The aim of the master's thesis "Making use of best practice and lessons learned while processing the standard project Flexi Office" is to streamline project management in the selected company by analysing the errors and positives from completed project and processing the standard project for Flexi Office. Theoretical and methodological part describes the project management aspects, methods of planning and project evaluation. The practical part describes the characteristics of the examined company, reference project Flexi Office, processing evaluation of the project under which were stated lessons learned and best practice for the project, and using which are suggested some ways to improve project management in the selected company.

Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS) / The objective of this research is to investigate the factors at plant level which impact on the diffusion of Japanese Manufacturing Techniques to enterprises in developing countries generally, and South Africa specifically. This informs the development of meaningful supply-side measures to improve the competitiveness of South African manufacturers. This has been achieved through both a thorough examination of the literature and through field research. The field research documents the implementation experiences in fifteen South African plants which participated in the Shopfloor Best Practice workshops of the Manufacturing Roundtable (MRT). I chose to examine these examples of transfer as I was a participant researcher, attached to the MRT. The central question which guided my research is what are the factors which affect the depth of systemic adoption of Japanese Manufacturing Techniques on the shopfloor in South Africa, and what this indicates for the breadth of diffusion of the techniques across the manufacturing sector as a whole. The research argument is that for sustainable adoption both social and technical aspects of Japanese Manufacturing Techniques need to be addressed. Focusing on the technical aspects only and presenting a universally applicable model obscures the realities of transfer, as the embeddedness of the techniques in the social and institutional context is ignored. The point of departure for analysis in this thesis is thus real examples of transfer, as opposed to a universally defined and abstracted model. The experience and opinions of the workshop participants, and those of managers in their plants, have been gathered through individual in-depth interviews and site visits. The evidence indicates that there are many factors both internal and external to the firm which are likely to constrain significantly the ability of some firms to move in the systemic direction. These include the poor primary education of much of the workforce, poor management skills, wage and social inequality and a lack of participation in the workplace. It becomes apparent that the process of diffusion amongst South African manufacturers is not likely to be rapid or steady, and that the most likely path is one of uneven diffusion.

Problemområdet för den här uppsatsen var styrning och jämförelser. Syftet var att analysera och jämföra vilken skola som synliggjordes i den kommunala styrningen i fyra kommuner; Danderyd, Piteå, Täby och Vellinge. Den teoretiska basen utgjordes av Focuaults governmentalitybegrepp, och den – framför allt internationella – forskningen om dataproduktion och jämförelser på en mellanstatlig nivå. Gemensamt för den presenterade forskningen i uppsatsen är att produktionen av data och jämförelser ligger till grund för en informell styrning som inte är vetenskapligt förankrad. Analysen av kommunerna gjordes utifrån de tre begreppen governing by numbers (dataproduktion), governance by comparison (jämförelser) och best practice (det goda exemplet). Resultaten visade att de granskade kommunerna till mycket stor del styrde med hjälp av dataproduktion, det vill säga att det sker en kvantifiering av verksamheten. I många fall utsattes även den dataproduktionen för jämförelser med andra kommuner och/eller med riket. Produktionen av data var så pass omfattande i dessa kommuner att det föreföll som att endast det som kan mätas togs upp i verksamhetsplaneringen. Mätbar verksamhet lyftes upp framför verksamhet med mjukare värden, vilket bland annat innebar att professionen i stort sett var osynliggjord. Resultaten visade också att uppföljning och utvärdering inte har något genomslag i verksamhetsstyrningsdokumenten.

No description available.

INTRODUCTION: Continuing Education (CE) courses for allied health professionals do not consistently reflect the needs of adult learners and may not result in practice changes. In areas of allied health practice with a strong evidence base, poor quality CE courses stunt the dissemination of information which could improve the quality of life of clients. One such area is improving safety and independence of older adults with low vision, who are at increased risk of falls and functional limitations as a result of their visual impairments. DESCRIPTION OF DOCTORAL CAPSTONE: The aim of this doctoral capstone was to discuss the theory and evidence for the creation of effective, learner-centered CE courses and to apply these findings to the creation of CE courses for allied health professionals on the topic of community-dwelling older adults with low vision. RESULTS: The resulting CE courses were compared to the guidelines for a theory-driven, evidence-based course and were found to adhere to quality standards of: use of a needs assessment, reflection of the real-life context of learners, incorporation of active learning and reflection components, inclusion of visible pedagogy, and evaluation of the translation of learning to practice. CONCLUSION: CE courses that adhere to evidence-based, learner centered methods produce better learning and satisfaction outcomes for participants. CE course creators should adhere to these guidelines and advertise the use of theory and evidence to enable clinician participants to identify high-quality continuing education courses. Clinicians who gain knowledge in the areas of low vision diagnoses, screening, referrals, interventions, and resources, through attendance at a well-designed CE course, will be better able to identify clients with low vision and provide evidence-based care which has been found to improve client safety and independence.

Although academic interest in TQM increased substantially in the last decade, still the gap in the literature is hardly surprising given that research and theory in TQM implementation are still at a very early stage in the West. To-date, there are only a handful of empirical researches reported in the literature that have attempted to identify what constitute as constructs of TQM that can be manipulated to effectively implement TQM. All but very few are studies done in developed economies. Moreover, knowledge of TQM in developing economies is almost totally lacking. Against this backdrop, this researcha ddressesth e identified gaps in the literature on TQM. Thus this thesis focuses on the effective implementation of total quality management in Palestine, a developing economy, through an empirical investigation of critical quality factors. The research methodology involves combining quantitative and qualitative methodologies to identify the key quality factors cited in the literature and considered by consultants and experts as essential to successful TQM implementation. The research design also included: Lan empirical investigation to assessth e level of TQM awarenessa nd understandingi n the Palestinian context, 2. determining which key quality factors are critical to successful implementation using a survey questionnaire, 3. determining what tactics and techniques are used in addressing and implementing these critical quality factors by Palestinian organisations, using semi-structured interviews, 4. determining the prerequisites of effective TQM implementation in the pre-launch stage using in depth interviews. By complementing and integrating the findings, an implementation framework was constructed with the support of the knowledge acquired from the literature review. A simple and practical step by step with implementation guidelines framework aiming at assisting Palestinian organisations in planning on effective implementation of TQM was constructed. The research findings indicate that top management commitment and involvement, employee commitment and involvement, managing by customer-driven system and processes and continuous performance improvement, are essential to effective implementation of TQM. This implies that Palestinian organisations recognise and implement the same critical quality factors found in Western countries. The proposed framework is built around four major constructs that relate to top management commitment, employee commitment, customer-driven system and processes, and continuous improvement. It emphasises an implementation approach of top-down deployment and bottom-up participation focussing on businessp rocessesth at add value to customers atisfaction. In conclusion, this empirical research revealed that TQM could be implemented in the developing economies (such as Palestine) as Palestinian organisations subscribe to the same quality factors as those found in the developed economies.

Sustainability and environmental responsibility is increasingly growing in importance. Solving the environmental problems of the planet will one day become the responsibility of future scientists. For this reason, and with the introduction of new chemical legislation (REACH) driving change it is essential that current students are given a broad introduction to sustainability and environmental responsibility in order to equip them as graduates for future practice in the chemical sciences. At the University of Bradford the aim is to teach sustainability and environmental responsibility by embedding it throughout the entire chemistry curriculum rather than teaching it in standalone lectures. Once this has been established within chemistry it is expected that this will potentially provide a template for other areas of laboratory science within the university. In order to achieve the aim of this project, students, staff and potential employers tookpart in surveys with a view to inform curriculum development. Examples of best practice were sought and used as guidance for the development of directed learning activities for use as post lab questions and utilisation of the twelve principles of green chemistry. Green chemistry metrics were applied to undergraduate experiments to test how well they would work in terms of ease of use, applicability and judging ¿greenness¿. It was found that these were not very effective for use within an undergraduate laboratory due to applicability and judging ¿greenness¿, however this work highlighted other areas for improvement. As a result of this work an environmental assessment metric system was developed for use within an undergraduate setting. / Ecoversity at the University of Bradford

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.