process resulted in not only the development of an appropriate process of definition and alignment, but also on the ability to apply and manage the strategic ICT planning function with full collaboration of all role players and stakeholders. The conclusion from this research was that it is indeed possible to develop and apply an appropriate strategic ICT planning process that recognises the strategic – corporate and business unit level – environment of a diversified organisation, but that it is largely dependant upon the ability to ensure collaboration and participation within a clear and distinct construct of functions and responsibilities. Without appropriate management arrangements and mechanisms, it was found to be very difficult indeed due to issues relating to the semi-autonomous nature of the respective business units in relation to corporate management. / Thesis (PhD(IT))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Informatics / unrestricted

Masters in Public Administration - MPA / This study focused on Black Economic Empowerment and gender in the liquid fuels industry. It explored the possible means of empowerment and questions the seriousness of organizations to institute programmes that are gender sensitive. The liquid fuels industry in South Africa served as the pinnacle of the apartheid state. It possessed the strength to survive the onslaught of the economic sanctions imposed as a result of apartheid. It was because of these stringent economic sanctions that it was forced to survive on its own with limited assistance. The advent of democracy in 1994 gave this industry the impetus to grow in terms of Gender and Black Economic Empowerment. / South Africa

abstract: The purpose of this action research study was to help medical students normalize feelings of shame related to academics and to respond to these feelings in more adaptive ways. Several cycles of research informed this study, which investigated the influence of an educational innovation. The innovation focused on helping medical students understand feelings of shame, foster self-efficacy in shame resiliency practices, and encourage help-seeking behaviors. In short, the study sought to understand how these medical students responded to feelings of shame related to academic performance before and after participation in the educational innovation. A total of 14 second-year medical students participated in this concurrent mixed-method study. The educational innovation was designed by this action researcher and informed by Brené Brown’s shame resilience theory. Three sources of data were used to answer the research questions, including a pre- and post-innovation survey, interviews, and student journals. Major findings suggested that the educational innovation was effective in enhancing the study participants’ knowledge of shame, increasing perceptions of self-efficacy in the practices related to resiliency to feeling of academic shame, as well as, promoting help-seeking behaviors. The data also revealed a range of academic shame triggers identified by these medical students. This action research study validated the need to normalize feelings of shame and support medical students developing practices for resiliency to this powerful feeling. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2020

Many practical applications of Virtual Reality (VR) technology rely on adequate immersive representations of 3D spaces and support of embodied, dynamic interactions with the virtual world. Evaluation of these properties remains an important research problem. This thesis aims at developing a method of conducting user evaluations of dynamic, full-body interactions in VR systems based on using support for perception and action coupling as a criterion for comparison. The thesis has three main components. First, the thesis starts by presenting an experimental perceptual evaluation study looking at distance perception in real and virtual environments. The results indicate that the choice of the method to report perceived distances (i. e. the type of action used to express perceptual variable of interest) may have a significant effect on the outcome of the study. We argue for the need to develop an approach to VR evaluation that holistically considers both perception and action. Second, we propose a theoretical framework to conduct such user evaluations based on the notion of affordances. The thesis presents the second experimental study that explores perception of affordances in a complex, realistic task of bicycling across two lanes of opposing traffic in a VR simulator. This experiments highlights methodological approach to studies of user's perception of dynamic affordances. Finally, we present an experimental study that builds on theoretical and methodological frameworks developed in the thesis to explore the effects of display type and locomotion modality on user performance in a dynamic VR task that involves synchronization of self-motion with motion of virtual objects. The results inform our understanding of the trade-offs involved in selecting major components of the VR system.

An individual’s occupation is often a salient component to ones life. Numerous traditional career developmental theories have been employed in the hopes of understanding the motivations and attitudes individuals have toward particular types of careers. Research indicates that entrepreneurs are primarily motivated by monetary gain, desires to be their own boss, and career independence. The present study utilized qualitative interviews as a means to gain a greater understanding of action sports retail business owners experiences and how their identity as a surfer/skater/snowboarder influenced their career decisions and their motivations to own an action retail business. The data were analyzed using Consensual Qualitative Research methodology (Hill, 2012). Results indicate that the business owners primarily identify as surfers/skaters/snowboarders, opposed to businessmen, and that they were primarily motivated to open their own action sport retail businesses due to their passion for the action sports and interest in remaining apart of the action sport lifestyle. These findings partly contrast previous research regarding the motivations of entrepreneurs’ primary motivation being monetary gain.

Significance. International Medical Graduates (IMGs) comprise 26% of the physician workforce in the United States and 18% of the physician workforce in Iowa. IMGs fill gaps in health professional shortage areas (HPSAs) in the United States and are significant contributors to the medical community. The State Conrad 30 Program allows states to recruit IMGs to HPSAs. Physicians supported under the Conrad 30 Program are obligated to work in HPSAs for three years. Although an important subset of the physician population, little is known about the experiences of Conrad 30 Program participants, or the factors associated with recruiting and retaining this sector of the physician workforce. Purpose. This dissertation described the characteristics and experiences of IMGs practicing in the Iowa Conrad 30 Program, examined retention intention and actual retention of these physicians, and analyzed factors associated with retention of four or more years. Methods. This dissertation utilized a mixed methods approach. Study 1 examined the characteristics of 410 IMGs participating in the Iowa State Conrad 30 Program between 1996 and 2012, using existing data. Logistical regression was used to compare the characteristics of physicians who were retained for four or more years with those who were retained less than four years, controlling for covariates. Study 2 explored the experiences of nine physicians using in-depth qualitative interviews. Inductive content analysis was used to identify themes related to site selection and retention. Study 3 used a physician survey to analyze physician attitudes and subjective norms on 33 practice factors. ANOVA and linear regression was used to analyze the difference in attitudes and subjective norms by physicians’ intent to remain practicing in Iowa long term and actual retention. Results. Study 1: Of 410 physicians, 378 (92%) met the 3-year program obligation to practice at the original practice site and 280 physicians (68%) were retained four or more years. The average length of retention was 6 years and 4 months (SD = 4 years, 1 month). Male physicians had 2.7 greater odds of being retained four or more years than female physicians (95% CI = 1.39, 5.19). Physicians with a region of origin of the Americas had 0.25 lower odds of being retained four or more years compared to physicians with other regions of origin (95% CI = 0.06, 0.98). Marital status, having children at the time of hire, training in the Midwest, practice specialty, and salary were not significantly associated with odds of being retained four or more years. Study 2: Nine physicians completed semi-structured interviews. Themes from the interviews included: Physicians’ visa obligation requirements drove the initial site selection. Physicians had minimal knowledge about the state prior to selecting a practice site and had little intent to remain practicing in Iowa long term when making the initial practice site selection. Visa-related issues and the physician’s perception of mistreatment due to the visa status influenced the retention decision. The practice setting and personal motivators influenced the retention decision through the practice model, community attributes, influence of salient others, career motivators, and a sense of place. Study 3: Fifty-one physicians completed a survey regarding their retention intention when initially selecting the practice site, and their attitudes and subjective norms towards the practice and community. The perception of the beliefs of residency/fellowship faculty (subjective norms) were significant (p = 0.01) for those physicians intending to remain at the practice site for their careers. Attitudes towards the community were significantly more positive (p = 0.03) for physicians intending to remain at the practice site for their careers. Positive subjective norms of significant others (p = 0.02) and residency/fellowship faculty (p = 0.04) were significantly associated with actual retention of four or more years. Positive attitudes towards the practice site and employment factors were significantly associated with longer retention in months (p = 0.02, p = 0.03, respectively). The positive subjective norms of significant others and residency/fellowship faculty were significantly related to longer retention in months (p = 0.0002, p = 0.02). Conclusions: The findings of this study provide important empirical data on the factors influencing site selection and retention of IMGs that participated in the Iowa Conrad 30 Program. The findings suggest a modification may be needed for the existing theoretical model, which was based upon the Theory of Reasoned Action. Improving retention of physicians could help improve quality of care and reduce overall costs for physician practices. Understanding why Conrad 30 Program participants may elect to practice in rural and underserved areas, and the factors influencing retention of physicians in these areas can assist employers, program administrators, and policymakers to aid in improving the retention of International Medical Graduates.

Cette thèse se veut une analyse sociologique du phénomène peyilòk en Haïti qui a émergé de la spontanéité créative des masses populaires en protestation à la décision du gouvernement Moïse/Lafontant d’augmenter les prix du carburant le 6 juillet 2018. Cette nouvelle forme d’action protestataire s’est développée et consolidée au sein du mouvement pétrocaribe jusqu’à en devenir complètement autonome. En effet, cette recherche se donne un triple objectif : dégager une compréhension des contextes socio-politiques dans lesquels le peyilòk s’est émergé et développé; saisir ses significations du point de vue des protestataires qui se sont engagés dans les dynamiques de mobilisations; et parvenir à une théorisation de ce phénomène. Cette recherche est réalisée à partir d’une enquête qualitative de terrain constituée de onze entretiens individuels semi-dirigés, trois groupes de discussion et des discussions informelles. Ce travail empirique s’est inscrit dans une quête de réponse à un question centrale de recherche qui constituait la pierre angulaire de celle-ci, à savoir : comment pouvons-nous appréhender l’émergence et la mise en sens du phénomène peyilòk dans les dynamiques de mobilisation contre l’État haïtien? Ayant une prévalence empirique, étant dans une approche méthodologique de théorisation ancrée, les discours des protestataires sont au centre cette recherche.

abstract: I conduct a series of analyses aimed at assessing equity in selective American colleges over a 20+ year time frame. My main measures of equity are enrollment and completion in selective colleges, which I disaggregate by race/ethnicity. After creating an institutional-level panel data set with variables on college revenues and expenses, tuition, institutional control, and affirmative action case law decisions, I estimate a Generalized Least Squares (GLS) model with institutional level random fixed effects to identify factors associated with enrollment and degree completion for white and non-white students at selective United States colleges. My results suggest that affirmative action case law is associated with changes in enrollment and degree completion rates of white and non-white student alike. Increasing equity for non-white students does not compromise equity for white students. There was a statistically significant relationship between federal spending, enrollment, and degree completion for non-white students. When selective colleges increased tuition, instructional costs, academic support services expenditures, and student support services, Asian American/Pacific Islander students were likely to see enrollment and degree completion declines. Degree completion and enrollment differences were observed for Asian American/Pacific Islander, Hispanic, and white students at public, private and for-profit colleges. In the years after the Adams and Hopwood court decisions, equity for non-white students declined at selective colleges. Enrollment and degree completion for non-white students increased following Grutter, Gratz, Coalition, and Fisher decisions. Enrollment of white students increased following Fordice and Hopwood. Degree completion for white students increased post Coalition and decreased post Fisher. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2020

Uppsatsens syfte var att kritiskt granska olika filosofiska utgångspunkter kring skäl för agerande samt hur skälen rättfärdigas utifrån värden och det goda. Hur trovärdiga och rimliga är argumenten som förs fram om skäl och dess relationen till värden och det goda?Följande filosofers teorier har granskats: Thomas Nagel, Christine Korsgaard samt R Jay Wallace. Jag argumenterar för att skäl för agerande bör vara baserade på goda grunder samt att skäl och värden bör betraktas vara subjektiva och agent-relativa. Nagel är den ende som hävdar att oreducerbara agent-relativa skäl finns, något som bestrids av både Wallace och Korsgaard. Dock menar jag att de båda uttrycker en viss agent-relativitet i sina argument, Korsgaard i ambitioner och Wallace i speciella fall. Samtliga tre bidrar på olika sätt med väsentliga argument om att skäl har ett moraliskt anspråk på agenten oavsett vilken typ av skäl de förespråkar. Dock kan värden omöjligt accepteras eller te sig trovärdiga utifrån Nagels argument om att värden är objektiva och uppstår utan mänsklig involvering. Korsgaard har en viktig poäng och lyckas på ett trovärdigt sätt bidra till förklaringen att värden endast kan uppkomma ur mänskligheten. Ett annat viktigt och relevant argument som belyses av alla tre handlar om hur vi måste förhålla oss till varandra som en förutsättning för det goda. Agent-relativa skäl ter sig som mest trovärdiga då de utgår från agentens förmåga och kapacitet att bedöma moraliska aspekter. Hur vi kommer överens om gemensamma skäl och hur vi delar dem kvarstår som olöst, så därför ter sig delade, publika och agent-neutrala skäl problematiska. / The aim of the thesis was to critically examine different philosophical views regarding reasons for action and how reasons are justified based on values and the good. How credible and reasonable are the arguments and their relation to values and the good? The theories of following philosophers have been examined: Thomas Nagel, Christine Korsgaard and R Jay Wallace. I argue that reasons for actions should be based on solid grounds and that the reasons and values should be considered as subjective and agent-relative. Nagel is the only one who claims that there are irreducible agent-relative reasons and values, something that is disputed by both Korsgaard and Wallace. However, I mean that they both a certain agent-relativity in their arguments, Korsgaard in ambitions and Wallace in special cases.They all contribute with significant arguments about the fact that reasons does have a moral claim on the agent, regardless of the type of reasons they advocate. However, values cannot possibly be accepted or appear credible based on Nagel's argument that the values are objective without human involvement. Korsgaard has an important view and succeeds in a credible way in contributing to the explanation that values can only arise from humanity. Another important and relevant argument, highlighted by all three, is about how we must relate to each other as a prerequisite for the good. Agent-relative reasons appear to be the most credible and are based on the agent's ability and capacity to assess moral aspects when relevant. How we can agree on reasons and share them remains unresolved, therefore shared, public and agent-neutral reasons seem problematic.